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Published 4 years ago
Version 1.0
Blog Post
I don’t know if I understood well the concept of this thread. But I’m going to participate with this little essay about the way I feel I shall do it. Before I start, I must remind you I’m not a native english speaker, so my ideas may be unclear, if you could not understand something don’t be afraid to ask. If you see any mistakes and want to correct me, go ahead, it’s an opportunity for me to learn. That said, let’s begin.
Microscope/Telescope
I will start with the microscope/telescope stuff. From the beginning simmers were upset about your design decision to make those things ginormous. There were a lot of people expressing it out loud, important to say that the major influencers of the community are part of that group. Seems to me that nobody is happy with that. After a while you came up with the idea to make a stuff pack with a regular normal sized microscope and telescope. And here is my concern: This is a design mistake on your end. The community has shown you the deep disappointment in this concern. Releasing these items should be an apology from you for letting everybody down. And apologies are not monetized. Besides, this is a basic object, this means it should be base game objects.
Moving content to the base game
Another big concern I have about this game is the moving/recycling content. The most damaged pack in that sense is Get To Work. The photography skill was moved to the base game, then reworked into Moschino stuff pack, then came the Strangerville pack with features that would’ve suited the alien side of said expansion. All of this happening without any compensation to those who have bought Get To Work.
What I want to know is if that compensation may come someday, like going to work in Strangerville lab while being a scientist, to create some kind of variety and break a little the repetitiveness of working on that career, having the gun machine being usable against the mother in the battle, have alien sims being able to control the mother with their empathic powers and so on… There are a lot of missed opportunities regarding cross pack features, but taking the perspective of just Get To Work that were ripped off to the limit (since it seems the team were running around the tail when releasing stuff for TS4) should have been considered to have this kind of features added.
In that scenario, I think every pack that had content moved to the base game should have to be compensated in some form, and I think the best compensation is to create integration between packs.
Things look unfinished
Another big concern I’m having with the latest packs (ever since Get Famous) is that they look unfinished. Maybe I have been spoiled by the way things were done before, but Get Famous came with a micro world, without fishing spots, the suburban part has only two giant lots that don't look anything like the shell lots spaces that are around them. The only thing that would’ve made any sense if that was a lot to build apartments. Once again, the lack of integration of packs creates this problem that we can’t solve because the tools are created not to work in the favor of the players. This is the first time you can’t make all the money you put into the game work as one.
Then came Supernatural with Bonehilda not having her classic cabinet/coffin. There’s the problem that seasons caused with the leaves on the fall, that no workers can gather, only the home owners. Objects coming to the game with one or just a few swatches.
That’s a point that needs to be improved. Make sure the pack is completed before releasing. At this point it looks like you have set to be going from A to B, but have stopped going further somewhere in the middle of that path and never reached point B.
In addition to this, I would like to add the one way features, just like the potion to become temporarily a ghost. It would have been nice if there was a potion like that for ghosts to become living sims for a while too (Casper did it first, I know), so we can make them do things that they are not allowed to, like host a fan meeting to become a world famous celebrity, for example.
Lack of testing
I don’t know how the game is being tested by now. But it seems you are testing the game features only with the new content installed, that is what it seemed like until the kit of Bust The Dust came out. That didn’t even seem to have been tested. There are a lot of these bugs that can be caught up by testing the game before putting it out to the public. I think to clarify better how the tests are done and how much it improves the game before it comes to us must be explored, maybe after the release of a new pack make an interview with the testers telling about the experience of testing that. I think this content is better for the community than the sparked reality show.
Fixing mistakes
One thing that I hate and I can’t stand in TS4 is the mistakes you make and how you fix them. Examples: 1. Embossed glass doors showing up as a plain blue door. Fix: it’s just a plain blue door; 2. Tiny Living lamp with spot to place object. Fix: No spot to place object; 3. Eco lifestyle terrace objects placeable in beta but with bugs. Fix: No access to the terrace.
This kind of solution to problems makes the team seem lazy and careless. “You already bought the pack, and can’t have a refund… so we don’t care”. This is not ok. This is the thing that you should keep on giving updates on to be as close to be as you have intended when you sell the stuff to people.
At this actual stage of fixing, I’m realizing that the fact that my spellcaster Sim that happens to be a scientist is being abducted but isn't getting pregnant anymore. And this happened after I had a problem with him being abducted and having twins that were spellcasters instead of aliens. And this is pure speculation on my side, but your previous actions are what triggers in us this kind of thoughts.
Conclusion
The biggest problem in The Sims 4 is the lack of integration between packs. How the items don’t seem to fit together, how the playability always hits on an invisible wall when it’s about two different packs with similar features that are complementary to each other. How the TS4 team treats its own mistakes and missed opportunities makes the players even more frustrated about it all.
Please, keep up to what you have promised. Receive feedback and realise when it’s a design flown at your end and not a problem of the players. Stop recycling stuff when you should be creating new features (like happened with Realm Of Magic, that you just copied and pasted the Science career playability onto an occult and called it for the day).
For the future
Everytime you design something for the game, remember that we don’t buy objects or towns/worlds. We buy resources to build the town/worlds and objects we need in order to tell our stories and play as we want. TS4 took a lot of the player's control over these aspects, and that is the reason why it is so frustrating to play it. So, for example, remember that when we buy a pack that comes with apartments, we want the resource apartment to build wherever we feel like it fits or is needed. We don’t want stuck buildings in one town/world and have to go with it.
The whole life span of TS4 is fully documented on video from various sources, youtubers and streamers. Watching them will show you how people play and the things they want to be able to do in the game. Take this to improve how the game works.
To list a few of things that should’ve gotten your attention is the gallery features, in which for years and years people want to be refurbished, so they can make it more customizable, putting their own images to the build, picking better angles than the automatic ones.
In my end I can only think of, if possible, the update the gates to follow the doors and windows placement. And the columns as well. That lack of unity on tools that operate in the same sense are leaving evident that “sensation of unfinished content” that I have mentioned prior.
Thanks for your attention and for the opportunity of expressing how I feel about it somewhere you promised it would be read.
Microscope/Telescope
I will start with the microscope/telescope stuff. From the beginning simmers were upset about your design decision to make those things ginormous. There were a lot of people expressing it out loud, important to say that the major influencers of the community are part of that group. Seems to me that nobody is happy with that. After a while you came up with the idea to make a stuff pack with a regular normal sized microscope and telescope. And here is my concern: This is a design mistake on your end. The community has shown you the deep disappointment in this concern. Releasing these items should be an apology from you for letting everybody down. And apologies are not monetized. Besides, this is a basic object, this means it should be base game objects.
Moving content to the base game
Another big concern I have about this game is the moving/recycling content. The most damaged pack in that sense is Get To Work. The photography skill was moved to the base game, then reworked into Moschino stuff pack, then came the Strangerville pack with features that would’ve suited the alien side of said expansion. All of this happening without any compensation to those who have bought Get To Work.
What I want to know is if that compensation may come someday, like going to work in Strangerville lab while being a scientist, to create some kind of variety and break a little the repetitiveness of working on that career, having the gun machine being usable against the mother in the battle, have alien sims being able to control the mother with their empathic powers and so on… There are a lot of missed opportunities regarding cross pack features, but taking the perspective of just Get To Work that were ripped off to the limit (since it seems the team were running around the tail when releasing stuff for TS4) should have been considered to have this kind of features added.
In that scenario, I think every pack that had content moved to the base game should have to be compensated in some form, and I think the best compensation is to create integration between packs.
Things look unfinished
Another big concern I’m having with the latest packs (ever since Get Famous) is that they look unfinished. Maybe I have been spoiled by the way things were done before, but Get Famous came with a micro world, without fishing spots, the suburban part has only two giant lots that don't look anything like the shell lots spaces that are around them. The only thing that would’ve made any sense if that was a lot to build apartments. Once again, the lack of integration of packs creates this problem that we can’t solve because the tools are created not to work in the favor of the players. This is the first time you can’t make all the money you put into the game work as one.
Then came Supernatural with Bonehilda not having her classic cabinet/coffin. There’s the problem that seasons caused with the leaves on the fall, that no workers can gather, only the home owners. Objects coming to the game with one or just a few swatches.
That’s a point that needs to be improved. Make sure the pack is completed before releasing. At this point it looks like you have set to be going from A to B, but have stopped going further somewhere in the middle of that path and never reached point B.
In addition to this, I would like to add the one way features, just like the potion to become temporarily a ghost. It would have been nice if there was a potion like that for ghosts to become living sims for a while too (Casper did it first, I know), so we can make them do things that they are not allowed to, like host a fan meeting to become a world famous celebrity, for example.
Lack of testing
I don’t know how the game is being tested by now. But it seems you are testing the game features only with the new content installed, that is what it seemed like until the kit of Bust The Dust came out. That didn’t even seem to have been tested. There are a lot of these bugs that can be caught up by testing the game before putting it out to the public. I think to clarify better how the tests are done and how much it improves the game before it comes to us must be explored, maybe after the release of a new pack make an interview with the testers telling about the experience of testing that. I think this content is better for the community than the sparked reality show.
Fixing mistakes
One thing that I hate and I can’t stand in TS4 is the mistakes you make and how you fix them. Examples: 1. Embossed glass doors showing up as a plain blue door. Fix: it’s just a plain blue door; 2. Tiny Living lamp with spot to place object. Fix: No spot to place object; 3. Eco lifestyle terrace objects placeable in beta but with bugs. Fix: No access to the terrace.
This kind of solution to problems makes the team seem lazy and careless. “You already bought the pack, and can’t have a refund… so we don’t care”. This is not ok. This is the thing that you should keep on giving updates on to be as close to be as you have intended when you sell the stuff to people.
At this actual stage of fixing, I’m realizing that the fact that my spellcaster Sim that happens to be a scientist is being abducted but isn't getting pregnant anymore. And this happened after I had a problem with him being abducted and having twins that were spellcasters instead of aliens. And this is pure speculation on my side, but your previous actions are what triggers in us this kind of thoughts.
Conclusion
The biggest problem in The Sims 4 is the lack of integration between packs. How the items don’t seem to fit together, how the playability always hits on an invisible wall when it’s about two different packs with similar features that are complementary to each other. How the TS4 team treats its own mistakes and missed opportunities makes the players even more frustrated about it all.
Please, keep up to what you have promised. Receive feedback and realise when it’s a design flown at your end and not a problem of the players. Stop recycling stuff when you should be creating new features (like happened with Realm Of Magic, that you just copied and pasted the Science career playability onto an occult and called it for the day).
For the future
Everytime you design something for the game, remember that we don’t buy objects or towns/worlds. We buy resources to build the town/worlds and objects we need in order to tell our stories and play as we want. TS4 took a lot of the player's control over these aspects, and that is the reason why it is so frustrating to play it. So, for example, remember that when we buy a pack that comes with apartments, we want the resource apartment to build wherever we feel like it fits or is needed. We don’t want stuck buildings in one town/world and have to go with it.
The whole life span of TS4 is fully documented on video from various sources, youtubers and streamers. Watching them will show you how people play and the things they want to be able to do in the game. Take this to improve how the game works.
To list a few of things that should’ve gotten your attention is the gallery features, in which for years and years people want to be refurbished, so they can make it more customizable, putting their own images to the build, picking better angles than the automatic ones.
In my end I can only think of, if possible, the update the gates to follow the doors and windows placement. And the columns as well. That lack of unity on tools that operate in the same sense are leaving evident that “sensation of unfinished content” that I have mentioned prior.
Thanks for your attention and for the opportunity of expressing how I feel about it somewhere you promised it would be read.