Sims 2 Development insight

"SimmerGeorge;c-17849411" wrote:

"Sk8rblaze;c-17846043" wrote:

I definitely get the feeling that there aren’t as many programmers or QA on the team as The Sims 2 though. When you start seeing repurposed features that function the same exact way as existing ones, nothing but fluff and new animations, and broken features, it becomes very clear programming isn’t too strong.

@Sk8rblaze But people don't care. And if people don't care then this is never gonna change. The standards will keep getting lower and lower and as long as people keep handing out their money the game will keep getting worse, with less content, more recycling of animations and features.

It really is up to the community to push for things to get better, but at this point I am convinced a big part of the Sims community just doesn't know better. (which is not a bad thing, it's just what happens when you only play one game.)

I think once Paralives comes out and the sims has competition, standards will rise. The reason people dish out money is because they have no other option for this type of game and EA/Maxis sets the tone for everything. I see it in the Paralives patreon all the time. People ask for the same exact features the sims has because they have no imagination and don't know that you can ask for more. If Paralives has more features, less bugs, and a studio that is willing to listen to and patch things quickly, I think Maxis is going to find themselves having to up their standards because people will either leave the sims or expect a lot more overall.

https://twitter.com/JustJakeSimpson/status/1377687600262090753
https://twitter.com/JustJakeSimpson/status/1377725193267814400

Here's two more. The first one really paints a picture as to what it's like working with EA.

Thanks!! @Gordy i didn't even know there was more?

Sad how they were treated by EA? that's why you never know what the gurus are going through behind the scenes. They are just trying to make the best of what they are working with.

"Babykittyjade;c-17850131" wrote:
Sad how they were treated by EA? that's why you never know what the gurus are going through behind the scenes. They are just trying to make the best of what they are working with.

Yeah why I try to say it EA hindering the franchise instead of the Gurus. I mean there are reasons why SimGuruDuke moved on to start his own studio with some colleagues. EA already killed one Maxis franchise with SimCity. I have told Gurus before how upset I was EA did that and why I joined forums. I mean might happen to Sims anyway one day, but at least I can say that I didn't do anything about it like I hadn't with the parent game SimCity. I feel like Sims 4 being the first iteration not to have a SimCity desktop game developed alongside it is causing an identity crisis for the Sims.

The identity crisis is they're trying to make it into an RPG instead of a simulation. All the stupid buffs annoy the hell out of me. That's an RPG feature where you get to read about what buffs your character has. In a sim game, we should see things happening and not have to read them. I should be able to look at my sim and see that they're in a mood. I hate when kid sims come home sad from school because they got picked on. Um...hello...is this a simulation that you just made me read a scenario and then I had no freaking input in the outcome!? What the heck is that?!

Ya know what else...how are they going to make a hospital and not have a mini-sim inside the game to run a hospital. Have they never heard of the tycoon games? Instead we get a click this, do that, click there, do this 7 times, etc. We could have had objectives like run a general practitioner office where you are a doctor or nurse and hire staff who always perform their own roles. Then at a certain point work at a hospital in various roles and work your way up to actually running and managing the hospital. Now that has replay value because there are lots of ways you can accomplish the same task. And there are a lot of ways to fail, too.

Ok. I went on a mini-rant. Sorry about that. Haha.

I do agree with you that you never know what's going on behind the scenes and it's not ok to attack the gurus no matter how upset you are about something. But we should definitely let them know that we are upset and why.

"Mstybl95;c-17850227" wrote:
The identity crisis is they're trying to make it into an RPG instead of a simulation. All the stupid buffs annoy the ❤️❤️❤️❤️ out of me. That's an RPG feature where you get to read about what buffs your character has. In a sim game, we should see things happening and not have to read them. I should be able to look at my sim and see that they're in a mood. I hate when kid sims come home sad from school because they got picked on. Um...hello...is this a simulation that you just made me read a scenario and then I had no freaking input in the outcome!? What the heck is that?!

Ya know what else...how are they going to make a hospital and not have a mini-sim inside the game to run a hospital. Have they never heard of the tycoon games? Instead we get a click this, do that, click there, do this 7 times, etc. We could have had objectives like run a general practitioner office where you are a doctor or nurse and hire staff who always perform their own roles. Then at a certain point work at a hospital in various roles and work your way up to actually running and managing the hospital. Now that has replay value because there are lots of ways you can accomplish the same task. And there are a lot of ways to fail, too.

Ok. I went on a mini-rant. Sorry about that. Haha.

I do agree with you that you never know what's going on behind the scenes and it's not ok to attack the gurus no matter how upset you are about something. But we should definitely let them know that we are upset and why.

I feel like the game Two Point Hospital even has more of that Sims identity than the Sims 4 does. I think when it comes down to it the game is full of apathy but lacks empathy. There is just not those emotions that other simulation and even RPG games have these days. It feels more like those clicker mobile games to earn money and nothing else so I do agree it does feel like a tycoon game but even with those I mostly took rollercoaster off the rails and let the dinosaurs attack the guests, so at least there was some aspect of failure to them.

"Scobre;c-17850338" wrote:

I feel like the game Two Point Hospital even has more of that Sims identity than the Sims 4 does. I think when it comes down to it the game is full of apathy but lacks empathy. There is just not those emotions that other simulation and even RPG games have these days. It feels more like those clicker mobile games to earn money and nothing else so I do agree it does feel like a tycoon game but even with those I mostly took rollercoaster off the rails and let the dinosaurs attack the guests, so at least there was some aspect of failure to them.

@Scobre Two Point Hospital is exactly how you make a modern game that is a succesor to a previously very succesful game. Two Point Hospital had huge shoes to fill because "Theme hospital" is such an iconic game.
I feel like they did a great job with it, you can see the passion and hard-work that was put into it.

"SimmerGeorge;c-17850344" wrote:

"Scobre;c-17850338" wrote:

I feel like the game Two Point Hospital even has more of that Sims identity than the Sims 4 does. I think when it comes down to it the game is full of apathy but lacks empathy. There is just not those emotions that other simulation and even RPG games have these days. It feels more like those clicker mobile games to earn money and nothing else so I do agree it does feel like a tycoon game but even with those I mostly took rollercoaster off the rails and let the dinosaurs attack the guests, so at least there was some aspect of failure to them.

@Scobre Two Point Hospital is exactly how you make a modern game that is a succesor to a previously very succesful game. Two Point Hospital had huge shoes to fill because "Theme hospital" is such an iconic game.
I feel like they did a great job with it, you can see the passion and hard-work that was put into it.

Yep why I support competition. It is healthy. I mean we did get City Skylines out of SimCity at least.

"Mstybl95;c-17850227" wrote:
The identity crisis is they're trying to make it into an RPG instead of a simulation. All the stupid buffs annoy the ❤️❤️❤️❤️ out of me. That's an RPG feature where you get to read about what buffs your character has. In a sim game, we should see things happening and not have to read them. I should be able to look at my sim and see that they're in a mood. I hate when kid sims come home sad from school because they got picked on. Um...hello...is this a simulation that you just made me read a scenario and then I had no freaking input in the outcome!? What the heck is that?!

Ya know what else...how are they going to make a hospital and not have a mini-sim inside the game to run a hospital. Have they never heard of the tycoon games? Instead we get a click this, do that, click there, do this 7 times, etc. We could have had objectives like run a general practitioner office where you are a doctor or nurse and hire staff who always perform their own roles. Then at a certain point work at a hospital in various roles and work your way up to actually running and managing the hospital. Now that has replay value because there are lots of ways you can accomplish the same task. And there are a lot of ways to fail, too.

Ok. I went on a mini-rant. Sorry about that. Haha.

I do agree with you that you never know what's going on behind the scenes and it's not ok to attack the gurus no matter how upset you are about something. But we should definitely let them know that we are upset and why.

Your idea with the hospital is❤❤❤?
Amazing. These are actual love hearts by the way. Not bad word coverings??
I always wanted a hospital that functions similar to how you described.
I had to download mods just to roleplay something similar.