Ideas at a Glance for Toddlers
So as an aside from the family play thread chat I wanted to offer people a place to suggest their ideas for a perfect scenarios for toddlers in TS4 in a bite size format as suggested by a couple of us...
Forum Discussion
For me, the gameplay of toddlers should revolve around learning and acquiring autonomy. I want to feel like my toddlers have learned and became more automous at the end of their life stage, compared to the beginning, thus giving me, the player, the feeling of "raising" and "growing up". For example, with potty training, my toddler is now able to use the potty alone, and it makes it easier for the Sims parents, and gives me a feeling of progression. I want the toddlers to be highly challenging at the beginning of the life stage, and becoming easier and easier as the toddler learn things (either by himself, or with parents' interactions). Raising the toddler, and seeing him make progress is the reward in itself for me.
Bonding with others would be my second most important point : a large range of interactions with all the other life stages is essential, in particular with other children or toddlers. I don't want the toddlers to feel sort of isolated because they can't interact as much with others.
I would love the learning process of toddlers to be improved. Walking, talking and potty training are the three obvious main skills but I think these could be expanded too :
- Walking could be expanded to going up and down the stairs (with hands, without), interacting with the furniture, running, jumping -> a motor skill
- Talking could unlock new interactions to ask the toddlers about what they want, how they feel, or ask them to do things (even indirectly, with interactions giving emotions for example, like trying to calm them to remove angry, that could unlock when they have a high enough skill)
- Skills could unlock new interactions with toys too, to simulate the "this toy was too complicated before, now I can play with it", perhaps with toddlers getting all angry/bored if the toys is too hard for them, and toddlers playing with their toys in new ways as they grow up ?
The learning process of these skills could be more involved than parent interaction -> skill bar filling. I think those could be more autonomous from the toddler interacting with the environment and linked to emotions, with toys giving different emotions moodlets to stimulate the little toddlers :
- Baby walker could give an energized moodlet, and energized toddlers would attempt to walk/go up the stairs and learn the walking/motor skill
- Stack blocks could give a focused moodlet, and focused toddlers would be more likely to progress in a mental skill
Emotions could have a huge impact on what the toddlers do or don't : an energized toddler would not want to sleep for example. So attentive Sim parents would pay attention so they don't get overexcited before going to bed and give them calmer toys. I think it could be fun if Sim parents have to adapt to the toddlers' emotions, with toys and various items allowing some kind of manipulation of those emotions. Angry toddler refuse to eat -> either try to calm them (skill interaction) or distract them with a toy or just wait till they are calmer -> try again with the food once they are no longer angry. To go back to the sense of progression I mentionned at the beginning : as the toddlers progress in the skills, the impact of emotions and how much influence they have on the everyday life, could be lowered, with new interactions/new buffs thus giving the impression that the toddler is growing up and becoming more reasonnable and more autonomous.
I'm not too keen on the bad raising = bad traits. I would prefer if raising gave a bonus trait, like the children aspiration ones, perhaps a bonus to the acquisition of child skills, which would makes raising children easier later, but still not something obligatory.
Bonding with others would be my second most important point : a large range of interactions with all the other life stages is essential, in particular with other children or toddlers. I don't want the toddlers to feel sort of isolated because they can't interact as much with others.
I would love the learning process of toddlers to be improved. Walking, talking and potty training are the three obvious main skills but I think these could be expanded too :
- Walking could be expanded to going up and down the stairs (with hands, without), interacting with the furniture, running, jumping -> a motor skill
- Talking could unlock new interactions to ask the toddlers about what they want, how they feel, or ask them to do things (even indirectly, with interactions giving emotions for example, like trying to calm them to remove angry, that could unlock when they have a high enough skill)
- Skills could unlock new interactions with toys too, to simulate the "this toy was too complicated before, now I can play with it", perhaps with toddlers getting all angry/bored if the toys is too hard for them, and toddlers playing with their toys in new ways as they grow up ?
The learning process of these skills could be more involved than parent interaction -> skill bar filling. I think those could be more autonomous from the toddler interacting with the environment and linked to emotions, with toys giving different emotions moodlets to stimulate the little toddlers :
- Baby walker could give an energized moodlet, and energized toddlers would attempt to walk/go up the stairs and learn the walking/motor skill
- Stack blocks could give a focused moodlet, and focused toddlers would be more likely to progress in a mental skill
Emotions could have a huge impact on what the toddlers do or don't : an energized toddler would not want to sleep for example. So attentive Sim parents would pay attention so they don't get overexcited before going to bed and give them calmer toys. I think it could be fun if Sim parents have to adapt to the toddlers' emotions, with toys and various items allowing some kind of manipulation of those emotions. Angry toddler refuse to eat -> either try to calm them (skill interaction) or distract them with a toy or just wait till they are calmer -> try again with the food once they are no longer angry. To go back to the sense of progression I mentionned at the beginning : as the toddlers progress in the skills, the impact of emotions and how much influence they have on the everyday life, could be lowered, with new interactions/new buffs thus giving the impression that the toddler is growing up and becoming more reasonnable and more autonomous.
I'm not too keen on the bad raising = bad traits. I would prefer if raising gave a bonus trait, like the children aspiration ones, perhaps a bonus to the acquisition of child skills, which would makes raising children easier later, but still not something obligatory.
