Forum Discussion

Vyo4's avatar
Vyo4
Seasoned Ace
12 months ago

IDEA: Subgroups for Buy Mode

For the player who owns all the packs, browsing the Buy catalog can be overwhelming and time consuming. 75+ packs of downloadable content (and counting) have created hundreds upon hundreds of Buy Mode assets. The loading time to generate thumbnails for each category also accumulates with each new addition of DLC.

Benefits and Considerations:

  1. Miscategorized Items. By adding another layer of organization, miscategorized items can be moved to their proper and logical locations. Players may even discover new items previously overlooked due to being miscategorized.

  2. Reduced Search Time. Reward players who own multiple DLC by reducing their search time when browsing their Buy catalog. Alleviate the frustration caused by trying to find a specific object in a sea of thumbnails. No more should players need to scour an entire category just to locate a needle in a haystack.

  3. Logical Search. Yes, there’s the Search Bar, but results only match words found within the object’s Item Name, and if that object’s function isn’t noted in the Item Name, then that object can only be found through a manual search. For example, if looking for a bowl of fruit, searching “fruit” would not bring up the “Bountiful Platter” from the Parenthood pack. Subgroups would localize all bowls of fruit in Decorations > Clutter > Table.

With new DLC ever on the horizon, it’s time to add Subgroups within each Subcategory in Buy Mode.

 

Example of a Subgroup:

Decorations > Sculptures > Statues

(Category > Subcategory > Subgroup)

Google Slideshow

Feel free to browse my interactive Google Slideshow presentation that provides further considerations and Subgroups examples for each Buy Mode category.


LINK: IDEA: Subgroups for Buy Mode - Google Slideshow

Defining Subgroups 

Subgroups could be divided by Style, Function, Placement, Size and Shape.

Subgroup Section

Referencing the Styled Rooms section of Build Mode, Subgroups could allocate this same top bar above the thumbnail preview panel.

Forum Credits:

Check out similar ideas supportive of a better way to organize Build Buy:

Thank you for considering my suggestion.

build and buy
feedback
ideas

2 Replies

  • mariakurina's avatar
    mariakurina
    2 months ago

    This is truly an impressive work! Something you'd expect a developer who plays the game to pitch internally after so many years of new content, yet having so few categories that can't accommodate that much anymore. Building is no fun anymore cause you can never find anything unless you've built 200+ lots and know all those tricky locations or the weird names (cause they rarely put the real-life item name into the Sims 4 name). 
    Sorting is also needed (by price asc/desc, or by dynamic feature like comfort level or environment), and filter items with an emotional aura

  • Vyo4's avatar
    Vyo4
    Seasoned Ace
    2 months ago

    Many thanks! 😄

    mariakurina wrote:

    Sorting is also needed (by price asc/desc, or by dynamic feature like comfort level or environment), and filter items with an emotional aura

    More filter and sort options is absolutely needed. Would be wonderful to be able to sort asc/desc and great idea to filter by object specifications, like power level [Eco Lifestyle], or skill-specific (+Logic, +Comedy, etc). 👍

Recent Discussions