"Chicklet453681;c-17854036" wrote:
I would like height sliders too, but I honestly at this point in time, don't see it happening. The game is going on 7 years, and yes they said TS4 has "many, many more years", but to implement height sliders, every single animation in the game would need to be adjusted for each life stage. (cooking at counters, opening fridges, riding bikes, showering, sitting, kissing, hugging, the list of animations that would need updated is massive. Just think about every single animation your sim does.
I don't think adding height sliders will bring in a ton more people to the franchise to reap monetary benefits for EA to justify the time and resources it would take to modify all of the animations. TS4 is synonymous with reusing existing animations as it is.
But, maybe if they're reading these Feedback threads it could be implemented into TS5 from the beginning.
Basically this. I feel like folks who ask for this in TS4 probably don't know much about game development. This is not a criticism. Paralives has talked about developing a system into their game in which they have the game, if memory serves, automatically adjust animations in real time for Parafolk of differing heights. Difference is, Paralives is still in early development. I highly doubt Maxis can implement the same on a game that's already been released.
"sunman502;c-17855423" wrote:
We do know that sims that are taller have no problems with hugging sims that are shorter than them through the interaction of older sims hugging sims that are children.
They have no problem doing it because the developers animated that interaction into the game. It could be possible within any game that encourages physically engaging with NPCs/playable characters, but the time and resources would be immense. Take a Sim taller than the average Sim. Animations for them throughout the
entire game and its packs would have to be edited just so your taller Sims can be included without breaking immersion. Every single physical interaction a Sim can have with another one would need a new animation. Every single physical interaction with an object would need a new animation. Numerous objects would need resizing, a taller Sim may have to sit in a more awkward position on the average chair, couch, etc. Their feet could poke out from the ends of a bed. Bicycles would look ridiculous, a taller Sim would need a bigger bike, as it tends to be in real life. Casting a spell onto another Sim and duels would need re-doing for Tall vs Average, Average vs Short, and Short vs Tall. This can be easily replicated using height slider mods, I've used them myself only to uninstall them because they broke my immersion. If memory serves, the UI where it shows what emotion your Sim is feeling would need fixing since it would show my Sim's chest instead of his head because he was taller than intended.
I can go on, there's tons and tons of examples.
Now double everything I just pointed out and everything I implied, but reverse it for shorter Sims. Then add even
more for ensuring that all short, average, and tall Sims can interact with each other without clipping, goofed animations, etc. That is an unbelievably
massive amount of work just to include two other height options. I'd rather not ask Maxis to work that much/hard because if I was going to, I'd ask for more stuff for our Sims to do, more depth, more gameplay, not something far less relevant like height. Sure, it would definitely add more realism, but it's a visual feature only. As much I would love my Sim to be taller than average, I predict it would be more of a TS5 feature. Maybe even TS6. Or perhaps never. But definitely not TS4. Now if I end up being wrong and it does end up being added to TS4 seamlessly, I'll gladly take that L, but I would bet my cat that I'm not. And I love my cat.
