Cars?
Been thinking about cars lately. They're pretty low on my list of priorities, but I know lots of people want them. And I always hope people can get the things they'd want.
Just been thinking about the logistics of implementing them in game.
There are, as I see it, two big problems.
The first is just that you'd need to build a new set of build mode and terrain tools. Lots aren't consistently placed enough for a uniform driveway object to work. And, more than that, the people who seem to want cars most are often those interested in build mode, and current builds often feature different kinds of driveway - winding or short, curved, elevated, etc. They'd need to make a tool that makes those actually driveable terrain, and allows for the manipulation of that terrain.
The second, and much bigger one, is where the cars are going to go. I don't mean "but loading screens!" - I played the Sims 2. I know the car can just pull out of the driveway and disappear and then you get your loading screen (and, potentially, the car parked at the new lot? - though then the game has to keep track of where the car is AND we need to find "parking" for all or most lots) - I mean when the car pulls out of the buildable lot, where does it go?
In some residential lots, this is obvious. There's a road. It goes to the road. Whatever driveway tool you make would have to make a ramp in the sidewalk just past the driveway area (that, also, seems like a lot of work, but at least there's a ROAD), but a lot of the residential lots are landlocked, with no nearby roads.
The most obvious example is all the island in Windenburg. Being an island (that your sims presumably travel to by boat), it has no roads. But there's also at least one lot (I think more? I'd have to check) in Brindleton Bay that doesn't have any direct street access. (There's a little gathering of cars beneath suggesting, I think, that the neighborhood shares a little parking area, but that's not gonna help for Car Gameplay). And I'm not going to check right now, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are more.
So not only would you have to edit the boundary world just outside of all lots with road access to make it interact with the lot somehow to create driveable driveways, but on some lots - what, you just can't have cars if you live there? Or?
Knowing what we can expect realistically, I feel like if we ever did get cars, either
They would not be driveable/have driveable driveways. Best case scenario, you click on the car and click travel, and it takes you to the loading screen, likely with no animation of the sims even getting in the car, and certainly no animation of the car actually moving.
OR
They would only be playable on select residential lots, with pre-selected points of entry and exit for each lot (sorry builders, but the alternative sounds like too much work to implement at this point. If they'd planned for it from the beginning, maybe!). They would then disappear at arrival (where's the car parked? We'll never know). Maybe these lots are even only in a new world built with cars in mind, with no real plans to add them to base game.
I know this won't deter people from wanting cars. Even if they're just things to work on your handiness skill (or a new Mechanic skill) and customize and such, they're an integral part of many regular people's lives, and some people really want that in the game. But I think either we'd get no driving animations or we can't have them on all or even most existing lots.
And they sound like a lot of work for limited return.
Just been thinking about the logistics of implementing them in game.
There are, as I see it, two big problems.
The first is just that you'd need to build a new set of build mode and terrain tools. Lots aren't consistently placed enough for a uniform driveway object to work. And, more than that, the people who seem to want cars most are often those interested in build mode, and current builds often feature different kinds of driveway - winding or short, curved, elevated, etc. They'd need to make a tool that makes those actually driveable terrain, and allows for the manipulation of that terrain.
The second, and much bigger one, is where the cars are going to go. I don't mean "but loading screens!" - I played the Sims 2. I know the car can just pull out of the driveway and disappear and then you get your loading screen (and, potentially, the car parked at the new lot? - though then the game has to keep track of where the car is AND we need to find "parking" for all or most lots) - I mean when the car pulls out of the buildable lot, where does it go?
In some residential lots, this is obvious. There's a road. It goes to the road. Whatever driveway tool you make would have to make a ramp in the sidewalk just past the driveway area (that, also, seems like a lot of work, but at least there's a ROAD), but a lot of the residential lots are landlocked, with no nearby roads.
The most obvious example is all the island in Windenburg. Being an island (that your sims presumably travel to by boat), it has no roads. But there's also at least one lot (I think more? I'd have to check) in Brindleton Bay that doesn't have any direct street access. (There's a little gathering of cars beneath suggesting, I think, that the neighborhood shares a little parking area, but that's not gonna help for Car Gameplay). And I'm not going to check right now, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are more.
So not only would you have to edit the boundary world just outside of all lots with road access to make it interact with the lot somehow to create driveable driveways, but on some lots - what, you just can't have cars if you live there? Or?
Knowing what we can expect realistically, I feel like if we ever did get cars, either
They would not be driveable/have driveable driveways. Best case scenario, you click on the car and click travel, and it takes you to the loading screen, likely with no animation of the sims even getting in the car, and certainly no animation of the car actually moving.
OR
They would only be playable on select residential lots, with pre-selected points of entry and exit for each lot (sorry builders, but the alternative sounds like too much work to implement at this point. If they'd planned for it from the beginning, maybe!). They would then disappear at arrival (where's the car parked? We'll never know). Maybe these lots are even only in a new world built with cars in mind, with no real plans to add them to base game.
I know this won't deter people from wanting cars. Even if they're just things to work on your handiness skill (or a new Mechanic skill) and customize and such, they're an integral part of many regular people's lives, and some people really want that in the game. But I think either we'd get no driving animations or we can't have them on all or even most existing lots.
And they sound like a lot of work for limited return.
