Never Forget! (Cats & Dogs Edition Sims 1 to Sims 4 Comparison)

"LemDoodle;c-17623713" wrote:
Yeah, the beds and the lack of doghouses was (and still is) really disappointing. I was just thinking about this the other day in fact! In my save the Landgraabs have two "outside" dogs (meant to be guard dogs), and I would love to have some proper doghouses for them. But alas.

What disappointed me the most, though, was some folks' (on the team) excuses as to why the beds looked the way they do, and why there weren't any doghouses. Obviously someone feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken here, but the beds were chalked up to basically "if we made them look more plush, the animations wouldn't look right, and there would be clipping issues."

In my opinion that's understandable enough, but...there could have still been a lot more effort put into the bed's designs. For example, I don't see why they couldn't have the same shape/look of them. For example, the beds with borders/walls on them from TS3 (the parts where it's raised up -- you know what I mean), or even the basket beds from TS2 (would be perfect for cats). I just feel like...for a pack that's all about cats and dogs (not even general pets like past packs), there's no excuse for the lackluster pet beds we were given. Or, excuse me, the lackluster pet beds we paid for. (Admittedly I can't say much since I was lucky enough to win the pack in a giveaway here on the forums, but most folks paid at full price, and I was prepared to pay full price, so... Yeah.)

The excuse for no doghouses was even more frustrating. Basically, "iT's , nO oNe uSeS dOgHoUsEs!!1!" Which had me (and several other forums users) absolutely reeling (and me side-eyeing my Amazon wishlist which has at least three doghouses I would love to have for my pooches someday).

Like I said. I still think about this, and still get annoyed about it. The beds from MFPS are super cute, but they're certainly not any better. The beds are hands-down (or maybe I should say paws-down) my least favorite part of this pack.

Yeah I think even having some sort of backing to the beds would help a lot. They're literally just pads!!

"NationalPokedex;c-17623726" wrote:
Yeah I think even having some sort of backing to the beds would help a lot. They're literally just pads!!

Exactly this. Even if it was just for aesthetic purposes, adding a bit more depth to their design could go a long way! I wouldn't mind how flat they were if they had a little more character to 'em, y'know? But as they are now...they're literally just a circle and a square.

For the team talking about how "realistic" they want the game to be (their excuse for the lack of controlling pets -- but admittedly that's another topic entirely), I have never once in my life seen pet beds that look like the ones on offer. ? (Could be because no pet parent in their right mind would buy a bed that's basically a pillowcase...without the pillow. But maybe that's just me!)

"KaeChan2089;c-17623734" wrote:
I really don't buy into their excuses, I honestly believe they don't wanna put in the extra work...I'm dead serious. I have never HEARD of such a thing "it's 20XX NO one uses doghouses." Where the heck you been living? Under a rock?!

Couldn't agree more tbh. I'm not sure what the real excuse is (for anything we ever critique), but the ones they always wind up giving us just make absolutely no sense. Again, it's not entirely on-topic, but I do remember their "we want the game to be more realistic" excuse for non-controllable pets, meanwhile in the trailer they have neon, rainbow-colored pets. Like...?

What I forgot to mention, and another thing that irks me, is that I actually really enjoy the furniture in this pack...for the Sims. The furniture for the pets, however, is incredibly lacking. Honestly they should have called this pack "Cats (and also dogs)," because dogs have little to no furniture. Don't get me wrong, I love the pets themselves, but the pet supplies are...lacking. A lot. The beds are just the finest example of that, I think!

As someone mentioned their excuse for the flat beds being clipping issues well the great thing is they are the ones who make animations and could make a new animation that works with a bed that is not flat. So instead of putting in the work to make a high quality pet bed they took the easy way out just like they did with flat snow and all the other lazy no effort choices they went with in this game.

"ChadSims2;c-17623751" wrote:
As someone mentioned their excuse for the flat beds being clipping issues well the great thing is they are the ones who make animations and could make a new animation that works with a bed that is not flat. So instead of putting in the work to make a high quality pet bed they took the easy way out just like they did with flat snow and all the other lazy no effort choices they went with in this game.

That's exactly what I was thinking but couldn't put into words. They designed the game a certain way, and then faced with the limitations of their own design they act as if there is only one solution and it's generally a lackluster solution. They seem to have thrown innovation out of the window.

"NationalPokedex;c-17623757" wrote:

"ChadSims2;c-17623751" wrote:
As someone mentioned their excuse for the flat beds being clipping issues well the great thing is they are the ones who make animations and could make a new animation that works with a bed that is not flat. So instead of putting in the work to make a high quality pet bed they took the easy way out just like they did with flat snow and all the other lazy no effort choices they went with in this game.

That's exactly what I was thinking but couldn't put into words. They designed the game a certain way, and then faced with the limitations of their own design they act as if there is only one solution and it's generally a lackluster solution. They seem to have thrown innovation out of the window.

You are both exactly right. I mean when you think about it, the "getting in bed" animation is really...just a simple jumping animation. So why could they not set the "landing" spot higher? By a few pixels? I mean cats can jump onto counters, then onto fridges, and that animation looks fine. Why could it not be applied to dogs? What am I saying -- dogs can jump onto couches just fine! Both models can jump. Sure it's probably because of ignorance on my behalf, but I just genuinely don't understand why on earth the beds had to be absolutely flat. I don't think anyone is asking for detailed animations of the fabric of the pet bed being squished under the cat's/dog's paws, etc. Just...beds that look like beds, not empty pillowcases.

Those were pet beds??? I honestly thought those were rugs.

I mean I don’t play with pets in any sims game that much (unless I have a storyline in mind) but still I’m amazed I did not pick up on this. I’m not surprised though. (I bought MFPS on sale in a bundle I think and it was for this hairstyle, and to try and complete pets)

"LemDoodle;c-17623763" wrote:

"NationalPokedex;c-17623757" wrote:

"ChadSims2;c-17623751" wrote:
As someone mentioned their excuse for the flat beds being clipping issues well the great thing is they are the ones who make animations and could make a new animation that works with a bed that is not flat. So instead of putting in the work to make a high quality pet bed they took the easy way out just like they did with flat snow and all the other lazy no effort choices they went with in this game.

That's exactly what I was thinking but couldn't put into words. They designed the game a certain way, and then faced with the limitations of their own design they act as if there is only one solution and it's generally a lackluster solution. They seem to have thrown innovation out of the window.

You are both exactly right. I mean when you think about it, the "getting in bed" animation is really...just a simple jumping animation. So why could they not set the "landing" spot higher? By a few pixels? I mean cats can jump onto counters, then onto fridges, and that animation looks fine. Why could it not be applied to dogs? What am I saying -- dogs can jump onto couches just fine! Both models can jump. Sure it's probably because of ignorance on my behalf, but I just genuinely don't understand why on earth the beds had to be absolutely flat. I don't think anyone is asking for detailed animations of the fabric of the pet bed being squished under the cat's/dog's paws, etc. Just...beds that look like beds, not empty pillowcases.

Also cats and dogs can climb stairs, so even if they didn't jump in their pet beds but climbed into them, they still have some form of animation that could then be edited to, as you said, alter the landing point to fit in with a more 3D modeled bed.

"KaeChan2089;c-17623776" wrote:
And let's not forget they reuse animations and HARDLY ever make new animations, like the whole hamster hugging is reused in the bugs in eco-living and so is a vacuum to suck up the smog , it is the same as a high level sim in gardening who can weed the garden with the same machine.

Maybe they reuse animations because their animation team/budget is so small because everyone is too busy animating TS5. ?

I suppose my whole irl neighborhood has not entered the 21st century yet.. as I can count at least 15 dog houses.. (some of them very unique and pretty).