Occult Sims

"Armilus616;c-16697746" wrote:

"OneAdorkableGirl;c-16690413" wrote:
There were two polls about a month ish or so ago from SimguruGrant asking which occults we'd like to see in the future. Witches won with Mermaids next and I can't remember the others and how they did.

So, they're definitely thinking about other occults, it's just all about... when ...they finally release them. Just try to hold on a little longer, OP. :3 I am very excited for when they finally release witches, because I agree, we definitely need more!

Those Polls are the exact reason why I think Witches will be in the second half of 2019.
From the Community Stuff pack (Laundry) we know that Stuff packs take a year to make. Assuming that Gamepacks and EPs take at least as long, and them saying that they will do something with the poll results, one can assume that they've started working on an occult pack a month-ish ago.
By that logic, we have 11 Months to wait. At the very least.

I wouldn't say that SP's take a year to make; If I pay $10 for a pack that has a few things and maybe some gameplay, and it took a whole year to make all that, I wouldn't believe you. Do you really think MFP stuff took a whole year to make too? I really don't think so. The only reason Laundry Day took so long compared to all the other SP's, some that had rolled out literally within a month after each other, was because it took a whole year for the community to make up its mind on what it wanted. They needed to ensure the community who voted was absolutely sure of what they wanted from the pack and were satisfied with the final results. By-and-large Simmers are extremely picky with pack content, but they have every right to be because they are consumers of said product.

"paradiseplanet;c-16703895" wrote:

"Armilus616;c-16697746" wrote:

"OneAdorkableGirl;c-16690413" wrote:
There were two polls about a month ish or so ago from SimguruGrant asking which occults we'd like to see in the future. Witches won with Mermaids next and I can't remember the others and how they did.

So, they're definitely thinking about other occults, it's just all about... when ...they finally release them. Just try to hold on a little longer, OP. :3 I am very excited for when they finally release witches, because I agree, we definitely need more!

Those Polls are the exact reason why I think Witches will be in the second half of 2019.
From the Community Stuff pack (Laundry) we know that Stuff packs take a year to make. Assuming that Gamepacks and EPs take at least as long, and them saying that they will do something with the poll results, one can assume that they've started working on an occult pack a month-ish ago.
By that logic, we have 11 Months to wait. At the very least.

I wouldn't say that SP's take a year to make; If I pay $10 for a pack that has a few things and maybe some gameplay, and it took a whole year to make all that, I wouldn't believe you. Do you really think MFP stuff took a whole year to make too? I really don't think so. The only reason Laundry Day took so long compared to all the other SP's, some that had rolled out literally within a month after each other, was because it took a whole year for the community to make up its mind on what it wanted. They needed to ensure the community who voted was absolutely sure of what they wanted from the pack and were satisfied with the final results. By-and-large Simmers are extremely picky with pack content, but they have every right to be because they are consumers of said product.

I think the quoted time for stuff packs was around 6-9 months. Ours took longer because it was a polling process.

"paradiseplanet;c-16703887" wrote:
The devs make what sells, simple as that. If certain occult states from past games sold well, there's no doubt in my mind that they hadn't forgotten about them and are making them now. Occults like PlantSims, Werewolves, and Zombies weren't nearly as popular as the top winners of Vampires, Witches, and even Mermaids, so I doubt the less popular ones will ever be getting made in this version and fully expect the most popular ones to be remade in TS4 instead.

How would they know that? Besides, popularity also depends on how those creatures were implemented. Werewolves for me were a turn off in Sims 3 and mermaids could have been much better as well. Fairies too. And zombies are nothing but a (bugged) nuisance in the game.

Graham said that normally Sps take 3-4 months - they only took that long in that special pack to show us the step by step of making a stuff packs and allowing us to vote for things we wanted in the pack which the Guru generally do those kinds of things quickly with only sketches not full fledged submissions. Plus don't forget we started out with 5 different concepts when took a month just to pick from those - the devs have an idea and just with their team decide which direction to go with it - etc. But Graham made it clear that the special project meant to be drawn out. Don't forget that he was still putting out sps a;l the time he was working with us on that project as well - they put out 4 sps during that year we helped with the project.

EPs take a year plus - gps take about 6 to 8 months. Sps 3-4 months.

"Armilus616;c-16707219" wrote:

"Writin_Reg;c-16706577" wrote:
Graham said that normally Sps take 3-4 months - they only took that long in that special pack to show us the step by step of making a stuff packs and allowing us to vote for things we wanted in the pack which the Guru generally do those kinds of things quickly with only sketches not full fledged submissions. Plus don't forget we started out with 5 different concepts when took a month just to pick from those - the devs have an idea and just with their team decide which direction to go with it - etc. But Graham made it clear that the special project meant to be drawn out. Don't forget that he was still putting out sps a;l the time he was working with us on that project as well - they put out 4 sps during that year we helped with the project.

EPs take a year plus - gps take about 6 to 8 months. Sps 3-4 months.

Source?

If it helps, Graham has loads of insight on how stuff packs function if you dig down into the Community Stuff Pack Project section. Many Simmers asked about why the stuff packs were developed in that way while the project was ongoing, and Graham answered many of their questions on how stuff packs all work, and I'm sure it's in there.

"Armilus616;c-16707219" wrote:

"Writin_Reg;c-16706577" wrote:
Graham said that normally Sps take 3-4 months - they only took that long in that special pack to show us the step by step of making a stuff packs and allowing us to vote for things we wanted in the pack which the Guru generally do those kinds of things quickly with only sketches not full fledged submissions. Plus don't forget we started out with 5 different concepts when took a month just to pick from those - the devs have an idea and just with their team decide which direction to go with it - etc. But Graham made it clear that the special project meant to be drawn out. Don't forget that he was still putting out sps a;l the time he was working with us on that project as well - they put out 4 sps during that year we helped with the project.

EPs take a year plus - gps take about 6 to 8 months. Sps 3-4 months.

Source?

The source was the whole Grahams corner.You have to follow all the link listed in there for all the different talks and blogs Graham made, and Q & A.s. He explained everything out as we asked and as we moved through working together there.


Also Grahams says it here as well that his team can make 4 sps a year -

https://simsvip.com/2017/08/11/sims-4-simgurugraham-shares-info-stuff-pack-production/

Fine, but even if that is true, it pushes Witches to December - February. Not September - October.

"Armilus616;c-16707821" wrote:
Fine, but even if that is true, it pushes Witches to December - February. Not September - October.

Actually they generally start on the next pack when one pack is about done - so you need to go back to when they announced the last pack - like a couple weeks before a gp was to come out, and eps even a couple months before they announce them - some of which may even over lap time. Like JA was released Feb 27 - they probably started on the next gp a couple weeks before it came out even. Some of us has figured it should be ready to release in mid- late October if it was started in early Feb and took the full 8-9 months easily. But only time will tell.

9 months before JA came out we got Parenthood gp (May 30th).

"Dannydanbo;c-16710656" wrote:
I believe that they have a list of two or three packs ahead of time that they want to work on and are being researched as the current pack is being completed. To think that they begin a new pack at the end of the current one would mean that they have very little foresight and ability to plan ahead. I can't see a meeting the day after Seasons dropped where someone said "Hey guys, we finished Seasons, what's next?" And then what, days of discussion? Let's do this, lets do that, I think the forums want this or that. Not hardly. They are way ahead of that.

No Graham made it clear that eps follow a different pattern. The sps and gps were the ones that followed this kind of pattern. Which he said was sps took 3or so months as his team could make up to 4 a year and that gps took 8-9 months from concept to finish.

EPs seem to march to their own drummer. As many times Grant has mentioned some eps they have spent years working on - so they obviously don't have a cut and dried timeline like sps and gps.

Grant even mentioned not too long ago that he was working on a new concept idea that he was hoping to get approval of. Someone asked would it be the next ep and he said no - if he got approval it would be for an ep much further out.

I'm not sure how it works, but I think everyone has to stay busy. So, when they have finished what they are doing in a GP or EP etc. they move on over to a different pack. I think they already know what is coming next long before they ever finish a GP or EP. Or you would have some departments twiddling their thumbs waiting on work to do. I don't think they can manage this game that way. I think every department of TS4 has to stay busy with no breaks in between or you would be paying people for doing nothing. So, it stands to reason @Dannydanbo is more right than wrong. :)

Example: If the FX guys have finsihed what they were supposed to do for a GP or EP, then they would be just sitting there while others continued to work on the pack..so they have to know what is next and move on as others finish their own work in a GP or EP.