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EgonVM
2 years agoSeasoned Ace
I'll bring up the initial goal of Simlish from this Wikipedia article.
So yeah, I also remember in videos that Will Wright experimented with languages like Estonian and Tagalog, but he found even these too repetitive, thus he went with Simlish.
So yeah, as the article tells, the goal of Simlish is for players to resonate with the emotions of the characters rather than their speech. While I do kind of agree that translating some phrases will go against the goal, it could also build up an unique culture for The Sims fans (hold up... which could be used in marketing... oh no...).
Personal off-topic opinion under spoilers (ignore if unwanted).
While developing SimCopter (1996), designer Will Wright explicitly avoided using real-world languages such that players could resonate with the emotions of the characters rather than their speech. The initial dialogue team—comprising Wright, audio lead Robi Kauker, voice director Claire Curtin, sound designer Kent Jolly, and composer Jerry Martin—began by using musical instruments reminiscent of the "wah wah" sound effect heard in some Peanuts animated specials. The idea to use musical instruments was quickly scrapped.
Wright experimented with several real-world languages to use within The Sims, including Ukrainian, Navajo, Tagalog, and Estonian, but faced difficulty in finding voice actors and developing a unique identity for the language; with regards to the Ukrainian language, its Slavic undertone was unsuitable for the project. Simlish ultimately became a combination of these languages. One voice actor based in San Francisco, Stephen Kearin, recounted being given a pidgin version of Swahili and Cherokee. Kearin then suggested he speak gibberish, and Wright agreed. Until 2006, Kearin and his female counterpart Gerri Lawlor served as the Simlish actors.
So yeah, I also remember in videos that Will Wright experimented with languages like Estonian and Tagalog, but he found even these too repetitive, thus he went with Simlish.
So yeah, as the article tells, the goal of Simlish is for players to resonate with the emotions of the characters rather than their speech. While I do kind of agree that translating some phrases will go against the goal, it could also build up an unique culture for The Sims fans (hold up... which could be used in marketing... oh no...).
Personal off-topic opinion under spoilers (ignore if unwanted).
Spoiler
Though to be honest, it still feels to special to me that Estonian was considered...
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