Tomarang World Discussion Thread

"Lenny_Ogg;c-18322580" wrote:

So beautiful <3

I have no idea why I didn't notice this during the trailer but thank goodness there actually are swimmable areas in this world. Here's to hoping a beach lot like tartosa's exists as well

"LeucosiaX;c-18322969" wrote:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53308111099_15005843ea_k.jpgScreenshot 2023-11-03 at 6.44.11 PM by leucosia x, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306888772_c50449aad4_h.jpgScreenshot 2023-11-03 at 6.44.23 PM by leucosia x, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53307751411_ddb206ccfc_h.jpgScreenshot 2023-11-03 at 6.44.48 PM by leucosia x, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53307997978_b1577a97e0_h.jpgScreenshot 2023-11-03 at 6.44.59 PM by leucosia x, on Flickr

@AncientMuse My biggest point of interest is the animal sanctuary. It does looks like she is holding a badge, as if in a leather wallet holder, like a cop, which made me think she works in the animal sanctuary. I imagine purchased vistor passes would be plastic or paper, ...but who knows.

The building behind her does not appear to be not playable building. I hope I'm wrong and they did not make the animal sanctuary to be a rabbit hole. ?? I mean that would be the best aspect of the game, the animals. A missed opportunity like the Equestrian center in Horse Ranch for some of the most rewarding gameplay.

@catloverplayer Did SimGuruNova reply?

@leo3487 Animal Sanctuaries are supposed to protect animals and in Thailand, there are a lot of them for wildlife. There are different types but the better ones are more incorporated in their natural habitat like a safari. More exploitative type have them behind and electric fence, and silly circus like shows.

I had a friend who posted photos of herself on social media riding a baby elephant like a horse, in an animal sanctuary in Thailand, and while and incredible photo opportunity, many felt forcing animals to give rides to tourist is exploiting the animals and they are not saving. They are just using them to profit.

I think in the USA, animal sanctuaries can be for rare species going instinct, in some cases, and in other cases rescued livestock farm animals. I was always hoping to start one in game, myself.

No not yet.

"DaWaterRat;c-18322999" wrote:
I know people are going to disagree with me, but I honestly think that the Animal Sanctuary being a Rabbit Hole (which I'm almost certain it is) is actually a good thing.

First and foremost, it means that the animal sanctuary will neither be a drain on system resources nor effectively empty of sims except for the ones you bring. Even if they increased the 20 sims limit, having all those animals about would probably force the game to cut down on the number of sims that show up.

Second, it means that we get more assets for the city/build-buy/CAS, because they didn't have to create and animate the animals in the sanctuary. I know a lot of people think that the packs should just be given the budget to have everything that we (the players) think should be in the pack, but that's not how it works. There's a fixed maximum of assets and systems and work hours assigned to a pack based on its size, and while I'd certainly love animals, I don't want them enough for other assets to be removed in exchange.

Now, all that said, there may be ways they could get around it, and at least one developer on the pack has a history of getting more into a pack than previously thought possible. And if they did make it actually visitable, I'd love it. But I'm not expecting it, and I can certainly understand why they would make the choice to leave the Animal Sanctuary as a rabbit hole. And in the long run, I'm okay with it.

I would love it if the animal sanctuary had actual animals you could visit and interact with. But I’m OK with it being a rabbit hole. While I love animals and all animals in the game, I don’t expect every pack to include them — and we already have so many. Animals don’t fit the theme of renting/property owning, so there’s really no reason to include them here. And I agree that they would take up a huge amount of resources which would be better directed towards the actual theme of the pack.

I don't see point in adding animal sanctuary if its a rabbithole
like yeah it won't take as much performance as actually adding animals

but it also isn't really adding anything to the playing experience to have your sim go into a random rabbithole so why add it at all then hmph

at very least it should have some object animal to interact with that we can see our sims interacting with like the last dragon or whatever

or we should be able to adopt some little pet animal like lizard or snake or gremlin or whatever to take into our new apartment to upset the landlord

I guess they wanted to add some rabbit hole locations to fill out the world and they thought an animal sanctuary would fit with the world and would be somewhere we’d like to send our sims. And maybe we’ll get some animal-themed buffs and hear some animal sounds or something.

All assuming it is a rabbit hole, of course.

If the animal sanctuary is for tigers, then they are basically large cats and we already have cats in game so maybe it's not that difficult to add real tigers, or maybe even lions or panthers. Hope it's not a rabbit hole and that we can actually befriend them, pet them, feed them, take pictures with them. How cute would it be if we get to bottle feed baby tigers? Or see adult tigers curling up in discarded big boxes like cats do?

"Simmingal;c-18323084" wrote:
I don't see point in adding animal sanctuary if its a rabbithole
like yeah it won't take as much performance as actually adding animals

but it also isn't really adding anything to the playing experience to have your sim go into a random rabbithole so why add it at all then hmph

at very least it should have some object animal to interact with that we can see our sims interacting with like the last dragon or whatever

or we should be able to adopt some little pet animal like lizard or snake or gremlin or whatever to take into our new apartment to upset the landlord

This is meant as a side feature to give simmers who don't care about owning apartments something else to do in the pack but if it's a rabbithole I hope sims stay in it for a while before coming back out. Maybe you'll be able to click on the entrance and you'll have options to ride the animals,feed the animals,walk around the park and even take pictures with animals. Prehaps it will also give moodlets.

I think that if the sanctuary is just a rabbit hole, then I'd much prefer them to have added something else that we can actually interact with. I prefer locations that can provide an experience (good for picture taking, memories), or that can in some way have an impact on my sim (skills, fortune, unlocked trait or whatever). Not a text game. If a rabbit hole offers none of those, I won't visit it again, an it would be a wasted location/side feature.

I have not yet tried to locate the never ending cave text game in Chestnut Ridge, it's probably well thought out and all hat, but I'm into Sims to play my sims, not to answer text questions that feels more like a game made for me - the simmer, than for my sims. It moved the focus of my game away from what I'm actually wanting to play.

So, while animal sanctuary is a great idea, I really hope to see at least *one* animal for a glimpse of a second while going there. Doesn't need to be a full fletched animal, it just need to be there somehow visually.

"Simmingal;c-18323084" wrote:
I don't see point in adding animal sanctuary if its a rabbithole
like yeah it won't take as much performance as actually adding animals

but it also isn't really adding anything to the playing experience to have your sim go into a random rabbithole so why add it at all then hmph

at very least it should have some object animal to interact with that we can see our sims interacting with like the last dragon or whatever

or we should be able to adopt some little pet animal like lizard or snake or gremlin or whatever to take into our new apartment to upset the landlord

Yeah, I'd like to see some sort of hybrid rabbithole. I mentioned in the Speculation section last week that there are so many interesting small animals they could add for a Southeast Asian world... all kinds of colorful lizards and turtles and snakes and birds. I'd have loved the option to collect those out in the world and bring them home as pets (at least some of them).

Then the animal sanctuary could have had rabbithole and non-rabbithole sections. I.e., a room or rooms near the entrance that you could actually visit and look at small animals in glass cases, with maybe a souvenir stand and a bathroom stall outside, and then a sign with branching menus to "Visit Tigers," "Visit Elephants," etc. Then you could disappear into those large animal sections, with maybe some popup text and moodlets to add a little more color. Then of course, there would be some grounds where you could walk around, picnic, etc.

I don't think this is what they actually did, but I think it could have been a great compromise solution.

There’s a swimmable area that we saw, but I really hope there’s a lot sitting halfway on the water that we can turn into a beach if we have Island Living. It would suck to have a world based on South East Asia and only have a tiny swimmable area. The ability to snorkel if you have IL would be nice too.