Thanks to everyone who has replied and help fill this thread with some fun ideas! I wanted to be sure to answer some of the questions I saw crop along the way, so here goes...
"IngeJones;15663430" wrote:
@SimGuruGraham while I understand you can't discuss the budget itself, I hope you will be able to communicate to us when something under discussion is vetoed due to that it would take the project over budget or beyond available resources, rather than not give a reason or make one up.
Part of what has us excited about this project is being more open and transparent with the community. I think we've shown in the past we can discuss a bit of the how/why of things (see my many comments about lounge chairs). You can expect more of those types of discussions as we chat about proposed features as this pack evolves.
"Tremayne4260;15663595" wrote:
@SimGuruGraham while I certainly can understand the limitations of what you can discuss due to your contract with Maxis/EA, can we get some general information along the way? Like how long does it normally take to plan and execute an Expansion Pack verses a Stuff Pack? Can and do you use previous animations from previous versions of the game as a basis for new animations? And maybe have some of the other Devs stop by and do like a question and answer thread or tell us what they do (like work on animations or design new clothes or hair, etc.) as it would be interesting to see the process along the way.
I don't think we'll do much to compare/contrast the development of Stuff Packs to other Sims packs during this project. It's fair to say that each project has its own challenges, and certainly as you scale the size of a project up, managing their development requires even more effort. A lot of what we discuss during this project is going to apply specifically to how Stuff Packs are developed - and I'll try to remember to call out when I'm explaining something about how we operate that doesn't apply to other packs.
As we go through, we'll talk a lot about day to day development, and how the features you play actually get built. We're definitely planning on introducing more members of the Stuff Pack team to the community and highlighting what their work involves.
"Marley V;15668972" wrote:
Are the themes/names and focus of the 5 options final or working titles that may it change in the future?
Think of the themes in the poll as a starting point to frame a discussion. We now know that eco living is the theme that won, but we've yet to brainstorm the features for it. Eco living can mean different things to different people... what does it mean to you? Before we get through the brainstorm phase we try not to flat out say no to certain features (unless we know they're beyond the scope of work that can be done in a stuff pack). Instead it's a time to pitch suggestions and consider how they can fit the theme, and what they may add to the overall game.
Actually naming a pack is something that happens once development is well under way. By that time we'll know our theme, our art style, our gameplay features, and the objects and clothing that we're making. That information helps us choose a name that best represents all of those things. On this pack, the community will be voting on what that final name is :)
