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TriplisTrip's avatar
TriplisTrip
7 years ago

(BAM) Build-A-Mod Collaboration

(B) Build

Sometimes I have ideas and then jump on them before thinking them through. This is one of those cases.

The idea is this: We build a mod together. I will piece together the technical bits and you folks will be designers. I will offer input on design as well.

Your job is to offer ideas, proposals, detailed suggestions, it's up to you.

Before your imagination soars into the stratosphere and hits the International Space Station, I must regrettably make it clear that there will be some hard limitations. Here is a working list of them (I may add to this later if I've forgotten important bits):

Limits (meaning, I can't do this):

New animations (unless you are a skilled animator, this isn't going to happen, as I am most assuredly not - and if you are, we'll still need to do some back and forth on how exactly the animations need to be structured and what kind of ways they can be implemented into an interaction)

New VFX (I don't think it's possible to add new ones with modding, if I even knew where to begin in making them)

New objects, CAS items, etc. (this is just not something I've personally done with TS4 modding, so I have no idea where to begin)

Anything that requires new UI elements added to the game (e.g. I can't something like the Vampire Powers menu or the Clubs menu... new pie menus, however, are relatively easy)


Most else is likely realistic and I will clarify if I think it's not.


(A) A

As in, A meaningless section of the main post. I came up with this idea because I know a lot about how to mod for this game, but I don't have a lot of time to invest in it anymore.

There are a few reasons why this might be an interesting way to make something, without causing problems for me in terms of distraction and time spent. For one, I studied game design in college and took design very seriously in my mods, which meant I spent a lot of time on designing. If I'm working with you folks, I can get your input on things as well! For another, if it's a collaborative project, I don't need to keep track of everything in my own head and documents and your interest in it will help pin my attention over a long period of time.

I also just think this might be fun and give some people a more up-front experience making proposed designs for a game mechanic. Which brings me to...


(M) Mod

I will try to show the behind-the-scenes process of the technical creation of the mod, so that you can be a part of the whole process.

I don't have a plan for concrete phases for the project; this is probably going to mimic how flexibly I make mods myself. My general plan is to make it a flexible process that can adjust depending on how many people are involved and how quickly decisions get made, how quickly partial implementations of ideas get crafted to test them, debate is had, etc.

That said, the first part is clear: Brainstorming

We need a concept for what we want to make, first.

Keep in mind that it doesn't have to be "big." Some mods make small changes, but can have a significant impact for some players, such as the Skill Lock mod I made, whereas others just balloon out of control, like the Sorcerer Mod.

Size is not the key factor in quality here. The key is creating an addition to the game that is enjoyable to use and (ideally) does not get boring after using it once, since The Sims 4 is a game where you encounter the same things over and over and over.


(Collaboration) Conclusion

Let me know if you have any thoughts on the process, or questions, not just ideas for a mod. I absolutely don't have a concrete plan on this and I have no idea what I'm doing (er, that came out wrong - I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to this particular plan... I have some idea what I'm doing when it comes to modding).

Build with me if you'd like! Or don't.

BAM.


P.S. I expect people to be respectful to one another in collaborating together on this project. Please try to remember that the key word here is fun. Fun mod, fun collaborative experience. This is not a competition and there are no awards. My ego is big enough for all of us, so you don't need to bring yours. I brought enough for everybody. And as the biggest ego in this room, I will take full responsibility if this project is a disaster. Thank you.
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  • LittlBowBub's avatar
    LittlBowBub
    New Veteran
    7 years ago
    Sounds like a neat idea. So you're thinking something like they get tense the way loner does and the tense says something suggesting they use the power to hide?


    I thought it would add a little more depth to the power and sim itself. There could maybe be 2 options, a sim who is more shy and a sim who is more mischievous? Those seem to be the kind of characteristics I find most fitting for an invisibility power.

    Yeah, that seems sensible. Then as they get more skilled, they have more control over when it happens?


    Yeah that's what I was thinking. It gives a reason to develop and practice their skills as well :smile:

    I'm not sure if it includes toddler chat at all. It may have been made before toddlers were added.


    I'll play around with it a bit more, but I think children and toddlers can interact as normal, they have the ghost form though :smile: So I think it only effects teens and upwards, but i'm not 100% sure as the talk to stranger interaction seemed to set a couple of things off before it went back to blocking interactions. I don't think the sims themselves will start of a full blown conversation so it's probably nothing to worry about. I didn't check to see how it would work with cats and dogs, but to me, I don't mind if they can still interact as animals seem to sense things humans/sims can not :tongue: But I will let you know what I find out :blush:
  • TriplisTrip's avatar
    TriplisTrip
    7 years ago
    @LittlBowBub Hey, wanted to pop in mainly to say I'm still here, just have been preoccupied the past week or so.

    Please feel free to continue brainstorming here, or if you think it's time we start trying to solidify some detailed design for features, feel free to share some stuff on that as well. It's nothing that has to be written in stone; the general aim when we move on from brainstorming as the main focus is to start getting down summaries of the intended goal for each main feature. Then from there, we can look at hammering out details, so that it can be implemented (or as is often the case with modding, so it can be attempted, sometimes with revisions or outright failure and a need to rethink whether it will work).

    An example of what I mean as a summary of an intended goal might look something like:

    Invisibility Trait: These superheroes may become visible or invisible at inconvenient times. As they grow in skill, they can learn to control their invisibility and use it for kind, malicious, or mischievous purposes.

    That's a pretty broad summary and could probably do with being a little more specific, but that's the general idea, is try to create a baseline, so that when we're hammering out details, we can ask if some detail is adding to the goal, detracting from it, going off in a whole other direction, etc. These baselines can change of course, if need be. We're not on a schedule and have a lot of room to be flexible, plus in modding, you kind of have to be flexible, since so much is limited by the restrictions of modding for the specific game you're working on.
  • LittlBowBub's avatar
    LittlBowBub
    New Veteran
    7 years ago
    @Triplis

    (Are you still planning the other traits or focusing on the invisibility trait?)

    Fire Power - Can set sims and objects on fire, sometimes at inconvenient times at a low skill level. Anger feeds their power/energy. Does not respond well to mischievous behavior.

    Water - Leaves puddles on the floor at random times at a low skill level. Replenish their needs whilst swimming/bathing. Good at fishing. Gloomy (Perhaps could rain if the sim is sad? No idea if this is possible lol)

    Electricity - Electrical objects can break around them at a low level. Can do something with the lightening bolt? Good at repairing electrical objects and electric shocks could energize them.

    With each power, as their skill develops they will be less likely to suffer from random events, have more control over their powers and can unlock more options and more power actions.

    I'm not very good at gathering everything into a simple summary :lol: So I suppose this is still brainstorming.

    Did you manage to create a buff that overpowers the moods for the ghost trait? :smile:
  • TriplisTrip's avatar
    TriplisTrip
    7 years ago
    @LittlBowBub

    (Are you still planning the other traits or focusing on the invisibility trait?)

    Yeah, I was just using the invisibility trait as an example. :)

    Fire Power - Can set sims and objects on fire, sometimes at inconvenient times at a low skill level. Anger feeds their power/energy. Does not respond well to mischievous behavior.

    Water - Leaves puddles on the floor at random times at a low skill level. Replenish their needs whilst swimming/bathing. Good at fishing. Gloomy (Perhaps could rain if the sim is sad? No idea if this is possible lol)

    Electricity - Electrical objects can break around them at a low level. Can do something with the lightening bolt? Good at repairing electrical objects and electric shocks could energize them.

    With each power, as their skill develops they will be less likely to suffer from random events, have more control over their powers and can unlock more options and more power actions.

    I'm not very good at gathering everything into a simple summary :lol: So I suppose this is still brainstorming.

    Looks like a good start to me. :)

    Fire Power - Can set sims and objects on fire, sometimes at inconvenient times at a low skill level. Anger feeds their power/energy. Does not respond well to mischievous behavior.

    So going for general feel here, would you say you're thinking this is kind of like the style of the Hot-Headed trait?

    Water - Leaves puddles on the floor at random times at a low skill level. Replenish their needs whilst swimming/bathing. Good at fishing. Gloomy (Perhaps could rain if the sim is sad? No idea if this is possible lol)

    And then this one is like the style of Gloomy?

    If so, do you think the trait should be unavailable if you have a trait that contradicts that? For example, Gloomy trait sim can't have Fire Power? Or would we make it possible, but the behavior is slightly different? Obviously we don't want to get into too much detail with variations as that would get time-consuming really fast, but something to consider.

    (Perhaps could rain if the sim is sad? No idea if this is possible lol)

    I might be getting seasons in a couple weeks, so I may be able to look into it better then as a possibility. I don't know how the rain mechanics work at all, so I've no idea either atm.


    Did you manage to create a buff that overpowers the moods for the ghost trait?

    Not yet, but I know it's possible to create a mood like that, so I'm not worried about testing it out at the moment. :)
  • LittlBowBub's avatar
    LittlBowBub
    New Veteran
    7 years ago
    @Triplis

    This got buried in my bookmarks! Notifications don't seem to work very well anymore :confused:

    So going for general feel here, would you say you're thinking this is kind of like the style of the Hot-Headed trait?

    And then this one is like the style of Gloomy?


    Yes, that was sort of the idea I was going with, tying powers with emotions so it feels more connected with the sim.

    If so, do you think the trait should be unavailable if you have a trait that contradicts that? For example, Gloomy trait sim can't have Fire Power? Or would we make it possible, but the behavior is slightly different? Obviously we don't want to get into too much detail with variations as that would get time-consuming really fast, but something to consider.


    I think it would be simpler to restrict opposite traits so it doesn't get too complicated. However, this would probably be time consuming.. but there could maybe be two options to choose from. For example, 1 where powers are more dependent on emotions, like anger/ fire.
    2, where emotions are separated from the powers so a water power could have the hot-headed trait because it doesn't share any emotions of the gloomy trait. If that makes sense? Although I assume this would require a full re-work of each power.
  • TriplisTrip's avatar
    TriplisTrip
    7 years ago
    @LittlBowBub

    This got buried in my bookmarks! Notifications don't seem to work very well anymore :confused:

    Aw, that's ok. :)

    Yes, that was sort of the idea I was going with, tying powers with emotions so it feels more connected with the sim.

    I think it would be simpler to restrict opposite traits so it doesn't get too complicated. However, this would probably be time consuming.. but there could maybe be two options to choose from. For example, 1 where powers are more dependent on emotions, like anger/ fire.
    2, where emotions are separated from the powers so a water power could have the hot-headed trait because it doesn't share any emotions of the gloomy trait. If that makes sense? Although I assume this would require a full re-work of each power.

    Hmm. Ok, I think I see where you're going with this. I guess the extent of it would depend on how dependent the power's gameplay is on emotion. If it's very little (like little quirks "he's angry, so he's going to set things on fire sometimes") then we could probably just attach those quirks to having a specific trait or blacklist it for some traits and that would be relatively easy to do.

    But yeah, if we were to want a fully equal experience, despite not having X special trait(s), that would require some additional designing and programming.

    One example of a variation that comes to mind for me (so we're talking specifics) is in the Thinking Skill I made, there's a chance of getting a buff while you're embarrassed from social rejection if your thinking skill is low enough. This buff is Angry for most sims, with the exception of Gloomy, who gets a Sad buff instead. That degree of variation wouldn't be too difficult, so long as we're not doing it for every feature. But if we start going "Hothead gets X buff, Gloomy gets Y buff, Romantic gets Z buff," that sort of thing (while very appealing from a design standpoint for giving variation in gameplay) doesn't look great from a time spent / logistical standpoint.

    I wish it was more feasible to embrace that level of detail because this game would probably feel infinitely more detailed if traited behavior was involved more in various skills and abilities.

    Oh yeah, also, I have seasons and have some familiarity with it now and I'm pretty sure causing it to rain because the sim is sad is definitely possible. However, the one caveat/caution would be only do this with one type of weather and/or maybe as a safeguard put some kind of cooldown on the chance of it occurring (like it can only occur every 24-48 hours or something). Otherwise, there might be weird behavior that is taxing on performance or has unforeseen consequences where two sims are fighting over influencing the weather and it's shifting back and forth bizarrely quickly.
  • TriplisTrip's avatar
    TriplisTrip
    7 years ago
    @AnimalLover5671 Might be doable. I don't know off-hand. I can look into it a little.
  • TriplisTrip's avatar
    TriplisTrip
    7 years ago
    @AnimalLover5671 Here, try this and let me know how it goes (if it works, whether you notice any oddities, etc.). All it does is allow the other fame levels for child sims. I didn't check individual quirks, perks, and the like; if anything in particular won't work or whatever because it's limited by age.

    http://www.simfileshare.net/download/907556/

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