Will it be open world
I loved The Sims 3 and a big part of that was because of the open world (I actually didn’t buy the Sims 4 because it wasn’t there but now it’s free…) So I’m wondering if this game will have one or no...
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@e048bf8gov8v , you have stated this beautifully! 🙌 I did not like the open world of TS3 either! It was an empty world because usually all the neighbor Sims would be inside their houses tending to their needs , or at work/school. You wouldn't often see them walking around or at a community lot (park, nightclub, gym, museum, etc.). and when you did, they were often on their way home to replenish their needs, so you couldn't interact with them! And if your Sim was the only Sim in the household and had late work hours, their only option for socialization was to meet other Sims, which was very difficult because nobody was out and about at midnight! I found this painful to play with single Sims for this reason! The only thing Ilike the open world for was to collect bugs, rocks, and look for unicorns! 🦄
And like you stated, you are still waiting for your Sim to arrive at the destination, whether there is a loading screen or not! And after about a year and a half into the game, my game got so laggy, it would actually stop for several minutes, then start playing again, only to stop for several more minutes, over and over again, which would take waaaaay longer than a simple loading screen! And that is if the game didn't crash, which it often did!😖 My computer was supposed to be a mid level computer at the time, so it wasn't like I was trying to run the game on a potato.
So, I actually prefer The Sims 4 semi open world (even if I can't go next door without a loading screen) because it doesn't take long to travel, and when I get to a destination, there are always other Sims to interact with!🥳
Even though I am mostly a family player, this has made playing Single Sims much more enjoyable than in the Sims 3. 🙌 Quick loading screens are always better than halted gameplay while you wait for the game to catch up and continue, or a game crashing and taking 20 minutes to reload!
And like you stated, if you purchase a variety of objects for your Sims to use at home, then it is much quicker both for you and for your Sims to just pop over to the chess table, for a bit, then go to the bathroom, then paint a painting, then work out, etc. than it would be to do all that on a community lot!
The rotational play in the Sims 2 was so wonderful because we never had to miss a moment of our Sim's lives!
The Sims 2 was by far the most fun version of the game, in part for the reasons you stated!🥳 It was the most addictive game I have ever played! 🥰
@PugLove888I too often had empty lots. I think the game automatically chose the number of Sims per community lot based on the performance it perceived from the computer/device it was run on.
That is one factor that will add complication to development: To develop for a wide audience, they will be trying to design for a LOT of different devices with different specs. Device detection and device capacity detection are a big part of basic game functionality. Basic device detection is pretty simple: it is narrowed down by operating system. Then there are the flavors within each operating system.
PC/Windows: We are probably looking at support for Windows 10, 11, and 12, by the time it comes out. Consoles: They tend to be fixed in their operating system for the most part, as far as I know. Traditionally, you stuck your game cartridge in the console, and it just worked. Now, we add all the mobile devices to the mix. Tablets: Amazon Fire, Ipad, Ipad mini, Microsoft Surface, Chromebook (yep, far as I am concerned, that is just a large tablet). Phones: Android, iPhones. That is a LOT of operating systems to try to accommodate. The Sims (2000) only had PC and Mac to deal with. The Sims 2 only had PC, Mac, and consoles to deal with. The Sims Freeplay and Sims 3 Mobile was EA getting their feet wet testing the feasibility of Sims 3 on mobile. The Sims Social was a failed experiment in creating a Sims game based solely on social interaction and microtransactions.
Now that they have found a model that works better for microtransactions, ie Freeplay and Sims Mobile, they will probably start there for Sims 4 mobile version. I suspect the integrated mobile version will resemble the console version. Consoles don't support custom content since they don't have internal writable storage (with the exception of memory cards), and phones have very little internal storage available.
@userafw , yes, I can see how the game would have limited the amount of NPC;s on a given lot based on your computer's performance. However, the worst was if you had a Sim that worked a late shift and wanted to socialize at night... there were even less people on public lots at night because the open world game had them all asleep, or else they were already in the process of going home and you couldn't interact with them. That wasn't as bad of a problem in the daytime, so the issue wasn't just computer performance (though that certainly played a big role), but just the design of the world. If most Sims are asleep at night, then a Sim that works late doesn't have many Sims to socialize with because most will be asleep, or at the very least they will be home getting ready for bed, while this is realistic, it is still very frustrating for those Sims who have jobs that run into the late hours of the night! 😓
I love how people are talking like what was flawed in 2008 is automatically unworkable 15 years later. I've seen seamless open world in action - it can exist. It objectively does exist. The question is whether EA would put in the resources to make it work or not.
The fact, Maxis studio "no longer exist", i remember i read an article about a large (and when i say large i mean at least 80%) cut of people on the studio, and i talk about 4-5 years ago, i don't know if EA assume people to work again in Maxis, or the works, are made by the people who doesn't cut off by the "Maxis purge" but for made an open world, you don't need only economic resource, you desperatly need human resources, and well, we all know how EA look this series, today The Sims is just a big sparkling cow, used to milk much money possible from our players, so, hope for the best, but be preared for the worst, because yeah, for EA the way is, less effort, much profit, and they do it for all they're game, it's suck? Yes, but or we hope for a serious competitor, or the way doesn't change.
