Answers from a Sims 3 Developer
February 21, 2009 by Amy Tucker
Filed under Interviews, The Sims 3
I was going to write about modeling hacks for you guys to download but then I checked my email box and found answers to questions that you guys had for a Sims 3 developer. The first few are questions that I had and the ones from you guys are attributed to the asker.
I want to thank all of you who took the time to ask questions and to thank Grant Rodiek, Associate Producer for The Sims 3 for his answers.
What do you think is the biggest improvement that Sims 3 brings?
I’d say unique Sims, the neighborhood, and the creative tools.
With our new personality traits and deep skill building, not to mention our incredible Create-a-Sim experience, no two Sims will be alike – if you want it that way, of course.
The neighborhood is a first for The Sims franchise in that players can go anywhere in town without a load screen to hold you back. It makes the game seamless and far more enjoyable.
Finally, our developers have really made our creative tools far superior to any other Sims game. The aforementioned Create-a-Sim lets you make anyone you can imagine. Build/Buy is better and easier to use than ever. But the coolest feature is our Create-a-Style tool that lets you change the pattern or color on any piece of clothing or furniture in the game. The possibilities are literally limitless and so easy to use.
Since it’s been announced that the Sims in Sims 3 can “take care of themselves”, do you think that Sims 3 is moving closer to a pure game than a simulation or do you think that Sims 3 still walks that fine line like previous titles in the franchise have?
We’ve definitely tried to infuse more “game” elements so that under the surface there is a rich, deep strategy game. But at the end of the day, we’re still a game that focuses on the stories of your Sims, their lives, and how they live them.
There is a lot of buzz right now about Sims 3 not hitting its Feb ‘09 release date. Is this just in the UK market or will the US market be affected as well by the “evaluating the launch window” statement?
The Sims 3 will launch simultaneously worldwide on PC, Mac, iPhone and iPod touch June 2, 2009.
What got left on the cutting room floor that you really wish could have been included?
We’ve been working on The Sims 3 for quite some time. A large percentage of us came from The Sims 2, The Sims 2 expansion packs, SimCity – needless to say we know The Sims! We looked to our past projects to pick and choose the best features for The Sims 3 and we’re quite pleased with what will ship with the game.
Since we all know that “minimum system requirements” are just a bare bones estimation of what it takes to get the game to load [and not necessarily what will get the game to function well] what are the specs on the system on which you run Sims 3?
We’ve developed The Sims 3 to work on a wide range of PCs. If the players have the min spec at least, they’ll be able to enjoy our game.
Are there empty lots available in the game so that players can build custom houses from the ground up? – Jan
Yes!
Is canning and wine making available in the game? – Jan
We don’t have canning, but gardeners can grow excellent fruits and vegetables (and a few special things) to sell at the local supermarket, use to complete Opportunities, or even just as ingredients when cooking at home. We also have rewarding careers and lifetime wishes in the game like becoming a five star chef.
Are there any plans for an online component to Sims 3? – Lost Without Sims Online
The Sims is an offline, single player game that has significant community features for sharing, story telling, and more. The Sims has always been a very personal game experience, almost like a diary for some people, so while we admire and learn from features in online games, the Sims is fundamentally different.
Will Sims be able to do laundry? – Melissa
No, but there are a number of other household chores Sims can participate in such as gardening, making themselves a snack and tidying up.
Can you edit familial relationships of existing Sims? I.e. make neighbors related - Julia M.
You can have Sims get married, but once genetics are set, they are set in stone. There is a lot of flexibility for making interesting families in our game.
Is it possible to have your Sims have their pictures taken and then hang them on the house walls? – Frenchy
Your Sims can take photos with their cellphone and then hang the pictures on the wall. Also, highly skilled painters can paint portraits of friends and family. You can even sell these to be seen in the local art gallery!
Any new interactions for pregnant Sims? – Mike
One of my favorite things about pregnancy in The Sims 3 is that there are so many more little things that impact conception and pregnancy. For example, if the pregnant Sim is in a good mood leading up to the birth then there are higher chances that the baby will be born with positive traits. Ultimately it was still about balancing gameplay and realism and making sure that as a life moment it is a rewarding experience.
Are you still able to create babies? – Katie
Yes!
Any ideas on expansions that might become available for Sims 3 like a “superhero expansion”? – AJ
Right now we are focusing on making The Sims 3 the best game to date from The Sims studio.
Do the NPCs age alongside the player created characters or can multiple generations of a family have the same maid? – Jason
The town is alive and growing with your characters. Everyone ages and moves along with your character. So, the families maid will grow old and die just like the rest of the family.
Will there by aliens in Sims 3? – Jason
No, but we do have playable ghosts!
Will there be any car accidents or other disasters? – George-Ilias
While Sims need to have some sense of danger (burglary, fire, electrocution), things like car accidents are a little too real. It’s hard to keep them funny and humorous like the other unfortunate things that plague unlucky Sims.
Are you able to put some a video or pictures more of mrs. crumplebottom?
Hi Amy,
Here are a few more questions for you to ask if you get a long enough list:
Have they ever considered slowing down the clock a little and making the Sims day a little bit longer. With all of the new things there will be to do it would be nice to have a little more time in a day to do them especially for working Sims.
Will we be able to turn the stones we find into Jewlery?
Will there be Career Rewards along with the life time rewards?
Will we be able to cook the fish we catch?
Thanks,
Jan
yes you can fish but i dont know if you can eat them
I forgot one:
Will greenhouses be included in the base game?
Hello Amy. I’ve got a couple of questions. Thank you for your help.
1.) Can you turn aging off for each individual Sim? Or, when you turn aging off, is it off for everyone in the whole town?
2.) I do not like the idea of pink & blue baby blankets. What if our Sims have twins or even triplets? I would like to be able to customize the blankets.
3.) I would also like to see an ambulance that picks my Sims up. It would have sirens, the works. Is this possible to make or will be included in the game/expansion packs?
4.) When my Sims die will I be able to move their tombstones to the graveyard?
5.) Will I be able to make a graveyard myself for when the original one gets full? (That is, if I can move the tombstones to other lots.)
Thanks again Amy!
Hi Amy,
Here is another one…
How long will pregnancy last. Some of the web pages say 6 days some say 3 and today on the forum there was a video from the creators camp where Ben Bell says he thinks it is 3. Can they confirm which it will be 6 days or 3 days?
Thanks,
Jan
Hi again Amy,
I’ve got another question that mostly all the Sim fans would like to have answered.
Sims would just sleep in any bed or go into any bedroom and not know that it was really suppose to be someone else’s room.
In order to prevent this from happening in TS2 we had to hang “Keep Out” doors up everywhere. And two were needed for the parent’s room.
We know that sisters and brothers may share laptops together, etc. (Maybe not when each other is sleeping though.)
We all think that a boy sleeping in his sister’s princess bed is a little extreme.
We also thing that I think we should be able to let Sims “own” or “assign” objects in the house.
For example: If a computer is only aloud to be used by the parents, then it will be assigned under their names and the kids can’t use it.
Or a bed will be assigned to someone, so nobody else can use it. If someone else uses it, the kid can go tattle tail to the “head of household” (that we pick/young adult, adult, elder) about them and that person will get mad at them or punish them.
But we could have many other ideas too, like if a teenager was playing with a childs toy then the child will most likely throw a fit and tell the parents, as to if it was two teenagers (twins, triplets) then they may have a fight and the parent may have to stop the fight and punish them. And of course, their could be two head of households for those people who want the mom and dad to be in charge.
Phew. Well, I tried to narrow it down in words as best as I could. Sorry for such a long post.
Thanks for your help Amy!
Hi Amy,
I have a few more questions from the forum:
Sib 4 wants to know if there will be a church for weddings
Lara wants to know if we will have matchmaking and a garden club.
Will you let us know if and when you will send your contact at EA the list, a lot of people on the fourm would like to know.
Thanks
Jan
Hi Amy,
I have another question for you…
There have been rumors that there will no longer be expansion packs in the traditional sense and that instead of DVD’s any Stuff Packs and Expansion packs would be available in an on line store where items that you wanted would be purchased separately. Is this going to be the case or will EP’s and stuff packs be available on DVD.
Hi Amy,
I have some more questions from the forum:
Sibi4 wants to know Will any special programmes or events be put on a billboard across the town? i saw one in the debut trailer where a guy named AVM or sumthin had a billborad stating his concert.
Lottiewa would like to know Will there be an improved adoption service? (or any at all)
Lara would like to know how will the adoption service be improved?
Thanks,
Jan
Hi Amy,
I have a few more questions from the fourm
Managaeyes would like to know:
1) Will we get new traits in EP’s?
2) After the recent outbursts from fans about how much they hate the new release date, have you considered brining the date fowards at all?
Thanks,
Jan
New here. Would like to ask two questions:
what 3D game engine did they decide to use.
Can they look at adding to the game life desires such as: preacher, school teacher, band manager, taxi driver, yard man.
OH.. forgot.. can a Sim be a bum on the street without a literal home assignment??
okay so i have a couple of questions.
1) when the sims make the babies thing is it the same as in sims 2?
2) Why did they change the date so far back? why not like 2 months later, and not 4?
3)For the ipod touch is it actually like the real game or like a minigame?
thanks. i dont know
will there be twins in the sims 3? also, what are all of the age groups you can create?
yes your sims can have twins and triplets. when you are playing go to lifetime benefits if you have enough points you can purchase a fertility treatment for your sims which increases your chances of twins and triplets. also you can create all age groups baby, toddler, child, teen, young adult, adult, and senior
Will there be Vampires in Sims3? We need Vampires, magic town and Aliens to be included with Sims3
I have not heard anything about Vampires and I don’t want to live without them.
I’ve read [and I think posted on here] that while you can make a Sim look like a Vampire, they won’t actually be a vampire. Sad times, I know. I kind of liked them too.
Looking like a vamp is easy. We need Counts in nightlife:( I did not just love them it’s all I played. How do we get them added again? Magic town too! They need to carry over and have options. Looking like a vampire and really playing a vampire are two different things. /cry /cry
i’m thinking that maybe an expansion pack could be like a science fiction pack maybe and it could have aleins, vampires, wherewolves, um unicorns, lepricons, and stuff like that and i know that this doesn’t have to do with what you said but it would be awesome to have that and there could be an expansion pack kind of like the sims 2 pets expansion pack but better like there could be things like horses and other animals.
and i forgot to say there could be the obtion to have a ranch or a farm
Hey all, what i dont understand is, say you have 5 families that you have created. If you play one for a long time but dont focus on the others, when you return will the other families have kids etc…?
Can you turn them off, or stop them from ageing/ making life changing decisions?
xxxxx
yes you go to options and uncheck the story progression box, this will make it so that as you are playing one family the other families won’t change or even age
Will there be pianos in the sims 3. thy were my most loved object
) but it is soooo cool watching the little people play!
all my sims played piano, (and they were better than me
No the only intrument is the guitar and they have taken out other stuff like the hot-tub and divingboard
Will your sims be able to go on vacation?
not yet but im hoping there will be an expansion pack for that like the sims 2 bon voyage expansion pack
Hi,
I just got the sims 3 but we need to get a new video card installed.But then when we get our computer back i’ll want to play it.Here’s some questions,
when you get to make a neighborhood,will you be able to place a lot in it?
Will there be expansions for it?Will Pollination Teck #9 be in it.
thanks a lot
Hello, new here.
I just got one quick question, can you use stuff that you download from modthesims2.com or thesimsresources.com that was for the sims 2, would it work for the sims 3?
I got an ipod touch for my birthday and i bought sims 3 for an app. all i thought was i want babies. now its been a month and i got a husband a big house and i can woohoo why cant i get pregnant! if you did not make it pausible to get pregnant on the ipod touch i am very sad. please reply
how do you get pregnant on sims 3 for ipod touch
how do you get pregnant on ipod touch for sims 3. i really want to know because that would stink if you can not. please reply
I had a cheat for the sims 2 that allowed the teenagers to get pregnant. Will there be one available for the sims 3?
i don’t know but will you tell me what the cheat is
i made a family on the sims 3 and the daughter grew up. i moved her out into her own house. but now i can’t find her parents. now when i load the game only the daughters house shows up not the family she came from. does anyone know how i can get my family back?
can u turn your sim into a vampire
Nope.
You can make your Sims LOOK like vampires, but alas, no vampires in Sims 3.
will there be vampires in the expansion packs?
They haven’t made any announcements about including vampires in future expansions.
But, they added mummies that can curse you in World Adventures so I figure anything’s possible.