The Sims 3

[Mirelly]

Well it might just be imaginary, but there is some mention of it on the grapevine and most guesses point to a minimum 18 month wait before it escapes anyway. But I open this thread to ask how people feel about the idea of TS3.

Questions to consider include:
What aspects of TS2 need changing or improving to make the upgrade to TS3 work for you?
What new features do you consider essential for TS3 to be a significant advance over previous genres?
Do the other Maxis/EA simming games, in your opinion, enhance or dilute the essence and quality of The Sims franchise (we're talking Sim City, Spore, etc.).My feelings are this. Spore looks set to be the flop of Millennium. It appears, to me, to be trying to be all things to all people and that is strategy that is usually doomed to fail. I started feeling that Spore was off its rails as soon as read that evolutionary advances were to be purchased with points earned (by eating and stuff). Gimme a break. This is a cheap knock off of a time-waster game found on the average cell phone. Onwards and upwards ... each phase is just a pale imitation of similar and far better games dedicated to the single phase. (Populous, Civilization, Age of Empires, and ... whatever's currently hot in galactic conquest games these days).

Spore seeks to join several franchises into one game. This seems to me to be a bad idea. Better by far to create awesome top-notch games that sate a player's desire for detail. But what might be even better is to create a family of games that tie to each other.

And I don't mean like TS2 uses SC4 terrains (and that SC4 imports TS1 sims ... to no significant purpose IMHO ... move Bella Goth into your city and yeah, you get little news flashes that she's studying at the library and plans to stop flipping burgers for a living -- even though she works at an insurance office -- or that she thinks the hood could do with a fire station. Pfah. You get that info anyway.)

I think that TS3 should include the facility to utilise terrains made with a a number of different EA products. SC4 and SCS at least.

Moreover TS3 should include the ability to import TS2 sims and lots. There must be a robust hack removal element to the importation and the import of sims would be regarded (by me) as a failure if the imported sims arrived with loss of family relationships, skills and memories. They should import as new immigrants to the neighborhood, knowing and loving each other as appropriate ... and knowing such other TS2 imports as they knew when they were were in TS2 together. If the Maxoid geeks can't do that they should hold off until they can.

TS3 needs a whole new animation scheme. One that, perhaps, borrows from the supposedly brilliant intelligent automation scheme of Spore. We will no longer be prepared to sit around watching a sim stand still in room A waiting for sim in room B to stand up before the waiting sim decides to plod, slowly from A to B to tell a joke. All such stupidness should be eliminated. Sims should sit in a chair from the most convenient starting position ... not be forced to go through a silly ballet of moves to get to "start to sit down position".

Mostly (I'm sure I speak for all) we want to see TS3 borrow from Spore's creature design features. Clothing meshes should be customizable with a simple in-game tool. Parts should be draggable -- in/out/up/down -- and the result saved as a new design for in-game usage. Also attention needs to be paid to adding a token element of gravity to clothing. Some items (long skirts for example, should swing ... and should not balloon up like a crinoline when the girl sits down ... I can't even let my male sims wear kilts ... there be nothing to see but my imagination is easily shocked :p )

OK. Over to you lot.

Let's have your ideas. Preferably not the old war-horses of "going to work with my simmy" and "ridable ponies" and "drivable cars". What aspects of the game-play do you find aggravating or frustrating. What technical improvements need to added before a 3rd incarnation of the franchise would work as a serious upgrade for you. Forget features, like pets and vacuum cleaners, those are details and hackers and modders can supply all the forgotten bits and bobs anyway.

[Lynet]

Besides the building tools for housing, what I've enjoyed most about the sims in Sims2 is the hint of personality that they have. I would like to see more variation in the personalities and how they can relate to each other. Sometimes they surprise me now, but not often. Too predictable. And Maxis/EA can get a little too caught up in the "humor" :rolleyes:, as in Santa needing to use the bathroom, and some other things like that. It gets old. The potential for learning from things that happen to them, for making some kind of use of their memories, seems hardly touched. It would be fascinating. For goodness sake, the internet explorer software makes more use of stored information than the sims do.

I'll probably think of other stuff later. :D

[Mirelly]

the internet explorer software makes more use of stored information than the sims do.
:rotfl: Such an excellent point, Lynet. And the point about funny once or twice stuff getting old real fast is something that Maxis needs to sit up and pay attention to.

[suitemichelle]

I think I will have to talk my hubby into a dedicated computer for sims 3... My load times to play ts2 are so slow now it's becoming frustrating to play.

I think more thought is needed in creating user-friendly tools to individualize your sims is needed. IE a mix and match system would help the simPE illiterate among us. you could have multiple different lengths and styles of skirt and pants available, different styles of shoes and boots, different kinds of tops and layers, and accessories. add color and patterns and there you go... it could work somewhat like choosing hair color, style, and other genetics work now.

The same could work for the interior/exterior design crafting.

and yes, I agree that more emotional options are needed... how about the very occasional falling in love with your total opposite sim. and sims that don't always do what you want them to do...

[Leticron]

They say life's gonna teach you a lesson (or two)..So I learned...and
I just know I won't go anywhere near Sims 3 until I'm absolutely sure, that all my life savers like Inge, Quaxi or J.M etc.(just to name a few) are there to unscrew EAxi's mess ups.

-le

[Cassiepeia]

I realise there is a hack for this (or at least, I think there is) but I would like the sims to stop screaming at me when they have to pee or go to sleep. I'm not blind, I can see what their needs are. And if I don't notice that their needs have depleted so far down that they're going to wet themselves or pass out, well that's part of the game. It's my fault, I should suffer the consequences. All that screaming and waving hands interrupts my game play.
I'd like to see Sims of different heights, although I don't know if that's possible. Women shouldn't be as tall as men, it looks weird and unrealistic. Even if they just had two standard heights I'd be happy.

Hmmm...can't think of anything else right now. Oh wait, yes I can...if they decide to add a university element to the 3rd version of the game...please oh PLEASE don't make time there so freaking long. Or at least let the sims get a job and keep the money they earn.

Cass.

[muffin-tacos]

I realise there is a hack for this (or at least, I think there is) but I would like the sims to stop screaming at me when they have to pee or go to sleep. I'm not blind, I can see what their needs are. And if I don't notice that their needs have depleted so far down that they're going to wet themselves or pass out, well that's part of the game. It's my fault, I should suffer the consequences. All that screaming and waving hands interrupts my game play.
I'd like to see Sims of different heights, although I don't know if that's possible. Women shouldn't be as tall as men, it looks weird and unrealistic. Even if they just had two standard heights I'd be happy.


That is so true. My sims usually stop, stamp their feet and yell at me even when I've clicked for them to use the toilet. It's rather annoying... I find myself constantly muttering, "Just use the darn toilet, you silly thing!"
What I hate the most of all is when you've told a sim to cook something because they are starving and the sim interupts the cooking to yell at me and tell me that they are hungry. (sarcastic) Naah, I just told you to do the cooking because I thought it would be fun to look at... :sigh: Honestly.

The height thing is something that I've also thought about. I don't like the way that my sim women usually look a tiny bit taller than my men because of the ridiculously high heels I've got them wearing. It's annoying to look at.

I noticed that in the poll most people want the animation to be better... Well, personally I think that the animations are good. Of course they could be better, but I like my sim's unnecessary movements because that's what makes them so simmy.

[Mirelly]

One of the things I would regard as essential would be an entirely new and much more sensibly logical set of interaction priorities.

For example order an adult to put a toddler to bed should not fail if the toddler is playing with a toy. Especially if the parent is not actually in the same room as the toddler. It should be more sensible for there to be a hierarchy of breakable actions and, even better, a personality trait of will or willfulness, so that the breakability of actions varies from sim to sim.

Most important, sims must not be passive pawns. When ordered to to something (that is not absolutely impossible such as enter a room which has no door) they should at least appear to try. Examples of trying might include tugging at a recalcitrant toddler, trying to interrupt a conversation, trying to shoulder another sim out of the way.

[Leticron]

@Cassiepeia: you might want to try Pescado's "less whiny" hack.
It doesn't completely get rid of the whining but at least keep the sims from whining about stupid stuff.
I believe, the difference in height is possible...but it comes with a price :D :D
Since the skeleton-stretch-cheat is kind a useless (it changes all sims and you have the same height for all again)
you would need to alter the default meshes (e.g for all females) and all the clothes for that group...even every customized skintones you're using on them.
I just assume that this workload is the reason why (to my knowledge) nobody ever attempted this task.

-le

[Mirelly]

You would also need to remake all animations as kissing would look sort of odd if the participating lips were on different levels ... :rolleyes: I'm gonna quit now before I get smutty ... :o

[muffin-tacos]

You would also need to remake all animations as kissing would look sort of odd if the participating lips were on different levels ... :rolleyes:

She can stand on her toes can't she? :p

[Mirelly]

She can stand on her toes can't she? :p

Only if the animator creates that animation .... :rolleyes:

[Jiko]

I agree that it would be nice to be done with some of the whining (a little whining seems realistic) and that two sims engaged in different activities didn't have to wait until both were finished to interact. There should be a 'seniority' power of some kind to make younger sims take notice. (Now that I'm one of the older crowd...)

I would love to see more unexpected and spontaneous interaction. For instance, when other sims come by the lot and pointedly stand around waiting to be noticed, I'd like my sims to notice them! I'd like a girl longing for her first kiss to just up and kiss someone, already! I wish the fun magnets on certain objects that I like to have around (the party game, the swing set) were set a little lower; party guests and relatives always end up disappearing to go swing a while... wait, maybe that came out wrong...

[Mirelly]

party guests and relatives always end up disappearing to go swing a while... wait, maybe that came out wrong...

:rotfl:

[suitemichelle]

Trust Jiko to put a unexpected spin on things

[Ruthie_Faye]

I'd like to see more realistic genetics.

I'd also like to see different animations for different sims based more on their personality type and the situation they are in. Now everyone makes out the exact same, they all have the same moves etc. Also fix things like I have a house, maxis made, that they walk through the bathroom and the second bedroom to go to the living room every time unless someone is standing in the way. If they can't go through the bathroom they will take the short cut and go from the main bedroom into the living room. With the short route they go through one door to the living room. But the way they always want to go is through two rooms and three doors! It would be great if they could "see" their environment better. For example I have sims looking through walls to admire the weather change or looking like they are looking through a window even when they are outside.

[JohnEZ]

There must be one more option: I will buy The Sims 3 if and only if it is developed by Maxis.

There were rumors floating around saying that:


While the notion may be as shocking as the earth continuing to rotate, it looks like Electronic Arts may be planning The Sims 3. As of this morning, design outfits Gamma Ray and Feng Zhu Design listed The Sims 3 among the projects to which they're contributing. (The title has since been removed from both sites.)


Full article at http://pc.ign.com/articles/682/682828p1.html

Therefore... I will buy The Sims 3 if and only if it is developed by Maxis.

-John

[hugzncuddles]

There must be one more option: I will buy The Sims 3 if and only if it is developed by Maxis.

There were rumors floating around saying that:



Full article at http://pc.ign.com/articles/682/682828p1.html

Therefore... I will buy The Sims 3 if and only if it is developed by Maxis.

-John

Then I'll add my suggestion to that too -

I will buy The Sims 3 if, and only if, it is developed by Maxis AND is SecuROM-free.

[Rosiewosie]

I'd like to have more building features, like curved walls. I definitely want a better roofing tool. I'd like the option to just select a pattern from your computer and add a separate (kick) molding to it, stuff like that. That way, you need less walls and you can create more combinations.

I know this is possible. I use 3D and CAD programs where you can load in textures. They just need to add it to TS3.

Other than building features, I'd like more options to create a Sim. I want to be able to customize a mesh in-game. Like in Spore, where you can play with the shapes of a creature. Not only should you be able to make a Sim thinner or "bigger", you should also be able to stretch or shorten hair. I would be nice if we could choose the height of our Simmies too.

Hmm, more age stages. I am currently missing a few stages. Between adult and elder for example. Also, it would be nice if we could see adults change into seniors slowly. And one of the things that bother me are the hairstyles that turn from a pretty, vital color into a gray one, no fading in between. I hate that.

Latest 'feature' I'd like to have in TS3 is the way you can create your own furniture completely, like they did in MySims on Wii, but better. in MySims, you can take a few blocks and textures and make an object out of that. They could do the same for TS3. All different kinds of small parts that can be used to create an unique object.

Stuff like that. Customizing Sims completely. And their homes and furniture too, of course. That's what I expect them (Maxis) to add to TS3. I will not be happy with any less.

But I will buy it no matter what. If only for my collection of Sim games.

[Jiko]

[quote=Rosiewosie;144612]
Hmm, more age stages. I am currently missing a few stages. Between adult and elder for example. Also, it would be nice if we could see adults change into seniors slowly.


This is a good point. Why not menopause (imagine hot flashes!) and balding? And salt-and-pepper hair? And another stage that would be great would be young (irresponsible) adult - out of school but prone to sneaking out and partying and not getting up for work? It would seem simple enough to change the motives so that at some point (around sim age 30 or so) they were more interested in work and family and quit wanting to call friends at 2 am.

[Mirelly]

I heartily approve of Rosie's separate kick-moulding idea.

As for ages, there should definitely be more and aging should be more obvious. My suggestion would be to have:

Infant: 2 days
Toddler: 3 days
Pre-schooler: 3 days
Child: 5 days
Teen: 5 days (sim is now "18")
Young Adult: 4 days (or go to college)
Adult: 30 days
Mature adult: 15 days - age marked by salt 'n pepper hair, thickened waist etc.
Elder: ??

If the face meshes are properly designed, the adult > mature adult > elder could achieve a more lifelike transition of aging with two stages of cheek sagging.

Adding more ages gives more scope for celebrating birthdays, especially the childrens'. Hopefully there would be a better social awareness and memory/desire engine to make having parties more worthwhile for the player.

[simgurl84]

I think that the options for this particular poll were very thourough. They made me think about how the sims 3 could be made better. For one, I think sims should have more serious relationships. For example, sometimes once I marry my sims I dont have them interact becuase they are too busy with kids and work. I think sims should become upset if their spouses dont pay attention to them. Also, sometimes my sims fall in love at college and then marry someone else as an adult, but they are still in love with some college sim. I think sims should fall out of love if nothing is happening. I also think 50% of twins should be identical. They should look alike and have the same astrological signs.

[Mirelly]

Good points, simgurl. Thank you.

I just thought how nice it would be if in Sims 3 that many more surfaces (if not all surfaces) had multiple placement slots. Even floor squares should have 5 slots or even 9!

Portable objects could then be defined in terms of the permutation of slots they need to be placed. Small items like books, toys etc. need only one. Large items would more. Needless to say, Sims 3 sims should be able to perform simple tasks without tantrums.

Let's say that counters have 9 placement slots arranged in a grid tic-tac-toe fashion. A counter has a couple of small items (say a coffee cup and some bills on it) and a sim wants to make dinner. The sim simply pushes the tray onto the counter, pushing the items already there to the back row and makes dinner.

To add to the fun, maids (or neat-freak sims) would have to tidy up before cleaning, so we would have to help our sims hunt around looking for homework or bills after the maid has been .... :rolleyes:

[Vchat20]

I honestly think many of the relevant concerns have been posted already as I can't really think of anything to add. I really think it all comes down to making things a little bit more 'lifelike' as it were. No repeated animations, better memories for each sim to relate to constantly engaging events, more lax building tools, etc..

I think it's really a case where we just become so accustomed to how things have been given to us (TS2 in this case), and what our upper limitations are even with hacks and mods, that we refuse to see where vast improvements can be made with currently available technology.

And there certainly isn't much of a limit in current technology for a lot of the already mentioned improvements in this thread. There are plenty of games already out there that are more advanced by far so that is definitely not the case. Granted it means putting even more of a strain on system requirements, but as it stands now, with the advent of PCI-express video cards, even fairly low end beige-box machines are capable of fairly decent upgrades with the pci-express standard being akin to classic pci in that they are usually on every machine, albeit few in some. And once you offload the brunt of the graphics work on the dedicated GPU, the cpu is wide open for underlying logic calculation in the game and recent gen cpu's aren't anything to laugh at either.

Not to be an extremist in this case, but I do feel it's our duty to make an attempt to get this concern out to EA/Maxis. I'm certain for many of us that we really wouldn't mind the same game, expansions, etc.. rehashed if it meant a revamped core with all these improvements and enhancements to make The Sims series an even more visually pleasing one and also more stimulating in the gameplay area. Look how we went from isometric TS1 to free-range TS2. TS3, if Maxis/EA decides to really put some effort into it insofar as improvements, should prove to be yet another big seller.

[sayaka05]

i would want it to have less pointless actions.

sims GOTTA learn how to walk AROUND someone in their way.

[Sacharissa]

I would like the option of moving Sims to other neighborhoods. It would be like moving to a new town. They could still keep relationships with people in their old town, and maybe even have friends from the old neighborhood come to visit! At the very least, the should be able to call their old friends to keep up relationship scores!

[Bugmeat]

I want more customization too, length of hair, shoes. etc. etc.

[StayNuts]

will only buy TS3 if they...

of course make it able to import TS2 items, lots, sims, etc., without that, a lot of users will not use TS3 before everything is converted... same with microsoft flightsimulator... takes always a couple of months, sometimes a year that you see the most people starting to use it because the addons are converted... wish also that the current expansion packs can be used in TS3 of course... dont like to buy them again and again, and when finally the game start to be complete, TS4!!!!!!!!!!

SHARING LOTS & IMPROVED HOUSING
building appartements on ONE lot... like an condo or something... you build first the building, assign a landlord and rent out the appartements, furnished and unfurnished... as landlord you can make a living with it... you can have then a new job, REAL ESTATE, sell houses to other sims...

is like a dorm but then for families.... you can then only change the walls and furniture inside your own appartement, not in other parts of the building, the landlord can change his landlord appartement and the halls, garden, etc... but not the appartements which have been rent out... during the game you have also only control over the family you have selected...
building houses until the end of the lot, wanna see houses build to eachother as in a real city... now I have always gaps between them... now looks like the cities small village towns, I love the big city idea...

improved roofing tools and building features like curved walls, platforms of various height so we can finally build a corner staircase without using cheats...

another interesting contruction item can be adding the water and gas pipes in the ground from the street to the house.... phonelines and cable TV... and also electricity with street poles, meters, switches and wires for in the ground and between the poles... its now availbale as a mod but would love to see it standard item, even with possible breaks in the ground....

EDITING YOUR HOOD
editing the city as in SimCity4 but then inside SIMS3... I want to build up my town totally from scratch, just one simple road... add a crossing with some houses around and slowly adding new streets and more houses... that is the way a suburb, village or city grows... now I see one big empty space with to much streets...

A WORLD INSTEAD OF A HOOD
startup with a big map as in SimCity4 and add several hoods in that map which are linked to each other... for example, in the west I make a city that exist of 3 hoods... a downtown and 2 suburbs... in the north a small local village with a small suburb and in the southwest a big city with 4 hoods of downtown and 4 suburbs... can even make in the east a small holiday paradise and in the northwest a ski resort...
this gives me more a real city feeling and not just somewhere a few hoods...

like also to see that when you walk to the end of your lot, that you walk automatically into the new lot... you can for ex. take the dog out for a walk through your own hood or street...

when you travel to other cities, you can go by your own car or taking the public transport... and when you are in a different city, you can sleep by friends or booking a night in a hotel... very very rich sims own a second house on the beach or a cabin in the woods... love to see that, sims who own more then one house...

BANKING SYSTEM
new job, BANK, control loans of other SIMS and learn more about the banking system, let young sims open a bank account where they can save there money, even in the university period and using it later to buy there first car or house...

think a good way to learn young users how to save money and how banking works...

DRIVING
make it possible to drive the cars like in a real car simulator through your own city, can even a seperate extension pack (or for TS2), now you drive but not really, you only go in and out of the car...

MOVING BETWEEN LOTS AND HOODS
when you move out that you can move all your stuff that you want to take with into a truck ( rent the truck or call a house moving company ) and take it with you to your new house, you have paid for it and I don't like to start over again, works also between hoods and you still keep a relation with your friends and family from other hoods...

LIFESPAN ADJUSTABLE
the current days are to short to experience a sim a reasonable life... it takes time to do everything... they must make a scale system and that you as end user can select how many days they average life... for ex. instead of 30 days, 90, or 180 days... get sick a little bit now of counting the days and using aging/on/off all time...

or make it that you can speed up the time with the -/+ button for ex. and you can use then even the real time mode... you one day older, your sim one day older too... found the current aging system just to short which dont give the sims a change to learn seriously...

VIEWPOINT
viewpoint of the 3D world through the eyes of the sims, click on one button and your viewpoint changes from birdview to eyeview, makes it more realistic and easier to work with... and when you are in the body, some controls to really walk around and pickup things, etc...

[MurderScene.Doll]

i think that after the sims have died you should be able to view their info, like memories, how they died, how old they were, personality, interests......:)

[Bobthekillingmachine]

i hope they don't include cheat codes, cuz thats what made me get bored of sims 2, i never got challenged and when i didn't use cheat codes i wanted to use cheats! i was like a druggie!

[Odinmoon]

I would like a lot of things . I cannot think of any at the moment. However I think by the time it comes, my computer will be dead and buried. :D

[scarylodger]

The Sims 3????? Honestly, is there really one coming :eyepopping: but I've only just started on Sims 2!!!

[muffin-tacos]

LOL. Yep, EA's working on a TS3 right now. I think TS3 is otherwise known as Spore. Not sure though. :confused:

[Judhudson]

The Sims 3 is in fact coming sometime in 2009 via Maxis. That is one of the reasons EA established "The Sims Division", to classify all "The Sims" games and it's spinoffs under that.

EA has bought the domains for The Sims all the way thru 9 I believe (example: http://www.thesims7.com (not an actual link) and so on)

It's not Spore, as that's Will Wrights team doing that. :)

[Karybdis]

Presumably we'll get to see it some time in the near future. They should be ramped up to having a usable engine by now, and will probably be capable of previews within a few months if not already.

Spore on the other hand is getting released on March 8th last I heard.

[Sir Stan]

Spore looks set to be the flop of Millennium.

BLASPHEMY!

[Karybdis]

Well. We might as well confirm what we know so far.

Sims 3 is developed by EA Sims division now that Maxis has been dissolved into the EA Sims division and the EA Spore (Will Wright) division. It will be released before April 2009.

Work started on Sims3 in Jan 2006, and by June 2007, was a 2D Prototype model consisting of the planned simulation capabilities of the sims and their familes. Individual prototype models not in the main game were being created, and then folded in as they were found to work or not work. As of June 2007, there was no 3D engine developed.

Features confirmed being worked on at that time were:
~5 Traits assigned to each Sim from a trait pool
A sense of what is socially acceptable
Long term planning based on traits that lead Sims to operate independantly.
Sims know when they interrupt something and can react.
New presentation of social simulations Sims can take part in
Sims may apologize for violating social norms based on their memory of the event.

[Bassoonist]

Buying it for me really depends on several things.

If it's truly a next generation game that focuses on the most minute details (which is something I personally love in a game.) than I will definitely buy it.

Otherwise I might or might not buy it.

Oh, and we need more musical instruments. XD

[roseten]

can you have a babie on the sims 2?????????

[Judhudson]

can you have a babie on the sims 2?????????

Roseten, with meaning to sound rude, this thread is reserved for Sims 3 discussion and speculation. A question like that should of been posted in a new thread (or if you would of done some research and reading about the game, shouldn't of been posted at all) here: http://uoem.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=16

But to answer your question, Yes, Sims can have babies in TS2.

[lewdini]

Actually I wonder if The Sims 3 might become too complex a game for non-sims players. For a person like me who missed out a huge chunk of the sims 2, I find the game rather complex to play in terms of achieving a lot of the objectives.

[suitemichelle]

Hey Lewwwwwwww! long time no see!

sims life vs. real life?
sims life vs. real life?

hmmm. How hard can it be?

[lewdini]

Hey Suitemichelle!
Nice to see you are still around :)

[suitemichelle]

I know, I know... I voted ages ago, but I'm changing my vote to NO until securom is a optional install.

[swmeek]

No disrespect but I think that will be what we call a fat chance of it happening.
Or what we also call a snowball's chance in youknowwhere! :rotfl:
Sony's got their meathooks into our wallets and I don't think they're going to let go anytime soon!