A playable demo for the Sims 4 gave a glimpse into the life simulator’s new features and gameplay. One producer of the game, Argus Hulin, said that the Sims team has been working on the new title to reflect personalities of Sims more effectively.
“[A] core thing that we wanted to do in this Sims game is revisit the Sims themselves,” he said. The characters in the game are suppose to have heavier personalities then previous games.
Creative tools are also “rebuilt from the ground up to be more tactile and intuitive than ever.” As with these improvements to the game, what they are calling the Integrated Gallery is another feature new in this Sims.
“Our gallary is a place where players can go and share their content,” Huwen said. “[This and other features] we’re launching our franchise into the next generation of video games.”
Huwen and another producer showed off a Alpha stage tech demo. Unlike previous titles, sliders are gone from the interface and replaced with a simple click mechanic. Anyone can just move a mouse and adjust character features freely. Small waist? Go for it. Large Chest? Not impossible. Butt Size? If you wish.
Walking is another thing players can tinker around with. There are walks like “goofy,” “tough” and “party.” Going even further into detail, a Sim can be assigned “aspirations” ranging from “athletic” to “knowledgeable.” Three character traits are also chosen. These are titled as “bro,” “loner” and many others.
Two producers created themselves for the demo: one was a women and the other a man. Magnolia Blossom Park was an area first demoed and had the male producer in a foul mood. Moods, or emotional states, are going to give players advantages and disadvantages. Angry, as in real life, will make it harder for a Sim to socialize. An advantage to anger lets them work out more effectively. When a Sim is super pissed, they can do “peeved push ups” and “sit ups of fury”
The female producer’s Sim was energized and had a “bro” personality trait. If she interact with someone who also has a “bro” personality, they will get along very easily.
A party in the park demoed how Sims play around with each other. There was fishing by a pond, BBQs, children in playgrounds and chess players.
After the park, both Sims made their way into a gym. The male character, as mentioned, is an angry person and worked out well. The female did not have have trouble either because of her athletic build. A trainer showed up and helped the male. Eventually, the mad no longer was angry after reaching an new athletic level.
The Integrated Gallery then showed off what kind of content will be at the disposal of players. User-created content, like houses and clothes, can be downloaded in real-time. Integrated Galleries are going to be a nice addition for those looking to just quickly pull out a style without having to create something in a couple of minutes. Instead, they can instantly download content in a couple of seconds. No quitting or restarting a play session is required.
Building content is fined tuned to allow an entire room to be move by just pointing and clicking. Just like the character feature customizations, the simple mouse movement is easing the creating process.
As with any Sim’s game, funny moments are always possible mxdwn’s Kerwin Tsang observed this moment at a party:
One guest that arrived at the party was Kim Jong Un, whose foul mood brought bad vibes to the party. He proceeded to the house’s cupcake machine, which looks like a strange steampunk contraption, to try and make cupcakes. He instead wound up setting it on fire, which in turn wound up killing the male and female Sims. A grim reaper showed up in a cloud of smoke to signify their deaths.
The Sims 4 is dated for September 2 on PC. Check out the video below for a trailer.