The Sims 4 Won't Have Pools Because its Too Much Work, Says EA

[Steven Bogos]

The Sims 4 Won't Have Pools Because its Too Much Work, Says EA

EA says that the scope of The Sims 4 means that the team had to shift its focus away from some features.

The Sims 4 won't have pools or toddlers [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/135727-The-Sims-4-Wont-Have-Pools-Toddlers] when it launches this September, and many fans were understandably curious as to why. EA initially gave a very general "its not possible," response, but has now elaborated on just why features that had been with the series from the beginning were cut.

"The fact is, we owe you a clearer explanation for why pools and toddlers will not be in The Sims 4 at launch," executive producer Rachel Franklin wrote in a new blog post.

"It begins with new technology and systems that we built for this new base game for The Sims - a new AI system, new animation system, new audio positioning tools, new locomotion logic, new routing intelligence and much more are all entirely new in this game."

"So the bottom line is that when we sat down and looked at everything we wanted to do for this game, all the new tech we wanted to build into it, the fact was that there would be trade-offs, and these would disappoint some of our fans. Hard pill to swallow, believe me, but delivering on the vision set out for The Sims 4 required focus."

So it basically boils down to it being too much work to add every single feature from the series into the game before it launches. Franklin added that the team chose to instead focus on other things, such as additional animations. Sims now have seven unique walk styles, Franklin revealed, 320 emotion-based animations and 600 reactions to objects.

He also added that pools and toddlers could be added in a post-launch patch or expansion, though the odds on it being free are somewhere between buckley's and none.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.thesims.com/news/whats-out-and-whats-in]

Permalink

 

[CrimsonBlack]

600 reactions to objects?

I do hope one of them is a reaction to not having a pool.

 

[JayRPG]

"We added all these new features, we had to build all these features from the ground up"

"Are you using an entirely new engine built from scratch that wasn't used in any iteration on the previous games?"

"...umm, no"

"THEN PORT THE FUCKING POOL ASSETS FROM YOUR LAST EXPANSION-PACK-A-THON YOU CALL A GAME INTO THIS ONE, YOU FUCKSTICK"

That's how I imagine any conversation between me and these ass clowns would go.

(I'm a non-Sims player and it even makes me angry)

 

[Roofstone]

...Well why didn't they extend the release date?! Games used to do that, sometimes they still do. Geez.

 

[Grabehn]

So they're actually admitting that they're lazy fucks AND have a tendency to overcomplicate things just to make people not think about how much content they actually want to push as DLC afterwards.

That's a step forward... I guess.

 

[Vivi22]

600 reactions to objects?

I do hope one of them is a reaction to not having a pool.

"We built all of these new systems that you'll never notice and will barely alter your play experience, and that required us dropping features that could easily be ported and tweaked from the previous game, and have been part of the series since the first game. But don't worry, you'll be able to get pools in the next expansion for $30, and toddlers will come a little farther down the road in the fifth expansion."

This is how EA and the Sims works now. You don't get the full game when you buy it. You have to pay extra for the features that came standard in the previous editions because they're greedy, lazy fucks.

 

[Eiv]

"The fact is, we owe you a clearer explanation for why pools and toddlers will not be in The Sims 4 at launch," executive producer Rachel Franklin wrote in a new blog post.

Translation: DLC!

"It begins with new technology and systems that we built for this new base game for The Sims - a new AI system, new animation system, new audio positioning tools, new locomotion logic, new routing intelligence and much more are all entirely new in this game."

Translation: NEW DLC!

"So the bottom line is that when we sat down and looked at everything we wanted to do for this game, all the new tech we wanted to build into it, the fact was that there would be trade-offs, and these would disappoint some of our fans. Hard pill to swallow, believe me, but delivering on the vision set out for The Sims 4 required focus."

Translation: err...DLC?

I may be off with my translation, but I was using my special EA bullsh!t filter.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

And people won't buy the game because it's too little for too much money EA. Deal with it.

Eh, who am I kidding. People will eat this shit up and EA will get away. They win again. Voting with your wallet means nothing when there are millions of idiots who enjoy spending $400 on a single game where every next entry in the franchise has less content than the previous.

Also I bet my life that there will be a pool mod 3 days after launch if EA doesn't pull some retarded DRM move ala SimCity.
I love the Sims, I enjoyed each of the 3 games with 3 being more or less a disappointment because of the awful optimization and need for a freaking mod just to keep the save file playable for more than 4 hours. But I hope 4 flops hard.

EDIT: Isn't this basically what Sterling was talking about in his latest Jimpquisition?
"Oh, we owe you an explanation of why there won't be any pools in the game." As bad as an insincere apology.

 

[zinho73]

...Well why didn't they extend the release date?! Games used to do that, sometimes they still do. Geez.

Yeah, they used to do that in order to be good.
I could understand a small dev having to release a game because of a deadline.
EA has the choice to make a great game or a meh one with several expansion packs down the line. They choose the second one ALL THE TIME. It gets tiresome.

 

[Boris Goodenough]

In the future all female characters will come as day 0 DLC, wouldn't that be funny?

 

[Chairman Miaow]

"The fact is, we owe you a clearer explanation for why pools and toddlers will not be in The Sims 4 at launch," executive producer Rachel Franklin wrote in a new blog post.

Translation: DLC!

"It begins with new technology and systems that we built for this new base game for The Sims - a new AI system, new animation system, new audio positioning tools, new locomotion logic, new routing intelligence and much more are all entirely new in this game."

Translation: NEW DLC!

"So the bottom line is that when we sat down and looked at everything we wanted to do for this game, all the new tech we wanted to build into it, the fact was that there would be trade-offs, and these would disappoint some of our fans. Hard pill to swallow, believe me, but delivering on the vision set out for The Sims 4 required focus."

Translation: err...DLC?

I may be off with my translation, but I was using my special EA bullsh!t filter.

Well, the key part of what they have said is the "At launch" so yeah, DLC. £30 DLC. 6 seperate £30 DLCs. and 500 £10 stuff packs. and the online store. Then Sims 5! Then the same expansions again. and so the cycle continues.

 

[Blachman201_v1legacy]

The thing that makes me most worried about this, is that they aren't telling about any new features they haven't already spoken of. They are still droning on about "EMOTIONS!!" and "WALK-STYLES!!" ad nauseam, whenever they aren't going "But guys, making games is soooooo haaaard!" That strongly implies they don't have any new tricks left up the shelve.

It also sounds suspiciously much like they are trying to spin the story so it sounds like toddlers and pools are the only things missing, and hoping that people will forget about the other cut corners such as no basements, no create a style, a massive-crippled story progression system, and the fact that there is no visual difference between teenagers and adults.

 

[Imre Csete]

That's PR speak for "We will sell it to you as an overpriced DLC because it's the Sims franchise you dullards!".

 

[rofltehcat]

I'd expect them to now do all the animations based of motion capturing, so my guess is that they can't mocap swimming animations without them looking like the sim is hanging in a harness above the ground. Same for toddlers. Getting toddlers to do what you want is hard enough when you're not strapping them in a suit, attaching distracting objects to them and trying to record them.

But I am confident that EA will, now that they have heard the great demand, make a pool DLC. The animations might look clunkier but people will still buy it.
As for toddlers, I'm sure they'll hire some growth-inhibited people (or should I call them little people? midgets? Some of those "politically correct" terms are so patronizing that using midgets is probably less insulting...) and scale the resulting mocap down another 10% or so.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Am mighty glad i don't like the sims one bit; the big brother series of games.
Haaaang on a minute...what is so difficult about programming pools?? It's not like they require next gen AI or "emotions". It's a small body of water, you fucktards! I doubt you even have a standard physics engine either! Man the fuck up EA.

 

[Slash2x]

Isn't this basically what Sterling was talking about in his latest Jimpquisition?
"Oh, we owe you an explanation of why there won't be any pools in the game." As bad as an insincere apology.

That is the the VERY first thing I thought too. Wow the timing on this half assed lie could not have been better! Jim calls your bullshit out and the SAME FUCKING DAY you do it again EA!

Oh just bravo!

Bravo good sir you stick to your lies with all you have!!

 

[Beetlebum]

The blog post in question is a good case study in video game marketing spin.

It only touches on pools and toddlers in two paragraphs; the second and the third, and in both it is claimed that having those features are mutually exclusive to their brand new systems.

So, rather than include toddlers, we chose to go deeper on the features that make Sims come alive: meaningful and often amusing emotions; more believable motion and interactions; more tools in Create A Sim, and more realistic (and sometimes weird!) Sim behavior.

Bit of a non sequitur.

Instead of pools, we chose to develop key new features in Build Mode: direct manipulation, building a house room-by-room and being able to exchange your custom rooms easily, to make the immediate environment even more relatable and interactive for your Sim.

What does that even have to do with pools?

 

[Baddamobs]

"He also added that pools and toddlers could be added in a post-launch patch or expansion"

Thereeeee it is. There was the part I was waiting for.

*Sigh*

I know it worked a few times before guys, I know that people DID buy those add-ons for the other Sims games, but let's be honest: they weren't HAPPY they had to pay for them.

Overall, the fact he at least mentioned a 'patch' gives me some, however small, hope that they will release it for free, just as an update. If they do, all about this stuff about it being 'too much work' will be forgiven. If not, well, I suppose I can't be really any MORE let down.

 

[loa]

I thought sims was, like, about having that really huge selection of props so you can build any house you can imagine and then having the sims waddle through that but I guess that's not the "vision" they had for the sims.

Anyway my guess is this is pure bullshit and the short answer is paid DLC.