The Sims 4: Simified’s Q&A With SimGuruGrant

During SimsCamp, I was given the opportunity to get all of the questions sent in by you, the readers, answered. I sat down with SimGuruGrant between all of the hustle and bustle and the awesome demos of The Sims 4 to get the questions answered. Below are the questions in no particular order and his responses based on how I remember him answering them. I only summarized what he said; I didn’t write his responses in full, so that I could save time. Thank you so much to SimGuruGrant for sitting down with me to get all of these answered!

Simified: What are the Life Stages in The Sims 4? Are there any new ones?
SimGuruGrant: The Sims 4 will have all of the same life stages as previous games, Baby, Toddler, Child, Teen, Young Adult, Adult, and Elder. There are no new life stages coming at this time.

Simified: Will there be Seasons or any kind of weather in The Sims 4 base game?
Grant: With The Sims 4 base game we are focusing on gameplay and Sims themselves to make it a great experience. Weather is something we’d like to have in the base game, but right now, with The Sims 4, weather and seasons will not be present in the base game.

Simified: Will there be an online store, like The Sims 3 Store, in The Sims 4?
Grant: The game is still in a pre-alpha state and we have not reached this point in development so I cannot comment on this.

Simified: Will Sims be able to have and own cars? Will cars in The Sims 4 have functions similar to The Sims 2 (opening doors, etc.) or will they be like The Sims 3?
Grant: Sims will definitely be able to own and have cars! As far as how they will function, I cannot comment on that yet. I do know that opening doors, like in The Sims 2, would require a lot from our animations team, so this may or may not happen.

Simified: Will it be possible to build more than 5 floors?
Grant: This question is actually for SimGuruHouts since he’s Build Mode, but I can say the team is always working on developing the game to make it the best it possibly can be. (SimGuruHouts mentioned during his Build Mode demo that currently, in The Sims 4, it’s 3 floors and a roof but they are working and hoping to make that higher.)

Simified: Will there be curved walls? Is it true we will we be able to adjust wall heights?
Grant: There will be adjustable wall heights! It’s something new we’re doing and you may noticed it in the arrival trailer. We may or may not be able to offer curved walls, but we are adding in curved fences. Curved fences are new too and we’re hoping players will like them.

Simified: Will there be rabbit holes? If so which buildings?
Grant: Right now we are only focusing on Create a Sim, Emotions, Animations, and Build Mode so I cannot discuss world features at this time. We will be covering the world and you’ll learn more about that soon.

Simified: Will there be a tool like Create-A-Style in Build Mode?
Grant: Create a Style is something that we know the fans want back and it’s definitely on the table for consideration. It’s not implemented currently and I can’t say for sure if it will be or not at this time.

Simified: What will the neighborhoods be like and will we be able to create our own?
Grant: This is another one of those things that we’re not quite ready to talk about yet so I cannot comment.

Simified: What will aging be like in The Sims 4? Will it be gradual or in stages?
Grant: Aging will be in the normal stages of Baby, Toddler, Child, Teen, Young Adult, Adult, and Elder, and will work in the same way as in previous The Sims’ games.

Simified: Will custom content be supported?
Grant: Of course! We love to see what the community can add with their creativity.

Simified: What online features will there be? Will there be an Exchange for sharing creations?
Grant: While we aren’t that far in development in terms of how it will work, I can definitely say there will be ways to share your creations from The Sims 4 just like in previous games.

Simified: What are some of the new major features for The Sims 4?
Grant: One of the big main features is emotions. Your Sims now have these great emotions that add more feeling behind the things they do. You’ll notice this very easily through how their facial expression is or by how they’re carrying themselves. By having these emotions it builds the connection with the player. Not only do we have emotions but multitasking too. So you’ll see your Sim carrying a conversation while sitting down to eat, pausing to take a drink, and resuming the conversation and eating. It will be very natural and adds more realism. We also have some great new skills and careers too that we think players will love as well as returning skills and careers.

Simified: Are there any new skills in The Sims 4? Any returning skills?
Grant: There will be some new skills with The sims 4 such as bartending but also some familiar returning skills too, such as gardening, writing, cooking and painting. Cleaning is also there but it’s not a skill, like in The Sims 3.

Simified: How are Sims’ personalities different from The Sims 3?
Grant: With The Sims 4 we’re bringing back aspirations. Aspirations were goals and things for your Sims to achieve, like Lifetime Rewards in The Sims 3. Personality traits will also change your Sims’ personality too, altering things they like or dislike. You’ll be able to create Sims with unique personalities and aspirations.

Simified: In The Sims 4, we’re getting body sculpting features. How will the game deal with our Sims losing and gaining weight, becoming more or less muscular?
Grant: So the game dealing with weight loss and muscle loss based on your Sims habits. If your Sim eats healthy and exercises, they’ll lose weight and tend to be more muscular. If your Sim chooses to eat unhealthy, like always munching on pizza, not really exercising, your Sim will tend to gain weight and be less muscular. It’s all about the choices your Sim makes and you as the player will make. Sims will not react to their weight however.

Simified: Will we be able to easily make split-levels in The Sims 4? Will we be able to make split-levels at all?
Grant: This is another great question for SimGuruHouts and his Build Mode demo. I can say the team is definitely looking at giving builders many great tools they’ve been asking for though, just can’t comment on what each of those are. (During SimGuruHouts Build Mode demo, there was no split-level tool, but it is something the team is considering and may or may not have in the final game.)

Simified: How many worlds/neighborhoods will there be in the base game?
Grant: I cannot comment on this as the game is still very early development so we have not finalized details. We will be covering the world and you’ll learn more about that soon.

Simified: You say that objects and clothing will be able to affect your Sims’ moods. Can you go into any more depth on this?
Grant: Clothing in The Sims 4, will use the buffs system (called moodlets in The Sims 3) and they will act as tags on the clothing to give your Sims’ different mood changes to help improve their mood. While clothing won’t fully alter how your Sim feels, it will help towards changing their mood.

Simified: Are babies going to have moving limbs just as back in The Sims 2?
Grant: No comment on this as we are not ready to talk about younger Sims yet.

Simified: Also will babies have more interactions and be able to be held by their children siblings?
Grant: No comment on this as we are not ready to talk about younger Sims yet.

Simified: Can we have baby showers and other parties?
Grant: With The Sims 4 there will be this great new goal based events system that will allow for various types of events. Can’t say if baby showers are included with this, but your Sim could setup parties such as a “Singles Event” which would gather all single Sims in the neighborhood. Careers will also use this new events system too, so if your Sim is a Chef for example, Chef’s will have special event dinners to attend where that helps relationship with their boss as well as job performance.

Simified: Will we have a community center type venue where Sims can take classes?
Grant: This is a good idea! I cannot comment on what the neighborhoods will contain yet.

Simified: Will the hair detail and texture in The Sims 4 be improved? Will we see moving hair?
Grant: With The Sims 4, we have a brand new art style, as you have noticed. This new art style does reflect the direction we are going with The Sims 4 however, the game is still in pre-alpha stages so textures on hair you may have seen in Create a Sim or on Sims may be tweaked or improved. As far as moving hair goes, that would require a lot of animations work and would actually affect game performance. We would also need to add more physics into the game just to support the movement of hair. We know this is something people do want, but we just don’t have the resources available to make it happen with The Sims 4.

Simified: Will there still be sliders in Create A Sim, to be used in conjunction with the new method of dragging their actual faces?
Grant: The only sliders we have in Create a Sim are for weight and muscle definition. The new powerful tools of clicking and sculpting your Sims actually, behind the scenes, are using sliders that all work together to create that seamless and clay molding like movement. But no, no sliders for sculpting your Sims as we think new way of creating Sims will be much easier and less overwhelming for players.

Simified: Will there be a return of cut-scenes in The Sims 4 for important moments in the Sims’ lives?
Grant: There are no cut-scenes in The Sims 4 at the moment, but there could be. Not saying yes or no.

Simified: What are some of the ways that we will grow more attached to our Sims?
Grant: With the emotions your Sims will feel, they will definitely be more life-like. All of the emotions and animations all tie in together to give you that emotional attachment to your Sims, even more than before.

Simified: How does multitasking work on the interactions queue that we are used to?
Grant: Multitasking works much in the same way as normal interactions, except your Sims will automatically decide if they can multitask many of the situations they’re faced with. If they can multitask, they will. If they can’t, they won’t. (For more on how multitasking works see our The Sims 4 Animations Preview.)

Simified: How are emotions conveyed in The Sims 4? Will there be moodlets or will they only be conveyed through the animations of our Sims?
Grant: Emotions will be conveyed both on the UI for the game, through how your Sim moves (though not all of the time) and through their facial expressions. You will also see the top moodlets that influenced how your Sim is feeling right with their current emotion.

Simified: Are the classic need bars still present?
Grant: The classic need bars will be present. We have not gotten to the UI design part so everything seen is not final yet, but they will be there. The need bars will be the same, no Environment or Comfort need bars though.