Mikayla's Art & Multimedia
Mikayla's Art & Multimedia
1/24/2021
Since SimCity was published by Maxis in 1989, the Sims game series is known to be the most popular life simulation game to exist. After the city-building game SimCity gained the interest of many players, the Sims was published and gained it’s attraction for bringing an immersive life simulation experience that had never been seen before when it was released in 2000. When you look at the first Sims game compared to the latest release of Sims 4 which was released in 2014, the Sims game series has had tremendous improvements in the way players can interact with simulation games, which makes it harder for competitors to make a better simulation game then the Sims.
One of the most obvious advancements in the Sims game series are the graphics. Overtime, the sims along with objects and worlds have become more high resolution. When you observe the sims in action in each game, its apparent that the sim’s facial expressions along with their movements have become more animated, displaying their thoughts and feelings more clearly. The world itself overtime has also become more 3d, allowing objects to be rotated and tilted (which was introduced in the Sims 3) as well as allowing players to view their sims at all angles unlike the Sims, which only displayed a quick frame of a sim doing one action to another. Although these features seem minor, including smooth transitioning of animations is what has made the Sims feel more life-like.
The Sims personality traits throughout the game series is an argument amongst the sim fandom on wether sims personality traits have advanced for the better or worse in the last release of Sims 4. In the first game, the sim’s personality traits are on a broad scale between 5 options (Neat, Outgoing, Active, Playful, and Nice levels) that lean towards one spectrum or the other. In the Sims 2, the same mechanics apply but the options are now increased by including a more cohesive spectrum of personality traits (Nice vs Grouchy and Active vs Lazy). The Sims 2 also includes zodiac signs which plays a part in how these sims will interact with one another and show their compatibility towards one another which begins to shift into a new dynamic once the Sims 3 is released. With the release of the Sims 3, personality traits are no longer on a spectrum, but can now be handpicked by the player. The player can choose up to 5 traits out of the existing 65 traits for an adult sim (2 traits for babies/toddlers, 3 traits for children, and 4 traits for teens). Along with traits, sims can have zodiac signs as well as more distinctive personal interests such as favorite color, music, and food. These features also transcend into the Sims 4, except sims are now limited to 3 distinctive traits (1 trait for toddlers/children & 2 traits for teens). Toddler traits were also added to the Sims 4, which contains a few traits that can only be applied to toddlers (Angelic, Charmer, Clingy, Fussy, Independent, Inquisitive, Silly, and Wild). The personality traits in the first Sims versus Sims 4 shows more advanced character development within the sims and also takes in account of how they will perform in the world.
With the latest Sims game, building is a lot more advanced then earlier versions of the game. All though all of the sims series contain features like terrain molding and recoloring, the first Sims does not include a foundation or basement tool, which isn’t introduced until the release of the Sims 2. The Sims also does not include the tilting of objects other then rotating objects from left to right as well as the Sims 2. This feature doesn’t become available until the Sims 3 which allows room for placing small scale objects on corners of furniture or anywhere on the walls. In the Sims 4, the same features are made available except now building in the Sims 4 contains automatic tracking and alignment tools that let the player know how much they are spending and allows the player to be more flexible. The game also allows players to adjust things they couldn’t adjust before like making objects smaller or bigger and adjusting the height of walls and roofs. These features allow players to go beyond their imagination and build anything they desire, allowing their sims to live in a more life-like world.