Category: Videos

Today’s Sims 4 stream was broadcasted live from the production pit at Maxis and hosted by Sim gurus Ryan Vaughn, Grant Rodiek, and Antonio Romeo. Various members of the Sims 4 team also made appearances.

Familiar faces Andre DaSilva and Babs L’amour were joined by new Sims Tracey Hills and Albert Peterson in their Willow Springs home.

The gurus empty a room of the house and plan to fill it with crafted furniture. Babs begins crafting an end table at the woodworking table, making use of the handiness skill. Albert is building his mental skill at the science table. In addition to unlocking new science table potions and computer and social interactions, the mental skill will make the logic skill easier to obtain once a child ages. After completing the end table, Babs begins working on a Large Bear Sculpture.

 

Andre heads outside to weed the tomato bush while Tracey feeds the Cowplant. At level 8 of the gardening skill, a Sim can graft two plants together to create a plant that grows both types of produce.

 

Andre is in the focused emotional state, so now is a good opportunity to work on his programming skill at the newly purchased computer. Being focused enhances the rate at which he can learn the skill, evidenced by the purple outline around the skill progress bar and the purple background of the interaction in the queue. Andre has the genius trait, so he becomes focused more often.

 

He has plenty of satisfaction points, so the gurus open the Rewards Store to redeem a couple new traits for him. “Beard guru” Argus Hulin stops by and chooses the Gym Rat trait, and Grant picks the Shameless trait. Gym rats don’t lose hygiene and have fun while working out. Shameless Sims won’t become embarrassed.

 

After a short load, the household heads across the street to visit another house in the neighborhood. It turns out that no one lives here, however, so they head over to a trailer house in Oasis Springs. This was a bust, as no one is currently home. The shameless Andre tries to chat up some local ladies. Tracy goes fishing and catches a chest containing an apple.

 

They nearly visit the Rattlesnake Juice Bar for the third time, but Andre and Babs instead head to The Blue Velvet Nightclub. It’s not as lively as they’d hoped. Andre tends to the bar, and it appears that Pancake Bob works here.

 

After returning home, Babs picks up a voodoo doll and binds it to the unsuspecting Andre. A lumberjack sculpture is placed out of her inventory. Sculptures and paintings your Sims make can produce emotional auras that affect nearby Sims. She performs voodoo and forces Andre to frolic around the house. Poking the doll backfires, giving her an uncomfortable moodlet. Poking it again is successful, and Andre receives an angry moodlet. Andre can prune a nearby bonsai tree into various shapes. He is feeling inspired, so he has a special inspired shape choice.

 

The gurus rock the Landgraab family’s world by bulldozing their home and placing lots made to look like a pyramid, a spaceship, a floating house, and a castle. The castle is an incredible creation with fully furnished rooms and a lovely garden. Fences were used around the rooftops to emulate crenels.

From the Gallery they add a Sim modeled after Leonardo DiCaprio, an unfortunate creature called “The Bogeyman,” and one unibrowed fellow. Leonardo and The Bogeyman duel atop a tower, with the blue monster coming out victorious. Two more individuals rocking unibrows were added, and the Full House achievement was unlocked by having 8 (the maximum) Sims in the household.

 

The Hungry Games lot from the Gamescom presentation made its return. This time the Sims actually got to try it out. All six present Sims were instructed to the middle of the maze. Nancy Landgraab won the race, with Leonardo and The Bogeyman far behind the pack and in need of a bathroom break and a nap. The bathroom and bedroom are all the way on the other side of the maze.

The two waddle through the winding walkways and past shooting fountains. The Bogeyman is right outside the bathroom, but his bladder gets the best of him. Leonardo gets just as far before having to pass out. With no room in the narrow maze, he must slowly walk all the way outside and drops to the ground. Shortly afterwards he is awoken by his bladder…

To see all the entertaining interactions between the Sims 4 team, be sure to watch the stream!

We’re on day four of The Sims 4 official Twitch livestreams. Today’s echo-filled stream was hosted by Sim gurus Azure Bowie-Hankins and Antonio Romeo. The first four minutes can be viewed here. They had audio issues that persisted for a short while into the next video, so do beware of the possibly painful echoing.

The stream picked up right where the last left off, with the Goth family and a pregnant Bella. From the Inventory panel, a Cowplant Berry is dragged onto the ground. Cassandra is then instructed to plant it. The Cowplant needs to be routinely watered and weeded until it grows into its final stage.

 

Bella is in her second trimester of pregnancy. The first two trimesters last about 24 hours each, meaning that pregnant Sims will give birth within three or four days. The gurus go into the Gallery to add a Sim. Not realizing that they are under the Maxis category, they are unable to find any Sims under the #ts4lb hashtag.

Cassandra is outside doing her homework. According to Azure, homework can be done in multiple ways, such as reading the book or writing in it. The focused emotional state she is in allows her to more quickly complete her homework. Meanwhile, Mortimer is inside helping Alexander with his homework.

 

Once again they enter the Gallery. Lina and Kim Cart are added from the Maxis category. This category consists of uploaded creations favorited by Maxis. Viewers want to see a Sim die, so the gurus try and push Kim’s emotions to the extreme. Azure attempts to have him fail a romantic interaction with Lina to put him in the embarrassed emotional state. Lina, however, has the romantic trait, making her more likely to react positively to flirting. He tries a pick-up line on Bella. The happily married woman isn’t having any of it, and he receives the awkward encounter moodlet. He takes a bubble bath in his clothes, sinking his head under the water from embarrassment. The bubble bath puts him in the playful emotional state.

 

After one failed attempt at killing Kim, the gurus set their eyes on Mortimer. He is feeling very playful, so they have his family tell him jokes and use playful interactions to try and make him die from laughter. Viewers want to see someone go to work, however, so after a family meal at 2:00 AM they give up and send him to bed. Dishes can be dragged and dropped into a trash can or sink to dispose of them, aside from having a Sim perform the task. One particular trash can actually gives Simoleons when used.

 

After some secret guru whispering, Broccoli Brócolis is successfully added from the Gallery using the #ts4lb hashtag. The gurus try their luck at killing Kim from embarrassment again by having him flirt with the new Sim. To put Sims in the flirty emotional state and have more successful romantic interactions, they can watch the romance channel, primp in the mirror, eat flirty cookies, or take a steamy shower.

 

It is almost time for Bella and Mortimer to head to work, and for the kids to go to school. In addition to goals, Sims also have daily tasks that they can complete to improve their work or school performance. Careers and school also have an ideal mood for your Sim to attend in. As a writer, Mortimer should attend work in the inspired emotional state and has a daily task of reading books. While at school, Alexander encounters a chance card!  Their choice nets him a small boost to his performance.

 

Broccoli walks in on Kim taking a shower and they both become very embarrassed. The maid arrives and begins cleaning up the house. She isn’t wearing the typical French maid uniform of past Sims games. Causing an emotional death proves to be too much of a challenge for the gurus, so they instead decide to play with fire. The Goth’s expensive stove is replaced with the cheapest available. Outside of the house is a utility panel for activating a house’s sprinkler system. It detects when a fire is present and activates sprinklers that will extinguish it. After removing that, they send Kim to the kitchen to cook some mac and cheese.

With the combination of his poor mood, the cheap stove, and his lack of cooking skill, a fire begins. During a fire, Sims will flee outside of the house for safety. Kim must die, however, so they force him back inside to stand by the fire. The fire spreads, setting him ablaze. Kim eventually perishes, prompting Azure to sing a tune. The Grim Reaper arrives and examines his tablet, giving players plenty of time to plea for the life of their fallen Sim. Kim’s charred corpse is replaced by an urn. Broccoli takes the opportunity to get to know the reaper at the kitchen table over Kim’s remains.

 

Bella has returned from work and has earned a promotion! From the Notification Wall they see that she is now an Agent Handler, unlocking the Tranquilizing Handshake social interaction and the Reconnaissance Workstation object as a bonus.

 

Now in her third trimester, Bella is ready to pop. She goes into a two hour long labor the following day. While taking a bath, a baby carriage appears next to her. It’s a boy! After a quick spin, baby Ollie appears!

  

During the stream. the gurus earned two achievements. The All Nighter achievement was unlocked by having a Sim stay awake for 24 hours. Having a Sim perform no social interactions for 24 hours granted them the Introvert achievement.

We’re back with day three of our continued recaps of The Sims 4’s Twitch livestreams. Today’s playthrough was hosted by Sim gurus Matt Yang and Shannon Copur.

Sisters Sarah and Rebecca Hudson were downloaded from the Gallery and are looking to throw a party at their new house. From the cell phone menu they pull up the map and travel to the Rattlesnake Juice Bar. At the bar they meet some potential party guests. A social group was automatically formed with the other Sims at the bar,  indicated by clear plumbobs over their heads.

They headed over to The Future’s Past Museum with a couple of their newfound acquaintances to look for intellectual guests. Rebecca strikes up a conversation with another Sim in the midst of painting. Shifting the focus to Sarah, they notice Ryan Vaugh from yesterday’s stream sashaying down the sidewalk.

 

Back at home. they schedule their party from the social event menu. They could throw a House Party, Dinner Party, Birthday Party, or a Wedding. You can earn medals and rewards from completing goals by hosting a Prestige Event. These events have one main goal and various lesser goals. Completing goals gradually fills up a progress meter, and a timer indicates when the party will end. After choosing their event, they had to select at least one host (up to 8) and two guests (up to 15). The sisters automatically changed into their party outfits and the invited guests began arriving.

 

Viewers wanted to see some romance and a Sim use a pregnancy test, so from here on the stream shifted into a mission for woohoo. Rebecca becomes friendly with party guest Tylor Moore, but her flirtation doesn’t go over well.  Matt adds a new Sim named Nelson Tarso to the household from the Gallery for Sarah to try her luck with. The two hit it off at first, but Nelson becomes embarrassed and thing go downhill from there. The gurus resort to adding a married couple from the Gallery. It’s going well, but they need a good night’s rest and viewers wanted to see the Goth family.

 

Over at the Goth residence, the gurus put Bella and Mortimer to work. After a bit of flirtation and making out on the couch, they head up to the bedroom for some woohoo while Matt and Shannon avert their eyes.  Bella now has the option of taking a pregnancy test when interacting with a toilet.

Mortimer and Bella spend some quality time with the children. Bella announces her pregnancy to the excited family. Cassandra gives her father fake bad news and learns the Mischief skill, allowing her to use additional mischievous social interactions. Opening the career panel reveals that Bella is in the secret agent track, and Mortimer is a writer. Mortimer breaks the downstairs toilet and can’t seem to use the upstairs toilet, so he ends up soiling the carpet. A child themed Styled Room is added to the rear of the house, and interactions with two toys are demonstrated with Alexander.

The official Sims Twitch channel held their second livestream session of The Sims 4 today. This time we were walked through a bit of Live Mode gameplay by Sim gurus Ryan Vaughn and Argus Hulin, who were joined by a cutout of Cassidy Purdue.

The Mordecai Malakai brothers are identical twins. One of these brothers, however, is evil. At the computer, Bad Malakai pulls up the career menu. The career list includes Writer, Criminal, Culinary, Astronaut, Painter, Secret Agent, Entertainer. and Tech Guru.

Each branch off into one of two career paths at some level. The criminal career, for example, has a Boss Branch and Oracle Branch. After joining a career, a Sim’s work schedule, performance level, and the goals you can complete to help raise that level can be viewed from the Career panel. If your Sim doesn’t have a career, a button will appear in the panel for joining one. Bad Malakai can do a bit of hacking with six targets to choose from. Most notably is the work performance option.

 

On the Aspiration panel you can view your Sim’s current aspiration and their progress towards completing it. At any time you can actually change your Sim’s aspiration without losing their progress, and you can complete as many as you want on a single Sim.

 

From the Gallery, Argus plops down a house made by a Creator Camp attendee. Bad Malakai’s evil trait and Good Malakai’s good trait clash, causing them to develop the Good vs Evil moodlet when in close proximity to each other. With the angry emotional state this put him in, Bad Malakai performs Enraged Reps on a workout machine. In the Relationships panel you can see that the brothers despise each other and are nemeses. Being an Elder Sim makes Bad Malakai susceptible to the Dangerously Tired moodlet when performing strenuous activities. Continuing such activities in this state could actually prove fatal.

 

Good Malakai heads to the kitchen to cook up some grilled cheese on the stove. Meals come in three sizes, including single serving, family size, and party size. At the top of the cooking menu there is a checkbox for using fresh ingredients. Despite his lack of cooking skill and flipping it outside of the pan a couple times, the meal was of good quality. Hovering over the meal also displays a timer indicating when it will become spoiled.

 

After a good meal, it’s time for the brothers to head out on the town. From the map they are able to switch over to Oasis Springs and visit the Rattlesnake Juice Bar. Bad Malakai is still uncomfortable from working out, and it can be seen in his walk style. The brothers find themselves in the company of Katrina Caliente, who shows a fine display of multitasking by holding and drinking two glasses of juice at the same time.

Mortimer Goth arrives on the scene, and Bad Malakai wastes no time trying to get on his bad side. Being mean to Mortimer brought him one step closer to completing his aspiration. The two end up in a bar brawl, with Bad Malakai coming out the victor. This puts him in a confident emotional state and allows him to show off his muscles to his defeated foe.

 

In the aspiration panel you can access the Rewards Store. From here you purchase special items and traits for your Sims with their Satisfaction Points, which are earned by completing aspirations.

 

Now it’s time to throw another Sim into the mix. In the Gallery they search for Sims with the #ts4lb hashtag. Scrolling down the list, an awfully familiar looking Sim named Ryan Vaugh catches their attention. Just like that he’s added to the household. He struts into the bar and begins telling jokes, accompanied by Dina Caliente.

 

The guys travel to the Desert Bloom Park with Katrina for a change of scenery. Good Malakai and Bryan are in a playful emotional state from joking around at the bar. At the park they spot Malcolm Landgraab, another familiar face. Good Malakai is in desperate need to of a bathroom. Clicking on the Bladder icon in the Needs panel queued an interaction with the nearest toilet. While Good Malakai waddles to the bathroom, Ryan tries to flirt with a Sim named Jenna, who quickly leaves the room. He follows her and tries again, but she rejects him. This puts him in an embarrassed emotional state, but successfully telling a self deprecating joke took care of that. Another failed attempt at flirting puts him right back. It turns out that Jenna is married, so maybe flirting with her isn’t the best idea.

 

It’s late and they’re tired, so Ryan and the brothers head home for bed. Ryan hides under the covers to help make his embarrassing moodlet go down faster. While they sleep, another Sim is added from the Gallery. After a painful violin session and a bit of painting, gurus Argus and Ryan decide to give the viewers what they want and show off some gameplay of the child life stage.

 

In Create A Sim they quickly make a household consisting of a randomized mother and two children. Children have their own unique aspirations to choose from, and get one trait. To make Bob even more miserable, they moved the family into the Pancake household. They head out for some fun at the Magnolia Blossom Park. Little Maureen played pirate with her mother while Darwin climbed the monkey bars. Children have a Motor skill that allows them to perform more interactions with certain objects, such as climbing on top of the monkey bars.

Maureen is hungry, but rather than cook a quick meal on the grill, Ryan and Argus have the mother go fishing for food. Darwin stumbles upon a sleeping stranger and wakes her up. She is in an angry state, so he brightens her day. Now Darwin has learned the Social skill, giving him more interactions revolving around socialization. He gives the dirty stranger a hug and put her in a happy state. Meanwhile, Maureen jogs over to trash on the ground and jstomps around in it.

Unable to catch any fish, the mother cooks some hot dogs. A vegetarian Sim begins eating a hot dog and becomes embarrassed. With only five minutes left in the stream, they head back home to enjoy an excellent quality pancake meal prepared by Bob.

This is it, everyone! We’re almost up to the release of The Sims 4. In this official launch trailer we find out several things: Babs and Ollie have kids, Gladys has been getting some action, June Kay and Steve Fogel are newlyweds, and we’re still not quite sure if Pancake Bob did stay up past midnight.

We’ll have several articles up in time for The Sims 4; it will explore some of the gameplay and casual modding aspects of the game. Furthermore, we’ll focus on news for other simulation games as well. Stay tuned!

Afternoon Simmers! Today we got an extended look at Live Mode footage from The Sims 4. Producers Ryan Vaughan and Graham Nardone presented a live walkthrough of how emotional states change your Sim’s behavior.

Ryan and Graham loaded up their Sims at Magnolia Blossom Park in Willow Creek. Ryan Vaughan, an active Sim with the Bro trait, was feeling “Very Angry” from a previous altercation. The emotional states your Sim receives are driven by the various moodlets that appear based on their personality, and the effects of the interactions they had. Ryan’s “Steaming Mad” moodlet kept him in an angry state. This unlocked further interactions that allowed him to perform “Peeved Push Ups” and “Sit Ups of Fury.”

Now he can channel all his anger into performing exercises that build his athletic skill faster than if he was in a good mood.

Graham, another Sim with the Bro trait, instead felt “Energized!” This was due to both his “Brisk Shower” moodlet, as well as his Bro personality trait which activated the “Hangin’ with Bros” moodlet.

With his energized emotional state, he can do unique interactions like “Give Pep Talk” or “Hip Bump.” When he shifted over into the “Happy” emotional state, he could “Brighten [the] Day” of another Sim or give a “Heartfelt Compliment.”

One neat thing is how you can see their emotional states through their expressions and animations without clicking on them. A Sim who’s sad will walk slouched over with their head hanging low, clearly signifying that something is wrong.

So far we’ve talked about emotion based interactions, so let’s dabble into personality based interactions. For these kinds of interactions, a little icon depicting the Sim’s personality will display next to the name of the interaction. So for example, a geek Sim can “Debate Game Strategies” (controller icon), while a bro Sim could perform a “Bro Bump.” Sims can also perform interactions outside of their personality traits to Sims that have them. For example, Graham’s Sim, who is pretty much a computer nerd, could “Discuss Fitness Techniques” and “Show Off Muscles” to Ryan.

Though it may appear like a menu system here, traveling to different locations is done via a world map menu.

1st up – there is a full world map, it simply wasn't in our E3 build. When traveling you choose a lot from the map, not from that list.

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) July 19, 2014

Ryan and Graham traveled to the local Gym to see who could level up their fitness skill the fastest. But Ryan gained a bit of an advantage by calling over a Sim who has high fitness skill to mentor him during the workout.

A combination of Ryan’s angry emotional state, his physically active personality, and the mentorship his friend provided enabled Ryan to workout faster, building up his athletic skill in no time!

Well that’s the end of this article. Stay tuned for part two where we’ll talk about “The Gallery,” where you can upload and download Sims and more!

 

 

A new Sims 4 trailer was just posted today showing off more of the emotion-based gameplay and objects your Sims will be able to interact with.