PC gamers love modding. I know some of you have mods to make L4D2 fully retooled into a Mass Effect game, and then of course there is the modding hell that is Minecraft. However, The Sims have generally been free of this – until now.
Rather than using mods, The Sims has made use of expansion packs to add more content and make the game more enjoyable for players. However, The Sims 4 will be different. Revealed during a Sims 4 Modding Masterclass, the opportunities will be seemingly endless:
Everything the community makes is astounding to us, super inspiring, and it is interesting to see what people come up with. Please continue doing it as we want to be able to encourage and foster that creativity because it’s so important to what The Sims means to everyone.
We cannot officially support and screen everything that comes out, so it is very important to us that we set up a good foundation that can help the community manage what they’re creating, and communicate to other people how to responsibly get involved in the modding and creating community.
What does this mean in practice? There will be a directory for mods in the user data folder, as well as a document with data formats to help creators avoid conflict with what has been don in the game. The forums will also get a dedicated modding section, and the game options panel will contain a section for mods (script and non-script).
I wonder if that means you can mod what the Grim Reaper looks like, seeing as he will be more of an interesting character in this iteration of The Sims. Associate producer Graham Nardone told Polygon that the Grim Reaper is something of an exciting character – sometimes staying to change a baby’s diaper after whisking away a Sim, or perhaps getting beaten by a family member so that he can’t kill the particular Sim in question.
Your Sim has this sudden, unexpected tragedy, and the reaper shows up and there’s kind of that rush of excitement. He’s that fleeting experience that comes maybe once a month in The Sims.
However, don’t expect your Sims to have all manner of emotional deaths. While Sims can die from laughing too hard or getting too angry, not every emotional state can be fatal. Nardone explained that as much as The Sims is a life simulation, it’s also a light-hearted and fun take on life. This means that Maxis will continue to avoid deaths that could be reminiscent of real player traumas – no natural disasters and no depression-based deaths. It makes sense to me – I don’t care how often you like to kill your Sims, it would be that much more morbid if they could hang themselves.
Stick with drowning them in the pool. Oh wait…
Last Updated: August 5, 2014
Alien Emperor Trevor
August 5, 2014 at 09:10
They’re allowing modding? That means pools soon enough.
Bananarama
August 5, 2014 at 18:17
Yeahhhh, no. Pools are an extremely fleshed out feature that requires A LOT of coding and animation work. Modeling the pools, having them interact correctly with terrain and other objects, swimming animations, etc.) I’m at least certain a mod will not be able to accomplish this.
Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)
August 5, 2014 at 09:16
So… EA is trying hard to be Good Guy EA again? Now I’m really suspicious. Last time they were Good guy EA they followed it up by pulling the wool over our eyes with nearly a half decade of greed and shadiness… :/
Anon A Mouse
August 5, 2014 at 09:52
Have you read the Ultima post? EA can never be Good Guy EA, even if they fire all the gingers and get a care bear soul.
Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)
August 5, 2014 at 10:13
EA always approximates towards evil… :/
Rags
August 5, 2014 at 09:21
I shall support any ‘no hipsters’ mod.
Kensei Seraph
August 5, 2014 at 09:29
Mod predictions:
Nude mod
Pony mod
Nyan cat mod
Another nude mod
Gore mod
Minecraft mod
Starwars mod
Some more nude mods
Medieval ages mod
Feudal Japan mod (Ninjas and samurai)
Gundam mod
Anime mod
Sir Rants A Lot Llew
August 5, 2014 at 09:38
Mod predictions:
Nude mod
Pool mod
Zombie mod
ZombieDogma
August 5, 2014 at 10:01
I remember making clothing and such in The Sims 1. Hasn’t this always been a feature? (Granted, I haven’t played it since then)
Shukzabelle
August 6, 2014 at 09:15
Yea my sims 3 game is currently filled with mods so I’m not sure what the big deal is…I guess maybe the fact that they will feature mods on their site and there will be in game mod options…maybe?
Kana
October 14, 2014 at 16:43
I want an animation mod