The SackSims v1.7 interface v3.2.5, including tutorial.

A level to show that a sims game is possible, you play your own sack person in a house with one other, each different object can be interacted with to increase the sims needs or skills, this is a demo to see how can it be made, it make other people interested in making a game like this. There is a day/night/weather cycle every 30 seconds. Each day is around 1 minute and and the sim can live for 100 days bit the level can end at any time by pressing and holding L3 for 4 seconds.

Any comments will be gratefull for any additions or found bugs.

There are ideas that are not in the level yet such as being able to select another bot, an environment mechanic. There are bugs that can break the level in rare cases, and a scoring bug that the score colour is turned black and does not contribute to score and some lag.

http://lbp.me/v/x48mnq

http://ia.lbp.me/img/ft/3aa3840ac3aa...cdb3ee4810.jpg

http://ic.lbp.me/img/ft/5dc86b9059cc...be0e75fd23.jpg

Update 1.1

Added auto entry for controlinator

Sims now live for 50 days instead of 100

Added score giver for gaining skills.

Found workaround for score giver bug.

Improved some lag by shrinking and compacting microchips.

A tutorial added.

V1.2

Adjusted speed of some needs.

The interface is now placed on the *sides instead of the bottom improving playing area
http://ib.lbp.me/img/ft/5db1f92a7dd4...1bb72b0b81.jpg
The camera is now closer to the player.

More music is added.

A relationship bar is added to the other sim.

Version 1.3

Increased bladder and hygiene needs and decreased fun need.

Changed spelling errors.

Tutorial level tweaked*

Lighting added

Clock added (not accurate)
http://i1.lbp.me/img/ft/fa159cbd2937...ac3491ed64.jpg
Grab score giver for skills is removed and timed score deduction for empty needs.

The piano is now put upstairs, and the tv down stairs to make navigation easier

Death now ends the game to the score board.

The level is now renamed to the SackSims.

Version 1.5

The level now is bigger

A pseudo progress bars now appears above the SackSims blumbob when gaining skills.

The control seat is now covered *

Ending the game should now work properly

The plumbob should now change to orange when a need empties

The behavior should now work properly, when all needs are not empty the SackSim should now look more happier

The stairs is now replaced with bouncepads for extra navigation.

The social SackSim now has a better walking cycle.

Sims V1.6

A delayed needs chips are added to compensate for the lack of inputs, an indicator is added to signal that a need is being replenished.

SackSims also can't move when these needs are raised with the exception of social.

The interface is now better to read with it's own stickers that reflect the style of the level badge.

http://i7.lbp.me/img/ft/9f74b3bd8251...b35784dab2.jpg

The skills also has improved signs.*

More lighting added to the interface this should make the house appear more brighter*

An improved tutorial to reflect the new interface and style.

Minor bugs fixed.

The quit is now incorporated into the interface*

The time is now easier to see.

Sims v1.6.6

Day counter added

http://ib.lbp.me/img/ft/09bc78f49656...243976a931.jpg

All interface components are on one big object instead of separate objects.

More objects placed for decoration and block areas where the SackSim can get stuck.

Fixed a rare death when SackSim *dies on the shelf when moving faster because of low bladder need

Doubled the length for the fitness skill.

Improved SackSim AI for the social SackSim, by changing the animation to loop absolute so the SackSim does not get stuck in the shower.

SackSims v1.7.8.6

Two stats screens that keep track of how many times each need has been filled and how long the skills had been studied for.
http://i4.lbp.me/img/ft/484e72160cd8...693bc1a458.jpg
http://i7.lbp.me/img/ft/4e76ef027ce6...32fbeb463e.jpg

The shower should now work properly.

The camera transition speed when entering the control seat for the first time is much faster.

The stats has also been added to the tutorial. The introduction is also improved.

I will definetly try this one. I had tempting to try create sims (but top-down).
But I give up because of lots of objects needed. I bad artist and creating nice looking object is almost impossible for me. A doing SIms from cubes would not be success :-) But I hope somebody else will do it. It hsould not be so difficulet excpet pathfinding and interface.

Aloha. Nice work so far. It has some serious potential. I would definitely suggest a tutorial for the final
product. Like maybe show which spot specifically to grab to maintain each bar.
I found the HUD to be just a bit cumbersome as well, maybe make it a bit more compact
so it doesn't cover as much space. Everything that is there seems to work nicely.
The house looks good. At 2500 points I was auto ejected from the control seat and could not
re-enter. Is it supposed to end at 2500? Maybe I accidentally clicked the L3 now that I look at
your OP.

Maybe in the final product hide the entrance as well and make the control seat auto enter.
Thats about all I got so far. I'll give it another go next update xD
Did ya play my level yet. in the sig ty ;)

i made my review ingame hun

The UI is far too big and the house is way to small. A quick little start-up tutorial that instructs the player on how to affect the various bars would be handy since I had no clue what I was doing just running around and grabbing stuffs.

The level has now been updated dramatically, the details are in the description, also a new link that I appear I can't change in the description http://lbp.me/v/x48mnq

As a tech-demo it fills it's part now. Finally I understood what I was supposed to do. Now you only need to refine and make something bigger out of it. The tutorial did wonders. :)

I liked the concept but it was really hard to enjoy and understand when it was soooo tiny! I am a big time lover of the Sims so if you improve on this let me know :)

Another dramatic change, this time the interface is on the side , this frees up the viewing area, the camera is zoomed in a bit as well as other changes, take a look, see if this interface is better or worse?

This is a great demo and shows that this idea has good potential. The house looks great but i think you should add some more lighting at night especially upstairs. Also some of the bars such as hygene drained too fast in my opinion. Once you make this bigger and add more places to explore this could be a great level.

Fun concept! I think with some tweaks you could really be on to something. I liked the day/night cycle and weather effects - haven't seen that before. Nice touches like changing emotions and trail of gas when hygiene gets too low.

Suggestions:
-- Make bars on left go slower. It's hard to explore and try everything when something is constantly low (though I realize there should be some urgency). In particular, I was constantly running upstairs to take a show and use the bathroom. It's bad at the beginning, too, when you haven't even had a chance to locate everything and 2 or 3 things are already running low.
-- Since the main gameplay mechanic is grabbing, everything that's not tied to a specific objective/points should not be grabbable. Floors, walls, pillows on the bed, etc.
-- Make sure the house is easy to navigate. I particularly struggled to get onto the stairs several times (as I was rushing up to the shower)
-- I think I died from hunger, but didn't really die? I didn't see anything, just got kicked back to the guy in the control seat. Not sure if you can auto kill a sackbot like that, but a death animation would be nice.
-- Some sort of mild alarm or red effect when items are low would be nice.
-- I didn't really understand the items on the right. Maybe it was in the tutorial, but I missed it because there was so much to remember. It seems like the blue meter goes up slowly. I hit the mech one like 100+ times and only got it like halfway...not sure what those do.
-- I like the fact that the music changes, but try to only pick songs that fit the vibe. When you're "relaxing" with your sim, heavy metal doesn't really work - it makes it seems like something really urgent is happening, when really it's just random (I think).
-- It's spelled "hunger", not "hungar" :)

Fun idea! I've never played any Sims games, so I can't really compare, but it definitely kept me playing. I especially liked the haze of green funk coming off of the character when the hygiene bar runs out! :p

One little bit of confusion I had was with the skill-building grabbers. I would get 500 points every time I grabbed, so I though I was supposed to stand by them and grab repeatedly. I later figured out the meters fill much faster when you grab and hold. Might want to change that so repeated grabbing isn't rewarded, so people know to hold.

I love all the little details in the house. My only nitpick was that it was sometimes a little tricky getting my sac-sim to land on the stairs, instead of the piano in that area. Really minor, and only occasional annoyance, but there ya go.

Once I got the hang of everything, it was quite fun. I got everything maxed out, and my age bar was just about full, and I decided to take a picture of all my maxed stats, and accidentally hit "Return to Pod" insead of the camera button! ( :cry: Oh noes!). Oh well. I'll probably play it again tonight so I can get to the end.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hazzmax

Fun idea! I've never played any Sims games, so I can't really compare, but it definitely kept me playing. I especially liked the haze of green funk coming off of the character when the hygiene bar runs out! :p

One little bit of confusion I had was with the skill-building grabbers. I would get 500 points every time I grabbed, so I though I was supposed to stand by them and grab repeatedly. I later figured out the meters fill much faster when you grab and hold. Might want to change that so repeated grabbing isn't rewarded, so people know to hold.

I love all the little details in the house. My only nitpick was that it was sometimes a little tricky getting my sac-sim to land on the stairs, instead of the piano in that area. Really minor, and only occasional annoyance, but there ya go.

Once I got the hang of everything, it was quite fun. I got everything maxed out, and my age bar was just about full, and I decided to take a picture of all my maxed stats, and accidentally hit "Return to Pod" insead of the camera button! ( :cry: Oh noes!). Oh well. I'll probably play it again tonight so I can get to the end.

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You grab and hold, lie probably change that so the score is only given when the blue bars are full.

Adding lighting at the moment, may put a digital clock in there, more updates in the coming couple of days.

Qued!

I like these kinds of experiments! Logicz!!

Another big update, this time adding a clock, changing the rate of some needs and making it more navigational and includes a name change. All it needs now is a level badge, and dialogue to go full, any more suggestions would be grateful. Such as a better labeling for the needs could be handy.

Great job... I have a lot of feedback for you though, and please take it positively, because I thought it was a great tech demo and worked really well.
Because it's just a very complex level, I think I have more things I would like to see.

The house should be a bit bigger, so you can make the objects bigger or easier to see, right now it feels a little cluttered.
You might consider adding more timers, so that the need bars only start displaying when the Sim has the need, and that the skill bard only display when you are working on the skills.

Your friend is a little hard to hug sometimes since he always sits on the couch and I end up grabbing it all the time. Maybe make him an actor and have him run around the house from time to time.

Also, rather than the notes all over, why not add a pop-up help screen they can activate?

Great level though, and the mechanics work great and it was actually pretty fun. Made me wish I could save my character and return to improve him some more!

hey,like other people have said before i think this has great potential, well its just a concept at the moment right? all the things i think need improving have already been mentioned,very cool idea & concept

I liked the idea, Ive personally never played the sims. But I see that this definitely could evolve into something bigger, nice job

Another update, this time enlarges the house, zoom the camera in further, replaced the stairs with bouncepads and many other small improvements that are detailed in the description.

The badge is now different to reflect the new name

I found that multiplayer is not an option as the interface itself takes 2/3 of the thermo, as well as complexity issues.

What else?

Anyone want to build and donate a functional house, create sim like music, etc.

Any suggestions for name, badge design, the tutorial or suggestions on the interface alternative for notes.
P.S should I post a brand new thread when this project is finished or not?

Another update and this time the interface is now improved.

Any more realistic requests, any advice, comment if the new delay function is too long or too short

Do I need a third introductory level?, should the tutorial be shortened, skippable or optional?

Do you want more weather?