Hi there! You are currently browsing as a guest. Why not create an account? Then you get less ads, can thank creators, post feedback, keep a list of your favourites, and more!
I have one question for you actually. What modeling program do you plan on using when you eventually get to the "Graphics" stage?
I assume someone else entirely would do that. Also, can I recommend Blender? It's by far the most versatile, accessible modeling toolkit out there. Mostly because it's free, which means creating custom assets should be easier.
insert signature here
( Join my dumb Discord server if you're into the whole procrastination thing. But like, maybe tomorrow. )
I assume someone else entirely would do that. Also, can I recommend Blender? It's by far the most versatile, accessible modeling toolkit out there. Mostly because it's free, which means creating custom assets should be easier.
I am a 3D modeling noob, but I'm currently learning how to do stuff and all that.
Hey guys! I've ordered a Blue Snowball, which is a professional mic, and it's going to arrive a week or two from now, I bought it so you can all hear my angsty, teenagery voice in high quality, and I'll use it in weekly updates and maybe even let's plays. Blue Snowballs are very hard to find in my country, so that is the reason for the two week delivery time because there are NO Blue sellers in my country and I had to order it online.
I know how you feel bro with the voice...It's normal through our teen years. :p
Sorry for the lack of progress lately, my keyboard broke a while ago, Expect updates to resume next week!
So what does your setup look like? I'll be honest with you, I can't trust a person with a single-monitor setup to build a competent video game.
I have a keyboard and mouse with extra buttons (Logitech G15, Logi G300) - they're really damn useful. I don't have to enter cheats manually anymore, and that's pretty damn handy in TS3. I just press G8 on the mouse to open the cheat window, then M2 to open the group of Build Mode cheats I've set up, and then G3 to enter disableSnappingToSlotsOnAlt on. 3 button presses is all it takes. If you're serious about game development, this is the kind of stuff you might wanna invest in. Besides being awesome, it's damn useful. Also, it's said that having a second screen increases productivity by up to 50%.
insert signature here
( Join my dumb Discord server if you're into the whole procrastination thing. But like, maybe tomorrow. )
So what does your setup look like? I'll be honest with you, I can't trust a person with a single-monitor setup to build a competent video game.
I have a keyboard and mouse with extra buttons (Logitech G15, Logi G300) - they're really damn useful. I don't have to enter cheats manually anymore, and that's pretty damn handy in TS3. I just press G8 on the mouse to open the cheat window, then M2 to open the group of Build Mode cheats I've set up, and then G3 to enter disableSnappingToSlotsOnAlt on. 3 button presses is all it takes. If you're serious about game development, this is the kind of stuff you might wanna invest in. Besides being awesome, it's damn useful. Also, it's said that having a second screen increases productivity by up to 50%.
Sadly, I only do have one monitor, my parents have a mentality of "if it still works don't bother", they see no need for it as Facebook and Word are all the things they do.
It's definitely going to be a worthwhile investment down the line when I have a working pre alpha alpha, ready, and besides, who knows, I might quit this project later.
I doubt more screen space is going to be worth it, as creating a game is mostly divided into two categories
A. Blindly typing on the keyboard in an effort to build something
B. Testing to see if it actually works
Switching between Unity and Visual Studio on one monitor takes only about 3 seconds.
Switching between Unity and Visual Studio on one monitor takes only about 3 seconds.
But imagine it took 0 seconds. Zero seconds every time, for every program you use. Plus, you get to do two things at once. I wasn't sure ahout the benefits of a second screen either, but now that I have one, I'm never going back. They're completely different sizes (Main is a 24" 16:10, secondary is a 19" 5:4), but that doesn't really bother me.
insert signature here
( Join my dumb Discord server if you're into the whole procrastination thing. But like, maybe tomorrow. )
I assume someone else entirely would do that. Also, can I recommend Blender? It's by far the most versatile, accessible modeling toolkit out there. Mostly because it's free, which means creating custom assets should be easier.
I'll poke in here to say that I've never really cared to blender and actually find it less flexible than I'd prefer. But perhaps I'm growing to accustomed to both Autodesk's 3DS Max and Maya...
Because the earth is standing still, and the truth becomes a lie
A choice profound is bittersweet, no one hears Cassandra Goth cry
Sadly, I only do have one monitor, my parents have a mentality of "if it still works don't bother", they see no need for it as Facebook and Word are all the things they do.
It's definitely going to be a worthwhile investment down the line when I have a working pre alpha alpha, ready, and besides, who knows, I might quit this project later.
I doubt more screen space is going to be worth it, as creating a game is mostly divided into two categories
A. Blindly typing on the keyboard in an effort to build something
B. Testing to see if it actually works
Switching between Unity and Visual Studio on one monitor takes only about 3 seconds.
As a teen who has also done game development I can assure you that an extra monitor is the difference between night and day. I only have two and that almost seems like it isn't enough because you might want the scene, game, animation, and c# all open at once. It makes everything much more efficient and while it may only seem like three seconds to move your mouse, you get sidetracked and you don't see the consequences (whether positive or negative) of the code you edited or created. Now I ain't saying you need like 50 monitors but I can promise you, once you get further into game development, you WILL want an extra.
I'll poke in here to say that I've never really cared to blender and actually find it less flexible than I'd prefer. But perhaps I'm growing to accustomed to both Autodesk's 3DS Max and Maya...
blender is not working on my pc =/, i tried to install it but when initializing the programa just close after some DOS prompt.
i see many peoples using maya more because of MMD programa which they also are using to make animations.
August 23, 2015 - there are now promotions!
- there is now a job performance meter!
- a new notification is shown if your cym is promoted.
August 24, 2015 What I did today was that I made a working button that appears wherever you click on the screen! It works properly, although I have no idea how I managed to get it working.
I also managed to get days working. No day and night cycle so far though.
The game now calculates the current minute of the hour correctly.
The game now calculates the current hour correctly.
Created a simple function/ method which allows for interactions!
Created a fridge that looks like a box.
August 25, 2015
Created the first interaction! The first interaction is simply, eating from the fridge.
Created basic ai, what the ai does is select the highest ranking need and action and then proceed to fulfill said need. Since currently the only item is the fridge, all they do is hang out at the fridge all day.
Added Speed Controls.
Added a toilet.
August 26, 2015 The AI properly works for multiple items now! Currently, as the only items are the fridge and toilet, they get obsessed to them all day.
Note that after I wrote the above note, I changed it so they only use it if their desire for it is greater than 0.
Cleaned up ai code a little bit.
Added a tv.
August 27, 2015
Lots of changes for multiple Sens (that's what they're called!) at once.
Added pathfinding, so sens won't instantly teleport between objects and will instead walk to them, thanks to A* PathfindingProject for the free pathfinding tools! August 28, 2015 Made it so more than one object of the same type (fridge, tv) will no longer destroy the fabric of space-time.
Added switching between Sens.
Made a box plumbbob to show the active player.
Made a button when if clicked, follows the sen. August 29, 2015
Started developing the road system. This will take a while, so bear with me folks.
Added drawing roads in a line.
Added drawing walls. August 31, 2015
Pushed back drawing roads, which turned out to be more complicated than I thought.
Started working on buy mode.
September 2015
September 1 -6, 2015
Changed the models of the tv and bed to more accurately represent them.
The player can now exit build mode.
The game now scans the added furniture and changes the routing graph accordingly.
The game now adds the new objects to the object list, previously, they would get ignored.
Added in super ultra speed, which makes time pass by 40 sen minutes per second.
Made interaction menu work on all resolutions.
Sens are now required to go to the object to actually interact with the object. Previously, they would start interacting first and then go to the object.
Fixed collisions for buy mode purchased objects not, well, colliding.
Fix the sen AI thinking there was a fridge, tv, toilet or bed, when there in fact was none.
Added level of detail for sens, so the aformentioned 100 sens should be faster now.
Fixed a major bug where I didn't realize that adding all GameObjects of a type to a list included all of them, including the ones already in the list, causing it to lag every time you added a new object.
Took a break from making the fundamentals working and decided to focus on... Walkbys, you know the people that walk up and down the street in The Sims 2, 3 and 4? So I decided to implement that feature and now random Sens will walk down the street and disappear when they reach the end of the road.
September 7 - 13 Added a new furniture item, tv stand, and created a new fridge model.
Added a very important yet basic feature, interaction queues! Interaction queues allow you to queue up multiple actions at the same time. I hope to make interactions quittable from the interaction queue tomorrow.
Started on the new career code, straightened out some diagonal prefabs, and made a grid!
Made walls align to the grid.
Fixed a bug where if the player waited too long enough, or was in the higher speeds, the interaction buttons would become unclickable.
Fixed a bug where sens watching the tv would get stuck and never move again, and after that, died from hunger.
Added in day and night cycle, thanks to Flattutorials! Day And Night Cycle With Scattering and Moving Clouds is at https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/27024.
I don't know if I've mentioned this but, I've added a mood meter for your sens! It shows how great or awful your sen is feeling.
Halved Social and Fun need decay, I only realized I set it far too high when I added in careers, spending 3 hours at work and then realizing your fun need already in the red was not a good design choice.
Major update to the career system, while I was looking to update the career system, the old code was so messy that I had to redo the whole thing! Now it takes mood into consideration while adding performance.
Major rewriting of ai code, now instead of sens blindly going to an object that would be a long walk away, they now take distance into consideration! As of now, they will always go to the nearest object, however, when I add objects of the same type with different attributes, this will change according to the amount of need points they give.
Fixed not being able to select interactions manually, for the third time, since I seem to devise new ways of breaking it everyday.
Fixed a bug which I thought was caused by the interaction code itself, but in fact was the "Check if energy is about 100" check that I put. No longer will having 99 or 100 energy cause you to make you fail doing actions anymore!
Fixed the bug where the ai queuing the career interaction immediately made the target object to be the work location, even if they were in the middle of doing something else.
Made the interaction function tidier by breaking it into more functions instead of having one gigantic function.
Added cars driving down the road.
September 14 - 20
Added sound effects for the interactions.
Refactored object and interaction code, making it easier to add new interactions and objects.
Added comfort need, and with comfort need, comes chairs! Note that sens can only do one action at a time so, no sitting and watching tv yet.
Made the ui text Comic Sans, for that Sims 1 feeling!
Added need bars! They're very mesmerizing.
Made need bars text color change depending on how high or low the need is.
Added hygiene need, and with hygiene comes showers!
Sounds are no longer attached to the isInUse Script, which makes it easier to add new sounds.
Improved button pressing.
Made mood fluctuations more realistic.
Doubled fun gain from TV.
Made needs easier by slowing down need decay while sleeping.
Fixed a bug where queuing "Go To Work" while another interaction was queued caused it to bug out. (Fixed for the second time if you've been reading these notes since the beginning.)
Added windows
Made windows snap to walls.
Added earthquakes!
Added meteors!
Made moods fluctuating to be less rigid by defining a graph curve for all needs.
Made needs have less impact when they were close to -100
Sens now know how to walk around objects that have been knocked over.
September 21 - 27
Added lots.
Fixed a bug where sens would queue the go to work interaction repeatedly.
Fixed a bug where sens would always pick the closest object, even when it was in use, causing them to stop and not respond any more.
Object and Interaction code are now stored separately.
Objects can now have more than one interaction.
Objects are now not hardcoded and are now moddable.
Addition of Custom Content is a new priority.
Finished converting interactions and objects from the old system to the new system.
September 28 - October 4 The neighborhood now has a basic simulation running, neighborhood sens go to community lots, linger for a while and then go home, note that this is just a few hours progress so they don't have assigned homes and a lot can even be a community and home lot at the same time.
Lots can no longer be community or home lots, they have to pick one or the other, note that this can be easily changed later.
Sens can no longer decide to go to another community lot if they are in the middle of going to or are in another community lot.
Sens will no longer scan for objects if all objects have been occupied repeatedly, they will now do so in 10 second intervals.
Sens will now no longer abruptly drop going to a community lot when they are near the community lot, but the game still thought they were going to a community lot, so they got stuck, forever.
Talking to other sens now no longer takes too 60 minutes to get a moderately filled bar, just talk for 30 minutes and you're done!
Sens no longer go to objects that are not on the lot they're visiting, this is mostly a band aid fix for sens breaking into other's homes until I can properly fix that.
After neglecting Buy Mode for a while, I have fixed windows not snapping to walls, as somehow I broke it in a previous change.
The town of Sensville should no longer be under constant rain, well, constantly. There is a 25% chance of rain every day, as sens currently leave in a seasonless world.
October 5 - 11 Sens should no longer pass through each other like ghosts, as ghosts don't exist... probably.
Sens should no longer think that objects that fulfill the stress need relieves their comfort need.
Sens are now happy with the additions to the town park! New stuff include, a fountain, and a picnic basket!
Building straight walls is now much much easier.
Added a hot tub.
October 12 -18
Working on build mode...
Added a new lot type, a graveyard, sens will come to mourn their deceased loved ones.
Sens should no longer think that the number of community lots is one less than the actual community lot count.
I can work on textures, concept art and UI design. As far as I can see, it's going really well, and basic features are already introduced (though far from perfected). I have been wanting to play that scrapped game, SimVille, for years now, and seeing it being re-made by you is really pleasing. Something in The Sims style but still far different from it, is truly original and refreshing change.
I will also try to learn to use blender. The only 3D program I've used is SketchUP, but I was really god at it. I think I will be able to learn to use blender. Besides, there is really nothing for me to do these days.
I'd also like to discuss some game features, but I think that that would be a lot to write, so I'll hold it for now, and see where it goes.
I can work on textures, concept art and UI design. As far as I can see, it's going really well, and basic features are already introduced (though far from perfected). I have been wanting to play that scrapped game, SimVille, for years now, and seeing it being re-made by you is really pleasing. Something in The Sims style but still far different from it, is truly original and refreshing change.
I will also try to learn to use blender. The only 3D program I've used is SketchUP, but I was really god at it. I think I will be able to learn to use blender. Besides, there is really nothing for me to do these days.
I'd also like to discuss some game features, but I think that that would be a lot to write, so I'll hold it for now, and see where it goes.
Great! The more people following the progress of the game encourages me to work on it harder. Thanks for the help!
I literally just saw this thread as I never go on this part of the forum and I'm honestly amazed about you taking on a project this big. please what ever you do, try not to abandon this project even if thing get very difficult (or more difficult than it already is). I actually find this very inspirational as I have a habit of abandoning my projects that aren't even big a lot in the past. I'd be so happy for you if you manage to finish this, excited to see the finished product but don't rush it. Good luck with the rest of the project, hope it turns out the way you want it.
Planning everything at the beginning is the best way to go around making a game. I'd like to ask how would buildings be implemented in this kind of game. Sims style, SimCity style or something other that's on your mind.?
Planning everything at the beginning is the best way to go around making a game. I'd like to ask how would buildings be implemented in this kind of game. Sims style, SimCity style or something other that's on your mind.?
Buildings are very SimCity style currently, Industrial produces goods, Commercial takes those goods, Residential uses those goods and gives money to Commercial, Commercial pays off Industrial with the money, if enough people work and shop, everybody benefits.
Regarding the actual life simulation, I'm planning so you can control a few of the sens in your town, however, the game will be similar to Kudos (which is a casual Life Simulation Game, by the way), where the actions of the sens are not visible in animation, and are mostly represented by sound effects,
With this technique, I can focus more on the depth of the simulation and make some cool things like a "ripple effect", like The Sims 4 promised, so maybe something like this happens,
"Another Sen watching a sports game has his/her team lose, after getting very angry about it, they get into a very severe car crash with other Sens, blocking the road for other vehicles to pass through, however one of the other sens, happens to be your Sen, who has been injured critically and dies on the way due to the car crash, now, the wife/husband of your Sen is in grief, which eventually leads to depression, which causes her to kill herself. After both of his parents gone, your Sens child, grows up to be the a cunning criminal, due to his lack of parental figures during his childhood".
I could go on and on, like why did the team lose in the first place? Why was the ambulance on that road? Maybe there was too much traffic on the other roads. I could go on and on and on about the ripple effect.
Yeah, but I'm wondering what are your plans for future of the buildings. Are they going to stay that way, like rabbitholes, or will we be able to build them by ourselves The Sims style? I'm wondering, because I want to know what will I be building.
And also, what quality of graphics do you see for the end product?
Yeah, but I'm wondering what are your plans for future of the buildings. Are they going to stay that way, like rabbitholes, or will we be able to build them by ourselves The Sims style? I'm wondering, because I want to know what will I be building.
And also, what quality of graphics do you see for the end product?
No plans for building buildings at the moment, Build Tools are a very complex thing, with lots of assets required, so while the outsides of the buildings are visible, the interiors will be left to the imagination of the player.
Then, what about low medium and density buildings having different characteristics like: number of rooms, building quality, fire hazard, building style... and it would be nice if players could assign rooms and furniture via UI, without visual changes in game, but with significant changes in how it affects "sens".
Then, what about low medium and density buildings having different characteristics like: number of rooms, building quality, fire hazard, building style... and it would be nice if players could assign rooms and furniture via UI, without visual changes in game, but with significant changes in how it affects "sens".
Actually, that's exactly how I'm planning on handling buildings on the game, not visible but you can still change them.
I also wonder about the functionality of time. If buildings are placed instantly, it would mean that time could be the same like in Sims, but I would like to see a more realistical aproach.
SimCity has a year/month/day system, so why don't we come up with a shortened year system for SensVille. 4 months would make a year, and 7 days would make a month (I have skipped weeks). That's a total of 28 days per year, making a normal sen's lifespan 1960 days. It sounds long, but time speed controls should justify it.
Normal speed should work like in The Sims, 2x speed should be half an hour per second, 3x speed should be 2 hours per second and 4x speed should be 6 hours per second. That way, you could skip through unnecesarry stuff (like sleeping or work) if you want. Also, it makes possible to speed up the process of town building.
That way, players have a choice if they want to play on individual level, global level or both.