Mod The Sims - The Sims/EA has a new Contender, *New Game Info & updates* Midsummer Studios:!Grant Rodiek/ Simguru Grant and Jake Solomon starting a new studio to "invent the life sim genre"

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The Sims/EA has a new Contender, *New Game Info & updates* Midsummer Studios:!Grant Rodiek/ Simguru Grant and Jake Solomon starting a new studio to "invent the life sim genre"

Sims series veteran and Producer Grant Rodiek, Jake Solomon, and other former The Sims, Civilization and Xcom developers have started a new studio wanting to "reinvent the life sim genre" and now making "a life sim inspired by the small town drama of Gilmore Girls". Here is an article interview with Jake & here is a link to a screenshot of the announcement post on Grant's post on LinkedIn:
https://www.reddit.com/r/LifeSimula...ormer_the_sims/
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-...-gilmore-girls/

Grant was a lead Producer in the Sims franchise since the Sims 2, although some of you may know him for his controversial response and weird takes on Twitter as Simguru Grant for the Sims 4. He was the Game Director of Project Rene (what many believe to WIP Sims 5) and publically and abruptly quit Maxis & Electronic Arts 3 months ago. See the tea/drama in the video below, please check the timestamps/ chapters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QAUbtjt1IA

Let's Discuss and Speculate about this announcement:

Things to Note:
-Krafton is the publisher for InZoi and they are one of the funds funding Midsummer Studio. This adds legitimacy to Krafton is coming for the Sims Franchise and EA by any means necessary. They are clearly invested.

- Grant is known to push back against Rod Humble with RPG elements in the Sims but he was also the one to mostly influence the Sims to be online. Note the use of the terms "Player-driven narratives", "communities", and "share" sounds very multiplayer-ish. He is also known for other hot takes like not liking or understanding family gameplay elements, hating dog houses, etc.

My Educated Opinions:
-These last 2 years have been a sim renaissance! Exciting time to be a life sim gamer because years ago this would have been unimaginable. I love the competition to the Sims, it will force the Sims franchise, and the overall Life Sim genre to innovate. Big deal since there was very little competition to none until recently.

-The reason we may be having more competition to the Sims franchise and more players entering the Life Sim game genre may be due to Electronic Arts/Maxis patents running out, it has been 25 years and that's when patents finish. Also, Recently the USA Federal Trade Commission banned non-competes, resulting in the floodgates opening for developers who worked at other companies to leave. Lastly in the pandemic, cozy games/gaming started to trend. It looks like the era of the Sims monopolizing the life sim genre is over!
To the developers at Maxis who were muzzled, overworked, and underappreciated for your talents please start your private indie studios.

-Grant is a controversial figure for sure. Whether his game is going to be good or not, I am happy he is adding a new game into the genre, especially a game coming from Sims veterans.
However, I would hate for his game to be overshadowed by his unlikable personality. He definitely should not be the face of PR for his game.

-Think of the new standard features we can expect from life simulators in the years to come.

~~Of course, we can probably not expect a game until 5 years from now but it's fun to speculate~~ *edit* Breaking news I stand corrected the demo of the game will be coming in 2024. As confirmed by founder Jake Solomon. See my comments below for summarized information. Here is the link: https://www.yahoo.com/tech/civiliza...Wt44bZ-uWw9cW02

Quote:

A demo by 2024 is wild. Jake Solomon's LinkedIn only shows Midsummer being around for 9 months. Curious as to what kind of demo they are thinking they'll showcase at this time.

*edit*

*Correction:* Grant is not a co-founder .Grant is listed as Executive Producer, according to his LinkedIn.

Well, this explains why Grant Rodiek left! What a great time for life sims, we have so many choices arriving!

Not sure I have any interest in what that Grant dude thinks of a life sim.

Wow, what a surprise!! I've been lurking in TS4 forum for a long time and know how infamous Grant has been. Actually, I didn't expect him to return to the Life Sim genre, given he's implied sometime he doesn't quite get it or like it. That it's bases on Gilmore Girls is... oddly specific, but that's a show that goes along very well with The Sims aesthetic -and one that he actually likes. What I expect and want is that they give another perspective on Life Sims; TS formula is... very sims-like, and I would like to see a diferent take on the concept.

If I remember right, the original Sims took a lot of inspo/cues from tv and soap opera culture so it definitely makes sense.

Quote: Originally posted by kirabook

If I remember right, the original Sims took a lot of inspo/cues from tv and soap opera culture so it definitely makes sense.

Not just the original but the first three at least (can't speak for Sims 4, haven't played it enough!). For example, the Arrested Development references in Sims 3 Sunset Valley, or the Bunkers in Sims 1 development:
https://modthesims.info/showthread....630#post5892630
It seems that the Edith code that Sims 1 and Sims 2 used was named for Edith Bunker.

It's interesting that this game seems to be primarily for sharing and online/ multi player games, many of the other new life sims seem to be focusing on single player. So this will give a bit of variety, I hope!

omg another one! We've never had it so good

Goodness, you know the current state of the Sims franchise is divisive as all hell when even the big project leads are leaving in order to join the competitors. I know Grant has a bit of a reputation but I'm interested to know what he might help create after years of working on Sims.

This also doesn't seem to paint a pretty picture for the future of the Sims. He likely left quite suddenly given he was a lead for Project Rene, right? I'm pretty sure in game development there's an unspoken trust for leads to stick around until the end. That he left mid-development is likely a sign that it's currently a mess and will become even more of a mess as its now missing an integral role.

The life sim market though is growing like a wildfire and it feels so satisfying to witness. If this pace keeps up, I'd say by 2030 we may have a range of 10-20 sims-like games to choose from. The community will probably be more divided than ever but at least this way everyone might have a game that suits their tastes. Competition is seriously key.

Quote: Originally posted by kirabook

Not sure I have any interest in what that Grant dude thinks of a life sim.

Most likely "Point Farming" /s

Of course Renee is a mess. It’s running alongside 4. 4 is still a mess.

In the flip side, Grant struggled to understand why players wanted painted ceilings and considered dog houses inhumane, so good luck to him in his future endeavors.

Quote: Originally posted by matrix54

... In the flip side, Grant struggled to understand why players wanted painted ceilings and considered dog houses inhumane, so good luck to him in his future endeavors.

A painted ceiling is an interesting option only if you have a palace and a Tiepolo to paint it. As for dog houses, I absolutely agree with Grant and so do all the dogs I know.

What I don't understand is why it took so long; the first Sims competitor should have come out at least ten years ago. TS3 was not a good game, except for graphics, until Twallan came along and saved it; it was a clear indicator that the franchise was in trouble and TS4 only confirmed it. And yet nobody moved a muscle or, worse, a brain cell until now. Were the patents the main reason? Bur, AFAIK, there are no patents on human life.

More Info on MidSummer Studios & corrections

https://youtu.be/EK_x3YkE8-E
Has timestamps!
Please see for more recent updated information and sources on the studio with, posts from the developers, the board, founders of the studio, information of the game, and much more.

*Correction:* Grant is not a co-founder .Grant is listed as Executive Producer, according to his LinkedIn.

I never usually double post but this merits a separate post in IMO
The founder Jake Solomon has given us more information about the new life sim game with a demo due to release this year 2024!
He also directly calls out and confirms they are competing with the Sims. *throws down the gauntlet*

Quote:

“We’re at an interesting time as players of life sims,” Solomon said in a statement to Variety. “I thought I looked pretty smart over a year ago when I left my former studio and announced that I was going to make a life sim to compete with the long running (and really only show in town) ‘The Sims.’ Now, there are four or five (seemingly great) competitors being developed. Our difference is that we’re focused on story. Specifically, the story that the players write themselves just by playing the game. The player controls the story they want to tell, and in fact, when the game starts the player can choose from multiple “themes” that define their story. For example they can tell the game that they want to tell a story about finding their soulmate while also succeeding at their small town business.

“We use that information at game start to then generate an interesting cast of supporting characters and seed them with relationships that will instantly create a ‘narrative rich’ environment. If the player wants to tell a romantic story, then we might generate a cast where one person is an ex-lover AND a coworker, one is your high school sweetheart AND your neighbor, and one is your secret crush but also runs a rival business in town. In this way, the game already starts in an interesting place that our players will want to explore. Our players will be able to share the characters they create, the storylines they tell, and even entire towns that they have customized. We intend to have a community hub that allows players to easily upload their own creations and download the creations of other players right into their game.”

Solomon says Midsummer Studios plans “to grow slowly and to limit our overall studio size in order to make ourselves as flexible and efficient as possible, while giving our team a sustainable, steady place to work (which is no given in our current industry.)”

Midsummer has plans to reveal a demo in 2024 and later reveal a target launch date for the currently untitled life-sim game.

See the rest of the articles here:
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/civiliza...Wt44bZ-uWw9cW02

*edit more info*

Quote:

In an interview with PC Gamer, Midsummer Studios co-founder and creative director Jake Solomon divulged how his career making strategy games has actually always been building towards his longtime dream of a relationship simulator and his plans for a small town full of Gilmore Girls-style drama.

After working on Civilization games himself, the games Solomon later took creative lead on started to zoom in on characters and relationships with the soldier bond system in XCOM 2, and then the friendship system in Marvel's Midnight Suns, a game he affectionately describes as his "little hero dating simulator" that he "lavished way too much attention on."

Now he says his dream as a designer has always been a game about high school and dating. "I think these things have always been kind of brewing in the back of my mind. And they've probably manifested in each game that I've designed," he says.
Midsummer Studios' first game sounds like it isn't solely about high school dating, but it's definitely all about the drama of personal relationships. The basics of Midsummer's yet-to-be-revealed game, as they stand, are this: You'll decide what kind of story you want to tell, whether it's about romance, family, or something else entirely, and the game will fill the town with characters and generate relationships between them—it almost sounds like starting a game of Dwarf Fortress. From a Sims-like overhead view of the world, you can play through a story divided into scenes where your character has wants and needs and has to juggle those relative to time, or you can go into a creative mode to inhabit any character you please, edit relationships, give orders, and play around in your sandbox.

"You're guiding a character through their daily life in a small town—and a small town is a very narrative rich environment," Solomon says. "Whether it's Gilmore Girls, which is the one I bring up maybe too often to my team, or it could be Stephen King … It's a narrative rich environment because everybody knows everybody."

Each scene is less about managing want meters as in The Sims series and more about juggling your character's motivations at any point in time. Scenes might have modifiers, like an unfortunate case of intestinal distress that will make your character want to go to the bathroom several times while trying to get through a date. If you aren't feeling the scene you're in though, creative mode lets you ditch the scene constraints entirely."We want the player to feel like they have enough things that they want to do in any particular scene but they can't possibly do all of them," Solomon says.

The idea is to create conditions that are ripe for generating "emergent stories," and though that's often a buzzword, Solomon has some specific ideas about what that means from his own time spent playing The Sims.
"I love The Sims. You play it and this amazing stuff happens. I'll be like: is my wife flirting with the old neighbor? What the fuck? And you want the game to be like: dun dun duuuuun!"
He envisions a game that recognizes when a dramatic moment is happening by understanding the relationships of everyone involved, and giving you a satisfying nod of the head for the drama you've managed to construct.
"The audience that we're interested in is the people, like if you go to Tumblr, they're the people who share the stories of their characters through screenshots and they do a lot of really, really incredible work," he says.
"What we're wrestling with right now is that there have to be some curated storylines but I think we want them to be very, very high level," he says, describing something that sounds a little like the events system in Crusader Kings 3, except with more dialogue. "The way we handle this is a character will come up to you and say 'oh I heard your father is back in town,' and this is a dialogue tree where the player has three very different options like 'I never want to talk to that man again' or 'yeah, he's here because he's getting married and I don't like his fiancee.'"

Solomon caveats this by saying that the details of all these systems are still being iterated on—adding that Midsummer Studios currently has 11 members and expects to become just 13 "for another year or so." It's clear the studio is already playing with very early prototypes of everything he describes, but it's a lot of very high-concept talk right now. I can't picture exactly how this game will play, but I do like where his head's at.
With all this talk about the live drama of a life sim, what about the build mode folks like me? Solomon says they want to eventually have decoration and interior redesigns and building your house from scratch, but as for having those things in for the initial launch he's not so confident. "Our guiding star is the idea of relationships and story and so that allows us to kind of deprioritize other features."

As much as the XCOM guy pivoting to a life sim warrants a double take, he does seem to get Sims players, referencing popular Sims 4 mods like Wicked Whims and the differences between Alpha and Maxis Match custom content.
As for the potential of a modding community for this game, Solomon is enthusiastic, saying he believes that mods are "essential," though isn't positive yet on the exact details around the level of support and tools Midsummer will share with players.

For the rest of the PC Gamer interview article and source found here;
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-...-gilmore-girls/

What do you think about Solomon's overall vision for his Life Sim and his focus on relationships? Are you familiar with his previous work?Do you think him and the team have a enough experience with The Sims and life simulators to understand what players want? Are you excited for the release of the demo and announcement of the full release? What do you think of this unexpected news of a demo and the seemingly speedy time line? What are your thoughts in general?

That's a lot of detail to respond to, and nicely summarised, thank you @Freedom_55
Ok where to begin, the gilmore girls, I looked this up briefly but I haven't learned enough to know if this show as inspiration is 'up my street' or not.
High school romances, maybe this is a distraction, because other genres and scenarios are mentioned, but if there is too big an emphasis on the teen age group when creating town populations, that could get irritating.
This feels in general like an interesting idea which has potential but, as in so many cases, it is how the program implements the ideas which counts. Will it be too limiting, can players adjust settings enough to make scenarios more varied and include wider ages groups etc?
Probably no build mode because they want to focus on the stories for the moment, I can understand that. It seem sensible to focus a small team towards making their USP work well. However if it gets dull, or glitches out it doesn't leave much else for players to do.
I read somewhere they have $6 million dollars of investment to fund the development. I wish they had saved some cash by not using 'jiggly bits' on their website.
Is it a life sim game? How much control does the player have? What will the characters and environment look like? Also, will it actually work?
All these things need answering before I know whether I am interested or not.

Quote: Originally posted by pico22

...What I don't understand is why it took so long; the first Sims competitor should have come out at least ten years ago. TS3 was not a good game, except for graphics, until Twallan came along and saved it; it was a clear indicator that the franchise was in trouble and TS4 only confirmed it. And yet nobody moved a muscle or, worse, a brain cell until now. Were the patents the main reason? Bur, AFAIK, there are no patents on human life.

Not human.

AI.

They all believe AI is gonna do the heavy lifting over then next decade. Perhaps even aided by quantum computing. (Although that's a stretch on the quantum computing, given it's still early days and recently the US Gov even shut down a lot of avenues to it, putting most of it on indefinite hold - as if suddenly seeing the Dark Side to it all as Hollywood sci-fi horror might predict - who knows? Yet AI itself goes ever onward.)

The Sims games are a nightmare to get right and to continually maintain. (The endless patches being one example.) EA/Maxis/Will Wright you could say they were brave enough to put themselves through it. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread, as other publishers/developers in the industry might have seen it. Yet they made bags of money and popularity for the experimental genre, and after a couple of decades (Sans Will Wright) had the formula down to a fine art. Making it look easy. By Sims 4, too easy. Even for themselves. Hence the general shoddiness in coding and INFAMOUS patching. Perhaps TS4 being the very example other publishers and devs were avoiding all this while. The technical shit show headache, that is. Not the vast revenue they would certainly all have jealously coveted over the decades.

Enter AI. If any "game" is going to be made and maintained better with AI, then a life simulator is the one. AI and simulators, a match made in heaven. But still maybe the type of paradise where fools rush in and angels remain afraid to tread.

Players putting up with one game that's proven itself a shit show to regularly maintain and expand upon is one thing. But putting up with five or six that are likewise? Gluts of plenty can and do sometimes turn into complete industry crashes, with CEOs raining from the sky diving out of ivory tower skyscrapers. Gluts of plenty will undoubtedly turn into blights, as sure as (too many) eggs are (too many) eggs in one basket, invariably leading to, one day, no eggs at all.

We'll see, AI. We'll see.

I honestly don't understand what this talk about "stories" as something new and unique is supposed to mean. In TS2/TS3 I can make any Sim a rich businessman and a local Casanova or a hopeless schmuck with no money or friends, and, of course, anything in between. For me (and I am sure not only for me) storytelling has been the basic attraction of Sims games ever since the very first one came out all those years ago. In TS2 it was better than in TS because of life cycle and in TS3 it was better than in TS2 because of open neighborhood; now the only thing I really want is a better Sims AI. In TS2 NPCs spend a lot of time just standing around, staring into nothingness; in TS3 their behavior is better but still far from realistic. I believe that this is where the real progress should take place, but no developer seems to be talking about it.

Quote: Originally posted by kkffoo

I read somewhere they have $6 million dollars of investment to fund the development. I wish they had saved some cash by not using 'jiggly bits' on their website.

Valid points.
May you kindly link the source of 6 million dollars investment and wasting their finds on "jiggly bits" on their website? Its fascinating. ...like what jiggly bits

Quote: Originally posted by coolspear1

Not human.

........Players putting up with one game that's proven itself a shit show to regularly maintain and expand upon is one thing. But putting up with five or six that are likewise?.....

There are now SIX Life Sims in development and being discussed on this forum. Will any be bug free? Probably not.

Warning: Sarcasm ahead!

Not ONE of them really fires me up yet. At least THREE of these featuring developers from Sims 3 and 4 really worries me (Humble, Rodiek & the current Maxis team). "Oooo! More collectables!"

But salvation is at hand! Today I discovered "Kebab Chefs" on Steam!!

You can mock me but at least you can order a tasty whole roast chicken and then consume it, which has to be better than Dine Out, right?

Quote: Originally posted by FREEDOM_55

Valid points.
May you kindly link the source of 6 million dollars investment and wasting their finds on "jiggly bits" on their website? Its fascinating. ...like what jiggly bits

I can't remember where I found the $6k quote first, but it is mentioned here (first paragraph)
https://videogames.si.com/news/mids...me-announcement

Front page of their website; https://www.midsummerstudios.com/ For me at least, some of the elements seem to animate into position after popping into existence. I am not going to play 'count the fonts', but I am sure someone else will have fun doing that :D

Six million dollars, eh?

I see what's going on here. The Sims franchise has crashed and burned. But this new team think they can rebuild it. Better. Stronger. Faster. Totally bionic.

Replace "man" with "game" and it's right on the money. Six million bucks bang on the money. "Show me the money..."

Take it away, Steve.

Quote: Originally posted by coolspear1

I see what's going on here. The Sims franchise has crashed and burned. But this new team think they can rebuild it. Better. Stronger. Faster. Totally bionic.

Well, no-one could do a worse job, surely? I mean, for a company to completely destroy both the SimCity and Sims brands is no mean feat, EA are spectacularly bad. It's great that we are seeing so many competitors and new choices, because we never really had a choice in these two genres for so long. You have to admit, the people behind this one are experienced, so this one is worth watching I think!

I'm not a lawyer and don't pretend to be one, but why is Krafton a investor of this game? Krafton is the same publisher that is making Inzoi. Smells a bit like conflict of interest, but what do I know. This game is messy already.

As for all these life simulators coming out of the wood work; EA does need competition. No debate about that. However I think it will be interesting to see who sticks to the non-existing guidelines of quality vs quantity. Or perhaps there is a assumption being made that every sims player is gullible and will open their wallets to anything as that is how it looks at least on the surface when it comes to TS4.

Quote: Originally posted by coolspear1

Fabulous, my best chuckle of the day

So by the sounds of it, they're taking all those starter stories you'll find when you first play Sims 2 and making it an actual part of the gameplay and not just a starting point for a sandbox. Like the broke family where she will inevitably end up pregnant within a day or so of playing that family out. You'd have that, except more and more scripted stuff would happen afterwards.

An interesting concept, but feels like it could get repetitive fast. Kinda reminds me of d&d where the DM has to make up some stuff on the sly as the party moves through the predetermined story they wrote out that doesn't exactly match what they expected.

Can a computer program do that? What if a player completely dodges a scripted event or leaves the scenario completely hanging? Will it generate a new unique challenge and throw it at a player? Going by their example of a character who wants to find love so the game will generate a perfect match for them or something. What if the player decides to reject that perfect match and they become enemies? Will the game produce a new perfect match? Will the cycle go round and round?

Certainly interesting to think about. I will still hold my breath on this one because of a certain person involved but an XCOM dev leading the way is somewhat positive.

Quote: Originally posted by pico22

A painted ceiling is an interesting option only if you have a palace and a Tiepolo to paint it. As for dog houses, I absolutely agree with Grant and so do all the dogs I know.

Players want ceiling paint for the same reasons EAxis painted the temple ceilings in Jungle Adventure. Normal houses also have painted ceilings. This is why painted ceilings came so early in TS3 - design matters.

Also, dog houses are not inhumane unless used inhumanely. It’s inhumane the way a tent is inhumane. Fun to sleep in for a night, but why would you force your child to sleep in a tent outside in a blizzard? A dog can still have a home outside of home, just like humans do.

Grant has a habit of gaslighting Simmers, like staying we never got 3 expansion packs in a year. Maybe not 3 in a fiscal years, but we definitely got Showtime, Seasons, and Supernatural the same calendar year.