The Sims 2 Designer Diary #1

The Sims--a seemingly simple strategy game in which you control the lives of little computerized people known as "sims"--is reportedly the best-selling computer game ever, and the game has been supplemented with a series of substantial expansion packs. Though the final expansion pack for the original game, Makin' Magic, is now in development, the series' creators at Maxis concede that the original game has had a good run and that it's time to work on a full-fledged sequel. The Sims 2 will improve on plenty of different aspects of the original game--for instance, it will include the intriguing ability for sims to grow, change, and develop over time. The developers at Maxis have graciously agreed to chronicle their progress in this series of designer diaries. First up is senior producer Tim LeTourneau, who discusses the overall planning and design of this highly anticipated sequel.

The Big Picture

By Tim LeTourneau
Senior Producer

How do you create the sequel for the number one game of all time? Well, you start by understanding what it took to make it number one in the first place. Players love their sims, players love to build and decorate, and players love telling stories about what they've created in the game. That was where we began with The Sims 2.

The classic tale of "boy strikes out with girl, boy uses exercise machine, boy gets a second chance." The Sims 2 will let your characters grow and change over time.

First, we needed a little of the Wright stuff. Will Wright, that is. Will had some definite ideas about where we should be taking The Sims 2. We then put together a team of veteran designers, producers, engineers, and artists--people who came from the original Sims and expansion pack teams. We needed people with an in-depth knowledge of the Sims simulator and behavior systems. Those people needed to have an intimate knowledge and understanding of the history of the franchise--a real grasp of what has historically worked and what hasn't. Most importantly, they needed to have the ability to put together and interpret all of gameplay feedback from everyone around them. Everybody considers themselves an expert on human behavior and, naturally, projects their own sensibilities onto the lives of their sims.

After assembling this crack team, we felt it was important to tap into the different stories that people tell about their life experiences. We had to determine how to deliver them in the game, since this is the essence of what gives us a game with universal appeal. In The Sims 2, everyone can find some part of it that they can completely relate to and emotionally connect with.

Then we tackled the sims themselves. We knew we wanted them to be more dynamic--to move and act more believably. We wanted players to experience a greater emotional connection to them. We wanted to get closer, and we needed a new game engine to accomplish that. As those systems progressed, the power that 3D graphics provided to the world of The Sims became clear. We now had the opportunity to truly evolve The Sims to the next generation with state-of-the-art graphics, animation, and artificial intelligence. The Sims 2 engine was born.

Now that we had the ability to deliver on our vision, we needed to innovate on the gameplay. Players had been asking us to let the sims grow up for a long time. It was clear that now we had the opportunity to explore that space. The term "next generation" took on a whole new meaning when we started to think about sims' generations. It radically expanded the playspace of the game and the scope and depth of the storytelling. We knew it would let players experience all of life's ups and downs with their sim families.