Story of movie The Sims Film :
The Sims is a strategic life-simulation video game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts in 2000. It is a simulation of the daily activities of one or more virtual people ("Sims") in a suburban household near a fictional city. The game's development was led by Will Wright and the game was a follow-up to Wright's earlier SimCity series. The Sims original series had a total of seven expansion packs produced from 2000 to 2003, with expansions adding new items, characters, skins, and features. The game has had several subsequent sequels; The Sims 2 in 2004, The Sims 3 in 2009, and The Sims 4 in 2014.
| The Sims | |
|---|---|
Microsoft Windows cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Maxis Edge of Reality (consoles) |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts Aspyr Media (Mac OS) EA Games (consoles) |
| Producer(s) | Kana Ryan |
| Designer(s) | Will Wright |
| Programmer(s) | Jeffrey Charvat Jim Mackraz |
| Artist(s) | Charles London |
| Composer(s) | Jerry Martin Marc Russo |
| Series | The Sims |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox |
| Release | Microsoft Windows
|
| Genre(s) | Life simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Screenplay
The inner structure of the game is actually an agent-based artificial life program. The presentation of the game's artificial intelligence is advanced, and the Sims will respond to outside conditions independently, although often the player/controller's intervention is necessary to keep them on the right track. The Sims technically has unlimited replay value, in that there is no way to win the game, and the player can play on indefinitely. It has been described as more like a toy than a game.
Sims are influenced by the player to interact with objects or other Sims. Sims may receive guests, invited or not, from other playable lots or from unhoused NPC (non-player character) Sims. If enabled in the game's options, Sims have a certain amount of free will, allowing them to autonomously interact with their world. However, the player can override most autonomous actions by cancelling them out in the action queue at the top of the screen. Unlike the simulated environments in games such as SimCity, SimEarth or SimLife, Sims are not fully autonomous. They are unable to take certain actions without specific commands, such as paying bills, finding a job, exercising, and conceiving children. Sims communicate in a fictional language called Simlish.
The player can make decisions about time spent in skill development, such as exercise, reading, creativity, and logic by adding activities to Sims' daily agenda. Daily needs such as hygiene and eating can and must also be scheduled. Although Sims can autonomously perform these actions, they may not prioritize them effectively. Much like real humans, Sims can suffer consequences for neglecting their own needs. In addition, Sims must maintain balanced budgets and usually supplement an income by obtaining a job. Sims may earn promotions by fulfilling skills and maintaining friendships with others for each level, which lead to new job titles, increased wages, and different work hours. Alternately, Sims may also create and sell various artwork and items at home.
While there is no eventual objective to the game, states of failure do exist in The Sims. One is that Sims may die, either by starvation, drowning, fire, or electrocution. When a Sim dies, a tombstone or an urn will appear (in later expansion packs the Grim Reaper will appear first), and the ghost of the deceased Sim may haunt the building where it died. In addition, Sims can leave the game for good and never return, or two adult Sims with a bad relationship may brawl, eventually resulting in one of them moving out. Children will be sent away to military school if they fail their classes or if they have not fulfilled their needs (especially when hunger is very low), a social care worker will take them away from their household and they are no longer returnable.
Building
While gameplay occurs in the game's "Live mode," the player may enter "Build mode" or "Buy mode" to pause time and renovate the house or lot. When the game begins, each family will start off with §20,000 Simoleons (regardless of its number of members). These funds can be used to purchase a small house or vacant lot on the Neighborhood screen. Once a lot is purchased, a house may be constructed or remodeled in Build mode, and/or purchase or move furniture in the Buy mode. All architectural and customizable features and furnishings in the Build and Buy modes follow a square tile system in which items must be placed on a tile. Walls and fences go on the edge of a tile and can follow the edge of the tile or cross it, but furniture items cannot be placed on either side of a crossed tile. The base game contains over 150 items including furniture and architectural elements.
In addition, the game includes an architecture system. The game was originally designed as an architecture simulation alone, with the Sims there only to evaluate the houses, but during development it was decided that the Sims were more interesting than originally anticipated and their once limited role in the game was developed further.
Objects
Players have a broad choice of objects that their respective Sims may purchase. Objects fall into one of eight broad categories: seating, surfaces, decorative, electronics, appliances, plumbing, lighting and miscellaneous.
The original inspiration for The Sims was Christopher Alexander's 1977 book on architecture and urban design, A Pattern Language. Game designer Will Wright was inspired by the book's focus on functionality in architecture, as Alexander based his design principles on structural usability rather than aesthetic values. Wright wanted to create a simulation game about enabling human behavior and interaction through design. Scott McCloud's 1993 book Understanding Comics became a big influence on the design of The Sims later on, as it advocates a certain type of "collaboration" between designer and consumer and outlines the value of abstraction for getting readers or players involved with a story.
Will Wright started working on The Sims after releasing SimAnt in 1991. However, the game's concept was very poorly received by a focus group, so Wright had difficulty getting the project off the ground. He managed to convince his company to let him work on the project (codenamed "Project X" at the time) in the background while developing SimCity 2000 and SimCopter. He was lent one programmer for the project, Jamie Doornbos, who went on to become the lead programmer for The Sims. During the first few years of the project, Wright and Doornbos were primarily developing an open-ended system of character behavior. As the project continued, Wright found that the social aspect of the game turned out to be highly engaging, and the team started to focus more on the characters of the game, such as by letting Sims visit one another's houses and by implementing long-term relationships.
A demo of the game was presented at the 1999 Electronic Entertainment Expo. During a displaying in front of the press, two female attendants at a wedding fell in love and kissed each other. After the event, the relationship mechanics were further modified so the character's sexual orientation was set depending on the player's actions.
The Sims uses a combination of 3D and 2D graphics techniques. The Sims themselves are rendered in 3D, whereas the house and all its objects are pre-rendered and displayed diametrically.
For the game's Japanese release, the game was renamed to SimPeople (??????) to match the names of the other Sim games from Maxis.
Music
The game music was composed by Jerry Martin, Marc Russo, Kirk R. Casey, and Dix Bruce. The game disc contains 37 tracks, of which 15 were published in 2007 as an official soundtrack album. Most of the tracks contain no vocals, but some of them feature Simlish lyrics.
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Computer Expansions
The Sims has a total of seven expansion packs produced. Each expansion generally adds new items, characters, skins, and features.
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