Dev Log #1 - Discovery

Hey hey!

Before I wanted to fully commit to this project, I first wanted to nail what I want out of this project. What is it supposed to be? What is it supposed to look like? What about the gameplay loop?!

So for my own sanity, and for you to easily follow the process, I've written them all down here! :)

NOTE: the name is still a work-in-progress, I just figured "Little lives" sounded cozy enough lol. Consider it a "code-name"! 

What is "Little Lives"?

Where the Idea Came from:

The year was 2022... Kidding, but it's also not entirely a lie that this game has been on my mind for a long while! Now not everyone may know this, but I'm a huge life-sim fan, and have been since the age of 6! 

I played all the sims console games (including the weird ones like The Urbz... still a masterpiece lol). Coded a lot of mods for the sims 3, and nowadays I juggle between different life-sim games (TS3 > TS2 > TS4, and once a year TS1 too. Then InZOI for mostly storytelling as of right now till that game gets a bit more interesting ;) And hopefully Paralives in the future!).

Coming back to my "2022" comment, I had attempted making this game before but starting out with the character creator, which I had almost finished. Then, there were the mentions of new life-sims coming out like InZOI and Life by you (remember that one?)as well as Paralives showing some amazing progress... including things I really wanted in a life-sim game. 

And truth be told, that did take a lot of my motivation on continuing on the project because of it. Because who would want yet another life-sim game that takes the same approach...

So, I had promised myself it wasn't worth looking into and then I started Thalara (which I soon semi-abandoned because I seriously struggled with knowing where to start first, therefore getting too overwhelming.)

Continuing on:

Having now played a lot of the newer life-sims coming out, and releasing a mod that introduces more dialogue and just life to the townies of TS3's worlds, I had a different idea...

What if I just take the base elements of the sims (Traits, needs, working towards money), but also look into creating a sims game I really want to play, by taking some sims elements but focusing more on your character's life? Not necessarily making it focusing too much on populating the world with a 100 baby challenge (lol), but instead doing what we all do: Focus on one character.

I can already hear the people in the back screaming at me for that. Hear me out on that one :p

The one character per generation/save:

So, having been a simmer on le tumblrs for a long time, I came to realise that simmers (and me!) do this thing: They create ONE young adult character, and then start their legacy from there. Once the heir is an adult/teen, they switch to their favourite heir (sometimes that's the latest heir). Or they start a new save.

Sure, we switch from family member to family member, but let's be honest, if you start counting "hours played" with that singular character alone, your heir/favourite sim is probably is taking your time the most. 😉

What sets it apart from other Life Simming games?

Instead of focusing primarily on just popping out more sims and moving on to the next generation, with a combination of the same old same interactions/skills, I wanted something that brings back what the sims used to be to 6 year old me: A weirdly story-driven but comedic game.

You see, the console games did this best (which was my introduction to the sims): They gave you a clear goal to work towards. With a weird twist!

In the sims 2 PS2, you worked your way from household to household, where the roommates got more ridiculous, and the challenges harder. Working even harder to get your aspiration points going!

The Urbz had you more or less grow towards "Fame" (or rather, having all different cliques accept you). Getting a bigger house as a reward!

The Sims 1 on console/Bustin' out (probably my favourite one) had you start at mom's house, where she'd be nagging you to get out and move somewhere else. Mom's ex-husband however, comes around collecting items for 'unpaid rent', that you'll need to fix as you work your way through different lots. The whole premise was to eventually get your revenge (or mom rather :p).

Life Stories (Sims 2) even had something cool going on, where it was exactly like the sims 2, but you're doing quests to progress through the story of the story you chose to play. Very different from the other ones, but still very fun!

What they all have in common is a structural gameplay flow and aside the whole life-simming element, something different to do. Of course, I know that this is more or less something a certain type of simmer would love, but I guess I am that lol.

The Game Design

Now with all of that out of the way, let's cover what I want it to play like! What's the gameplay flow? Certain systems? Etc.

Gameplay Flow:

Start:

You're freshly moved out from your parent(s) house, venturing the world as a young adult on your own now and starting out your new live. However, that doesn't mean that everything will be easy. 

Your character, after creating it in the Character Creator, will first be entering into the apartment they bought (meaning you have a morgage to pay off!) that has seen better days. Giving the player a clear goal to make the place... well, better! And yours!

From there the player will have a clear visual idea of getting money... and what better way than to start looking for a job around town. 

Mid:

Your character now has collected more money from working, and has been creating a better life for themselves. Maybe at this point they've gotten around getting a relationship with someone? Though, if there is a new generation coming up at this point, it's probably best to see if there's a bigger house to be able to move into... 

This way the player is forced to not just sit on all their money hard earned, and maybe making their appartment look nicer, but also the aspect of needing to move out. Seeing other parts of the world.

End: 

Eventually your character does have an expire-y date. Maybe you managed to pay off the morgage, have a family, get good in your job... The idea is that you are now standing at the gates of heaven and there being an evaluation of what to do next. 

If your morgage wasn't paid, but you do have an offspring, you'll be continueing as them (if multiple, you get to choose!). 

If you didn't have an offspring... well, then you can still start over! Either from scratch, or keeping some elements of your character in.

The Systems

❤ NPCs & Relationships

Despite the gameplay flow, your character needs friends or love! Though not every NPC is the same. In order to make it so each NPC is special, the game will do the following:

NPCs will...

1. Not always be available in each new save (Think animal crossing).
2. NPCs have different attachment styles that adds a layer of compatibility (or incompatibility) to you as the player.
3. NPCs come with traits (More sims-3 style).
4. NPCs have preferences and dislikes. These will make things easier/harder when conversing.
5. NPCs have their own preferred conversational tastes. Some may like humor more but dislike deep talks, etc.
6. NPCs are all special! The world could have a vegan vampire, or an undercover robot in it. Really leaning into silliness.
7. Have their own schedules and lives around you. Whether that includes the player or not.
8. NPCs have heart events and will want to meet up and share special moments with the player if you're far enough into the relationship with them.
9. Certain NPCs have a tendancy to be friendlier and more accepting than other NPCs (i.e friendly NPCs are easier to talk to than drama queens).

What does that mean for the relationship flow? 

Well, super simple! 

First things first, when you meet someone, you'll be engaging in a sort of "minigame" where seeing the reaction of the NPC is important in order to figure out if they like certain conversational tones (Again, whether they appreciate Humor or deep talks).

If a lot of odds are against the player, you'll notice this not going really anywhere and making it harder to progress a relationship with that NPC.  If the odds are not against the player, then the NPC will eventually mention the player feels like a friend to them.

From there, heart events may trigger and making stopping the ability to interact with the character for that moment till the heart even has happened (Unless you cancel it alltogether, where the NPC might feel hurt and losing your progress, till they're no longer angry).

Pursueing a romantic relationship with the NPC can also be possible! If the compatibility is high, and meeting some underlying systems, the NPC can mention to the player they have feelings for them. From there you can always choose if you want to pursue a relationship or stay friends.

Build and Buying things

Of course your Character needs to be able to make their apartment look more... well, theirs! But making it feel more like their home, you want to obviously buy items!

Instead of having buy mode as we know it in sim-games, I instead wanted it to feel a bit more... real-life like. 

Buying furniture can be done from the Furniture store. If that doesn't fit your needs, then there's always the computer you can order from! However, not everything may be in stock at that time. 

(For people who rather want to play the game as a decorating sim, there will be an option to have access to all the content and decorate from there! Maybe a cheat or something. Sometimes we just want to do that ;))

After purchasing the items, you can now find them in buy mode when pressing "B" (or the button buy mode). and slowly decorate your apartment the way you want it to look.

Walls and floors can also be edited from the furniture store. This will be more or less more sims like though, where you can choose which wall needs what tiling, wallpaper, etc. Same with the floors!

Buying clothes

Aside from furniture, your character can also buy new clothes! :) 

Initially you'll of course have the entire wardrobe to choose from in the character creator, but after that, you have 2 more sets of clothing and that's pretty much it. 

Clothing in this game do have a significance. Not only may they fit in like a fashion influence that cool benefit conversing with other NPCs with that fashion style, but some items can also give you boosts!

Wearing a tuxedo for example, might give you more of a "charisma" boost where you don't fail conversations as much compared without it.

To eliminate just wearing tuxedos and making clothing more of an OP item, they do have an "Expiry" date (aka, cleaning them!) where you will need to switch into something else and wash the other clothing you own. 

That way you're also fixing an element that the sims doesn't do well, which is that fashion doesn't really mean much to the world. Nor does doing the laundry.

Jobs

I'm still working my way through how to make this more fun, but I'm hoping to make them like active careers! 

Want to be a waiter? You'll find yourself doing a waiter minigame where you need to serve customers the right food and if you take too long, they might leave.

Or you're a barista? Try to remember the coffee orders when making them and who they were for! 

I really wanted to get rid of the element of having to wait for your sim to be done working. And I've always liked the interactive variants that they'd include (like ghost hunting in the sims 3, or firefighting). The trick is of course to make sure it's not too repeptitive. 

Story Mode

Not necessarily meant in the sense of adding a story to the game, but instead making it easier for people to take pictures of characters and using the game for storytelling! :) 

I'll be updating this probably to include more options, but for now this is all I got :)