It’s been ten years The Sims4 was released, and there hasn’t really been anything else since. The Sims games have only really competed with each other, but that could change. There are several Sims-like games in active development, announced in recent years: Paralives, Living through you (now postponed), inZOI, and an untitled life simulator from Midsummer Studios. (We can’t forget Project Rene, which is the codename for Electronic Arts and Maxis’ The Sims5.) While The Sims4 is an example of emerging player stories, this recent wave of life simulators may have been inspired by something else: Roblox, FortniteAnd PUBG: Battlefieldsmaybe.
Although it has become popular in recent years, ’emerging story’ was created by game designer Marc LeBlanc at the Game Developers Conference in 2000, but it has been revived in recent years with the popularity of games like Battle Royales PUBG And Fortnitesandbox game Minecraftand hyper-focused sims on Roblox, such as Washing simulator. As LeBlanc defined it, “emerging story” refers to stories that emerge from game events. ‘A game fantasy gives meaning to the story,” he wrote on one PowerPoint slide from the GDC presentation. The emerging story “occurs as short vignettes,” he added. With the spotlight on these vibrant new games, people began to notice that players were creating their own compelling, engaging stories – building something around what happens in the game, on their own terms, beyond what was intended.
Image: Paralives Studio
It’s an obvious thing to expect from a game like this The Sims4, which allows players to create characters and experience unique stories in a fixed environment. It’s a little more surprising to see these types of stories come out of games like Fortnite or PUBG, which can be misinterpreted as nothing more than shooting games. The reality is that, even in these more rigorous environments, stories emerge as players interact: an ongoing story about the Fortnite Island happens as it shifts and changes, but each of its players creates their own stories in the moments between and within battles. The goal – for example winning a Battle Royale – is always the same, but each player will achieve that goal in their own way. It’s a similar experience with Minecraft: The first objective is simply to survive, but the game builds up to much more from there. Ultimately, your goal may be to get villagers into a community or build a working Game Boy. Everything can happen.
It may sound like a wild idea, but the next wave of life simulations could take some inspiration from eg Fortnite And PUBG and their emerging stories. Even Epic Games itself is doing everything it can to bring out these types of stories Fortnite and to other worlds. The special kind of player-driven stories that tell that Fortnite And PUBG The offer could be the reason why the next generation of life sims games has a way to stand out: adding more parameters leaves room for more creativity.
Jake Solomon, co-founder of Midsummer Studios and former XCOM design lead, announced the new studio and untitled project earlier this year – amid the life simulation boom that has seen several others announced in the genre in recent years. “I felt pretty smart about a year ago when I wanted to make a life simulation,” Solomon told Polygon via email. “Now there are three or four really compelling games in development that do just that. But I don’t believe games are ever a zero-sum environment. In fact, I think having more life simulations will actually help reinvigorate a large, arguably underserved audience. Gamers are used to having choice, and that makes us better as developers.”
Emerging story is the big buzzword surrounding the game: it’s the studio’s “specialization” that makes it stand out, Solomon said. It’s pulling away from the big ones, like Minecraft And The Sims4 – to provide some guidelines for players to build on. Sometimes these guidelines are set by the developer themselves; in The Sims4That includes keeping track of your Sims’ needs, i.e. making sure they don’t pee themselves in public. (Or, on the other hand, guarantee that they do.) Other times, The Sims4 players build these guidelines into the game themselves, such as with the 100 Baby Challenge: To give birth to 100 babies in as few generations as possible. These parameters create a world that creates a crazy story, something Sims also do influencers and YouTubers play a role. But Midsummer Studios will likely take some of its inspiration from the XCOM franchise, which Solomon previously worked on. Like it Fortnite or PUBG, XCOM is known for providing the parameters for creativesplayer-driven story.
Image: Paradox Tectonic/Paradox Interactive
“First, we ask players to choose right at the start of the game what kind of story they are trying to tell (romance, family drama, town with a cast of eccentric characters), and as a result we can change the cast of characters and the storylines that we introduce into the player’s game to support the type of story the player wants,” said Solomon. “Second, at the start of each game, we generate a web of relationships between characters, so players immediately enter a ‘story-rich’ environment full of dramatic storylines to tell. What if your ex-lover was also your colleague? What if your estranged father was your neighbor? And players can of course adjust these to their heart’s content.”
Like it Minecraft or FortniteThe next generation of life simulations must use emergent storytelling to emphasize the one thing a game can’t live without: the players and the stories they create.