Amid all the excitement leading up to the release of the new Sims 4 expansion pack, Eco Lifestyle, the knitting stuff pack has almost been forgotten. Well, sort of. One of the cool things about the community voted stuff pack is the way the Gurus have shared the progress of the pack. It’s very helpful to understand what it takes to create packs and game features.
On Tuesday, Sim Guru Connor shared some interesting insights on the rocking chairs that will come with The Sims 4 Nifty Knitting Stuff Pack. The highlight of the post was how animations will differ for toddlers, adults and elders with the Sims 4 rocking chairs.
First, a disclaimer, Sim Guru Conner wrote on the blog post:
I’d like to remind everyone that game development is rarely straightforward. It’s really kind of twisty, and sometimes a little squishy, and it’s still early in the development of our new Stuff Pack. What I am trying to say is, this pack is actively being worked on and the information below is subject to change. But enough about that. Let’s get started discussing today’s topic, Rocking Chairs!
Let’s start with the concept of the rocking chairs. The art concept of the rocking chairs looked like this.
That has since progressed to look like this.
The above is called a “work in concept asset”, according to the blog post. There is still much more work to be done on the look and feel of the Nifty Knitting rocking chair. The real interesting part is the animation and the added gameplay that will come with them.
The blog post noted:
Sitting in a rocking chair is quite relaxing for Sims, so naturally uncomfortable, sad, or angry buffs will diminish quicker. Sims will also gain a bonus to their Knitting Skill while on the rocking chair, so make sure you take advantage of that. Try building a ?Knitting Room? with a rocking chair and a stereo playing Focus/Metal music to fully immerse your Sim in knitting knirvana.
Oooh, the pun game is strong. We like it.
Elders will have some unique gameplay with rocking chairs. While sitting in a rocking chair, Elder Sims gain increased friendly relationship gains with other Sims. Elders will also be able to Reminisce on rocking chairs, gaining a small amount of fun.
Sims 4 Nifty Knitting Stuff Pack: Elders on rocking chairs
Here’s a little preview of what elders might look like on those chairs. So adorable!
Breaking the process down further, ?Sim Guru Conor shared a development clip of the Reminisce animation, writing:
“[The clip is] modeled by this adult Sim. Since adults and elders use the same animation rig they share the same default Sim that is used to model In Progress animations in our animation tools.”
The Sims 4: Rocking chairs and toddlers
Of course everybody’s favourite little tyrants will get their own unique interactions with The Sims 4 rocking chairs.
Both children and toddler Sims will have a Play With Rocking Chair interaction, where they can fill fun motives.
So cute!