One of the quandaries we had on The Sims 3 was a goal of making a deeper and more interesting game than The Sims 2, with more content to explore, but without an infinite budget and schedule (go figure).
I ran up against this wall when designing the painting skill. The Sims 2 had 12 paintings your Sim could paint on the easel (right).
I was emotionally attached to the easel because I’d programmed it in The Sims 2. It was a great object. I may have been in love with it. So I wanted to design an easel and painting skill worthy of players’ lofty expectations in The Sims 3.
To add variety, there were 3 different canvas sizes. To add depth and collectability, some paintings were uncommon and rare (known as brilliant and masterpiece paintings). To add character, certain personality Sims would paint unique variations of paintings.
And I wanted players to barely ever see the same painting twice.
I was emotionally attached to the easel because I’d programmed it in The Sims 2. It was a great object. I may have been in love with it. So I wanted to design an easel and painting skill worthy of players’ lofty expectations in The Sims 3.
To add variety, there were 3 different canvas sizes. To add depth and collectability, some paintings were uncommon and rare (known as brilliant and masterpiece paintings). To add character, certain personality Sims would paint unique variations of paintings.
And I wanted players to barely ever see the same painting twice.
By now you’re thinking, Holy Bella. That’s a metric dumpload of content… sounds insane. And you’re right. A few dozens of paintings were within scope, but each one had to be painted by a digital artist, so it took a lot of time. Here’s one of my favorites:
RSS Feed
