Ideas for a life simulator
Start w/ just text-sim, add graphics later. Text-sim base case: one person thinking about shit and being driven to interact w objects by their thoughts. Social text sim base case: two people talking and influencing each other.
Knowledgebase system that makes it easier to learn certain skills and talk about things to people. Building a skill also makes it easier to pick up the corresponding knowledgebases. Thinking about music theory and composition with instruments. Idk. Things that share concepts like physics and math and such. Maybe just skills that interrelate? Cooking and baking with food science...
Values system for making friendships and certain autonomy things. Environmentalist sims getting together and protesting.
Values system intersecting with the political gameplay. Traditional families tend to be generated in groups with compatible values and maybe one outlier (child/teen).
New townies have values similar to the policies already in place. Environmentalist sims move to towns that make it easier to be such a thing. LGBTQ+ sims move where there are more sims who support them. People benefitting from bigotries and other people being hurt by them.
Habit traits and editable routines. Wind-down routine before bed (PJs, snack, toilet, teeth, shower, prepclothes, bed) can be initiated by clicking on set object (bed). Morning routine set on sink (teeth, shower, clothes, breakfast, work). Meal prepping and designating meals for the week. Weekly routines like recyclingsort + garbage takeout. Weekly routines like going out to eat etc. Routines for the way to or from places like getting a coffee otw to work, or going to the bar after work, or going to church on Sundays.
Interest traits make a sim enjoy certain activities more, passive skillboost from random thoughts, autonomy boost to do certain things.
Outfit creation: sims have different preferences for things like layering. Different trends happen on generational cycles. Interior design trends. Datedness. Outfits chosen from wardrobe only, different outfit as often as possible. Outfit categories DNE, but create different rules for different situations. Career outfit: usually business casual, different careers come with different rules. Alert if no suitable clothes for career & fallback to formal or casual. PPE requirement for culinary, manual, chemist. Or job provides uniform or suitable clothes. Material, cut, and colour of clothing has effect on context tags. Things of higher formality levels can be worn in lower formality. Mixed-context outfits' formality levels average out. "Smart casual" = formal + casual. Trends = combination of different contexts together, different time periods, SILHOUETTES, colours (lights + darks), patterning.
Androgyny as outfit value intersecting with perception. People's perceptions of gender change based on town demographics + personal values. Gender judgement happens at first meeting & is associated with introduced identity only. Support for diff'tly gendered identities/pseuds. Sims have personal preferences for how to appear to people. Androgyny as average of diff'tly gendered component clothing (+ve) or as absence of GCC (-ve) (define "unmarked" by town values). Unmarked clothing shifts over time in response to power dynamics b/w racialized/gendered subjects. White masculinity as default can be changed in game. More egalitarian societies -> effectively more things unmarked.
Subcultures and countercultures. Against the gendered nightmare or for it. Other values included. De/anticolonialism as value.
Households move based on num_beds + age of children/bedrooms. Child bedrooms effectively YA bedrooms for most sims, change decorations dynamically. Accumulation of clutter as families live in space. Clutter based on dynam_assigned rooms + sub/countercultures + interests/hobbies.
Parenthood + neuroses? 4 types of emotionally immature parents -> autonomous behaviour as parents (unless emotionally mature knowledgebase+skill [internalization]).
School uniforms + subjects. Change uniforms based on base model. Clothing customization based on freesewing system. Change sleeve length, ease, etc. Body dimensions based on tailoring measurements. Faces 2D because fuck it im not learning phrenology shit lmao. Genetics ???
Dynamically changed bedspreads, posters, rugs (less), CLUTTER (more). Weighted based on expense of replacement. Weighting reduced by household wealth.
Routing for wheelchairs + support for transfers & other mobility aids.
City/Town/Village Hall, local politics interconnecting w/ higher level ones (less player control). Different towns & countries.
Clothing coverage regions + material for warmth scores. Coverage % of region. Chest, abdomen, thighs, calves, hands, feet, head, neck, seat. Seat: 2 inch shorts, swimsuits, etc. Also like modesty shit as
Tailored clothing (fit) vs off-the-rack (slouch, tight, bag). Grow out of clothing, replace. Children's wardrobes.
Layering. SUpport for taking off & carrying sweaters, sweatshirts, jackets, etc. Tying around waist (add to seat score).
Network of info, who knows whom, characters find out about cheating, secret relationships, PDA.
NPC richguy neatfreak who has one bed for sleeping and one bed for woohoo.
Dead characters = SKELETONS, not ghosts. Ghosts = maybe projection of living chars? Skeletons wear their living clothes but they are quite baggy on them. Figure out dimensions from tailoring measurements.
Occult status = transformation, acquire traits slowly. No discrete occults ==> more support for hybrids. Elf ears, black eyes, slitted or goat pupils, black sclera, fangs, diamond teeth, green/purple/blue-tinged skin.
Gender attraction based on gender judgement (fluid stat assigned on introduction or queried where relevant)
Choose counter surfaces and stuff independent of counter bodies. Functioning counters where you can designate which appliance lives where, where cutlery lives, where plates and cups live; sims have to grab the stuff they need <3
Choose which font to render some character or place names. I just want somebody to be freaky with it.
MALLS, hotels, multi-use spaces, Community Centres (library, pool, gym), makerspaces in libraries, Queer Computer Clubs in Office Buildings, etc etc.
Different ways of engaging with interests. Snobbishness, obsession, cringe, passing fancy, cycles of waxing and waning interest, connected to subculture.
make sims prefer spending time in rooms without toilets, or spend time far from the toilet unless using it
for spiral staircases, copy what rollercoaster tycoon does for rollercoasters (all custom)
outfits made interesting thru colour, shape, texture
reputation is so OP. It needs limits based on fame
ingame movies/tv should be guidelines for inserting sims into them. Prioritize local sims for local news, sprinkle in local actor sims for big budget flicks etc according to character level
for routing, make sims notice things around them and do things along the way. Walking and talking with ppl
University of Smallwater (UW but scaled for a tiny number of sims)
optimization. The notion of a silhouette in fashion. Sims get generated with a silhouette and everything else comes after. E.g. pants or skirt, what kind of shirt, layers, etc. Hopefully reduce reliance on physics engine.
style evolutions, draw from modern trends and from past phases and chiefly from social group (social groups tend towards adoption of similar stuff)
emotional paintings draw on thoughts and memories. Painting creation: behind the scenes, take the sims involved and put them in a premade situation (poses etc maybe based on traits but otherwise just a simple place sim on the marker) then take a picture of them. Actually it could be a full on feature. Like the player can position them and change the pose etc.
roofing: player draws out the skeleton as a polyhedron & different planes get coloured in.
game logic happens in rust, actual interface can be swapped out at will. Maybe even a browser-based thing could be neat if browsers could call back
native support for shaders. Swappable
add relationships to people in or out of town on character creations. Can also randomize based on traits & history. Can also generate out-of-towners to fit. Num(rels) related to sociability
no need to attach sim to a household (discrimination against the unhoused). Free real estate when choosing a house; no "starting funds" you tell the story you wanna tell. Houses are empty by default but can be filled with boxes of random stuff Or actually decorated depending on char backstory (i.e. do they live here or did they just move in some time ago?) + also decor items are chosen w the same system that determines NPC decor change. Look at preferences/hobbies/colour palettes/styles
all wall textures etc also have a dilapidated version, really an overlay based on wall material (stored val, influences sound indulation) & intended type of texture (e.g. paint wallpaper wood etc)
best to start with only game-generatd townies & only select a "marketability" maekup once that's stable. Complex emotional decisionmaking system for job changes and falling in love etc etc...
individual manual wall show/hide toggling, for easier building. Room borders are not placement borders
"the dead only know the language of flowers""
regarding relationship decay, make a kind of relationship module thats not just a onedimensional or labelbased thing. Building intimacy & closeness, achieving smth that makes u less able to forget them, and so on and so forth. Look into how relationships happen
in first person camera mode, reduce the chunk width (use sub-chunks) massively and up the quality to match
hair etc also has individual accessory slots. Fuck it, so do shirts and pants and the like. Swappable belts and so on
clothing on fur behaviour. Loose clothes normal, tight clothes poodleify
inst of masc/fem preference, people have preferences of varying strength as to how they want their outfit etc to come across. Polydimensional. Could be subculture dimensions (goth, skater, prep) or gender dimensions (genderfuck, etc)
accessories on Doors incl counters etc and FRIDGES
gender perception system ought to handle cases like my family. Mybe smth like storign gender in relationships tab for closer relations and notnchanginf unless told or drastic
for painting from imagination, if perspective or anatomy skill is borked, then take the 3d scene and bork some of the lines and such to match. Maybe also intr an animefication filter for those how to draw manga kids
genetic randomness, recessive genes etc
toothbrush holders with resident-dependent num-toothbrushes. Also just adjustable and such. Assignable too
child of $WHATEVER as an acquired trait in childhood, for homesickness. Varying strength based on %childhood I suppose. Feeling homestick wherever I go
dont tie magic to occults. Altars for stuff. Towers help. Dungeons too. Different kinds of magic and attunements
ghosts are malicious and physical hehehe fueled by resentment. Except i guess specifically in the era with ghost photographs but tbqh might be more fun to make them scammers
dignity of risk for pregnant sims. Let them use the dang treadmill. Maybe include actual risk and some indicator along w autonomy tweaks but goddamn
gender object tied to identity object. Friendships maintained between identities, with identities tied to the same person making it easier to establish a friendship etc. Like if Alice and Bob are someUsername and otherHandle and Alice/someUsername is friends with otherHandle then she gets faster relationship gain with Bob. Relationships get equal when the identities are linked. Figure out a better way to store this shit. Can sleuth for identity also. Better shit for closeted people also.
clothes get dirty/dirt textures on them based on activity and wear. Underarm and neck stains too for ageing
look at dwarf fortress
adding patches and embroidery to clothes takes up no slots but adds infinite swag. Also fabric paints etc.
dwarf fortress or rimworld except I just wanna live in a walkable city and control some rando and make it a sitcom. Also local politics simulator with negotiations and motivations and such. Would work for haggling too. Insight into motivations. Look to social ttrpgs for inspo
needs check-in (optional) with pausing the game if smth could be worked on. Unobtrusive if possible and opt-in only
retrospective character creation like in sunless skies
smth about recognizing whether a room is dark and whether a character is unaffected (blindness, scifi bs, etc)
ts4 moodlets already feel like a kind of thought cabinet but tbqh its p weak
multicore optimization. Reading an example: simulation of a ball bouncing down 20 steps can't be parallelized b/c each step in the sim depends on something that came before. Strategy: chunks? Try to mentally untangle things as much as possible. Maybe graph sims and use network analysis tools to untangle them
chance at remaining as ghost w/w/o resentful energy. Chance is based on total play time. If the player plays a character a lot theyre imbued with divine agency and therefore more likely to stick around
controls are only beaming thoughts into heads? Or like make that a limited control mode? I think it could be really fun to play around with and see like reactions to thoughts and so on. Also puts the player in more of a divine role even. Ofc a player can designate any avatars they like for direct controls <3 and they can be venerated if they like hehehe
curtains opening and closing, also curtain opacity. Vampire sims need blackout curtains. Maybe some ww2 shit
single responsibility principle: take all the possible reasons a sim might change and separate them out into disparate objects. Maybe make sims take them on as traits
for visuals, make custom ones. E.g. browsing another sim's blog either generates an image that fits their personality or uses a user-set image for the site
poses depend on personality etc but also users can set custom poses for each context instead & even provide overrides for individual sims. Gfl w that tho
Thoughts as shared objects like a sim inst of having a thought has a pointer to a thought. Yay memoryshit. Idk if thats worth it.
Thoughts drive behaviour inst of traits. Traits just influence thought likelihoods. Hell, task queue can also be a series of thoughts. The thought as the base unit of interaction or whatever. I think i shall cook pasta bolognese (informed by hunger need, preference for cooking, preference for staying in; abated by preference against doing the dishes (applicable until foisted on somebody else))
logical groupings for actions (so that thoughts can point to them and go ah yes cooking produces food (good) but also dishes (bad))
thoughts are stored in the brain/mind/thought-cabinet/cabinet
for trend stuff, can make the trend generator return abstract impls of trend objects and then the graphics engine can make sense of associated trend data. Idk.
sims' tastes evolve but also revolve around what was in when they whatever'd. Idk. Nostalgia or sth. Like vampires, old people, trans ppl who repped a while, etc
to cope w city sim, assign npcs to rabbithole apartments. Only unrabbit/generate them if a player is interested in looking. Rerabbit when moveout. Keep floorplan (walls etc)
take seats smartly or queue to use the toilet
dress physics or just saving various states of the dress e.g. walking, sitting, standing still; and switching bwtween them as thw situation calls. Animated?
task queues can get clogged up like how I couldn't do anything bc shower was weighing on me then I moved it around myself to brush my teeth instead
Ooh what about reshuffling the task queue?
Towns become geared to a given type of economic activity based on local policy. E.g. it's cheap to film in toronto relative to places in the US so stuff happens there.
Base furniture and fashion off of actual fashion designer shit. Also add filter for time range irl and one for time range in-game.
Some kind of dynamic image processing to make shit actually visible at night
Framework for mind-altering substances i.e. change frequency & such of some thoughts and make other thoughts in/eligible
Room score a la ts2. Think of that tumblr post abt finding shit matching an aesthetic. Dont lookup aes name but features of clothing or furnishings. Compute aesthetic based on intrinsic features.
Custom counter angles
Outfit generator: use subcultures, silhouettes, and colour schemes to give "cohesive style and personality" https://www.reddit.com/r/Sims4/comments/1hriaqz/im_sure_weve_all_done_this_at_least_once/
Move-ins/outs happen kinda like those updown state simulators from compphys. Calculate energy of household/area and try to minimize tension and cost of living but maximize good feelings. Could be generalized to other situations I guess? Tje optimization
Simulate internet or theatre of mind first then make more complicated by adding physical space and motives to want to see sm1 e.g. eve wants to tell alice that bob is cheating thus eve more likely ro spemd time arnd alice
Neighbour homes are rabbitholes w stored possession info as needed then generated on first visit and kept until culling. Possns updated too.
Party success metric not directly boosted by rewards but e.g. party reputation system and hosting skills making it easier to e.g. leave a group in conversation or mediate or whatnot
Gender creator, character library, world creator, ability to plunk a character from one world to another
https://64.media.tumblr.com/dbe2884e6c9ae69780a69f4fbba8e6fd/6da74fa80baa0681-35/s1280x1920/b252d5699522e775897f02943fd6cdb8666bbd4a.jpg <- COOL hairstyle... separable bangs from other shit please god yes thank you... or even CLIP ON BANGS like in empresses....
Texture editor where you can put stickers or posters inside the texture of something. Generalize it to clothing
Alt: Ghosts aren't visible to sims but are to players and can cause some subtle changes like making sims scared
Clothes made up of base pieces that can be combined together e.g. body block, sleeves, etc...
Bring the boob lights, springy door-stoppers, landlord paint, etc. into the game
Always a bigger fish: there will always be a sim who's better than you at something.
Insp by laundry shit: number of steps a player has to click thru depends on sim's own thought cabinet resolution system. Like the "on a good day this task is one step, on a bad day it's 20" thing
Logic puzzlessss <333 more variety for them and so on...
BB: Separate toilet tank from toilet itself, like in this picture of a toilet w/ separate tank
Secret world of arriety type thing
Baby hairs separable from hair like with bangs system, get them as a texture or something liek that. Idk. Draw on the skin and so on. Useful for skin details too just add logic to make them less likely to get accidentally yeeted