inZOI Another Life Simulation Game in Early Development

[FzzyDg8]

[Rosewin]

He became a better zoi because he's dead?   

[Klinn]

Well, he certainly wouldn't be bothering others as much. 

[Kimi]

You're right. There should be at least two. Maybe more! Make them interesting. Hopefully they will come up with something better. When I first read it, I thought, that's nice! Until I saw your comment about it being the same for all of them. 

[Klinn]

I think there should be a minimum of three versions:

1. Neutral karma = they would basically a good Zoi who lived a decent life.
2. Positive karma = they went out of their way to help others and bring joy to their lives.
3. Negative karma = they cared little for any Zoi but themselves and will not be particularly missed by any.

Also, the tombstone graphical image could be tweaked to suit each case.

If inZOI ever gets a proper history-type system, it would be fun if the obituary mentioned specific highlights, or lowlights, of the Zoi's life. Or even just used some of the existing game stats, e.g. found it necessary to insult other Zois 42 times, was tossed in jail twice, etc. 

[RedMallie]

I agree with this. The three versions are the basics, considering how much karma influences Zois lives right? And yes, the tombstones should be different for each. It would be fun to see a lot of grumpy faces as if looking in from above into Rob's burial place! 

[FzzyDg8]

10 hours ago, Klinn said:

found it necessary to insult other Zois 42 times

[Firestaar1]

On 10/12/2025 at 8:04 PM, FzzyDg8 said:

I rather enjoyed your posts since I am not currently playing with inZOI.

^This exactly!! I'm not playing ATM, cause everytime I try to play, I'm maybe 15 minutes into the game, get frustrated, & just close it.  So it's actually super nice & helpful to see someone playing it who has the patience to put up with what the game lacks - at least more patience the I have with the game currently 

[Klinn]

Ugh, this does not look good. inZOI's publisher is hitching themselves to the so-called "AI" bandwagon.

Quote

Krafton has declared itself an "AI-first company", announcing a move to "place AI at the centre of problem solving" via a "complete" company reorganisation.

As part of this commitment, Krafton's earmarked around $69.7 million (100 billion Korean won / £52.3 million) to invest in a GPU cluster, and support the multi-stage tasks required for "sophisticated reasoning and iterative planning".

When the bubble pops and this silliness fails, hopefully management will be fired for incompetence. Much more corporate doublespeak and buzz words can be found in the announcement here.

[FzzyDg8]

1 hour ago, Klinn said:

When the bubble pops and this silliness fails, hopefully management will be fired for incompetence.

 Deja vu?

[Rosewin]

3 hours ago, Klinn said:

When the bubble pops and this silliness fails, hopefully management will be fired for incompetence.

AI at the moment feels rather scamy. Like those at the beginning are making all the profit and those jumping on board are going to be left with poo. It's picking up very fast momentum, but there always seems to be problems. I hope the whole lot crashes. I absolutely loath it, for multiple reasons. 

[Klinn]

There's a large update for inZOI bringing the game up to version 0.4.0 Way too much stuff to list here, this Steam page has all the details.

There are a bunch of Halloween themed additions including updates to playing as a ghost. This short video shows off some of the new bits.

It seems like they are leaning more into the "unlockable" thing, i.e. many new Halloween goodies are only available through Canvas Events, whatever the heck those are, or by completing in-game time-limited events. Not sure how I feel about this -- it's supposed to be a simulation, not an RPG with rewards for doing specific stuff. Already there have been Cahaya items which could only be unlocked by doing stuff outside of the game like watching a streamer on Twitch. I hope the devs don't think of this as building a community, it's more like building annoyance.  

 

Edit: That was quick. There's now a hotfix to the update. We're up game version 0.4.1.  Details here.

 

[Klinn]

OK, I decided to try some of the Halloween additions to the game.

Set up a candy bucket. No hint as to where it should go so I placed it beside the front door/elevator. Later on a kid shows demanding candy. I look for options to give her some. Nothing. The interaction is set up like a date with various possible activities, so I greeted her. Kid pops into the house, still wanting candy. I place another bucket of candy nearby and finally I can actually give her some.

 

I was rather surprised to discover she was a police officer. 

Does she go undercover at school? Patrol playgrounds? Toss Zois into jail for not handing out Halloween candy? 

Anyway, waved goodbye to her, she seemed thrilled and -- never left the house. She wanders around, watched TV, ate a few meals, had a shower, used a blow dryer on her hair, ate some more food, etc. Uh kid, it's now 11:00 pm, we want to go to bed and your parents are probably worried about you. Shoo.

My two Zois went to bed and at some point during the night she seems to have left the house. Unless she's hiding in a closet somewhere.

Yup, another half-baked feature the devs added. Could be fun and cute, but could you please make it work? 

[Rosewin]

 That is definitely one hell of an undercover outfit.

[Klinn]

.

Indeed! Same girl, different night, different undercover outfit.

Uh, yeah, I don't think the computer is going to give you any treats. Sorry.

Same behaviour this night too -- said goodbye, but stayed in house and did various odd stuff. Tried to sing a song this time. Go home! Shoo!

 

[FzzyDg8]

8 hours ago, Klinn said:

It seems like they are leaning more into the "unlockable" thing, i.e. many new Halloween goodies are only available through Canvas Events, whatever the heck those are, or by completing in-game time-limited events. Not sure how I feel about this -- it's supposed to be a simulation, not an RPG with rewards for doing specific stuff. Already there have been Cahaya items which could only be unlocked by doing stuff outside of the game like watching a streamer on Twitch. I hope the devs don't think of this as building a community, it's more like building annoyance.  

Sounds to me like the EA/Maxis team has jumped ship and is now working on the inZOI team.

[Rosewin]

At least she is cute. 

[Kimi]

^ This. What a funny outcome.

[RedMallie]

[Klinn]

In the middle of the night my Zoi got up and sorta sleepwalked, but not exactly. Just stumbled around half awake.

Four times he went to the fridge to get a slice of cake. Four times he didn't eat any. Was he dreaming of a party?

 

The next day he picked the pumpkins he had been growing and immediately used one to carve a pumpkin head for himself. Then in a cannibalistic mood, he cooked up some pumpkin soup. (it seems he's holding an imaginary spoon)

 

The head makes swimming more of a challenge.

 

Didn't do anything to improve his busking reputation with Zois on the beach. You'd think he'd get extra style points.

 

Who wants toasted pumpkin slices? Yum.

 

[FzzyDg8]

[RedMallie]

42 minutes ago, Klinn said:

The next day he picked the pumpkins he had been growing and immediately used one to carve a pumpkin head for himself.

All this was autonomously? A sort of Halloween prank from the Devs?

[Klinn]

Sorry, not autonomous but player directed using the crafting workbench. There are 3 or 4 different styles of pumpkins your Zoi can carve and just use them for decorations instead of wearing them. I've read a rumor that wearing a pumpkin head will allow a Zoi see ghosts but I haven't come across that yet.

Haven't seen any ghost fish yet either but my current Zoi is not much of a fisherman.

[RedMallie]

[Rosewin]

 

I am sure we all dreamed of cake at one stage or another. 

[BrianZ]

The cake thing is some surprisingly realistic dream/sleepwalking behavior!  "Cake, I want some cake.  (doesn't actually see the cake they already got out)  Cake, I want some cake--"

[Firestaar1]

The pumpkin head suits him

 

[Klinn]

I think so too Firestaar.  I tweaked the color of the eyes so they would look more glowing and demonic in those shots. Didn't seem to scare any other Zois though.

[Klinn]

(Warning: long rant ahead)

Hoo-boy, this is discouraging. Came across a new video including a discussion with KJun about the development of inZOI. Skip to about the 9:30 point for the beginning of the chat. For me two things stand out:

 

First is his enthusiastic push for so-called "AI" use in his work, something that of course Krafton is pushing too, and he gives some examples in the video like collecting user feedback and sending his boss a quick AI-generated report of how things are going.

Using an app to collect and summarize user feedback is fine if it actually works. Using a tool which is widely known to make countless errors and “hallucinations” and then depending on that is a recipe for disaster.

I’ve seen many bureaucratic fads come and go (remember the Dashboard craze?) and ultimately this current so-called "AI" fad will collapse too. Generative tools may have their place where errors are not as critical, when creating something that is “good enough” is OK, but betting the management of a company on them is sheer folly.

If an employee sent me a report that was created with an AI LLM tool, they would get a severe reprimand and a warning that being lazy and using something that only regurgitates crap it's been fed will lead to a negative performance review or worse. I hire them for their insights, not for a collection of badly generated errors.

 

Secondly, in the latter part of his interview, KJun talks excitedly about 3 big things they're working on for inZOI. One being multiplayer and two unspecified others.

Yes, they are apparently concentrating on layering on more and more stuff before fixing all the game bugs that have been around since the very beginning, nor reworking some of the features so they actually improve gameplay instead of leaving players scratching their heads wondering why the heck they're bothering to do it.

For example, being interrupted while trying to talk to a Zoi. Conversation is a pretty basic feature of a life sim. But so many times your Zoi and the other one will apparently freeze up, refusing to continue the topics you've put in their action queue. The reason? The game has decided that some random 3rd Zoi should very slowly make their way over and eventually barge into the conversation. It disrupts the flow and who the heck invited you anyway? You can no longer hold a reasonable conversation and your Zoi's contact list gets cluttered up with all these useless random strangers. This issue has been raised many times but the devs completely ignore it in favor adding more "stuff".

Some serious issues are rooted in basic decisions they made way back in the beginning but they won't change. For example, having adolescents and teens appearing exactly the same as YA and adults. Yes, to fix this bad decision would mean a lot of work, but it needs to be done for the sake of the game. Or their routing / pathing system which is absolutely atrocious in public areas like Bliss Bay's beach, It needs a complete overhaul, and yeah, that would take quite a lot of time and effort. But without it, the game will always be subpar.

Adding multiplayer? Creating a multiplayer game is a whole complex task on its own. Trying to shoehorn it into an existing game that is only half-baked to begin with? Yikes.

 

OK, rant over. For now. 

[Firestaar1]

Yeah, I'll take a hard pass on multiplayer, thanks.

Seriously, what is it with life sim game developers & creators thinking multiplayer is THE way to go for life sim games?  No thank you, count me out.

[BrianZ]

I'd be fine with an OPTIONAL, invitation-only multiplayer mode.  But I don't see why anyone thinks players want to play a multiplayer life sim.  Maxis figured this out back in 2013-- and yet, they're going full speed ahead into the same mistake again.  Watch gaming news, and you'll see game after game flopping.  And these are games that SHOULD be multiplayer.  Everyone thinks they are going to make the next Overwatch, and instead they keep making the next Concord.

[FzzyDg8]

 So true @BrianZ.

[RedMallie]

On 11/15/2025 at 9:27 AM, Klinn said:

Generative tools may have their place where errors are not as critical, when creating something that is “good enough” is OK, but betting the management of a company on them is sheer folly.

Totally agree, and it also makes me distrust the commitment of the company towards its customers.

 

On 11/15/2025 at 9:27 AM, Klinn said:

If an employee sent me a report that was created with an AI LLM tool, they would get a severe reprimand and a warning that being lazy and using something that only regurgitates crap it's been fed will lead to a negative performance review or worse. I hire them for their insights, not for a collection of badly generated errors.

Oh, yes!!! But you are so right in saying "lazy", because I think these more recent generations are exactly that: so lazy that they love something that helps them not to think. It is scary, isn't it?

 

On 11/15/2025 at 9:27 AM, Klinn said:

Using a tool which is widely known to make countless errors and “hallucinations”

It also worries me how people are now calling AI errors "hallucinations"; if people assign that term to software error, they are already giving AI a human quality.

Based on the AI having such hallucinations, which Terminator Model would be trying to kill Sarah or John Connor?

 

Ugh, multiplayer. 

Huh, I kept thinking that maybe the guy just wanted to make enough money to have his facial makeover? He looks much younger than when he was actually young!!!

[Klinn]

.

The recent update to version 0.5.1 has made the couches and loveseats much more useful. Instead of just sitting there staring straight ahead, a couple can do fun little things like putting their arm around the other and chat:

 

Or giving them a massage to get rid of the day's stress (note: tension may not actually be relieved):

 

Or just offer a place to rest their head and chat:

All of these interactions improve the Zois' relationship. By the way, this is my new couple created to try out the Christmas-themed update, Fred Festive and Felicia Festive. Zois can now also chat while eating at the table instead of just staring into space. Another nice little improvement that makes the game feel more alive.

One odd thing I've noticed -- Felicia has the new "Neat Freak" trait. She certainly demonstrates that behaviour. Left to her own autonomy she endlessly washes her hands, brushes her teeth, uses the toilet frequently, showers even though she just had a bath a couple of minutes ago, etc. This is more than being a neat freak, this is obsessive behaviour. I've told the devs they need to get her to a psychiatrist!  The trait's influence is just too strong at the moment. Hopefully it will be toned down.

 

[Sleepycat]

I enjoyed reading Robs story (and learning about the crime gameplay) when it was posted (got me slightly interested in the game) but the whole thing about patching patches and stuff being over-tuned (just like sims games), has me right back to not planning to touch this game.  

[FzzyDg8]

@Sleepycat I'm not sure about it either.  Although I haven't decided that I won't try it out, I'm just not in a hurry to do so.

[RedMallie]

Totally understandable, dear kitty and Fzzy. The game patching era is still very frustrating for me.

@Klinn I hope they give discounts for the shrink appointments to Zois created during the early access period!!! 

[Firestaar1]

I like the new interactions on the couch!!

[Klinn]

Yes  @Firestaar1 it's nice to see them filling out existing items with more things to do, making them more complete.

At the hospital rabbithole your Zoi can now choose to do a few things:

Including getting a Health Checkup and, if they're a hypochondriac I guess, having a second simultaneous Health Checkup. Uh-huh.

One of the new added skills is Baking. During this festive season my main Zoi found a booth selling baking kits for some Christmas cookies or a gingerbread house. He's already a level 10 cook, time to add baking to his repertoire.

Small problem, you're supposed to be able to bake using the stove. Doesn't work. He can't even get the usual "Cook" interaction on the stove. In fact the stove only rarely gets the white outline that shows it's an interactive object, and even then it still doesn't work. This is a brand new game I'm playing, no left overs from trying to use an older save game. it's just plain old broken. Sigh.

Did the usual tests like restarting the game and trying to get my other Zoi to bake something, but nope, zippo.

I dutifully posted a bug report over on the official forums but I suspect they'll just toss it on the huge pile of other bugs in the game. Double sigh. Yes, I'm getting grumpy again.

 

Edit: Did some more testing and it turns out one of the fridges is bugged. It's the super duper reward fridge your Zoi receives when their cooking skill becomes high enough. If you use it, the stove become non-interactive. Get rid of it and the stove works again. Weird.

[Klinn]

.

Well, looks like somebody has really gotten into baking:

So far a variety of doughnuts, muffins, and cookies, including some Christmas-themed cookies. Yum. 

Fred Festive is only up to level 2 and a bit of the Baking skill. Other types of goodies should be unlocked as he progresses. The skill does take a while to advance though, just like the Cooking skill.

(Fred is shirtless since he's been slaving over a hot oven all day)

[FzzyDg8]

[RedMallie]

23 hours ago, Klinn said:

Did some more testing and it turns out one of the fridges is bugged. It's the super duper reward fridge your Zoi receives when their cooking skill becomes high enough. If you use it, the stove become non-interactive. Get rid of it and the stove works again. Weird.

What? Good thing you found out about this!

 

16 hours ago, Klinn said:

So far a variety of doughnuts, muffins, and cookies, including some Christmas-themed cookies. Yum. 

I like the way all those look!! Please, have Fred send over a few samples?

 

16 hours ago, Klinn said:

(Fred is shirtless since he's been slaving over a hot oven all day)

No complaints from me. It's feeling a bit hotter around here also. 

[Rosewin]

I don't know what Red is on about. I just want cookies.  

[RedMallie]

[Klinn]

.

Looks like we're pushing the boundaries of copyright infringement, hmm?

On their Canvas site where players upload and share their personal creations, the devs warn everyone to be careful about copyrights, not to use easily identifiable logos and names. Maybe they should read their own terms & conditions? 

[RedMallie]

Ah! That they should!!! It's like that saying, right? "Do as I say, not as I do?"

 

[Klinn]

My Festive family, Fred and Felicia, has moved from their original home to the penthouse at the Dowon Heights tower. You may recall it's a large floor area so I wanted to build something expansive up there, but there were some interesting lessons to learn along the way.

Not sure if any of you have tried to build a custom apartment, but when using the bulldozer tool to get rid of everything and rebuild as you want it, the shell of the apartment stays as it is. Only the contents are deleted. This includes any windows and doors which are part of the shell. You can't change those. For a regular apartment this makes a certain amount of sense, you wouldn't want the exterior of that floor to look different than the floor below and above. Most apartment buildings are built with all floors the same.

But for a penthouse this restriction should not apply in my opinion. The thing is, by being forced to keep the existing windows and doors, your interior layout has to work with those constraints. Don't want that #@&$ window there? Too bad. So when you check out my custom penthouse, keep in mind I had to arrange rooms and furniture based on the immovable windows and doors.

OK, here's an overall shot. Hey, it's a box! Since you can't change the exterior walls that's what you've got. You can't even make them taller or add a second floor.

I used the large corner windows to make an indoor / outdoor pool. Also note the landing pad for your flying car.  Be careful when playing basketball. If you miss a shot, you might have to take the elevator down to retrieve the ball.

Below is a glimpse inside. Mostly regular stuff plus a few new things I wanted to try out. More on that later.

When I tried to get my couple to relocate, Felicia ended up playing Lady Godiva and hid in the bushes:

She eventually made her way over, possibly tying up traffic along the way.

A couple of things to notice in the shot below of the absolutely HUGE TV in the living room:

1. You can play Red's favorite music through the big speakers.
2. I've changed all the billboards in the city to display my favorite message.

More to come as the family gets settled in.

 

[RedMallie]

First, damned restrictions for penthouse building!!!!! 

 

Second, I absolutely LOVE YOUR FLYING CAR and it landing pad!!!!! 

Third, I'd like to see some Zoi trying to save a ball going off to the right of the basket! But, please! 

 

Fourth, Lady FeliDiva must have been a SENSATION!!! 

 

Fifth, I'd go for a Horror Music Marathon for a whole weekend before tuning into THAT OTHER STATION!!! 

 

Sixth, I think your billboards are just fine, thanks. 

 

SO witty, @Klinn  

 

 

[Klinn]

.

It's great to have a choice between the outdoor and indoor pools:

And if it turns out your swimming skills aren't up to scratch, no matter, we have a casket conveniently located at poolside just for you.

[RedMallie]

I was 'admiring' the interior design. 

Very nice!!!!