inZOI Another Life Simulation Game in Early Development

[RedMallie]

I think maybe in the Discord you can tell the devs about the issues you find, can you not?

And Kimi is right; duck rides matter!!! 

 

But yes. All of it sounds like very strange and confusing. Why would a Zoi with a relationship to your Zoi refuse to deepen their converations?

[Firestaar1]

On 4/8/2025 at 10:30 AM, Klinn said:

since my Zoi was sent a message about an important meeting & discussion, why was nothing said about it when they met? I was expecting a special conversation topic or at very least a pop-up message explaining what was so important. But nothing. Sigh.

I had this exact same scenario show up as well; except mine was a guy that was my lady Zoi's true love, who called her asking to meet for the same reason, and he was actually already there.  But same thing, they go up to each other, and nothing happens or is talked about that isn't user directed by me.

And yes Red, the devs have several feedback channels on their discord- which I've made REALLY good use of  

[Klinn]

I'm not on Discord @Firestaar1 so feel free to mention any of the points I bring up too (although I think we're both seeing many of the same issues anyway).

Anyway, back to planning another family to add to the current world!

 

Edit: An interesting wrinkle -- when my Zois age-up I often change their clothes, e.g. what seems suitable for a teen is not what I want them to wear as a young adult or adult. No problem, the game lets you do that via the dresser.

However I also usually want my male young adults, adults, etc to have some facial hair. But you can't change that when they age up. So either your teen guy has to sport a thick full beard instead of clean shaven, or all your adults are baby-faced. Really would be good if we could change the hair as a Zoi got older. Women might want to change their hair style too, and maybe when they become a senior it even goes >gasp< slightly grey! Or maybe they go through a rebellious phase and dye it purple.

[Klinn]

On 4/5/2025 at 12:13 AM, RedMallie said:

 But then, when you put Zois with personalities into families, can you saved those? As in, perhaps a sort of library of households similarly to TS4?

Did some more experimenting with creating and saving families today.

At the moment there are a couple of ways to create a family and have it appear on the game's list of predefined families -- but, BUT, only for the game you're currently playing. There's no way to add them to the developer's list of predefined families so you can access them from any other game or while you're creating a new game. Well, technically you can transfer a Zoi into one of the dev's predefined families, but again, that only affects the current game. Any future games will just have the default list of dev-defined families.

I would certainly hope this restriction will be fixed as early access continues.

 

On a more amusing note: in my current game my primary Zoi has received two gifts from other Zois, a small vase and a small bonsai decoration. Both times I had him place those gifts on the coffee table in the living room. Both times the other Zoi living there eventually picked them up and threw them in the trash.   Maybe not the same day, maybe not the next, but sooner or later she decides that those gifts must go.

I can't think of a reason why the devs would have programmed it that way.

[Firestaar1]

On 4/9/2025 at 11:55 AM, Klinn said:

we could change the hair as a Zoi got older

I agree, we're both noticing many of the same things, and yes I've been mentioning them in the feedback threads.  This is one of the things MANY people have mentioned in their feedback, so hopefully will happen soon.

2 hours ago, Klinn said:

There's no way to add them to the developer's list of predefined families so you can access them from any other game or while you're creating a new game

This has also been shared by myself and lots of other players

 

[RedMallie]

On 4/9/2025 at 10:45 AM, Firestaar1 said:

which I've made REALLY good use of  

 

On 4/9/2025 at 10:55 AM, Klinn said:

Really would be good if we could change the hair as a Zoi got older.

Definitely!! It would help make the aging look more smoothly.

 

6 hours ago, Klinn said:

I would certainly hope this restriction will be fixed as early access continues.

I certainly hope so, too!!

 

6 hours ago, Klinn said:

I can't think of a reason why the devs would have programmed it that way.

The only thing that comes to mind is if the game sees the Zois living together as in some relationship that takes precedent over any other relationship one of them can have with Zois in other houses?

Kind of, if you're not mine you're no one else's? Very possessive psycho-toxic, passive aggressive roommate from hell????   

[RedMallie]

I was watching this video and when Emma Nicole discussed Karma (about min 15:24), and that the goal of the game is to have more Zois with good or positive karma than those with bad karma, I could not help but think of how would @Sleepycat's crew would fare in InZoi. 

I'm not even sure Steve would want to bring his crew into InZoi, if they're going to be booed or punished for being their gorgeous bad ass selves!!! 

 

[Sleepycat]

@RedMallie   I've no interest in InZoi so Steve & his crew will never be in it, at least not through me.  I have this section minimized (so I've no idea if Steve & his crew have been mentioned before).

[Klinn]

9 hours ago, RedMallie said:

Kind of, if you're not mine you're no one else's? Very possessive psycho-toxic, passive aggressive roommate from hell?

That's an interesting motive to assign to the Zoi's actions, if a little scary.   Her behavior does seem a tad askew, and not just the whole vacuuming the lawn at midnight thing. Yesterday she was sitting in a chair reading a book while my main Zoi was painting, then she got up and threw the book into the fireplace. What? Was the plot unsatisfying or something? Even more interesting, later on she retrieved the book from the fireplace and read more of it. Hmm, are we confusing fireplaces with bookcases now?

Thanks for the link Red, I'll have to check it out. While reviewing my town's Karma status I noticed one family in which every member had absolutely terrible karma. As the governor of this little world, I consider that to be a "you problem" not a "me problem".   For my own Zois, I installed a mailbox and an ATM on the sidewalk outside the house. That gives them quick and easy ways to improve their karma, e.g. by donating to a charity etc.

[RedMallie]

9 hours ago, Sleepycat said:

@RedMallie   I've no interest in InZoi so Steve & his crew will never be in it, at least not through me.  I have this section minimized (so I've no idea if Steve & his crew have been mentioned before).

Hello dear kitty!   Yes, I think I understood, or you mentioned, that you're not interested in InZoi.  Sorry if I dragged you into a thread that doesn't interest you.  And I don't think that Steve has been mentioned before. It's just that I was thinking about that feature, the karma, and the fact that the company wants to impose a tone for the players to play, since the game favors earning good or positive karma.

As I was listening to the YouTuber describe the feature I was thinking of my own stories, or @KayBee's Chaos households or mischievous characters, and of course, Steve's crew came to mind. I think any of our characters could probably overtake the InZoi worlds in protest if they were forced to become goodie two shoes characters, wouldn't you agree?  

I like the realism of InZoi, but the aesthetic style has not yet fully caught me. I am afraid that it's still too K-pop / Asian pop looking / feeling for me. I can't see a Zoi child in the demos and not think that only Korean kids would move like that. I cannot see the characters I'd like to create or see being born in the game accurately represented in the game as it stands. And the cities are too urban for me, too.

The building tools are still a challenge for me, but that could change with practice; more than that, it is the general setting that still doesn't grab me, as I've said.

 

3 hours ago, Klinn said:

then she got up and threw the book into the fireplace. What? Was the plot unsatisfying or something?

I am probably very wrong, but that sounds like quite the dramatic response from a K-drama character!!! Yep, I know this is very biased, no offense intended. 

3 hours ago, Klinn said:

Even more interesting, later on she retrieved the book from the fireplace and read more of it. Hmm, are we confusing fireplaces with bookcases now?

This bit of information does support your idea, though. Is it a bug that a fireplace, or maybe something standing against a wall could be mixed up as a bookshelf? Interesting! 

[Firestaar1]

11 hours ago, RedMallie said:

how would @Sleepycat's crew would fare in InZoi.

I'm not sure the Zoi's of the world could survive that level of HOT

3 hours ago, Klinn said:

installed a mailbox and an ATM on the sidewalk outside the house. That gives them quick and easy ways to improve their karma, e.g. by donating to a charity etc.

OOH! I didn't think about the ATM! GREAT idea thank you Klinn!   

Interesting tidbit about Karma, if you go into reports you can scold & intervene with the households that have terrible Karma - I kinda like that feature a lot.

[Klinn]

I saw that option to scold terrible Zois but have ignored it for now. It may be the developer's wish to have a harmonious 'good' town but I may have different ideas.   So I'll see what happens when it's just played using the default autonomy, values, etc.

The mystery of the fireplace and burnt books has been solved. When I was putting clutter on the mantle I added a small pile of 3 books. Apparently, the game treats that small pile as a bookcase. Your Zoi can use that pile to read zillions of books and put them away again. OK, maybe my other Zoi is not so crazy after all.

She's still tossing gifts in the garbage though. Even ones that are sent to her. Guess she's just not the sentimental type.

While we can style the outfits that a Zoi uses for all sorts of activities -- parties, sleeping, at the beach, etc -- I was disappointed to see we can't control what they wear on the job. My other Zoi signed up with the law firm and switched into a professional suit for work, but I couldn't make any adjustments to it. Maybe in the future.

[RedMallie]

8 hours ago, Klinn said:

When I was putting clutter on the mantle I added a small pile of 3 books. Apparently, the game treats that small pile as a bookcase. Your Zoi can use that pile to read zillions of books and put them away again.

great to know!!!!!

[Klinn]

.

Creative Zois can sing, play instruments, and paint, but they can't create sculptures. My Zoi thinks this outrageous omission must be corrected immediately!

If he was able to create smaller sculptures to place around the house, it would give his psychotic roommate something else to throw into the trash. Win-win.

 

By the way, I was surprised how much a romp in the sack affected the hunger motive. After the deed is done, he really wants to get a snack.

 

[Firestaar1]

2 hours ago, Klinn said:

After the deed is done, he really wants to get a snack.

I mean a good romp generally would do that...

[RedMallie]

After a really good romp, of course!! 

[Sleepycat]

So I'm curious about something i read on a sims 4 discord and it'll give me a good laugh if it is true...

 

Is it true that they have to be married to have a baby?

[Firestaar1]

So far from what I've found, yes.

That's one of the many things they've received in feedback is for Zoi's to be able to be single parents

 

[Klinn]

So we can create a family consisting only of teens, but not one with just children. Damn, there goes my Lord Of The Flies scenario.

I'm tempted to create a household of a pack of unruly children plus one senior, then send the senior out to play in traffic and see how it unfolds.

[Firestaar1]

[Sleepycat]

[RedMallie]

 That'd be something!!!! I've heard there are really TERRIBLE drivers driving around the InZoi cities!!!! 

[Klinn]

If I try it I'll be sure to let you know what happens!

Meanwhile, today my main Zoi went to the amusement park to ride the rides. He ate a hotdog just before going on the roller coaster which maybe was not such a good idea.

He didn't actually throw up but was unhappy for about an hour.

 

[RedMallie]

[RedMallie]

Weeell..., Deliver Us Mars was about 85% off, and somehow after watching another building tips video by Cozy with Toxi, InZoi jumped into my shopping cart.  

[revengerde]

[RedMallie]

*hugs the kitty*  

[Firestaar1]

So weird when that happens

[Klinn]

Congrats Red! Looking forward to seeing pics of your sultry Zoi making her mark in the world.

[Klinn]

Another hot fix for inZOI has dropped. This one changes the default setting for shadows in the game, both for street lamps in the world and interior lights. You may want to check your Graphics Options to confirm if changes were made or not. Details here.

In my case besides making sure the options were OK, I also had to go into Build Mode and toggle all the light fixtures so they would cast shadows. You might not have to do this when building a new house though. It's worth it. The game, and especially the characters, looks much better with proper shadows.

One oddity: when I switched "Realistic Shadows" on the lighting in the house at night flickered very badly. I turned that off again immediately. It only smooths out the shadows a bit so It's not a big loss at the moment. Maybe the flickering will be fixed in a future patch.

OK, another oddity: after the update, both beds spontaneously un-made and re-made themselves. Spooky.   Fortunately no Zois were using them at that moment.

[RedMallie]

After about 2 hours trying to build a house, I had a CTD event. 

My RAM is enough; is just my graphic card that is the minimum (Nvidia RTX2060).

I'll restart my Pc and check that hotfix in the meantime. And try to learn how to make an exterior porch.

[Klinn]

For my first game I bought a bare lot, which is pretty inexpensive, then used the money cheat to add another 100,000 so I could buy one of the pre-built houses. I didn't want to be fighting with Build Mode at the same time as learning how to play the game.

Something you may want to look for is the nVidia 5060 TI which is being released tomorrow and comes in a 16GB VRAM version as well as 8GB. Not sure how the pricing will work, other 5000-series cards have only been available over MSRP since supply is so limited. Anyway, maybe keep an eye on it as a possible future upgrade.

[RedMallie]

Yes, getting to manage the different controls is taking time, and it will take me longer, I'm sure.

-Sigh- I will need to look into the new video card sooner rather than later. I had another CTD while taking a picture of my 'creation.'

Still, a new shiny is not something I can afford in the upcoming couple of months, so InZoi better get to a reasonably stable condition!! 

 

This is what I had been building, and saving every few minutes to make sure I did not lose the whole thing as before.

I was going for an old Californian bungalow? style, since I chose the Bliss Bay? city.

This is a one bedroom, one bathroom house.

 

The Zois I was trying to play are Thor Jurgensen and Trina Traviana. In The Sims 3 they were the first couple I created considering traits, and using CC, so they are well loved.

In InZoi I am not extremely fond of Thor's appearance, but it's a start.

Also, he glitched when I was switching from build mode to live mode, and showed up stuck in the middle of the front fence wall. Twice.

 

Fortunately he just shook his manly mane off over his shoulder and went back inside the property. He and Trina look too K-Pop for me, in the way they move. It's weird.

[Rosewin]

Love seeing all the shenanigans. I, like Sleepy, am keeping to TS4 for now.

[Klinn]

Each building lot in the game seems to have only one point where the Zois will enter or exit the lot. If you put a wall there, yeah, I can see it causing problems.

Try removing the front wall temporarily and watch where Zois go to exit the lot. Then rebuild the wall but make sure your gate is in the spot they always use. To the best of my knowledge, we can't change that entry/exit point. The mailbox doesn't do it, it only controls where gifts sent to your Zoi are placed on the lawn.

Hope the game becomes more stable for you!

[Klinn]

So does anybody know how busking works?

My main Zoi has maxed out skills in instruments and singing. There's a spot in Fountain Square park with instruments and a mic set up that your Zoi can interact with including various 'Start Busking' options. Several times I had him sing away, townies came along and listened and *apparently* dropped tips in the guitar case, but there was no way I could find to retrieve that money nor was it automatically credited to my Zoi.

 

After searching the interwebs, the next day I had him go to a spot without instruments already set up, click the Zoi and select the 'Personal Action' to begin busking. Townies came around, cheered, danced, took smartphone pics, but zero tips.

Poor little guy was singing and strumming his heart out but no bucks, err, meows. He got some recognition out of it especially when townies were posting on their social media accounts, but Likes and Thumbs-Up don't pay the rent.

Has anyone successfully made money by busking?

[Firestaar1]

This was actually some of the feedback that's been given in Discord, several people have stated having same issues with Busking and trying to attain their hard earned Meows.

I was REALLY hoping the next hotfix would address the hunger & sleep motives degenerating so fast   Right now my poor Zoi's can barely have any kind of life outside their homes cause their hunger & sleep goes down WAY too fast.

 

[RedMallie]

I hope they do something about those things.

From my perspective (before I bought it, and also since then), InZoi has a lot of animations that are only visual pretties, but they do not actually work in game. Also, I am worried that there are no more hairs and other details to create Zois, from what they had last year when the demo was released. It's been over six months and nothing new could be added there? Or the pieces there could not be improved with the feedback given? I know they did some work on the slider range so that now the Zois can have significant buttocks, but what about the rest of it?

And in the building catalog too. I mean, I am aware that a game in Early Access is supposed to be functional to a certain degree, without having the beauties of further development, but again, it's been over six months to catch up on the feedback provided and do better if not more for the objects already available.

Because of the crashing and the fact that I won't be able to update my graphics card soon, I've requested a refund at Steam, I did 4 hours of playtime in between crashes, so maybe I'll get it.

 

[Klinn]

I can certainly understand the frustration with crashes and limited options, so getting a refund at this point is probably the best choice for you. In 6 months or a year when the game is (hopefully) more stable and filled out, maybe it will tempt you again. Although I suspect the Korean style you've noticed will always be present, given the developers' background.

I guess I'm partly rooting for inZOI's success because I really want an alternative to The Sims. TS4 just didn't do it for me personally so I've been itching for a new life sim for a while.

Cheers!

[RedMallie]

Oh, I'm definitely rooting for a good competitor for The Sims, particularly because EA stopped going in the style of TS3, which was the game I love the most.

Well, I must remember for future reference, that Steam only considers refunds for games played under 2 hours, not 4. Should have given up after the first crash! 

So, I'm stuck with InZoi from now. This means that I will get to see any improvements, as they happen. And hopefully the developers will do enough for the game in early access to ease my concerns. 

[Firestaar1]

1 hour ago, RedMallie said:

Because of the crashing and the fact that I won't be able to update my graphics card soon

Have you tried lowering your graphics settings Red?

[RedMallie]

Good idea, Fire, I haven't. I will try that next time I start the game. Thank you!

[Firestaar1]

You are most welcome!  

Like you I have more then enough RAM & processor; however my graphics card is like one model below the one for recommended settings; so most of my graphics in game are set on minimum and I push it a little bit on the Zoi's themselves as I think my card can handle it.

[Klinn]

.

My Zoi couple went to the Themed Studio. She wanted a shot posing with Red's favorite YMC (tm).

Yes, she's wearing a gold lamé bikini. No, I don't know how to get rid of the white mannequin yet. Or adjust the lighting properly.

"Don't worry honey" she cooed mischievously, "You'll always be my number one hunk".

Hard to tell from this angle if she has her fingers crossed or not.

 

[RedMallie]

I bet she's lying through her teeth!!!!!!!   

Yummy Male Creature certainly can have that effect on pixelated girls, too. 

[RedMallie]

I lowered my settings and managed to play for a short while. I also setup autosave, but I never got a notification about the game saving, so I'm not sure if it did.

Some pictures!!! I finally managed to somehow understand the function of the in game camera.

Close up of the house I built for my Zois.

 

It's very small compared with the size of the lot. It's just the basics.

 

Thor and Trina trying to get along, but it's quite similar to pulling teeth!! 

 

There's a bookshelf, for sure, although, to me, it resembles a rack for LPs more accurately.

 

A bathroom.

 

And one bedroom with a double bed. Yep. I know this is going to become an issue. Fortunately there is a sofa, too. I'm pretty sure one of these two will need to sleep on it.

 

After a while, I got another CTD. I'm going to test again with different lower graphics settings, but will probably do more research on which can be really significant.

 

[Rosewin]

[Klinn]

13 hours ago, RedMallie said:

Thor and Trina trying to get along, but it's quite similar to pulling teeth!! 

It can take a while to get a relationship going unless the Zois are extremely compatible. In the beginning I devote a couple of days to doing pretty much nothing but talking and eating. As your Zois develop their communication skills, building new relationships will go a bit faster.

You have to keep them on a pretty tight leash or they'll wander off to read a book (album cover?) or vacuum the lawn. Zois with certain traits are more introverted and tend to avoid conversation, so be sure to read the trait description before selecting it when creating a Zoi.

[RedMallie]

Thank you, @Klinn I did read the descriptions of the traits. The thing is that, I chose their traits considering the personalities I want Trina and Thor to have in the development of their lives, their own personal characters. I also chose them trying to make them somehow compatible with each other. I do want them to end together, after all. In fact, their background story has them living together now because they are in a relationship, so I am going to take the time as you suggest to make them build up on that and hopefully get them to be the couple I want them to be. This will be (or would be, if I can play the game more stably) my practice about how to create new Zois in families that should develop affection and closeness to actually become the family I want them to be. I think I could also achieve this by creating individual Zois and making them meet in the world and then get into a relationship, but I think at this stage of the game development, that could take much more effort and time.

Also, right now, Thor's closed face expression is quite accurate to my idea / concept of him for interactions with outsiders. Since Trina is technically a stranger, it fits. I hope that if / when they get into a romantic relationship he will have more 'loving' facial expressions which should show he is in love with her. We'll see.

[Klinn]

.

Sounds like you've got a good plan Red. As you may recall, I started several test families while getting used to how inZOI works and how Zois deal with relationships, before moving on to my longer-term family.

1 hour ago, RedMallie said:

 I hope that if / when they get into a romantic relationship he will have more 'loving' facial expressions which should show he is in love with her. We'll see.

Heh-heh, I normally play with the camera so far back from the Zois that I barely notice their expressions.

 

So my Zoi couple made the transition from young adult to adult. To celebrate this milestone, my main Zoi bought a car. Time for him to reward himself, right? For some reason the devs put my lot's default street parking space so the car is blocking the neighbor's driveway. There's a perfectly good spot to the far right behind that beige car which they could have used.

So far I haven't found traffic to be an issue, but then again my Zoi will gladly drive in, umm, unusual directions when needed. E.g. coming up to one busy intersection I started driving on the other side of the road to get around traffic and have happily used sidewalks as well. Not to mention that red lights have no meaning to my zippy guy. Traffic density is set to the default for my city. Haven't felt any need to thin it out so far.

Only traffic jam I noticed was one my Zoi caused. When you're walking on the sidewalk and summon your car, the devs don't put it in the parking lane beside the curb but rather right in the middle of traffic. Causes a bit of a backup until my guy can get in and zoom away.

Love the fact that the game includes full animations for getting in and out of the car (and all sorts of other things in the game).

Obligatory dramatic lifestyle advertising shot on the pier boardwalk:

I wanted to have my Zoi posed beside the car, but since this location is not an official street, as soon as he exited the car, it was teleported back home. I have an idea for getting around that which I have to experiment with soon.

Originally I wanted to shoot something on the beach with the surf and sailboats etc but so far the only routes I've found down the beach are via stairs. No problem for Zois, not so good for cars.