inZOI Another Life Simulation Game in Early Development

[Klinn]

First thing -- the "deco" houses created by the developers to fill in the town are not created with Build Mode tools, at least, not the ones we have. They're probably built with other tools like Blender and imported into the game world. So don't get too frustrated that you can't make something as nice looking.

I recreated your house as best as I could. The Zoi could climb up and go inside, but yeah, those are some ugly steps.

 

Unfortunately all of the steps have same problem, but some styles may sorta fill in the gaps with framework and supports. A Zoi manages not to trip on that raised edge when leaving the house but it's still there.

And as you've found out, raising the floor (white slab) to try to match the height of the top step just results in higher steps, still with the awkward raised top step. I haven't found any way to make it flush.

One approach to hide the problem is to recess the doorway 3 Build Mode squares or more so the front of the porch is flush with the front of the house. The awkward top step is still there but it's difficult to get a camera angle where you would actually see it.

You could make the recessed section wider and deeper to create a larger porch and provide room for chairs & plants but it's not really what you're after. Sigh.

A couple of other notes:

1. To use steps, your foundation must raised at least the amount shown. Any lower, like the two-inch-height I was trying, and the game will refuse to add stairs.
2. The porch area must be at least 3 Build Mode squares deep. 2 are used to allow for Zois standing outside the door, plus 1 more to allow the stairs to latch onto the porch.
3. The white slab above the foundation, best seen in the first screenshot, is the floor on top of the foundation. It is the same height as the floor inside the house. At this point I would recommend not raising it up beyond the default height shown, as you tried to do. There's enough weirdness going on in Build Mode that I wouldn't tempt fate by changing it. Could be used to create a raised platform within a room, e.g. a dance floor, but I'm not sure if Zois will be able to route to it. You can disguise it with careful coloring as you've done, or adding railings along the edges instead of walls.
4. The banisters for all stair styles are ridiculously high. They come up to shoulder height on Zois, and they don't match up with the height of railings.

Hopefully these issues will be fixed as the game progresses through early access.

[RedMallie]

Wow! Thank you so very much for trying!!! 

The game lasted a while, but I can't remember how long I played before it crashed. I think it ran for about 2 to 3 hours real time before the first crash.

24 minutes ago, Klinn said:

The awkward top step is still there but it's difficult to get a camera angle where you would actually see it.

This is an interesting suggestion, thanks.

I agree with your notes and observations and I also hope that the developers are hard pressed at work to deliver a new substantial update sooner rather than later.

 

Now, Mallie.

 

If you recall from when the Character Studio Demo was released, Mallie ended up looking like this:

 

The body sliders are improved and they have longer range, which is good, I think.

What I am not sure about is if we can give our Zois different hairs with different outfits. I took Mallie to get new clothes and wanted an updo for her formal outfit, and she got it for all outfits. -sigh- Since she's going to have to work for it all and she will surely sweat a lot in this game, I decided to leave her hair up.

 

The hair is not exactly the shade I wanted for her, but it can be that my graphics card cannot reproduce the shades as well?

 

Anyways. I got Mallie the first most basic studio house; the one that is actually a studio, since the second option has an enclosed bedroom, and nope, that ain't no studio for me.

So, I plopped the basic studio in the empty lot from before. The apartments, actually I think there is only one option that is not too big or expensive, and I did not want Mallie to start her Zoi Life that high in society. So, she's renting this studio.

 

And yes, she's not rich or anything, but a damned shower she must have, and since she was saving a lot of money on the studio, we expanded the bathroom to fit the nice shower there.

 

From the front door, you can see the kitchen first.

 

After that, the area opens to have the bed and there is room for a desk as you see here. It was all there in the preset. I just added the curtains, lamp, and side table.

 

The desk was also there in the preset, as well as the computer. I added a second window, ah! I also got Mallie those cute little red table lamps. One by her bed, and one on the desk. And the trash can, too.

 

I want to get Mallie to improve skills, etc., so the first one was cooking. She made a mean salad!

 

I saved the game at that point and left it running to go have lunch. When I came back, the game had crashed.

I restarted it and got Mallie to finish making her salad--in a very Sim like fashion, she dropped what I instructed her to do in order to go write a lousy book. I allowed it because skills, but it is annoying that they can drop everything in a second before you have the chance to direct them to do something else. Then, it takes longer for them to drop that autonomous action before going to what you want them to do.

 

Mallie wanted to 'talk about authority' (I gave her the Leader trait), so I thought she should go out and find someone to talk to. I got her on the street talking to some other Zois, but I wanted her to go to Liberty Square to do that thing in her Sunday schedule events. I saw a bus in the corner and tried to get her on it. The bus stops are quite tricky to click on, it is easy, or it was easy for me to miss the thing. Finally I got Mallie on the bus and when the map opened I could only see bus stops, not destinations to get to. I have not seen the map long enough to know where is what, so I guessed a stop by the end of that street could be it. It was the wrong one, of course. I managed to remember..., no I really did not 'remember' how to open the city map, I clicked on almost everything before I got the map up.  

This map did have the destinations or locations in the city and I managed to click on the option to "Go Here". That's when the game crashed for the second time. I think I have a save from just before Mallie left the house. 

 

Now, I am having a non-native speaker moment here?

Why the hell would a bus have a ramp for people to kneel on it, please??????????

[Firestaar1]

 

[Klinn]

OK, I had to take time out to watch a terrible movie   but now I'm back with more porch-tastic suggestions!

Given all the issues with foundations and weird stairs, at this point I would suggest ignoring them when creating a porch and just use a basic floor. When creating a house, add a smallish room at the front where you want the porch to be. Delete the walls and you're left with the floor. Make that your porch. You can raise the floor a tiny little bit, just one "notch" when you're pulling it up in Build Mode. If you try to go higher, Zois will not be able to enter the house. The shot below shows the maximum height that works. Make sure to raise the floor inside the house to match.

After deleting the walls, not only is the floor left behind but also the ceiling surface as you can see above. You can delete it to make a completely open porch, more like a deck really, or use it to build a roof above for a more sheltered porch as shown below.

Yeah, it looks really dumb to me, having the house walls sitting right on the ground especially when using something like the brick wall texture. Best we can do is disguise it with shrubs and flowers.

Note that at the point where the side of porch floor intersects with the house wall, you cannot place a window there. It has to go either closer to the door or further away. The house wall is actually split at that point and windows can't overlap the split, even if it's invisible to us.

I think I'm about porched out.

 

@RedMallie glad to see you've got Mallie her own studio to start with. I guess there's a significant difference in her appearance due to the graphic settings you're forced to play with, but hey, at least you get a chance to play for a bit! It's only really noticeable in close up shots. In more distant ones the Zois tend to be a little fuzzy anyway.

In case you've never played a game long enough, you'll find that trash can eventually fills up, especially if Mallie eats quick meals like the fried noodles. When finished, Zois throw the empty box into the trash. Eventually you may need an outdoor trash can where they can empty the smaller indoor one.

Interesting, I don't think I've ever traveled on the bus by clicking on the bus stop icon. I've always just brought up the city map, clicked on a location and used the "Go Here" option. Learn something new every day!

Ah yes, the kneeling bus. That must sound odd. There are two real-life features to make it easier for folks with mobility issues to use buses. First is that the driver can lower the front of the bus so it's easier to step on board. That's the "kneeling". In addition, some buses can fold out a ramp which bridges the gap between the bus floor and the sidewalk so wheelchair users can roll into the bus. I don't think that option is as common. In our city we have a fleet of specialized smaller buses that folks in wheelchairs can call up if they need to get around, although from what I've heard, there aren't too many of those buses so sometimes they have to wait for quite a while before one appears.

Have fun skilling up Mallie!

 

[RedMallie]

8 minutes ago, Klinn said:

Eventually you may need an outdoor trash can where they can empty the smaller indoor one.

There was a huge trash can inside the studio where I moved the fridge to! It was too large and I moved it outside behind the extension for the bathroom. I'm hoping that it won't be too accessible there in case Zois also like to tumble their neighbors' trash cans. 

 

8 minutes ago, Klinn said:

Interesting, I don't think I've ever traveled on the bus by clicking on the bus stop icon. I've always just brought up the city map, clicked on a location and used the "Go Here" option. Learn something new every day!

Trust me to find the hard way to do something in game..., or in general!!!  It was that I wanted Mallie to explore her neighborhood by foot, but she kept trying to go back to her studio, so I decided to make her move further away to prevent her from turning heel on me. 

 

8 minutes ago, Klinn said:

Ah yes, the kneeling bus. That must sound odd. There are two real-life features to make it easier for folks with mobility issues to use buses. First is that the drive can lower the front of the bus so it's easier to step on board. That's the "kneeling". In addition, some buses can fold out a ramp which bridges the gap between the bus floor and the sidewalk so wheelchair users can roll into the bus. I don't think that option is as common. In our city we have a fleet of specialized smaller buses that folks in wheelchairs can call up if they need to get around, although from what I've heard, there aren't too many of the buses so sometimes they have to wait for quite a while before one appears.

I lived in the UK for three years many moons ago, and was fortunate enough to see those buses in the city. People with mobility issues really benefit from those features. I just never knew they were called "kneeling ramps"! In the figurative meaning that the bus is "kneeling" to let people in more easily, it makes sense, but it is way too funny!!!

I'd bet it would be the best joke: "...and the lovely Mexican tourist looks at the bus weirdly, shrugs, and proceeds to kneel on the ramp before boarding. 'When in Rome...', she thinks."

Did I tell you about the time when I probably was this close to being arrested for 'allegedly' not paying my bus fare in Toronto? I had actually bought a bus card and had been using it all the time. But then, I noticed that the drivers were not even looking at my shiny card. I thought, 'well, if they don't care to check, I don't need to prove that I've paid, right?' --I know, I know, it was my weird pride. So, the next time I took a bus, I had my card in my pocket, got on the bus, the driver barely looked at me, even though I smiled at her. I moved along the aisle and took a seat. The lady drover off, but shortly after, she was looking at me through her rearview mirror and said; "the lady in the blue jacket needs to show proof of travel (or something in those lines)" I was soo glad that finally someone was asking to see my shiny bus card!!!! 

 

8 minutes ago, Klinn said:

Have fun skilling up Mallie!

I will!!! I think that the second crash must have been because of the traveling. My graphics card must not be able to support that much, let's say, exercise!

[RedMallie]

Mallie is feeling much more comfortable after checking out what they have at Nexus Mods.

 

Yep. there's definitely room for improvement, but she'll be sleeping better in that outfit.

 

She finally made it to Liberty Square.

This guy was ok. He was the second guy she chatted up. The first one left in a rush.

 

But then, he had her waiting because he's some sort of frustrated street artist. He went to the mic and took his dear time before he got back to her. 

 

Not sure he'll be around much, though. The Zois that you chat up do not become your contacts so I'm not sure how Mallie will call them if she wants to see them again.

Got her a part time job, solved some of her 'urges'. Nothing exciting, just get a tablet and do reading and other stuff. Got her a plant and she watered it alright. There was some part of an Ambition for her to "water or interact with a plant pot 3 times..." but I noticed that only the watering action counted for this. I may go onto the Discord to mention this.

Then, she was still at Liberty Square, and I tried to get her do something, can't recall what that was. The game crashed. At least I know I saved when she got to the square. 

[Klinn]

Well, well, I think I may be wandering over to Nexus mods pretty soon. 

I found the easiest way to make contact with a Zoi is to click the floor / ground e.g. at your house or some place in town and select the "Call Over" command. Then use the pop-up list of Zois to pick the one you want Mallie to meet up with.

BTW in case you haven't seen it yet, in the game options you can set how frequently it makes automatic backup saves. In your case it might be handy to reduce the time interval so you don't lose as much with all your crashes.

[RedMallie]

I agree. I think I left it to the default time for auto saving, but I will shorten it when I play next.

 

Thanks for the tip about calling Zois over!!! 

[Klinn]

.

You know it's been a rough week when you try to take a relaxing bubble bath and a bottle of wine is permanently stuck to your hand.

At least there's some sort of rubber toy to play with in the tub.

[Kimi]

[Firestaar1]

 

[Klinn]

.

I finished up my "corner house", that is, one suitable for the two building lots in Dowon which are at the intersection of streets. Your Zoi always wants to go to that corner spot shown, so I thought it would be best to design a house that works with that in mind.

It took a while to figure out the roof configuration that worked and looked half decent. Unfortunately I couldn't create a proper chimney over to the right because I built the house 1 square too close to the sidewalk. I can't move it over at this point without screwing up other things. I wish we could build  closer to the sidewalk, not just for the chimney but also to extend the front walkway further out. As it is, when going in and out of the house, Zois are going to be trampling my grass.

Here's the inside of the house. Yes, the walls are pretty bare, no decorations since they tend to block your view of Zois as they wander around the house. I wish paintings and mirrors would disappear when you were looking at them from the back side. Can't see the image on them anyway and it would be easier to keep track of your Zois.

To the right of the main entrance is the living room, complete with yoga mat and camera (?), then two bedrooms and two baths. One for my Zois, one for visitors. That stubby little hallway connecting the bedrooms and baths contains the clothes washing machine, vacuum, and a small wardrobe for changing outfits.

Directly ahead of the main entrance in the middle of the house is the dining table. Just to the left of it is a small storage unit with the first aid kit on top, just in case anyone gets sick from my Zois' terrible cooking. Above that is a fully equipped kitchen with coffee making apparatus in case either of my Zois want to indulge.

To the left of the main entrance is the hobby room with a couple of exercise machines but more importantly two desks with computers and a 3D printer. My main Zoi will be a nerd exploring the programming career track and multimedia. Just above the hobby room is the trophy room. It will contain a string of low storage units to display all little gifts my main Zoi receives from admirers. I'll be setting the door lock so the other Zoi can't get in there and throw the gifts in the garbage.

There's a small deck out in the back corner with a picnic table, BBQ grill, and a couple of lounge chairs. There's sunshine back there during much of the day but the tall buildings can throw annoying shadows in the morning and evening.

Time to create a new family!

[RedMallie]

15 hours ago, Klinn said:

a bottle of wine is permanently stuck to your hand.

Well, it won't be a full bottle of wine for long. 

 

I like the outdoor look of your corner house!

4 hours ago, Klinn said:

Unfortunately I couldn't create a proper chimney over to the right because I built the house 1 square too close to the sidewalk.

I can see the chimney right there! At least the allocated placement is done! 

4 hours ago, Klinn said:

I can't move it over at this point without screwing up other things. I wish we could build  closer to the sidewalk, not just for the chimney but also to extend the front walkway further out.

Yes. Absolutely yes. I cannot understand why there has to be such gap. 

 

4 hours ago, Klinn said:

As it is, when going in and out of the house, Zois are going to be trampling my grass.

Ecologically deficient!!! 

[Kimi]

Looks great!! I love the layout and smart move to build where they go.

[Klinn]

Started a new family consisting of one YA and two children so I could see how kids behave in the game. Interestingly, the game accepts the default "roommate" relationship for all of them. The YA does not have to be the parent. Maybe he's taking care of some relative's kids?

Some differences in the game for children:

1. They walk slower. Haven't tried running yet.
2. When sitting at a table or couch, they sometimes swing their legs back & forth, sort of restless.
3. Can't interact with many objects, no white highlight to select them, e.g. a stove or microwave.
4. Since they can't cook, kids are limited to quick meals or "Ask For Food" where they'll ask the YA for something to eat. The interaction gets a little tricky if the YA is busy doing something else, you have to switch over and manually cancel it.
5. Lots of cute dialog topics! And of course there are several cat-related ones.
6. Children have a different set of skills to work on, age appropriate ones like Motor Skills and Responsibility.

 

First thing I did was to get the two kids to talk with each other, eventually getting them up to BBF's. If you recall, when chatting, Zois have this annoying tendency to jump in and out of chairs. Well, my new house has the worst possible configuration. There are two desks with chairs. If one child is sitting in a chair and the other is standing, for the next topic of conversation they will get up, walk over to the other desk, and sit down again. Then repeat the process in reverse for the next topic. Back and forth, back and forth. Ugh. Going to have to do some rearrangement of the desks in the hobby room to try to fix the silliness.

 

One of the children received a message on their smartphone about the Pocket Market. I never noticed it before, but there's a funny reply option right at the bottom of the message:

Note sure if that keeps any more Pocket Market messages from popping up or if it's just there for color, but I clicked it anyway.

[RedMallie]

[Klinn]

On 4/20/2025 at 5:18 PM, RedMallie said:

Both of them snore, but she snores is a very feminine, discreet snore that sounds more like a delicate moan, while he snores in a very 'manly' devil-may-care-about-whoever-hears-you-or-can't-sleep-because-of-your-loud-snoring, snore.

You'll be amused to know that male children also snore loudly.

[RedMallie]

[Klinn]

On 5/15/2025 at 7:39 AM, Kimi said:

Looks great!! I love the layout and smart move to build where they go.

Thanks! However, I seem to have underestimated how determined the game is to choose wonky routing.

When a Zoi comes home they go to that spot at the corner but they stand there longer than expected. It's like they're surveying the house and thinking "Oh my God, the front door, it's -- on an angle!" After a moment they do make their way inside but not following a simple straight diagonal path. They kind of wander back and forth a bit, still wary of this disturbingly unconventional door which lies ahead. Weirdos.

Even more amusing was when one of my Zois invited over a friend. My Zoi was waiting inside near the front door. The friend ran up to the corner spot, took one look at the shocking diagonal door, then ran all the way around the lot to the back corner and entered via the rear door.

At this rate, I expect there will be rumors spreading through the neighborhood about that creepy house on the corner. 

[Kimi]

[RedMallie]

2 hours ago, Klinn said:

They kind of wander back and forth a bit, still wary of this disturbingly unconventional door which lies ahead. Weirdos.

 

2 hours ago, Klinn said:

At this rate, I expect there will be rumors spreading through the neighborhood about that creepy house on the corner. 

 

Perhaps for their next model, the Contractor would like to extend the foyer a bit into where the front porch is now, and place the door facing the street on the right? Maybe that can help ease the minds of those confused ZOis. 

[Klinn]

.

Typical kids. They're as flexible as wet noodles. Just wait until you're middle-aged and try that same yoga pose!

As mentioned previously, children have age-specific skills to develop. At level 3 of the skill, typically some new options appear when they use various items. When they reach level 5, the maximum, a pop-up message indicates how that particular skill will improve their performance in later age groups. Nice that there's some pay off for working at the skills.

[RedMallie]

Indeed!!! 

[Klinn]

.

Well, we have exactly two sizes of Zois:

In the middle is a child. To the left is a female adolescent, who is exactly the same height as a female teen, young adult, adult, middle-aged, and senior. To the left is a male young adult, who is also exactly the same height as a male teen, adult, middle-aged, and senior. (males are always slightly taller than females)

What the heck happened to adolescents and teens? I expected them to be in between children and YA/adults.

[RedMallie]

 The height is always an issue in this type of game. I believe that the characteristics and limits reflect the philosophy of the developing company more than technical limitations of the game engine.

[Klinn]

The limiting factor for a developer is making multiple sets of animations, one set for each height of character. That costs money and time.

At the moment I feel inZOI's devs have split up ages into too many categories which have no functional difference while ignoring some that do. For example, why have Adults and Middle-Aged? There's zero gameplay difference between the two categories. Only a few wrinkles. On the other hand Teens are functionally identical to Young Adults except for the complete removal of all romantic interactions, which does not make a lot of sense as anyone who's ever been a teen can testify.

My current family hasn't quite advanced enough to check what functional difference may exist between Adolescents and Teens but I'm currently expecting that to be zero. Why make the distinction then? I initially thought it might be to draw the line between romance / no romance interactions, which makes a certain amount of sense, but so far that doesn't seem to be the case.

<grumble, grumble>

[RedMallie]

*join the grumbling*

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and discoveries!!!! 

[Klinn]

.

Here's one of the children in my current family, Tommy Tomato, snapping a selfie with the bunnies at the local park. Hard to see, but it's raining so I had him switch to his raincoat. Kind of a poncho thing. He refuses to put the hood up so his head is soaked. Kids.

There doesn't seem to be any way to get rid of that camera icon in the picture, no matter if you save the pic as a selfie in-game or as a Steam screenshot. The command to temporarily remove all the UI elements should also hide that icon.

This picture kind of commemorates his last day as a child. He is supposed to age up to an adolescent at midnight tonight.

[RedMallie]

Ohh! Looking forward to seeing Tommy's progression in age!

[Rosewin]

I wonder if different game play will be added for different age groups at a later date? That's the only reason I can see why they add them now and they don't show any real differences in paly.

[Klinn]

I hope you're right Rose. I'd call that the optimistic viewpoint. The pessimistic side would suggest that it's evidence that the devs don't really have a grand overall plan for the game and are just tossing stuff in and hoping it turns out OK in the end. Who knows.

I wasn't around for the first version of The Sims. Did TS1 seem similarly unfocused? Maybe it's the learning experience a dev studio has to go through and inZOI Ver2 will be built with a clear vision of what's needed for a life sim game. Emphasis on the word game. A pure sandbox with toys to tinker with can be fun for a while but ultimately requires injecting fresh toys (DLC) to keep players interested.

Here's a question to ponder -- what keeps players coming back to Banished despite being quite familiar with how it all works?

[RedMallie]

Or to The Sims, despite how much we complain about EA.

I don't want to be in the pessimistic side, but I do think that the devs, and the Big Boss Dev in particular, did have a grand vision of the visual impact of the realistic aesthetics they were aiming for.

Perhaps the numbers they got from the release of the Character Studio last year suggest to them that they have achieved that goal?

Maybe they are wondering now how to make their pretty and shiny dolls and world enticing for a long time--and I surely hope they are at this point. Aaaaaand I surely hope that they consider making their game less culturally centric, which falls into wishful thinking, similarly to what you pointed out above, dear @Klinn 

[Klinn]

.

I wish -- I wish -- I wish this city had more casual nudity!

 

No? OK, I wish this city had more cats!

 

Found one!

Busy times for his last day as a child.

[Kimi]

I really was hoping his name was Tommy Pickles. 

[RedMallie]

Tommy has been busy!!! Good for him!!!!

Are you going to give him a birthday party? Is that possible in the game?

Poor Mallie must feel stuck because she is!!! I've not been in the mood to explore InZoi more, yet.

Your dedication is extremely appreciated, @Klinn

[Klinn]

I'm not sure about the birthday party. I think a Zoi can use their phone to set up an Event but I'm not sure what that really entails. Have to try it sometime.

So here's the problem with so many age categories being the same height -- this girl goes to the park, spots a nice looking guy and they chat for a while, even take a selfie together.

But it turns out he's an adolescent and she's an adult!    Perhaps she may have been on the prowl for a new boy toy, but adolescent? Yikes.

By the way, the two adolescents in my current family have kicked out the young adult. Children need somebody older around for a few activities such as doing a laundry but adolescents can operate a washing machine just fine. So now it's just the two of them. Not sure if either of them can pay the utility bills at the end of the week though. We'll see what happens!

[RedMallie]

No one can blame her. His face looks childish, but his physical development (and his attire) can easily mislead her. 

55 minutes ago, Klinn said:

By the way, the two adolescents in my current family have kicked out the young adult.

 

56 minutes ago, Klinn said:

Not sure if either of them can pay the utility bills at the end of the week though. We'll see what happens!

Soooo looking forward to reading about that!!!

[Klinn]

23 hours ago, RedMallie said:

Yup, you may recall I had a family consisting of only two teens, so I wanted to see if I could do the same thing with adolescents. It works.

Some other misc observations:

• During fall in Dowon, where the seasons are more noticeable than in Bliss Bay, many of the trees' leaves change color. That's a nice touch. Will be interesting to see if the leaves drop off in winter.
• Zois tend to react with shock if they catch another Zoi in the bathroom. This reaction also appears if the shocked Zoi is on the other side of a solid wall. Do they have x-ray specs or something?
• Not only do psychotic roommates throw out other Zoi's gifts, it seems that when a Zoi ages up they may throw out gifts from the previous life stage. So much for childhood memories!

 

[RedMallie]

No attachment at all!!! 

[Rosewin]

On 5/21/2025 at 10:01 PM, Klinn said:

Did TS1 seem similarly unfocused?

One of the things I was listening too a while ago said that TS1 was meant to be a parody on consumerism. Sims were just in a constant grind to get more stuff. I think it was meant to be an architectural program at first.

It was pretty grindy and sims could die at the drop of a hat. 

[Firestaar1]

On 5/21/2025 at 11:25 AM, RedMallie said:

I've not been in the mood to explore InZoi more, yet.

I've been like that for awhile.  I truly love the "promise" of the game, however, for me it's near impossible to get any real immersion going in the game since I can't do much exploring cause almost as soon my Zoi leaves, her hunger and sleep go down so fast, that she maybe gets to go across street, talk to one Zoi, then has to rush back home to eat and sleep; or find food truck and nearest bench. 

Was really looking forward to the May release to see if would be able to get that immersion going.

[Klinn]

@Firestaar1  That's strange, none of my Zois have had their motives decrease quite that quickly. I wonder of there's some setting in the game that controls that speed and somehow it got cranked up in your family.

 

On 5/21/2025 at 11:54 AM, Kimi said:

I really was hoping his name was Tommy Pickles. 

Heh-heh, I had to DuckDuckGo that name to get the reference.

Interestingly, Tom Tomato, the young adult who was banished from the house, still sends presents to Tommy Tomato even though Tommy was the one behind the eviction. No hard feelings I guess.

[Firestaar1]

Yeah I don't know, just got very frustrating after awhile

[Klinn]

.

I'm starting another family who will live in a new house -- The Outdoor Living House!

On 5/17/2025 at 9:48 AM, RedMallie said:

Perhaps for their next model, the Contractor would like to extend the foyer a bit into where the front porch is now, and place the door facing the street on the right? Maybe that can help ease the minds of those confused ZOis.

The contractor thought that would be a good idea but the damn client (me) insisted on another angled entrance.  The house almost looks normal, if a bit plain, from the street:

 

But once you go through the entrance and get past the conventional facade, you'll find it really is The Outdoor Living house!

There are a couple of rooms providing enclosed privacy but the majority of living is done out in nature. It would be ideal for Bliss Bay with its temperate climate but this is Dowon, which has noticeable seasons. It will be interesting to see how Zois cope with rainy cold weather. The kitchen gets a fair amount of shade but Zois don't spend too much time there.

I always wanted to build a house with space for a grand piano. Here it finally takes a place of honor in the middle of the garden-like setting.

There are two bathrooms and two bedrooms with walls to provide some privacy, although all the windows kind of defeats that idea. The room in the upper-left is the "trophy room" which holds all the gifts my main Zoi collects. The door is lockable to keep the roommate from throwing gifts into the trash.

Whoever ends up occupying the bedroom on the right may not appreciate the drum kit immediately outside their door.

 

A gratuitous shot of the entrance at night, just because I liked how the lighting worked out:

Beside each wicker chair on the porch is a table with a bottle of wine. Suitable for relaxing while reading a book. It will be interesting to see how this concept actually works out in the game.

[RedMallie]

Ohh! Very interesting indeed!!

I want to know how it goes for your Zois, and for you, hehehe.

That open back gives me a heart attack thinking of all the visitors sneaking in through that! 

[Firestaar1]

1 hour ago, RedMallie said:

That open back gives me a heart attack thinking of all the visitors sneaking in through that!

Same!!

[Klinn]

On 5/23/2025 at 11:00 AM, Firestaar1 said:

I truly love the "promise" of the game, however, for me it's near impossible to get any real immersion going in the game since I can't do much exploring cause almost as soon my Zoi leaves, her hunger and sleep go down so fast, that she maybe gets to go across street, talk to one Zoi, then has to rush back home to eat and sleep; or find food truck and nearest bench.

I take back what I said earlier about not noticing the same problems in my game. I've just started up a new family and yeah, hunger and sleep motives decrease far too quickly.

So why the difference between my families? Maybe as my old Zoi became a better cook, his meals somehow last longer. Not sure how he managed to become a "better sleeper" though.   Maybe it's simply that the previous family was in the game world longer, gone through one or more age stages, and that "life experience" led to motives that decrease more slowly. Or maybe somehow it's the fault of the cats.

Anyway, the upshot of it all is that yup, I think motive rates should be tweaked so they're not so burdensome in the early stage of the game.

[Firestaar1]

This has been some of the most consistent feedback being given, so I imagine if they don't talk care of it in a fix, some of first mods will be along these lines

[Klinn]

.

I experienced my first Zoi death today.

My Zois were sleeping and one of them had a "bad dream" sort of bubble over their head, plus they were tossing and turning in their sleep. When they woke up there was no indication that anything was wrong, no bad mood or anything. When they opened the fridge to get breakfast, it blew up. I had her fix the fridge despite it sparking away. That was OK. She ate her meal then I sent her off to the bathroom

After using the toilet she went to wash her hands as usual, the sink broke and I guess the water leaking out caused her to slip and fall. No more Zoi ! 

Naturally I chose the "Go Back in Time" option which reloaded the last save point when the couple were sleeping. She was still tossing and turning but there was no bad dream bubble this time. I very carefully led her through the start of her day, saving very frequently, but no misfortune befell her this time. Anna was able to continue in her artsy ways, painting and playing instruments (the grand piano sounds great).

Anna had a "good" karma state, so that didn't seem to factor into the event. I wish there was some way seeing that she was at risk and perhaps a conversation topic where the other Zoi could reassure her that everything was OK, just take a deep breath and have a hug.

[RedMallie]

Wow!!! That must have been really surprising! Good to have the option to go back in time, particularly since you're trying to get around to learn the game features for the first few times.

Welcome back from the Netherworld, anna!