Life simulations are on the rise

It has been 10 years since The Sims 4 was released and there hasn’t been anything like it since. The Sims games have really only competed with each other – but that could change. Several Sims-like games are in active development and have been announced in recent years: Paralives, Living with you (now delayed), inZOIand an unnamed life simulator from Midsummer Studios. (We must not forget Project Rene, which is the code name for Electronic Arts and Maxis’ The Sims 5.) While The Sims 4 was a prime example of aspirational gamer stories, this recent wave of life simulators may have been inspired by something else: Roblox, Fourteen daysAnd PUBG: Battlegroundsperhaps.

Although it has become popular in recent years, “emergent narrative” was coined by game designer Marc LeBlanc at the Game Developers Conference in 2000, but it has taken on new life in recent years with the popularity of games like Battle Royales PUBG And Fourteen daysSandbox game Minecraftand hyper-focused Sims on Roblox, like Laundry SimulatorAs LeBlanc defined it, “emergent narrative” refers to stories that emerge from game events. “The fantasy gives meaning to the story,” he wrote on PowerPoint slide of the GDC presentation

. The resulting narrative “appears in the form of short vignettes,” he added. With the spotlight on these exciting new games, people noticed that players were creating their own compelling, thrilling stories – building something around what was happening in the game, on their own terms. outside of what was intended.

Image: Paralives Studio

This is an obvious expectation from a game like The Sims 4that allows players to create characters and experience unique stories in a set environment. It is a little more surprising that these types of stories have emerged from games like Fourteen days or PUBGthat can be misunderstood as nothing more than shooter games. The reality is that even in these more austere environments, stories emerge as players interact with each other: an ongoing story about the Fourteen days The island happens as it shifts and changes, but each of its players creates their own stories in the moments between and during battles. The goal – winning a Battle Royale, for example – is always the same, but each player will achieve that goal in their own way. It’s a similar experience with Minecraft: The first goal is simply to survive, but the game offers much more – at some point your goal may be to unite villagers into a community or to build a working Game Boy. Anything is possible.

It may sound like a crazy idea, but the next wave of life simulations could take inspiration from the likes of Fourteen days And PUBG and their resulting narratives. Even Epic Games itself is taking the path of this kind of storytelling from Fourteen days

and into other worlds. The special kind of player-driven storytelling that Fourteen days And PUBG Offering could be what makes the next generation of life simulation games stand out from the crowd – adding more parameters creates room for more creativity.

Jake Solomon, co-founder of Midsummer Studios and former design lead on XCOM, announced the new studio and its unnamed project earlier this year — amid the life sim boom that has seen several more in the genre announced in recent years. “I felt pretty smart about a year ago about wanting to make a life sim,” Solomon told Polygon via email. “Now there are three or four really compelling games in development that do just that. But I don’t think games are ever a zero-sum environment. In fact, I think more life sims will actually help revitalize a large, arguably underserved audience. Gamers are used to having choice, and that makes us better as developers.”

Emergent narrative is the big buzzword around the game: It is the studio’s “specialization” that will help it stand out, Solomon said. It takes its cues from the big guys – people like Minecraft

And The Sims 4 — to give players guidelines for building. Sometimes these guidelines are created by the developer himself; in The Sims 4for example, that means meeting the needs of your Sims, i.e. making sure they don’t pee themselves in public. (Or, on the contrary, guaranteeing that they do.) In other cases The Sims 4 Players incorporate these guidelines into the game themselves, as in the 100 Baby Challenge: Give birth to 100 babies in as few generations as possibleThese parameters create a world in which a crazy narrative emerges, something that Sims Influencers and YouTubers playBut Midsummer Studios will likely take some inspiration from the XCOM series that Solomon previously worked on. How Fourteen days or PUBG, XCOM is known for setting the framework for creativeplayer-driven narrative.

Image: Paradox Tectonic/Paradox Interactive

“First, we ask players to choose what kind of story they want to tell (romance, family drama, town with a cast of eccentric characters) right at the start of the game. This allows us to tailor the cast of characters and the storylines we introduce into the player’s game to support the kind of story the player wants,” Solomon said. “Second, we create a web of relationships between characters right at the start of each game, so players immediately enter a ‘narratively rich’ environment that’s great for dramatic storylines. What if your ex-lover was also your co-worker? What if your estranged father was your neighbor? And players can, of course, customize this to their heart’s content.”

How Minecraft or Fourteen daysthe next generation of life simulations must rely on emergent storytelling to highlight what a game cannot succeed without – the players and the stories they create.