The New Neighborhood - Sunset Valley

Open neighbourhood, meaning our Sims can walk out the door and explore anything and everything. This includes going into neighbour's homes, visiting venues like the gym, park and cafe.  All of this is done without any loading screens.

All Sims in the neighborhood will age simultaneously with your Sims. They will also live out their lives by getting married, having children, finding a job etc...

The neighborhood will ship with around 90 lots.

All of the buildings in the town will be able to be interacted with, so no prop buildings.

Once the game is released, players will be able to download new towns created by other users using a seperate modding tool which is set to release sometime after the game itself.

The neighborhood can be expanded by users and future Expansion Packs. An interesting quote from Rod Humble: "It could actually become a Sim-Country..."

To play a family, you just zoom into their house, no loading screens. Players will have free control over the camera meaning they can zoom all the way out to reveal the entire neighborhood or zoom into one single Sim.

The neighbourhood is a prequel to The Sims and will include famous Sims such as Mortimer & Bella, but at a much younger period of their lives.

The town will have map tags on for certain Sims and locations. There will also be a button to press to take you directly home.

You can pick up your Sim's house and place it anywhere in the town.

Some buildings in town will be "rabbit holes" meaning the player themselves cannot enter, but Sims can. These might be for work purposes or just not needed.

Work buildings can be moved.

Pop-Ups in the right corner let you know when a shop is having a sale or a big event is happening somewhere in town.

Send your Sims to the Community spa where they can get a facial, manicure, pedicure, or massage.

Ants can carry pieces of your food away on the picnic basket.

The Sims & Their Moods

Sims no longer have 8 needs. Instead they have been cut down to 6 which don't play as big a role as they used to.

Moodlets represent how a Sim is feeling. Why they are feeling that way and how long they will be. A moodlet can also appear after a certain situation. As big as getting married or as small as brushing their teeth.

Some moodlets last days, hours, and even minutes.

Sims now have traits that replace the personality points. Around 80 traits will ship with the game, some of these include, Lazy, Dreamer, Evil, Playful etc. These effect how a Sim behaves in certain situations. This helps to make each Sim a "unique snowflake".

Toddlers can have 2 traits, Children 3, Teens 4, Young Adult, Middle Age Adult & Elder's can have 5.

Wishes now replace Wants & Fears. These can occur when a Sim sees another Sim doing something that they themselves might dream of doing. For example, seeing your neighbor buy a new car. You can promise to make this come true, but it isn't nessecery. Bigger wishes can come in the form of staring at the stars at night and dreaming of becoming an Astronout. Again, you can promise this to come true, but don't have to. You may even fufill this dream the moment before your Sim dies, because they'll remember.

Wishes are based upon their traits. Fulfilling them gives you Life Time Happiness points which you can then use to purchase rewards such as the steel bladder, which stops the need of having to use the bathroom.

Ageing will be similar to The Sims 2. Although not completely confirmed on how the ageing transition will take place. We do know there are now 7 life stages. These include, Baby, Toddler, Child, Teen, Young Adult (18-30), Middle Age Adult (30-50) and finally Elder.

You can set the lifespan of a Sim from 25 - 1,000 days.

Middle Age Sims can develop wrinkles and gray hair.

You can change a sims's outfit by clicking on them, anywhere at anytime.

A Sim now ages according to how well they've lived their life. If they have had a rather miserable existance, they may develop wrinkles early.

Body Skill can help a Sim get fitter and live longer.

All Sims will carry their own personal mobile phone which will be their gateway to contacting all other Sims and locations.

Interactions are no longer fixed, there will be more options depending on your Sims' traits.

Depending on their traits, Sims will sing in the shower.

If the player chooses to turn free will on, Sims will be much better about taking care of themselves.

Some traits will give you special abilities. They can be useful to improve skills (Artistic and Athletic traits, for example) which also in turn give your Sims new interactions to use. For example, a childish Sim can play with toys, while a mooch Sim will ask for more food.

Sims can also have a fear of nudity, so when they bath, they wear a swimsuit.

Your Sims' thumbnail changes to represent their mood.

Neat sims have the option to 'clean house' or 'clean house until pristine'.

Frugal sims can recycle.

Showers go bad and produce bad moodlets with cold water. Stoves can also go bad and produce undercooked meals, etc.

Jobs

Every career has it's own building in the town. For example, Police Station & Hospital. These buildings will be "rabbit holes".

You can become business partners with community businesses. You can even buy out an entire business and hire and fire staff.

Promotions now require more than gaining new skills and making friends. They now rely on special goals to be completed. For example, hosting a fund raising campaign party.

You can watch your Sim drive and enter their workplace, but cannot follow them inside.

You can choose how your Sim acts at work. For example, slack off, socialize, kiss up to the boss, leave early.

Sims can now take part-time jobs.

Certain oppotunities may arise at work which will effect both your Sim and the entire neighbourhood.

There are new ways to find a job. You can direct your Sim to apply for a certain job at a certain building. For example, Scientist at the Science Lab.

You will be able to tell which Sim has what job. For example, a Sim in the Military career may salute your Sim as they walk by.

Jobs pay hourly, not daily.

Buy & Build Mode

Create-A-Style gives you a very simple, drag and drop interface where you can change the colour, material and design of anything in your house.

You can place objects at 45 degree angles.

You can drag out a box over many objects to select them all. This makes it easier for deleting and moving.

You can now position many items on top of one counter. For example, place a lamp and an alarm clock on your bedside table. You can even place things on the sink.

Objects like tables and chairs can now be grouped and be moved and deleted as one object. The same applies for beds and bedside tables.

You can stretch and shrink rooms easily. 

When you purchase a bookcase, it will be empty and your Sim will be required to buy books from the bookstore to fill up the shelves

Stairs now have the ablility to be widened.

There is still a 5 story build limit. However, this maybe broken with a cheat similar to that in The Sims 2. 

New clutter feature means you can place several small objects on a single surface like a bedside table, sink and counter. 

You can now buy houses furnished and un-furnished.

There is now a roof height slider.

A new button that allows you to paint / carpet the entire room (instead of holding Shift).

You will be able to set light colors and brightness levels.

Place objects against diagonal walls.

You can rotate floor tiles.

There is now a square terrain paint brush. (Paint a sidewalk)

Plants spawn with different sizes.

Sims no longer need ladders to get in or out of the pool.

You can change the floor / walls of a pool.

The maximum size of the lots is 64x64.

With the "Automatic Roof" active, the roofs are generated automatically when you create the walls.

Create-A-Sim 

Faces & Bodies can be shaped anyway you can imagine. 

Hairstyles can be independently set for each outfit.

The elderly have gray hair by default, but we can choose any color.

Eyelashes now have a slider to allow you to change the length.

There will be sliders for most things. One of them is for weight and muscle. You can create rather obese Sims and size-0's.

Over-Weight Sims can become fitter by excercising. Skinny Sims can become fat from over-eating.

Choose your Sim's favorite color, food and music type. 

Choose the tone and pitch of their voice. No two Sims will sound the same. 

Shoes, socks and jewlery are now seperate options. 

Shoes come in many different forms from slippers to high heels. The shape of your Sim's foot will change accordingly. 

Clothes are completely customizable using the Create-A-Style feature. This allows you to change certain colours and patterns to what ever you wish. 

Hair is now seperated into four different segments. You can change the colour of each one individually. For example, roots, highlights etc... 

You don't need to use all five character trait slots.

Male Sims can now wear make-up.

You can now customize facial paint.

Most of the clothes were created in-game using the “Create-a-Style” tool.

“Create-a-Twin” tool lets you make an identical twin of whatever Sim you apply it to.

Pregnancy & Birth

Sims can now choose to give birth in the Hospital.

You can also visit the Hospital for Medical Advice.

When going to the Hospital to give birth, you have the option to go alone or bring the family.

New born babies with be wrapped in a blanket instead of just a diaper. Girls will be in pink, boys in blue.

Pregnant Sims have a single outfit for each category but you can change the 'textures' of those clothing items.

Pregnancy still lasts 3 days.

The way you raise your children will effect what kind of traits they acquire, you can even pass certain ones down too.

Sims can hold babies and socialize.

Cooking & Food

There are 35 to 40 different food recipies.

You can grow your own food.

Hovering the cursor over a plate of food will show you the quality of it.

Cooking is much more involved and complex. Your Sim now has to visit the food store and purchase ingrediants to cook home meals. They can also skip that and buy a microwave meal on their way from work.

"Call to Meal" interaction is still there.

Food can go bad if left in the fridge for too long, this must be cleaned out.

Skill Building

Sims can take classes to learn skills rather than read books.

The more often your Sim prepare a meal, the better they get. Practice makes perfect.

Vechiles & Transport

There will be cars, bikes and taxis in the game. You cannot drive these yourself, however, you can follow your Sim driving with the camera.

If you buy a car, for the first few times your Sim is in it, they get a 'new car smell' mood boost.

Cars will "magically" park themselves. They will then reappear when your Sim needs it.

Other Features 

There are now 4 speed settings.

Some houses have challenges when you start them. Like a broken water main where everything requiring water is shooting water out across the house.

You can buy a Rubber Ducky & Bubble Bath for your bathtub.

On a computer, you can: find coupons, browse the web, play chess, play computer games, tinker, and get a job.

Sims can put more than one food item on a single countertop tile.

The new Party Planner allows you to set the time, type of party and the dress code.

Your Sim can donate money to different foundations based on their personality trait. This will give them good moodlets.

If a female Sim has her hair up when entering the shower, she will then have it down whilst in it and afterwards.

At night time, the lights do not automatically pop on. Your sim must physically turn them on, you can walk through the room and they pop on and stay on.

Toddlers can visit the town, but have to be accompanied by an adult, whereas children can roam freely.

If you wish to, you can disable neighborhood aging and events, so that Sims will not progress and marry/divorce etc without you telling them to do so.

Every single item you interact with gives your sim a good or bad mood boost depending on their traits/personality.

Free Will can now be set by a slider bar. Low, medium or high.

Teen Sims may appear at night and cause trouble. 

Sims can fish and garden. The fish they catch can be put in their fish tank back home.

Homework is now more than just writing on a piece of paper. Kids will now have goals to complete as their homework assignment. 

There will be no weather. 

There will be gradual changes of time. For example, you will be able to see the sun rise and fall and the shadows now move accordingly. 

Wind is in the game as trees and plants sway. 

In-game advertising will show real world products such as posters of the latest Box Office hits outside your Sims' movie theatre. 

There will be a new feature called "Live Dragging" which will enable players to reach into the game world and do things for their Sims. For example, take out the trash or put that book away. This feature may not be suitable for all fans so is completely optional.

There will now be difficulty levels.

Paintings that your Sim paints will be entirely unique. Two Sims paiting a portrait of the same picture may have completely different results. See picture below for a perfect example: 

The player now has more control over their Sims activities and how long they act them out for. For example, you can set how long your Sim will sleep. They will no longer all wake up at 6am every morning. 

Sims will have an inventory system where they will keep personal items belonging to them. 

Sims can become klaptomaniacs and will be constantly obsessed with stealing. You may find your Sim's belongings have disappeared and find them at inside your neighborhood's home.