Chat Event With SimCity 4 Designer Michael McCormick

For those of you that missed this event, transcripts are available at SimCity.com.

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November 12, 2002

Speaker: Michael McCormick - Designer
Topic: MySims

maxisdevinoch says, Hey everyone! Welcome to our latest SimCity 4 chat.
mosquito9999 smirks.
maxisdevinoch says, With us today is Mosquito9999, a.k.a. Michael McCormick -- Game Designer on SimCity 4! He's here today to answer all your questions about the MySim feature of SimCity 4 and how the advisors in the game work.
maxisdevinoch says, Say hi to your fans, Michael. =>
mosquito9999 says, Hello to all of you SimCity fans!
maxisdevinoch says, And now, our first question! Remember, keep the questions coming!

The speaker is presented with question #4 from kryss2002: What exactly is this MySims feature, and how will it improve gameplay?
mosquito9999 says, My Sims can be thought of as your "sim on the street" advisor that provides local feedback about how things are going in a particular neighborhood.
mosquito9999 says, You can pick your Sim, move them into a house, and watch and listen to what they complain about (or praise you for).
mosquito9999 says, The advisors give you general, overall feedback about your city. My Sims give you local feedback about things right around their house...
mosquito9999 says, You can see where they work, follow them as they drive around town, and their lives can improve.
mosquito9999 says, They can get better jobs as their education improves (if they have local schools).
mosquito9999 says, You can also import Sims from the Sims and move them into your Sim Cities, which is pretty cool if you ask me.

The speaker is presented with question #1 from pokeseth: Can you follow your MySims everywhere?
mosquito9999 says, Pretty much...
mosquito9999 says, Each wealth level of Sim has a different car that they drive. They drive to work in the morning and drive home in the evening.
mosquito9999 says, They post messages about the local attractions that they visit, but they don't actually drive there.

The speaker is presented with question #3 from jqocosm: What happens to a Sim when they move out?
mosquito9999 says, Sims will move out for all sorts of reasons, some good, some bad.
mosquito9999 says, If a Sims wealth improves and a better job is available, they might move to a better home.
mosquito9999 says, Each time a sim moves out they'll post a message letting you know about and telling you where they moved.
mosquito9999 says, They might also move if there house is destroyed by let's say a meteor or giant robot.
mosquito9999 says, Sometimes they make it out alive... and sometimes not.
mosquito9999 says, They can also get forced out by simple redevelopment. Wealthier Sims pushing them out.
mosquito9999 says, If there is no where for a my sim to live in the city, they will pack their bags and leave town for good.

The speaker is presented with question #30 from jqocosm: Can your Sim work in a municipal building, such as a police station, school, hospital?
mosquito9999 says, Yes they can.
mosquito9999 says, My Sims can get jobs in any buildings that provide jobs, and municipal buildings fit the bill.
mosquito9999 says, Even the tennis courts need a sim or two working there. Its fun seeing what job my sim gets.
mosquito9999 says, A job at the local highschool, an assembly line worker at the manufacturing plant, and so on.
mosquito9999 says, My Sim will start complaing if their commute to work is too long.
mosquito9999 says, Also, they'll let you know if they are happy with their commute (or if their is too much traffic by their house).

The speaker is presented with question #58 from jqocosm: Can your Sims become injured or ill?
mosquito9999 says, My Sims have a health score that is affected by local healthcare (hospitals, clinics), pollution and such.
mosquito9999 says, So, yes they can get sick and they'll let you know about it.
mosquito9999 says, Their health can also improve by lavishing care on an area. The sims talk about their trips to the doctors.
mosquito9999 says, They don't get injured per se, but they can get snuffed out by sudden disasters that a mayor might unleash on a town.
mosquito9999 says, My Sims will also post messages about close calls with disasters such as approaching fires.
mosquito9999 says, They have a good chance of making it out alive if their house gets demolished, but they don't always make it.
mosquito9999 says, And Sims get older too. If they get old enough, they will eventually die of old age. If this happens, their offspring (who looks VERY much like the parent) will take over and the generation will be noted in their name (e.g. Bella Goth the 2nd).

The speaker is presented with question #114 from pokeseth: Can you keep track of the wealth of the Sim? By exactly the amount of money they have or by the house they live in?
mosquito9999 says, The house they live in is the primary indicator of my sims wealth.
mosquito9999 says, The starting wealth is determined by the type of house you move the sim into.
mosquito9999 says, For example, you move them into a shabby little cottage they will be low wealth.
mosquito9999 says, Move them into a posh mansion and they start the game at high wealth.
mosquito9999 says, My Sims can increase their wealth level (hint: education is the key to success), but they will never DECREASE their wealth level.
mosquito9999 says, If there is no suitable job for them at their level (high wealth sims require high falutin' jobs such as CEO), they will leave town eventually.

The speaker is presented with question #60 from jasco: If you haven't fully developed a "sim" from the Sims, will we have access to "premade" sims included with Simcity 4?
mosquito9999 says, Yes, SC4 will ship with a bunch of pre-made Sims, some that you'll recognize from the Sims.
mosquito9999 says, You can change their names and horoscope sign. If you do own the Sims, you can import all of your sims into SC4 for use as My Sims.

The speaker is presented with question #140 from super_raptor: how many sims can you have in the game?
mosquito9999 says, You place up to 5 my sims in any one city.
mosquito9999 says, We limited it to five, because getting feedback from any more than that starts to get overwhelming.
mosquito9999 says, Each of the my sims will let you know how things are going for them in the neighborhood.
mosquito9999 says, If you got a whole pile of my sims (10? 20? more?) all giving you feedback, it would be too much to deal with.

The speaker is presented with question #153 from redsalamander666: will your Mysims participate in riots or protests if you cut funding for a civil building they work at? Will they start riots?
mosquito9999 says, No, the my sims are fairly law-abiding.
mosquito9999 says, They might complain about a riot that is getting near their house. We debated letting a my sim lapse into a life of crime, but decided against it. They inform you, the player, about situations.
mosquito9999 says, They like to go to work and come home to a safe house, breathe clean air, have nice services nearby... much like you do.

The speaker is presented with question #142 from nina_kanina: CanMy Sims have pets?
mosquito9999 says, They COULD have pets, but you will never know about it
mosquito9999 says, No, no pets for my sims. You better go buy the sims unleashed

The speaker is presented with question #116 from nina_kanina: Are My Sims always going by car or can they go by bus, train or subway?
mosquito9999 says, Just like the other sims in the city, they can take multiple forms of transportation to work.

The speaker is presented with question #99 from kingleo_the_conqueror: How did you get the idea to add this feature in Simcity 4?
mosquito9999 says, A big idea with SimCity 4 is more local feedback and local simulation.
mosquito9999 says, A bunch of the buildings have user-tunable local effects (fire, police, schools, etc.)
mosquito9999 says, As I said above, advisors generally comment about your overall city. My Sims are trying to give the player more feedback about the LOCAL thang, what's happening in a particualr neighborhood.
mosquito9999 says, I think of them as little local probes... Such as, hmmm... I wonder what a rich sim who lives in that house might look like and what they would have to say. So I drop a sim into the house and blamo, they start posting messages.
mosquito9999 says, We also wanted to tie the game in with the Sims a bit. Fans have always wanted more personalization and identification with those little sims living in their sim cities. Now they can get some of that with the my sims feature.

The speaker is presented with question #202 from jqocosm: What is the size of an area that a Sim considers its neighborhood?
maxisdevinoch says, Remember to keep the questions coming everyone!
mosquito9999 says, They have different areas for different sorts of issues, but generally a my sims neighborhood is about 100 meters.

The speaker is presented with question #166 from pokeseth: If certain events/buildings take place near the MySim's home/apartment, will they react to it? Will they comment on it "The Casino made my wife start gambling"
mosquito9999 says, yes indeed. My sims recognize key commericial services and the presence or lack there of many municpal buildings (health, fire, police).
mosquito9999 says, They have a fondness for new landmarks and rewards that show up near them. If the buildings are built too far away from their homes they won't notice it though.

The speaker is presented with question #226 from petreko: If you make a regional enviroment will we see Sims moving between them if they work/live in different areas?
mosquito9999 says, A my sim prefers to work in their home town, but if they can't find a convient job, they will look in a neighboring city. They drive off the edge during the morning commute and back again at night. They won't actually move to a neighbor city though. If your current city no longer meets their needs, they'll move out of town entirely.
mosquito9999 says, And you won't see them in the neighboring city. Alas.

The speaker is presented with question #240 from ander5rulz: Will MySims have to pay taxes
mosquito9999 says, We can assume they are good tax-paying sims, just like all the others, but they don't have their own finances.

The speaker is presented with question #52 from jqocosm: Can you move a Sim into a farm?
mosquito9999 says, A farm is considered a type of business, so no, they can't live their. They can work on a farm, as they often do if you set up an agriculture town. I frequently see my sims getting jobs as crop pickers at the local Jez Knight Acres farm.

The speaker is presented with question #248 from kristi1105: can I actually see mysims move around inside buildings or do i just see them walk to and from buildings?
mosquito9999 says, To see sims moving around inside a building, you should try playing the sims
mosquito9999 says, In SC4 you see the my sims driving around from home to work and back, with an indicator that shows where they are (to make them easier to find in a busy city).
mosquito9999 says, If they are off screen, the indicators are helpful in tracking them down.
mosquito9999 says, You can also click on the my sim head in the UI panel and that will jump the camera to my sim's current location.

The speaker is presented with question #180 from indigospin: What sort of interesting little quirks are there with the MySims?
mosquito9999 says, Some quirks, let's see...
mosquito9999 says, You can import pets if you've played the Sims Unleashed.
mosquito9999 says, It gets pretty funny when you have fluffy the cat as CEO of a big chemical factory.
mosquito9999 says, All the great fan-created Sim skins could also be imported (if they were moved into a Sims house).
mosquito9999 says, That way you could have wacky alien or lobster my sims living in your town.

The speaker is presented with question #267 from managerjosh: Can we have pets (eg. import them or not?) Earlier you mentioned our mysims can't have pets and I'm confused now. Please clear this up.
mosquito9999 says, My Sims don't have pets.
mosquito9999 says, But they can BE pets.
mosquito9999 says, So, yes pets can be imported. I thought the question meant "can a my sim own a pet in SC4".
mosquito9999 says, You can import an animal and name it and move it into a house and it will find a job and drive to work and do all the useual my sim stuff.
mosquito9999 says, I hope that clears that up.

The speaker is presented with question #264 from jqocosm: Can personality traits of a MySim affect how they react to a city?
mosquito9999 says, Yes, a bit.
mosquito9999 says, The main factors that effect my sims are wealth and location. But other factors affect them too.
mosquito9999 says, Age, health, astrological sign all affect what sorts of messages they will post.
mosquito9999 says, My sims do not currently have all of the personality traits that the Sims do in the Sims.
maxisdevinoch says, Keep those questions coming everyone! A few more and we have to wrap the chat up. =>

The speaker is presented with question #280 from managerjosh: Is Road Rage a factor in affecting our sims?
mosquito9999 says, Not road rage per se, but bad traffic makes for an unhappy my sim.
mosquito9999 says, They will complain about long commutes to work. And it isn't just checking for distance.
mosquito9999 says, A short commute that is HEAVILY congested is a long commute as well.
mosquito9999 says, My sims like it when they work close to home and have smooth uncongested roads. Potholes make them angry.

The speaker is presented with question #289 from nina_kanina: If a My Sim dies or moves out of town, can I replace it with a new My Sim?
mosquito9999 says, Yes you can.
mosquito9999 says, You can have up to 5 my sims in your city at once.
mosquito9999 says, If a my sim moves out of the city, it opens up a spot.
mosquito9999 says, Remember, if the my sim dies of old age, they get replaced by their son or daughter, so that doesn't open up a spot.
mosquito9999 says, But you can always boot a my sim out of your city for whatever reason you want. That puts them back in the pool of available my sims.
mosquito9999 says, If a my sim dies due to a disaster that also opens up a spot.

The speaker is presented with question #295 from petreko: Do you have to use "MySIms" in your city at all or can you build like you we have done previously?
mosquito9999 says, You can play the game without placing a single my sim in the city.
mosquito9999 says, It is an additional feature to give you more local feedback and to help you identify with the little sims in town more.
mosquito9999 says, I like to place a sim in my city as one of the founding members of the town.
mosquito9999 says, That sim will start off in a modest low wealth home. I then keep an eye on them as I'm playing and building my city, checking in on them now and again.
mosquito9999 says, It is then cool when years later they have moved up the ladder and reached high wealth.
mosquito9999 says, You get an award if you manage to keep a sim in the city for 10 generations.
mosquito9999 smiles.
maxisdevinoch says, I'm looking for a good question to wrap up our chat, so give me just one minute to find a nice one to end with. Keep them coming, by the way!

maxisdevinoch says, And our final question of the chat... The speaker is presented with question #297 from jqocosm: What are some of the new features of the advisors?
mosquito9999 says, Besides the advisors animating to express their moods, a cool feature is links in their feedback.
mosquito9999 says, When an advisor tells you that taxes are too high or a particular fire station is complaining about their funding, you can click on a link embedded in the message that can jump and zoom the camera (e.g., to the fire station in question), as well as call up a data map or select the appropriate tool. The links provide handy short cuts and jump you to where the action is.
mosquito9999 says, Some of the links in the my sim messages can jump you right to where the sim works or too their home for example.
mosquito9999 grins evilly.
mosquito9999 grins evilly.

maxisdevinoch says, Well, that concludes our chat for the day! Thanks to Michael McCormick for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer all these questions and thanks to you, the fans, for showing up to ask them!
mosquito9999 says, Thank you all for coming and I enjoyed your questions!
mosquito9999 bows gracefully.
mosquito9999 bows gracefully.
maxisdevinoch says, Thanks again and don't forget to tip your waiters and waitresses on your way out!