When it comes to life simulations, it doesn’t always have to be The Sims. This is exactly what the former lead developer of XCOM wants to prove to you.
What kind of game is this? The new game from the former lead developer of XCOM and Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Jake Solomon, has little to do with strategy games. In the game, you will let a character experience the drama of a small town. The focus of the game is on the characters and their relationships with each other.
In the unnamed game, there will be no linear story, but freshly rolled scenarios for each player. However, the game will always take place in a small town where everyone knows each other. You can imagine the drama, gossip, and rumors like in “Gilmore Girls” because “everyone knows everyone,” says Solomon in an interview with PCGamer.
The game InZOI also competes with The Sims; you can watch the trailer for it here:
Sims but also not really
Isn’t this also in The Sims? Yes and no. Jake Solomon himself takes The Sims as a model for his new game, but he also has well-known mods like the “Wicked Whims” mod in mind. However, it shouldn’t be about keeping need meters in the green.
The developer can imagine a build mode like in The Sims, but that would not be at the top of the priority list and is possibly something that could be introduced after the launch.
The life simulation is intended to clearly focus on the story and relationships of the characters and still provide players with some challenges.
How will the story come to life? To really bring the story to life, not everything should go according to plan all the time. In the game, unexpected events will happen; for example, your character might not feel comfortable during a date and, therefore, need to visit the bathroom regularly.
The dialogues are an important point in the game. Here, the developers want to provide you with several options for responses that will then affect the events. A dialogue could unfold like this:
“The way we handle this is that a character approaches you and says, ‘Oh, I heard your father is back in town,’ and that’s a dialogue tree where the player has three very different options, like ‘I never want to talk to that man again’ or ‘Yes, he’s here because he’s getting married, and I don’t like his fiancée,'” says Jake Solomon.
So you can also create drama by saying the right or wrong things to the right people. In a small town where everyone knows everyone, nothing remains secret for long.
How finished is the game? The game is probably still a long way from being finished. In the interview with PCGamer, no name for the game or even a timeframe for release is mentioned. However, the developers seem to be aiming for a release in Early Access.
The studio currently has eleven employees but is already aiming to hire two more. There should also already be a playable prototype.
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