Sims 4 developers released a truckload of new information about the upcoming Dream Home Decorator game pack during a Tuesday afternoon livestream.

The Game Pack, releasing June 1st, will introduce a smattering of Create-a-Sim items, a slew of Build/Buy assets, and a succulent array of gameplay for any Simmer to sink their teeth into.

Dream Home Decorator and its accompanying Free Base Game Update (the latter of which will trigger in game May 27th), will bring:

• ​Likes and Dislikes (Base Game)
• Sectionals and an auto-sofa function (Game Pack)
• Modular Furniture (Game Pack)
• A New Interior Design Career (Game Pack)
• New hair colors (Base Game)
• New Kitchen decor (Game Pack)
• Improved bunkbeds (Base Game)

Dream Home Decorator is admittedly quite light on fresh Sim digs. As usual, adult female Sims enjoy the lion’s share of the new items: fashionable tops, bottoms, and overalls in which any designer wouldn’t mind getting adorably dirty.

Four new casual hairs are also on the menu for this highly-anticipated pack: two textured looks, a longer hair, and a braided-halo.

Masculine Sims have a few loose-fitting patterned shirts, some overalls, a “utili-kilt” and a couple of simple new hairs to enjoy..

Toddlers have received a similarly patterned top in which to make enormous paint messes.

Perhaps the biggest news by far was that of Likes and Dislikes. This change, coming to all players in a free Base Game Patch, will completely change the way Sims interact with each other, they manner in which they experience moodlets, how they fill or deplete their fun bars, and even what they choose to do autonomously.

Players can choose up to 20 likes and dislikes to pop onto their unsuspecting Sims. A Sim can have a preference for a certain kind of decor, specific activities, and even certain colors! These preference will affect the way the Sim experiences their world.

If a particular Sim “hates cooking” for example, they will never autonomously cook, will earn a “tense” moodlet while
cooking, and the act of cooking will deplete their fun. The then crabby Sim can complain to others about cooking, steadily spreading their hatred and general malcontent about the activity.

While a player may choose Likes and Dislikes in Create-a-Sim, they can also discover Likes and Dislikes during game play. When a Sim is enjoying some activity in real-time, the game will prompt the player to add the activity to their “Likes.”

Naturally, Build-Buy mode is stuffed with sleek, simple, stunning modular furniture. While many Simmers expected modular seating and sectionals, they may not have expected the beautifully modern storage pieces, entertainment systems, and closet items folded into this pack.

Build/Buy mode is an absolute triumph in this Game Pack. Filled with furniture, clutter, updated bunkbeds, and fresh ways to connect and dissect items, Dream Home Decorator is a bespoke builder’s fever dream.

Players will be able to stack and slot separate pieces together to make greater, larger units. Once the separate pieces have snapped together, they can move as one for renovation ease. Players can even select chunks of their masterpiece to move about all in the spirit of rearrangement.

This phenomenon is perhaps best illustrated with the new “auto-sofa” feature, which works much like “auto-counter.” Simmers will be able to click the gear widget while selecting a certain sofa style, and this will pop open the many sofa variants available. A given sofa can become a chaise, an ottoman, an accent chair, a curved end-piece, and more! Players can mix and match the separate pieces for a truly unique sofa experience or use the smaller parts alone!

If this were not enough, this pack is crammed full with clutter. Shoe clutter, modern art pieces, empty shoe box clutter, adorable stone llamas, and variable clothes racks all collide in this pack to make any space look fully livable.

Kitchens received two new counter sets, two stand-alone stovetops, and two counter top stoves to increase variability in kitchen builds.

The newest career coming with the Dream Home Decorator pack is, of course, interior designer.

During this gig-based career, Sims will take on jobs ranging from single room renovations to large-scale commercial redesigns. The more difficult and lucrative gigs will unlock with player designer experience and reputation.

Once the player chooses a gig, they can report to the job (the NPC’s home) at the allotted time.

After arriving at the client’s home, the designer Sim must get to know the client. This means gaining a real understanding of their Likes and Dislikes through a series of conversation prompts. As the player Sim becomes more experienced in the designer career, they will become more adept at these conversations, earning new prompts and discovering client preferences faster.

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The Designer Sim should take into account the client’s Likes and Dislikes when remodeling the home.

The game will also prompt the player to take “before” photos of the client’s abode after sending the client away. After the renovation is complete, players will take “after” photos, which are shown alongside the “before” photos in design-television-esque montage during the “reveal event.”

When the player is ready, they can enter build/buy mode to renovate the space to their heart’s content (while remaining in-budget of course.)

Sims can self-interact or use the phone to call the client back to their home. This triggers a “reveal event,” during which the client will close their eyes and “check out this object” on newly placed furniture. They’ll stumble around with their eyes covered, peer at the newly placed items, and then offer their judgement when the time is right.

The client Sim will openly react to items that please or displease them. The pictured Sim dislikes “mixology,” so placing that over-budget bar in his living room was probably a bad idea.

At long last, the client will either express their approval or disapproval of the renovation. This act will permanently affect the designer’s reputation, the player’s Sim will get paid, and the job is done!

Keep it locked here for more insights on what to expect, asset swatches, and more detailed walkthroughs as we edge closer to this pack’s release date.

There was a lot to unpack in the most recent Sims 4: Dream
Home Designer Game Pack trailer. Between it and the pack’s thrilling blog notes, there were many fun features players may have missed.

Beginning with the most obvious news to drop today is the name and timing of the pack. The Game Pack, dubbed “Sims 4: Dream Home Decorator” will be available June 1st, 2021.

The pack promises a brand new gig-style career that calls creative interior designers into action. Sims with this fresh career will receive home remodeling requests from various clientele. After reviewing the request, the design guru will travel to the abode in question to rearrange, demolish, and renovate the space in style.

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Sims will need to get to know their client’s preferences— favorite color or favored design style— and then deliver a space that both matches these preferences and remains within budget.

Going over budget or failing to deliver on client preferences can affect a designer’s “reputation” and therefore the availability of such gigs in the future.

Many are beginning to speculate that the extra nodule spotted in Tuesday’s Livestream will be reserved for such interior design preferences.

There is a lot to love in this new Game Pack as far as build/buy assets go. From buildable shelving, space-saving ovens, fashionably fresh wallpapers, lovely sectionals, cute clutter, and modular seating, Sims 4 players are finally receiving some of the items long enjoyed by Sims FreePlayers with a wild amount of gameplay to boot.

Because interior designers must decorate according to client preferences, Sims are going to need said preferences.

Simmers can look forward to updated Sim Likes, Dislikes, and Preferences in the near future.

Each gig will have set budget that Sim designers will need to meet. Disregard the budget and watch your designer reputation sink.

Sim designers will be able to sell off unneeded items in order to increase their design budget.

Did we mention sectionals and modular seating? It’s worth mentioning again that bunk beds have been updated, allowing for more space-saving renovation combinations.

Once your designer Sim has renovated the given space, they can then “reveal” that space to their client, who will then visibly emote their reaction. From joy to outright displeasure, Sims can love or hate the player’s work. Their reaction affects, again, the player’s reputation.

The more positive client referrals a designer Sim gets, the more varied and complex their assignments will become. Sims may begin with a simple room renovation and then graduate to retail renos when they find themselves at the top of the career. Designer Sims may even need to balance the preferences of one Sim with the Sim they room with, another challenge with which top designer Sims must wrestle.

Along the way, designer Sims will have to market and brand their way to renovation fame! Who knows? Maybe they’ll end up on the brand new Sim channel: Home Decorator!

What are you most excited for?

In a surprising Wednesday morning teaser, Sims 4 developers Tweeted a series of simple images that hinted at the upcoming Game Pack.

These images, rendered upon signature Sims-blue wallpaper, featured in-game NPCs, or non-playable characters, with varied interior design requests. Nancy Landgrabb asks the viewer for a modern, walk-in closet; Penny Pizzazz pleads for a fresh artist’s space to replace her dated dining room, and an exhausted Bob Pancakes begs the viewer for a purple playroom for his impatiently screaming tot.

Players seized upon the Tweet with adamant vigor. Much akin to the architect’s career of Sims 3, this new Sims 4 Game Pack seems to heavily suggest if not flat-out guarantee some semblance of an interior design career.

Furthermore, Twitter users pointed out that, years ago, Maxis floated ideas about an interior design career, folded within a larger expansion pack called “Sims 4: Entrepreneur.”

While it is unlikely that players will receive all of these options in a simple game pack, it appears a strong possibility that developers will deliver the first bullet point: Buy and Makeover homes.

The community is know abuzz with talk of the endless possibilities. Could Simmers soon find themselves in the business of buying and flipping hapless homes?

Buckle up, Simmers: the official trailer drops on YouTube May 20th at 8AM PST/11AM EST.

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Lately, the Sims 4 team has waded waist-deep into the process of updating its base game assets.

While some players may have tuned into May 18th’s Inside Maxis Livestream for glimpses of downloadable content to come, what they got was perhaps arguably better.

The Sims Team is largely mum on the themes of the upcoming Game Pack and Expansion Pack, but this Maxis stream revealed a team hard at work to slowly improve what many players have called a lackluster base game.

What are these game-changing improvements that are on the horizon? Sim Gurus revealed the following base game updates that are in the works:

• ​Pronoun Updates
• Updated black hair
• New Cultured Clothes
• Personality Trait add-ons
• Story Progression
• Improved Bunkbed Functionality

With Pride just weeks away, Sims 4 has finally breached the subject for which many Simmers have advocated: varied pronoun availability

Why does this matter?

It is difficult to properly explain the mental acrobatics and roiling, physical discomfort that come from being misgendered. The unsettling twinge from deep in one’s soul after hearing “she” when perhaps longing for “they/them” can be triggering for some.

As the world begins to better embrace gender representation and the fluidity of gender expression, players have come to rightly expect such fluidity and representation in their chosen life simulator. This update, one that would allow Simmers to choose pronouns for their gender fluid/agender/bigender/transgender Sims is but another necessary step toward radical inclusivity.

Grayscale black hairs will soon be gone! Maxis developers have revisited the infamous “gray-black” of many available black hairs in Create-a-Sim. After repainting many of the problem hairs, Sims developers are asking players to be on the lookout for any other hairs that may need similar attention.

Outside City Living, many of Sims 4’s existing CAS options are culturally limited. Maxis plans to update these options in the very near future, leaning on the rich colors and bold patterns of northern African and the Middle East for guidance. The bold robe as pictured above will be available in game in a future basegame update.

Bunkbeds are also receiving an update. Soon, Simmers will be able to place desks, loveseats, and even double beds beneath a lofted bed in either parallel or perpendicular position while keeping the items functional!

The Sims Team also revealed that the game will add a fresh nodule to the personality trait widget. Could this be an additional trait slot? Is it something more closely related to a given Sim’s aspiration? We’ll find out more May 25th for the next Inside Maxis Livestream!

While on that subject, Maxis developers assured Simmers that the “hates children” trait, which previously allowed baby-making activities with such Sims while “dazed,” will be corrected in the next patch.

Sims 4 developers are also looking into better story progression for the game. “Story progression” is a phenomenon in which unplayed households live their little pixelated lives without input from a player. A household may choose to have another child, get a new job, or enroll in university without the player actively playing that household. Such a change would add an unpredictable dynamism to Sims 4 that some Simmers have craved for years.

The star of today’s Maxis livestream was, of course, Courtyard Oasis. Brimming with colorful mosaic tiling in all manner of awe-inspiring, saturated colors, Courtyard Oasis embodies the stunning sanctuary of Moroccan riads.

The pack, now available on Origin for $4.99 USD, brings the hand-carved chairs, massive tiled fountains, fresh potted plants, eye-poppingly detailed archways, incredible keyhole doorways, gilded tea sets, and gold-plated lanterns of northern Africa to Sims 4. This rich kit has already proved a delight to builders around the globe. Check out the screens we took of the pack assets below:

The pictured pre-build will pop onto the Sims 4 gallery soon!

What are you most excited for?

As promised, the Sims Team dropped their long-anticipated summer line up in an astonishing tweet mid-Monday morning.

In an ad splashed with vibrant purples and deep oranges, the Sims Team unveiled with Simmers already knew and what none of them were expecting.

The newest Sims 4 Kit, of course, will drop May 18th. Titled “Courtyard Oasis,” the kit will allow building Simmers to recreate the sumptuous riads of northern Africa and the Middle East.

But the Sims Team also unveiled their plans for a huge Pride-themed “Block Party,” which may be akin to last year’s virtual Pride “parade,” when Maxis encouraged players to tag them in pictures of their LGBTQia Sims to be featured in an official video.

In addition, developers suggested an incoming “Sims Event of the Summer.”

Could this be a reference to summer’s EA Play? For weeks, some have speculated that Sims 5 will be announced during the gaming conference of late June. Others suggest that the words “rock out” may mean a music-related update. Because the team has promised three base game updates, Simmers can expect a slew of changes to the beloved life simulator.

The biggest news, by far, was the unveiling of a “creative” career-based Game Pack and an upcoming Expansion Pack that allows Sims to “bond with nature.”

Given that Maxis has, recently, favorited many player-created fairies on the Sims 4 gallery recently, some speculate the incoming expansion has something to do with the nature-loving sprites. Others hold out hope for a farming pack which may include nature’s cutest creatures found on our farms: pigs, cows, and horses as strong examples.

What could the Maxis team have in mind? The developers will roll out a few definitive answers tomorrow: Tuesday, May 18th at 11AM PST.

Stay tuned!

Sims 4 developers confirmed today what Sims players have whispered about for a little
over a week. The next Sims 4 kit, slated to drop May 18th, is called “Courtyard Oasis.”

Microsoft “accidentally” leaked this last week when box art and screenshots appeared on their store.

The kit is one brilliant for builders. Featuring the palatial porcelain and fantastic fountains of northern Africa, this kit will allow Simmers to create the ultimate desert paradise with gilded lights, intricate wood-carved seating, key hole doorways, and much more.

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Given that both Sims Mobile and Sims FreePlay have enjoyed similar updates to their build/buy experience, Simmers might expect some asset crossover.

What are you most excited about?

Hide your mods and custom content, Simmers! Sims 4 developers have planned two patches for the month of May; one smaller patch which will address smaller bug fixes such as:

Another “larger” update will drop in game “later” this month, including the following fixes:

The last update to the “hates children trait” is no small thing. Not long ago, Sims 4 developers tweaked the “hates children” trait so that Sims with the trait would refuse baby-making unless “dazed.” Understandably, some Simmers were deeply disturbed by such language, which suggested their beloved pixel people could be swayed into unwanted sexual activities if somehow inebriated or incapacitated. The community at large balked at the idea until The Sims Team released an official statement apologizing for the blunder. They promised to address this issue in a “later” patch. It appears that time has come.

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Additionally, this “later” and “larger” patch may include the Courtyard Oasis kit leaked early last week. This kit is rumored to release May 18th.

What bug fix are you most looking forward to?

To say that the greater Sims community has been parched for new content for weeks is an understatement. After a rash of speculation about werewolves and a disruptive controversy about updated personality quirks, the Sims 4 community has sniffed around gurus for any hint of fresh content to sink their teeth into.

Early this morning, Microsoft came to the rescue with a juicy leak that has a strong likelihood of truth.

The leaked kit, listed on Microsoft’s stores, is called Courtyard Oasis, and it appears to feature luxurious Moroccan-inspired build/buy items. The items include fresh marble fountains, keyhole doorways, lattice-laced lanterns, geometric coffee tables, intricate wood-carved seating, and far more.

Simmers who dabble in either Sims FreePlay or Sims Mobile may not be surprised by the possibility. Both Sims iterations have featured similar updates in the very recent past, particularly FreePlay. Months ago, FreePlay offered stunning divans, modular couches, gold-plated incense holders, key-hole doorframes, bronze lighting, and rich rugs that sent Simmers to a northern African paradise.

During its first year running, Sims Mobile also featured some Moroccan items of their own, including lattice doors. Check out the screenshot below from Sims Mobile Central:

Will Sims 4 Simmers soon enjoy the richly sumptuous items of Arabia just in time for Ramadan? According to Microsoft, this kit will drop May 18th.