At exactly 11AM EST, SimGuruNinja, a Sims 4 producer, tweeted about the bright full moon in the California bay area.

This wouldn’t raise eyebrows at any other occasion, but all weekend, salivating Simmers have speculated about an incoming pack that may feature a new occult.

This speculation came as a response to a strange exchange between SimGuruGeorge and SimGuruFrost:

Does this series of tweets suggest that a new occult (redacted Sims) that only work within a new world (redacted world) in the future? Could that occult, given SimGuruNinja’s tweet about the moon, be werewolves?

If this were not all, when prodded for news, the official Sims 4 responded with a gif of sleepy dogs.

Could werewolves be coming to Sims 4?

We’ll all find out Tuesday, April 27th at 11AM
PT during a Maxis livestream on Twitch!

What do you think the gurus have up their sleeves this time? Tell us on Twitter on in the comments!

Purchase “The Reaching” on Amazon now: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DC5GCQS

For months, Sims Mobile had a big problem.

​Despite its bright, engaging design and stylish gameplay, Sims Mobile was beginning to lose its long-time players. After living and breathing the game for several months, the most dedicated players quickly reached the game’s inherent progress “caps,” hitting level 60, maxing all careers, hobbies, and relationships, obtaining the peak lifestyle title “Toast of the Town,” and completing the EcoWorkshop. While such a state of absolute completion is worthy of bragging rights, the experience effectively kills the game for those who desire progression.

Progression is a strange and sometimes wily beast. Adept game designers must continually provide players with a sense of progression without completely overwhelming or boring them. Once a player has reached maximum level, there is little impetus for them to continue grinding the game’s offered content. Sims Mobile players stopped playing through hobbies and careers, stopped maxing relationships, stopped visiting EcoWorkshop, stopped engaging with LlamaZoom. Some players put the game down all together. After all, what was the point?

The Sims Festival, rolled out April 19th, 2021, effectively addresses the issue of game progression for many.

In a brilliant move that weaves together the time-worn events of Sims Mobile while simultaneously breathing new life into them, the Sims Festival offers players a feeling of progression as they earn pink tickets for completing certain career, hobby, relationship, and EcoWorkshop events. Players then turn in those tickets in return for prizes.

Suddenly, players who had maxed Sims Mobile career, relationship, and hobby stories had a reason to return to them. Because the improved task list also often asks for a specific sort of completed event, it often forces players to work outside of their comfort zone.

For example, a seasonal task (larger tasks that offer larger pay offs) might ask the player to earn a certain number of simoleons in a certain area— say the courthouse. If the player does not currently have Sims who work at the courthouse, then they will be forced to make a Sim change their career or introduce a new Sim into gameplay. This shakes up even the most entrenched of mobile Simming habits and makes the game feel almost new again. In addition, the seasonal tasks often ask players to purchase or develop new lots. This encourages even the most weary veteran to reinvest in building, a staple feature of the Sims since time immemorial.

This new feature finally rewards players for doing what was already offered in game on a regular basis, encouraging jaded players to log in several times a day for their festival tickets.

Predictably, perhaps, this much needed change did not come without a cost. While free-to-play players can now complete tasks in return for prize-winning pink tickets, they earn significantly less than “festival-ticket-track” players. For $9.99 USD, players who pay can earn up to 56 prizes over the course of 50 days. Free-to-play players can earn less than 15 prizes for the same effort.

For the same effort but after paying $9.99, paying players can win the following prizes in addition to large sums of simoleons, SimCash, and fashion gems.

This is the rub for some Sims Mobile players, who are quickly realizing that the lion’s share of mobile events are revenue-generating ones.

The trouble that is microtransactions, however, is not a Sims Mobile specific one. Indeed, it is the mobile game standard in which all free-to-play mobile games participate.

Even so, some players point out that while they expected a difference between the “free” and “paid” festival tracks, they did not expect such a large difference.

In the end, however, both new and old players have re-engaged with the game that houses their precious pixel people, and this is, without a doubt, a positive thing.

​The current New York Loft update, which rewarded dedicated players with contemporary industrial pieces fit for a Big Apple studio, is drawing to a quick close. At the moment, Sims FreePlayers are enjoying the enormously popular Mean Curls long hair hobby event, which offers players cool coifs in return for completed fashion hobby rounds. In addition, a the rerun of Gallery Francais began. Simmers jump back into the crafting game to turn in heaps of candles, glassware, jewelry, and pottery for such museum-worthy flooring, doorways, elaborate wall art, stone statues, and massive fountains. Players who successfully reach the end of this event earn an enormous museum lot befitted with the aforementioned prizes. Finally, and beginning April 22nd, SimChase 27 triggered in-game. This event leads players through a series of timed tasks as their Sim races against an NPC rival. SimChase 27: Diner Duel, offers Simmers brightly colored counters, tables, and uniforms for a proper New York diner.

But these are the last announced events for Sims FreePlay. Players are now sniffing around for the content that will come for the May and June months.

Sims Mobile was by far the update star this week; just as many Simmers expected, Firemonkeys released a game-changing update this time around, introducing a new element— Festivals, and reviving and old one— daily tasks.

For many months, Sims Mobile has grappled with a large problem: its player level cap, limited careers and relationship stories, and monthly events were disjointed at best and obsolete for Mobile vets at worst. Simmers puttered around completing LlamaZoom tasks to earn currency for home upgrades and Eco Workshop Tokens. Older players yawned at the Eco Workshop items that many obtained months or even years ago during Maxis-developed live events. Some players, upon reaching the current level cap (60) and maxing all careers, hobbies, and relationships, began putting the game down out of boredom. Sims Mobile began to lack a feeling of /progress/, and it was killing long-term player retention.

To bring players back to the game and to provide a better sense of progression, Firemonkeys developed the Sim Festival system. This two-track system rewards Simmers for doing various in-game tasks like completing a certain number of work shifts, expending a certain amount of Sim energy, or participating in Eco Workshop. Completing a daily task earns a player pink festival tickets, which they can redeem for coveted prizes during the 50-day festival. The festival effectively ties in the most common mechanics of the game to create a continuous feeling of progression. The farther along the prize track a player gets, the more difficult it becomes to unlock certain prize tiers. Players can even earn more festival tickets for completing “seasonal” tasks— tasks that require a much longer time or greater effort to complete (max out a certain career or relationship, add a new floor level, buy a new lot) but offer massive ticket lump sums.

Of course, players who pay 9.99 USD receive the prize-heavy festival track with over 54 wondrous rewards. Players who play for free will earn 14 rewards for the same effort.

This track system has drawn criticism as yet another way to “pay-to-win,” but many Simmers plug along anyway in hopes of winning the top prizes, which includes a house template toward the end.

The current Celebrity Life festival, which began April 19th, offers players an Island Living tub, a new blue-haired celebrity NPC (Venessa Jeong), a house template, new clothes, snazzy build items, Simoleons, SimCash, and more.

A Treasure Hunt— Wedding Blossom— is also active for Sims Mobile, which has players digging and inspecting ancient relics. They turn in these relics and golden bunnies for wedding themed prizes: tiny appetizer plates, a functional podium, formal wear, male and female hair styles, flower-filled tables and chairs, a new floral wedding arch, scattered rose petals, and more.

Players can look forward to Modern Lux and Charming Gardens Sweet Treats rerun in May, a Modular fashion Treasure hunt in June, many purchasable packs, and a steadily growing developer operated “gallery” function. Simmers can now purchase developer-designed lots with SimCash or Simoleons. Many players believe a player-generated gallery, similar to that of Sims 4, may be on the horizon.

Check our Discord [https://discord.gg/H2g3eTP] or more detailed information concerning both the Sims Mobile and Sims FreePlay events.

All is quiet in the world of Sims 4. Hungry Simmers who anticipated an April 20th pack teaser were swiftly disappointed, met only with Guru silence. Instead, Sims 4 quietly celebrated Earth day on April 22nd, and its players continued to begrudgingly wait for update news.

While Sim Guru George and Sim Guru Frost had an exchange that seemed to suggest a Monday pack announcement:

After weeks of anticipation, the Sims Mobile development team finally unveiled their next huge game-changing update late Thursday evening. The enormous update will introduce a fresh event type, the arrival of house templates, and the long-awaited demise of LlamaZoom.

Read EA’s Celebrity Life Blog notes here: https://www.ea.com/en-gb/games/the-sims/the-sims-4/news/sim-festival-faq?__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR0QiwI93siJCnwXzL33WlEEXAmCGQVRFyrhJSGt058VMyGjy0_4p_c0LvU

LlamaZoom became a staple of the Sims Mobile franchise a couple years ago in the wake of the static, dependable daily task list. The LlamaZoom truck, with Sim NPC Emily at the helm, offered LlamaZoom tokens in exchange for a predetermined gamut of relationship, hobby, or career tasks. Mobile Simmers used these tokens to unlock land or purchase coveted Build/buy objects.

Mobile’s Celebrity Life update completely removes Emily and her ubiquitous llama truck for good.

Instead, players will complete daily tasks for a new in-game currency: prize tickets.

Simmers can redeem prize tickets at festivals, fifty-day special events that offer incredible CAS and Build/Buy prizes. A new one will trigger for every major Sims Mobile update, or as soon as their app icon changes.

Here is a quick rundown of how festivals work:

In short:

• Festivals are long-term events that offer prizes in return for prize tickets.
  
• Occasionally, Sims Mobile will ask the player to complete “seasonal” tasks
  
• Festivals will offer TWO separate prize tracks: Free and Festival
• ”Festival” tickets are paid tickets.
  
• Festival ticket holders will earn a non-playable Sim character, a fresh HOUSE TEMPLATE, and brand new, rare flooring and wallpapers in return for their trouble.
  
• Each festival reward comes with ALL COLOR SWATCHES
• Complete daily and seasonal tasks to earn festival prizes!

​

House templates are pre-built homes that Simmers who are short on time (ahem, or building skill) can plop down on any lot for their Sims.

It appears that Simmers who purchase the “Festival” ticket will gain access to these exclusive homes and a new NPC to boot. Players will be able to befriend or marry the new NPC.

There is far more to this update, and all will be revealed soon! Keep it locked right here on Simmer’s Digest!