Just like magic, the Sims 4 Cottage Living gameplay trailer has ignited the Sims community at large once again.  Players are buzzing about the wide array of new gameplay features that the fresh expansion pack promises; stuffed to the brim with cottage-core build buy, intricate Sims lore, sprawling views, and quaint country life activities, Cottage Living is poised to offer Simmers worldwide a sweet peek at the simple life in Henford-on-Bagley.

The new world that comes folded into Sims 4: Cottage Living  is called "Henford-on-Bagley." Reminiscent of a squat English-countryside town, Henford-on-Bagley offers Simmers the lush, rolling hills of picturesque England and the robust Sims lore that many Simmers have craved.  Henford-on-Bagley boasts three distinct neighborhoods: Finchwick, Old New Henford, and The Bramblewood. 

Finchwick is the heart of village life in Henford-on-Bagley.  Home to the weekly Finchwick fair, a bustling marketplace, Crumplebottom's Garden shop (where players can purchase items for their gardening and jam-making needs), the Gnomes Arms Pub (owned by Sarah and Simon Scott), and village errands, Finchwick is where the Sim fresh to farm life can get to know the seasoned locals. 

Old New Henford is the idyllic neighborhood with wide open spaces just outside of town. Its lush countryside is perfect for farming, raising livestock, and befriending Wild Animals, who will forage for special trinkets on a Sim's behalf. Simmers can find the new, broken-hearted NPC Cecilia here as she remakes her life in a refurbished barn and as the unlucky-in-love Creature Keeper Michael Bell aches for her from afar. This is also where Simmers can find the Olde Mill Estate, one of the larger lots in the new expansion. 

Finally, the Bramblewood is the untamed wild of Henford-on-Bagely. Here, Sims can collect chocoberries, mushrooms, and nightcaps. They can visit the Island of Volpe, which brims with the rich history of Henford-and-Bagley and hosts the most romantic spot in town. This is also where Sims can find the Creature Keeper's home. The Island of Volpe Park, conversely, is home to Sophie the Snail and Cordelia Falls. 

Cottage Living brings a fresh focus to the simple pleasures of small-town family life.  Full of rustic windows, country cabinets, and quaint cookware, Cottage Living is sure to please the family-player.  In the pack, families can cook together, garden together, watch over their beloved animals together, picnic together, can fresh goods together, and even make jam together.  

One of the most highly-anticipated features of the upcoming pack is the new canning activity. Players will be able to harvest choco-berries, fruits, and mushrooms from The Bramblewood, a scenic woodland area just outside of town.  Once a Sim has harvested these collectibles, they can use them to create a wild assortment of jams right in their kitchen. 

The pack promises a collection of 16 kinds of jams that Sims can cook up in their country kitchens. 

​But even this is not all. Families will not only enjoy a new selection of recipes to choose from, but thanks to a base game update, children and other family members will be able to take part in a new interaction called "Group Cooking."

During Group Cooking interactions: 

• Up to five family members cook together (including children!)
• Children gain "Mental" skill 
• Family members forge sentiments about one another 
• Families produce higher-quality food and more servings

There are many more recipes to master in this pack, amongst them Beef Wellington, Yorkshire Pudding, Bangers and Mash, and more. 

If this were not enough, Simmers can now choose from several "lot challenges," the number of which will vary according to how many packs a certain Simmer owns. The Cottage Living Challenge "Simple Life" urges Sims to fish, harvest, and collect the items they need for daily living.  After all, with the "Simple Life" challenge active, the forever-full refrigerator will no longer be forever full. 

Gardening gets one heck of an overhaul in Cottage Living.  Players will be able to grow such large crops as massive mushrooms, leafy lettuce heads, huge pumpkins, swelling watermelons, and oddly phallic looking eggplants.

Despite the nearly ribald placing of confidently grinning women alongside their enormous eggplants, gardening in Cottage Living is truly a family affair.  The pack, in tandem with a the next Sims 4 base game patch, allows children and toddlers to water, weed, and harvest crops. Toddlers will adorably talk to plants and even ask strangely off-kilter questions about gardening in the way that only toddlers can.  Teens, Young Adults, Adults, and Elders can even teach their little ones how to garden, which increases Mental skill in-game.

The cross-stitching activity will allow Children, Teens, Young Adults, and Elders to master the art of cross-stitching.  There are 34 different cross-stitching patterns that Sims can attempt, working through ill-advised stitching maneuvers and pricked fingers.  As with the art of gardening, child Sims can learn the nuances of cross-stitching from their older counterparts, 

Caring for cozy farm critters takes on a kooky twist within the Sims 4 Cottage Living. Families work together to: 

• Shear llamas for cross-stitch necessary wool
• Milk cows for various fresh recipes
• Collect eggs from Cooped Hens
• Befriend the bunnies and fowl of the forest for treasure hunting purposes

The overall happiness and diet of the kept animals affects the quality of the goods they produce. Feeding rainbow feed to a beloved cow will not only poof her into rainbow-furred glory, but it will also get her to produce some delicious rainbow milk that can be bottled, enjoyed, or entered into Finchwick fair's weekly competition. 

Each chicken coop will house up to eight of the fluttering fowl, and Sims care for the chickens and collect their eggs. However, Sims will need to keep a close eye on their beloved hens; skulking foxes can slip into unattended chicken coops and make off with precious egg treats of their own. To prevent this, farmers can purchase a new alarm called the fox-be-gone, which will sound off when a swiping no-gooder creeps into the chicken coop under cover.

Finchwick, Henford-on-Bagley's town center, will host weekly competitions for both country recipes, best farm animals, and finest large crops. Both winners and participants will earn prizes at the close of each competition, but only winners will get to enjoy their immense bragging rights. 

What part of Sims 4 farm life has you fired up?

In a rainbow-studded Maxis Livestream, the Sims 4 developers not only celebrated the varied contributions of queer Simmers and LGBTQ+ artists around the global community, but they also dropped delicious hints about features coming to base game in the near future. 

The June 29th patch, which came laden with the code necessary for the fresh Sims Sessions in-game festival events, also came with new wall art designed by queer Simmers. The first selection, a landscape Pride parade of colorful confetti, waving queer flags, and queer bodies of every size, shape, and color, is an audacious work of art from Jupiter, known as @MidnightFox452 on Twitter.  Jupiter is a non-binary transperson who identifies as a lesbian; they used the many different hues of the varied pride flags in their work to infuse it with infectious vibrance. Sims 4 players can now find this joyous piece in-game! 

Two more stunning works, created by queer Simmers, will hit Sims 4 build/buy in the next patch.  Ashley Lukashevsky (@AshLukaDraws on Twitter and Instagram) created the next piece wrought in shades of pink and purple.  The piece portrays two soft-bodied women embracing and, according to Ashley, represents the interconnectedness of freedom.  Ashley uses their art to strengthen racial, social, queer, immigrant, and mental health justice movements. Their work will be available in game as wall art come the July patch.  

A queer artist named Mohammed made the final lovely piece entitled "A Recipe for Good Times."  The art depicts four "found family" members celebrating the tender moments of pride: laughter, silliness, hugs, and great times. Mohammed mentions that pride so often focuses on what is big and bold, but they like to highlight these small but essential moments of tenderness between people who love one another. Sims 4 will offer this work in the next July patch. 

True to form, SimGuruBat and SimGuruDuck revealed some delightful changes coming to the Sims 4 base game.  The first welcome update is a fresh, textured, "modernized afro."  The Sims team has been embattled in recent years concerning Black representation in-game. Simmers have criticized the Sims team for poor Sims 4 skin tones, a dearth of good-looking textured hair (one of the afros was designed after cauliflower of all things), and the shoddy quality of what textured hair did exist in the game.  Finally, Sims 4 is beginning to include better representations of kingly coils and queenly curls in-game so that all Simmers can see themselves in their colorful pixel counterparts. The pictured hairstyle will be available July patch.

Sims 4 developers have also improved the cooking activity.  Now, Sims will be able to perform an action called "Group Cooking." 

Group Cooking allows: 

• ​5 selected sims to cook together
• relationship gains while cooking
• Better quality meals and more servings
• Children to cook alongside adults while gaining "mental" skill 
• Newly formed sentiments while cooking

This complements the new "farm-to-table" game mechanics folded into the highly anticipated Sims 4 Expansion Pack: Cottage Living.

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If the cooking update were not enough, the Sims team has also improved the gardening feature. 

Children will now be able to 

• Plant, weed, water, harvest crops
• Children cannot use the vertical gardens
• Unlock weed, plant, and harvest after unlocking mental skill thresholds
• Talk to plants (Toddlers can do this too!) 
• Children can ask questions like "How does the sun taste?"

More interactions include:

• Teens, Young Adults, and Elders with enough gardening skill can teach Child Sims about plants, which increases the Child's "mental" skill
• Sims will now be able to plant seeds in their inventory

Starting June 29th and running until July 7th, Sims 4's newest in-game music festival will invite all Simmers to enjoy intimate, live jam sessions with artists Bebe Rexha, Glass Animals, and Joy Oladokun.  

After logging into game, players can register for the single-player event, receiving tickets to a Sunday show from 12-12:30 (in-game time.) Once Sunday arrives, the game will transport the Sim (via a phone interaction) to Magnolia Blossom Park in Willow Creek. At the music festival, Sims can  buy festival swag, run craft sales tables, visit lounges, camp, eat, woohoo, and make new friends! Food trucks will also come to the game through the Sims festivals. Even after the official show from the famed artists has ended, Simmers can continue jamming on-stage to keep the party rocking! Simmers can show off their festival-themed threads on gallery using the hashtag #SimsSessions in gallery. 

Sims 4 continues to evolve; what are you most excited for?

The trailer for the latest, eye-popping, highly anticipated Sims 4 expansion pack released today, June 10th at 11AM EST.  

For months, players have pleaded for an expansion that would allow their Sims to enjoy the quaint lifestyle afforded by the quiet countryside. Their time has come, it seems, through the newest Sims 4 expansion pack: Cottage Living. 

The expansion pack, dropping July 22nd, boasts an enormous amount of new gameplay systems, fresh activities for child Sims, novel build tools, and a new slew of assets for Sims to live it up the simple way. 

Henford-and-Bagley, the new world folded into the Sims 4: Cottage Living expansion pack, is an English countryside work of stunning art.  It comes with three neighborhoods, each boasting four lots each, including one 64x64 lot.  Simmers will be able to enjoy new roofing patterns and textures such as thatched hay, mossy green, and aged wood.  Perhaps most surprisingly, it appears that players will finally be able to create their own ponds and fishable lakes using a new lake terrain tool. There are of course, many fresh assets at the builder's disposal such as: 

• Chicken Coops which hold 8 chickens each
• Newly styled dormers
• New foliage and flowers
• Cow stalls
• Llama stalls
• New stone and wood fencing
• Garden stalls
• Embellished kitchen cabinets and counters
• Picnic baskets (which Sims can pack and bring along with them to scenic countryside areas. A single interaction will unpack the picnic basket. Sims can scoop the basket into their inventories and then use the picnic interaction at any table, at any time, and in any world. )
• Woodland hollowed logs that serve as happy homes for hopping bunnies
• Country clutter: Jars of jam, casserole dishes, hanging plants, glass milk jugs, and more!

What's in it For Kids?
Speaking of children, there are a lot of new activities for them to enjoy in Cottage Living. The trailer shows live footage of children

• handling baby chicks
• embroidering
• cooking and baking alongside their parents
• Befriending bunnies and llamas
• Gardening/Farming

Meanwhile, adult Sims of course have a barrage of new farmland chores to occupy their simple countryside lives.  

Oversized Gardening
New oversized gardening plots allow Sims to grow large crops like pumpkins, watermelons, aubergines, mushrooms, and lettuce. Sims can harvest these foods for healthy meals (developers added new recipes like beef wellington, milk bread, and Yorkshire pudding to the growing Sims repertoire) or haul them into the Finchwick Fair to compete in the local vegetable growing contest! Of course, if vegetables aren't really a Sim's thing, they can also cajole their chickens into the local chicken contest, or rustle up a homemade pie for the county pie competition.

Game changing Lot Challenges​
Brand new "lot challenges" are a new system in the game which seem to behave like lot traits but with a twist. When the "Simple Living Lot" challenge is active, for example, Sims will find cooking far cheaper but the same Sims must only use the fresh ingredients they have at their immediate disposal. Sims will be able to milk cows for milk, raise chickens for eggs, and forage in the nearby woodlands for berries and mushrooms. Sims will need to procure any missing items via grocery delivery.  They can also buy beef and chicken at the local shop in town. Sims will even be able to "can" goods within the cooking skill. 

When the "Wild Fox" challenge is active, Simmers will have to contend with sneaky, wily foxes who may creep into unsuspecting farms to gobble up hen eggs or run off with bunny snacks! 

Simmers can of course toggle these challenges on and off at their leisure, living their country lifestyle as comfortably as they see fit. 

Village Errands
While there are no new careers involved with this pack, Sims can take part in a new game system called "village errands." It takes a village to, well, run a village, and so the local townsfolk will need much of your Sim's aid when it comes to running their busy stalls and shops.

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Cows, Chickens, and Llamas! Oh My!
Farm life wouldn't be quite as quaint and idyllic without the adorable company of farmland animals.  Cottage Living comes packed with many of the animals for which Sims 4 players have begged developers for years. Gamers can expect: 

• Cows
• Llamas
• Foxes
• Woodland birds
• Bunnies
• Chickens

These cuddly critters help their Sim companions in a variety of ways.  Sims can shear their llamas for wool, raise chickens for eggs, milk cows for a number of flavored milk varieties, and name and befriend rabbits and birds who will fetch valuables through a new gifting system.  Players who take a shining to these cute companions can move their natural homes onto any home lot, but these little hollowed out tree trunks will first exist only in the wild.   With the help of the new Animal Enthusiast Trait, Sims will happily befriend (or gravely irritate) cute critters.  Relationships with each animal color their responses, their moods, and even the flavor and quality of goods they offer.  For example, feeding a cow chocoberries will give the hopeful farmer chocolate milk under the right circumstances. 

None of these animals will take up precious Sim space in a household. Instead, the animals will prove largely self-sufficient, ready to form that special bond with their Sim of choice.  Playable Sims can even make cute little sweaters for their rabbits and special critters!

The animals, not unlike Sims, will age and die, but players can keep them alive forever if they choose to do so. 

Chickens are a Hoot
The chickens in Cottage Living are robust. 
Players will be able to breed chickens as long as a hen and rooster share the same coop. Simmers can dress, name, and gather eggs from their chicken companions. Beware the fox, however! These sly creatures will sneak into hen coops to steal eggs. 

Create-a-Sim
The clothing assets this pack offers appear to range from farmland chic to quaint and country.  Loosely tied hairs, tightly coiled up-dos, conservative quarter-sleeved, floral-patterned dress, hardy waistcoats and vests are the norm for this pack, which is sure to please come July 22nd. 

Right on the heels of the explosive Dream Home Decorator release, Sims 4 developers and Game Changers turned what is usually a quiet, eventless Monday on its head.

June 7th at 11 AM EST, Game Changers began sharing photos of curious postcards on Twitter. The post card hailed from Henford-on-Bagley and was signed by A.A. Crumplebottom, a Sims lore original character. The post card encouraged a visit to Henford, citing its “quaint countryside life” and mentioning a “Garden Stall.”

Taken together, the card suggests that the newest Expansion Pack may be “Country Living,” an experience that may get Simmers farming crops, harvesting goods, caring for animals, and riding horses.

But this has not been our only hint at Country Living. Early in 2020, this Expansion Pack was mistakenly “leaked” at a Target and then promptly debunked.

When Eco Lifestyle was released and was followed by Snowy Escape, players quickly forgot the hiccup. However, many outspoken players continued to plead for some semblance of a farming pack. Some CC creators even made horse stalls and cute cows.

But there may be another wrinkle in this anticipated pack. Earlier, Caylee Hammack, a country singer, revealed that she’s been working on translating some of her songs into Simlish. She signed off this tweet with a fairy emoji and magical stars.

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This tweet, in conjunction with Sim Guru Doi’s acrostic poem posted on Twitter Monday, seems to suggest the upcoming appearance of fairies in game. An acrostic poem, of course, is a poem acting as an acronym, The first letter of each word in Doi’s poem spells out “Henford-on-Bagley” but that isn’t all.

His calculated use of “fairly” which sounds and looks suspiciously like “fairy” and his suggestion of “graceful light encircling you” could also allude to a fairy circle.

What do you think is coming? Tell us in the comments or on Twitter!

Summer is in full swing, and the world of Sims has begun heating up with fresh events and new pack announcements. Sims FreePlay kept players busy with a new garden-themed SimChase, a Produce Market Rerun, and a Moroccan Kitchen reboot.  Just days away from their final few events for the current update, Sims FreePlayers are looking to the horizon for the newest gamut of events for the June and July months. Meanwhile, Sims Mobile kicked off their Modular Wardrobe Treasure Hunt event and began the final stretch of their newest game mechanic: Sim Festivals.  Naturally, the biggest news of the week came from Sims 4, which dropped its long-anticipated "Dream Home Decorator" game pack.  Simmers in all circles are scrambling to decorate, remodel, and snag the best items for their pixel people to enjoy. ​

In classic FreePlay form, Sims FreePlay inundated its players with several, exciting events, sometimes all at once.  On May 27th, players began the newest SimChase: Garden Grapple.  During this event, players complete a laundry list of tasks-- many of which require multiple Sims-- in order to win the perfect pool-side accoutrements. If players are able to beat the "rival" Sim by completing the given tasks within the time limit, they are able to earn special outdoor items like patterned patio flooring, a grand hot tub, modular stone planters crawling with cacti, garage doors, and stone cladding. Not long afterward, on June 1st, Simmers dived into the Produce Market Live Event rerun.  A Live event that encourages Simmers to craft candles, constructor coins, glassware, jewelry, and pottery in return for prizes, Produce Market rewards Simmers with the brightly colored items required to build a quaint fresh farmer's market.  This event is stuffed to the brim with items like checkered store flooring, bread displays and hanging lights, wall signs and cute chalk displays, rustic stone animal stacks, produce freezers, grocery counters, shelves, fruit baskets, and much more.  The grand prize for these crafting efforts is, of course, a grocery store lot already brimming with the offered prizes. 

If this were not enough, just one day later on June 2nd, a brand new Influence Island began for Sims FreePlayers! This Influence Island event is version two of a previous event-- Moroccan Kitchens. During this event, players confuse and cajole game NPCs into friendship.  Their influencing efforts are rewarded with network coins, and these network coins purchase Moroccan-inspired assets like stone counters, squat glass tables, loose-fitting, colorful outfits, beautifully braided hair styles for men, and more.  This event runs for just ten days and will run alongside a SimChase Rerun: Mansion Mania, which begins June 4th. 

The past few weeks have been busy for Sims Mobile, which added a new game element to its growing repertoire-- Sim Festivals.  During these festivals, players complete in-game tasks to earn pink tickets.  These tickets move players along a fixed track of prizes.  Currently, Simmers can choose from two prize tracks.  The first prize track is free and offers a sparse collection of prizes like a lovely armchair, a well-rounded stool, a metallic droplet table, perplexed dresser, and a signed autograph of new NPC Venessa Jeong. 

However, if a player purchases the "festival pass" for $9.99, they earn 60 levels of possible earnable prizes that include Venessa Jeong as an official in-game NPC, in-game currency packs, a fully-furnished house template, a wooden island tub, trendy hair and clothes, and more.

Currently, players are digging and investigating their way through the newest Treasure Hunt event.  As Sims uncover golden bunnies and ancient relics at various excavation sites, they turn in these currencies for such glamorous prizes as gilded modular cabinets, bright lamps, lovely rugs, modular shoe and coat closets, designer shoes, stylish hoodies, cropped clothing, fresh hats, and a new twisted hairdo for men. The incredible grand prize is a backlit vanity desk, tufted chaise, and plush seat. 

Sims Mobile is also nearing the end of its scheduled events for the most recent update, so Mobile players are hungrily watching gurus and GameChangers for word of the next update. 

​This week, the highly anticipated "Dream Home Decorator" pack, a new Game Pack that allows Simmers to enjoy a new interior design career, hit Origin with a bang.  The pack offers many jaw-dropping changes to build mode including modular seating, sectionals, and modular storage units.  In addition, Likes and Dislikes were folded into both base game and Dream Home Decorator. The new interior design career encourages Simmers to remodel the homes of NPCs.  After choosing a gig, Simmers travel to an NPC's home to remodel their room, floor, or commercial space. As Game Changers began releasing their reviews of the Game Pack, offered for $20 USD, the Sims community buzzed eagerly about their joys and disappointments.  While lauded for its beautiful build assets, the pack has suffered from a few unfortunate glitches. In addition, some players, who are not as enthralled with the building portion of Sims 4, complained that the pack did not offer the gameplay that they had hoped. 

Sims 4 players are already buzzing about the next Sims 4 expansion pack promised to arrive this summer, though developers have not yet revealed what the pack will entail. 

Until next time, stay safe and happy Simming!

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!