The Sims 4 - PC
Genre
The Sims 4 is a life simulation game that replicates real life. You are able to make and control your own characters, and go through their life with them. It's different to games like Animal Crossing because there is more personal simulation rather than social simulation.
Narrative
The story being told through the game differs between different characters, as it's you that controls certain characters. There is no set storyline, however, each Sim has to go through a similar process; birthdays between life stages like childhood and teens, getting a job as an adult, paying bills, socialising, building skills like cooking and lots more. The story connects with the target audience by including features from previous games like The Sims 2 and 3. However, there was a lot of fans of the franchise that were not happy with the removal of the toddler feature.
Production process
The Sims 4 began production as early as 2008 as an internet-based game with the project name "Olympus". They spent lots of time on Build Mode, changing and developing it so that there would be more customisable features. Compared to previous Sims editions, Build Mode in the Sims 4 is very advanced and new software was developed for this and Create-a-Sim mode. To the disappointment of many fans, the developers removed key features like pools and the toddler life stage to make room for other new features. After the disappointed fans made their point clear, the developers put pools into the game in a game patch.
Characterisation
There is a huge array of characters in The Sims 4, with many different appearances. There are different ages, personalities, clothing, skin tone, height, weight, gender, and so many other customiseable factors. This illustrates to the player how much variety there is in the game, and appeals to the target audience. This matches the conventions of the simulation genre because there is so much variety that the player is able to customise. There are many strong characters as they are all so different, but the player can choose themselves which characters are the ones their own Sim will interact with.
Gameplay
The challenge of the game is to raise a Sim in the way you'd like it, and whether that's a perfect Sim who raises a family of their own, or a Sim that lives their live on their own and makes their career a priority, or an evil Sim that makes scheming plans. The thing that attracts the right target audience is the fact that there is so much choice, and you're free to pick whatever sort of life you want to choose for your Sim. The vast amount of variety is what makes this game so successful. The narrative is fairly unpredictable as the player's choices affect it, and the gameplay in turn is controlled by the player and affected by the narrative. The gameplay changes with each Sim, as their different personalities account for different needs. This keeps the player engaged and interested.
Target audience
The main target audience for this game are people who are fans of the previous editions in the Sims series. As well as those people there are people who are new to the franchise and just enjoy open-ended games where they can customise features and make their own choices that can affect the gameplay and narrative. For this audience, the game is advertised with emphasis on how customisable it is and how it's been improved since the previous Sims games. It's more advanced than the previous editions of The Sims, and they can use this to advertise what's been improved in The Sims 4.
Platform
This game is available on Microsoft Windows and Apple OS X. These are both computer platforms, so it isn't particularly suited to one or the other.
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