Simdale Valley Post Special: Get to Work Feature Review

What I most like to see from an expansion pack, are features that allow me to extend open-ended game play and customize my game, and in light of that, I am pretty excited about the new information from the Sims VIP Preview of Get to Work .  While there are obviously some goal-oriented, game-directed features coming with Get to Work, here are some possibilities that are coming, that I am especially looking forward to:

#1  Expanded Painting and Photography Possibilities!

The new photography skill has some aspects that are going to really expand customization in my homes and sims' lives.  

For example, the new selfie interface on the smart phones, which may also turn those friend selfie interactions into usable pictures, but that is not confirmed that I know of.

And then, of course, the photography studio interface will be part of Get to Work.   According to the Sims VIP Sim Guru interview, we will be able to take these in-studio portraits of up to two sims at a time, so unfortunately we won't be able to do family portraits this way.

However, sims will be able to paint portraits and will also be able to once again paint player-made custom paintings.  So it looks like I'll be using this option to create family portraits, at least until someone mods the studio photography to allow for groups of three or more sims.

#2 New features in Build Mode

Lots, not just houses, will now be fully move-able and rotatable.   Also, for the first time as a built-in feature of a Sims game, we will be able to import lots of different sizes onto any lot, without a mod.  For example, as shown in the photo, if you try to import this lot into a smaller lot, the yellow areas are the areas that would be clipped off.  This may not give as many options as Mootilda's Sims 2 Lot Adjuster, but I'll be happy to have even this limited possibility without having to use a mod.

Also, not only will everyone who owns the Sims 4 base game get basements, we will be able to build two levels deep in the basement, and will be able to have a total of four floors above ground.

#3 New Careers will have varying levels of Open-Ended Play

There's been a lot of speculation about how the new careers will work, specifically how much we'll be able to use the new features for open-ended play.  There are still a lot of questions about how open-ended it will be, but one thing I learned from this Sims VIP broadcast, was that  the new careers offer a variable level of open-end play.

The Detective career was described as the most linear, goal-oriented play, that follows a story line.  The scientist career was described as open, as in the player can choose whether to work on the Invention machine or the Chemistry lab. 

And the Doctor career was described as a hybrid of the two, with some choices and some linear play. Not surprisingly, the retail business features will be the most open-ended and customizable.

#4 New Careers will have Active Play Options

The player will have the option to follow their sims in the Doctor, Scientist, and Detective careers to work, or not follow them (and send them off, basic career-style, for the day).  If a player chooses to follow a sim to their active career, they can then switch back and forth between that sim and others in the household who are still at home (but not at other active careers).  However, you could choose to rotate the days that you follow your different sims from the same household, to different active careers.   The sim gurus explained that if you choose to send a sim to an active career (instead of following them) they will not progress (as much?) in that career, because progress comes from managing them at the career site.

I was very happy to learn that I can send sims off to a their active career, if I choose, so I'm not forced to follow them every day in the career.

#5 Mannequins Are Highly Customizable

There are two different mannequin styles, and either can be used for adult mannequins or child mannequins.  Mannequins can be taken into Create A Sim and given up to 30 unique outfits with accessories, just like a sim.  And then they can be posed in a variety of positions.

#6 Guess Who's Back... Aliens!

One question many simmers will have about aliens is, will there be the option to turn them off?  Because some simmers just aren't going to want aliens, whether obvious, or in disguise, in their neighborhoods!  Depending on the story or neighborhood I am developing, I may, at times, not welcome the green (or any other color) extraterrestrials into my Sims world, either.  I was a huge fan of Sims 2 Strangetown, but I wouldn't want to be forced into playing aliens.

However, I am excited about the descriptions I've heard so far about aliens in the Sims 4.  First of all, with the Get to Work expansion, aliens will roam the neighborhoods, in disguise, and can be discovered by interacting with them.  There is also a new alien world, Sixam (Maxis, backwards, lol), that is discoverable in different ways I will not spoil for you, in case you haven't read about it.   Some of the ways they can be discovered have to do with the new careers.

All of this information, and these photos, are thanks to Sims VIP Get to Work Interview with the Sim Gurus, from the Preview Event.  All photos used with the permission of Alexis B at Sims VIP.  Thank you so much!