La Vida- The Sims For Linux

[Vadi]

Hm, even with open-source projects, you still need to know what are you doing to make it successful.

[smd0665]

Hi. Great idea. I was hoping to start something like this too but, I'm not a programmer either, unfortunately. Like RIchard James13 said, a lot of thought goes into it before programming. I have been thinking about what the game would be like - feel free to use any of my ideas.

First of all, I was thinking it would be good to start with a text only version, including random events and characters. Once everything worked, then I would consider graphics. There would be a list of attributes. Such as:

Age
1. Baby
2. Infant
3. Teen
4. Adult
5. Mature

Body
1. Skinny
2. Lean
3. Plump

Hair color
1. Light brown
2. Dark brown
3. Light blond
4. Dark blond
5. Red
6. Purple
7. Grey

Hair Length
1. Bald
2. Short
3. Long
4. Extra Long

House Color
1. White
2. Beige
3. Yellow
4. Brick
5. Blue
6. Grey

House Size – flexible, based on spending

All Merchandise (brand)
1. Krappi® – slogan:“We Get the Job Done”
2. A.D. Equate® – slogan:“We’re Better”
3. Elite® – slogan:“When Money is Not an Issue”

Happiness
1. Fun
a) Activities
b) Music
c) Television
d) Computing

2. Comfort
a) Couch
b) Bed
c) Chair

3. Relationships
a) Friendship
b) Friendship with "benefits"
c) Love

4. Career
a) Medical
b) Clerical
c) Education
d) Construction
e) Religious

The character you are playing would start with a house and some money. He/she can get a job and use money for items/upgrades.

[nickgn12]

As a programmer I have this to say. Read this article for making your goals SMART.

Most games developed in the commercial world are based on a thing called a design document. This is normally a book, a few hundred pages of how everything works in the game. Of course no game starts out at a few hundred pages. You start with some simple ideas and then you flesh them out. If you are unable to program you might be able to do art. But the most important thing FOSS projects need is someone willing to lead and to persist until the job is done. In order to lead people you need a direction and that is where the design document comes in. The more detailed the document the more easier it is for programmers and artists to complete the work.

I must warn you that having a design document will not bring programmers and artist to your project. You will need other ways to entice them in. People need a way to contribute (sourceforge or launchpad) and a way to communicate (mailing lists, IRC channels, Forums).

Now for an example of how to start fleshing the game out.

• Single or MultiPlayer?
• Isometric or 3D?
• What are you going to call your sim people? (can't be sims)
• What are some items of clothing they might wear?
• Do they have houses? How many rooms? Are they going to be multi-level?
• Are there doors? How do they work?
• What will the walls and windows look like?
• Can the simulated people have jobs? How can they spend their income?
• What is the user interface like? How does the player control their character? Can they control more than one character at a time?
• Will the game have a loading screen?
• Will you have ambient music?
• Will you have sound effects?
• What simulated emotions will the people have? How will the player be able to tell these emotions?

Remember don't answer like in the Sims. You need to write and/or draw how everything will work. As in the article above don't add too much stuff to your game at once. Start with a few small goals but be very specific as how they could be achieved. Most of the successful FOSS games started with very little but with dedication over the years have built up a significant game.

That is the smartest thing anybody in this thread has said.

[Ericj1186]

I am guessing this is dead now. Pity. Would have been cool to have The Sims on Linux.

[xakh]

Quite dead. However if it ever gets started, I'll contributed 3D furniture, decorations, and anything else I can make that'd be of use.

[Mickeysofine1972]

Quite dead. However if it ever gets started, I'll contributed 3D furniture, decorations, and anything else I can make that'd be of use.

Ok, I'm interested in contributing some code and stuff.

Can you make a basic avatar for experimenting and a house?

Nothing too fancy and as low poly as possible without looking retro

Mike

ps: MD2 model format would be best as thats the quickest i can implement

[CharmyBee]

MD2 model format would be best as thats the quickest i can implement

MD2 is ugly and very limited also MD3. You will have a dead or difficult project if you only support MD2 or MD3.

I'd recommend MD5 instead, since then you can have externalized animations shared by many humanoid models. Sauerbraten does MD5. This is the best format I can think of for this kind of game.

[xakh]

I can export whatever blender can export. How about straight blend, or obj? those two filetypes offer the best support for me. Also. I currently have a human model, but he's in a suit of futuristic armor. Would that be okay? I quite like him.

[Mickeysofine1972]

I can export whatever blender can export. How about straight blend, or obj? those two filetypes offer the best support for me. Also. I currently have a human model, but he's in a suit of futuristic armor. Would that be okay? I quite like him.

Yeah he should be ok, can you strip off the armour parts?

Also, Blender exports MD2 so you should be ok on that one.

MD5? isnt that a hash key generator? lol

It would be nice to share animations across models but support for MD5 isnt in Blender and I recon that we should try and keep things as OSS as possible, unless you know the program thats used to generate them?

Mike

[Mickeysofine1972]

Actually,

Now that I've been looking at the sims game I dont think we need a house model.

I think the houses are made by defining wals and floor areas in the game so that reduces the walls into blocks.

Mike