The Premades Project

How the life simulator can deal with premade families, worlds and
neighborhoods and use them for their own benefit.
The importance of premade families
Premade families are an integral part of social life in the life simulator "The
Sims“, they are present in the game since the first iteration. This is almost 20
years of players creating bonds with those pre-created sims, all players have
at least one memory of any of them, whether it be love or hate. These
premade families are important to create an illusion of life in the city, each
with its dramas happening, babies to be born, couples separating, and etc...
It is important that those sims have to be premolded by the developers,
because they must have relationships with other residents of the city, as well
as having family trees, descriptions and secrets is a way to make them look
real and interesting, otherwise families automatically generated by the game
would be the second option, but empty, shallow and without effectiveness.
Some players even prefer to play with those premade families, rather then
creating their own families.
The positive and negative values of premade
families
Pros Cons
• Some players do not like to create • Some players like to build houses
sims or build houses, this makes and populate their
their gameplay easier and
enjoyable. neighborhoods by themselves.
• Having familiar faces in the game • Having familiar faces in the game
can make gameplay more fun and can become exhausting and
enjoyable. repetitive.
• Exploring the background of the
premade families adds replay value
to the game.
How to solve the cons?
• Removing premade families to please the simmers who like to have
creative control over everything in the game is not a smart
alternative, seeing that another group of simmers would lose with
this solution. The wise resolution to this problem would be to end the
cons. How? In Sims 4, when starting a new save file, the game will
prompt to you if you want or not to play the tutorial. The solution
would be similar to that. After selecting not to play the tutorial
another question would show up asking if the simmer wants or not to
have a save file without premade families and houses, with premade
families and houses or just with house/without premade families.
Adding a “share save file to Gallery” option could also add a 4 option
that would be “choose a save file from the Gallery”.
 The “Goth Family” effect
When The Sims was released on February 4, 2000, the players
encountered a queer family, wore dark clothes and had a graveyard
in the yard, and they were called the Goths. Later on the familie
was expanded to add the the patriarch's parents. Soon, the familie
achieved the iconic status and even today, 19 years later, people
who played that game years agor (and have not played any sequels
of The Sims) remember the dark family and their haunted house.
Why? Cuz they had personality and had mystery. Why they had
graves on their houses? Did they bought the haunted house? Or
they killed those people? Or they were simply weird?
Then, when Sims 2 was released, the family was not left to
oblivion. They evolved, had another kid, they had grown older and
moved neighborhoods, and… More was added to their mystery.
Gold digging? Betrayal? Aliens?
Later, people were vivaciously waiting The Sims 3 release to see
what would have happened to them after Sims 2. Did Bella
returned? Mortimer passed away? Cassandra married Don or
Darren? Alexander found love? But, to our surprises, Sims 3 went
years back in the past to show us how the adults from Sims 1 were
when they were kids.
It was fun to know the past, who they were friends with... How their parents
looked like... It wasn’t a sequel showing us the outcome of a alien mystery,
but it sure was a sweet addition to their backstory. But then Sims 3 started to
go crazy, each neighborhood/world was in different periods of time, families
were scattered everywhere for no reason (just to show up in the game,
actually). It got really confusing.
But, finally Sims 4, everyone was excited. Was it going to be a Sims 1
neighborhood remake following up Sims 3? (It sure looked like it was, the
New Orleans vibe and all), or we would finally see how Alexander and
Cassandra’s lives have been going?
But no... Many years of passion, curiosity and bonding discarded. A waisted
potential over a release hurry with the outcome of an alternative timeline. It
was not a disappointment with the Goths, but with all the families. Whether
it be the Landgraab, the Goths or families that were in the "family bin" in
Sims 1/2/3. Families from different times mixed in one place.
 The Sims 4 mistake
Altought the players know and understand the situation that the developers where
into, Sims 4 was a dissapointment in many aspects including towards the premades
and those players that cared about them. And, not to mention jsut negative things
towards the game, it introduced iconic sims like the Pancakes and other families,
but the mistakes made in relation to the “premades” could never be fixed with a
update like the pools or the toddlers.
Now, the premade families just feel shallow. Without backstory, descriptions,
without the continuity in their personal dramas… Now they just seems like any
computer generated family would feel like.
Obviously, some simmers didn’t care and some where even happy, because – as
was said before – there are those who get bored of seeing the same faces over and
over again. Some of the players even start empty save files to fill with their own
creations, which is not wrong, but if it doesn’t make a difference to them, why hurt
those simmers who love the stories and premade families?!
Comments on the forums on the subject:
• @Tiipii: “Sims 2 premades were the best in the series. Back then, I never
made my own sims, but played with the Maxis sim all the time. Compared
to Sims 2 all the Sims 3 and 4 sims are bland”.
• @hihi122122: “I like having them all in one place, but I am sad to see that
they aren't actually creating a story...which brings new sims in with the old.
I'm sort of mixed on the topic, quite frankly”.
• @IcySlash: “I really wanted the Timeline to proceed while at the same
having everything make sense. That's what most people hoped after TS3
big mess... I don't care if my favorite Sims would be dead, as i would gladly
play their descendants”.
• @TheNest: “According to his family bio, Johnny Zest was disowned by the
Landgraabs for quitting school. Yet, when you play him, he doesn't have
any relationships, and is not seen by the Landgraabs as family at all.”
• @HanKat173: “I just hope they do start a new story here somehow. I
can't put into words how delighted I was when I first played TS2 and I
saw there was a back story! I love the premades”.
• @tj19941994: “I'm okay with this, just so long as it isn't an excuse to
have Sims that are from completely different parts of the timeline
living at the same time (i.e. Nick and Vita Alto as adults living next
door to Mort and Bella as adults). That would just annoy me. I also
really hope they give the town/families a story this time. That was
where I felt that TS3 let itself down with premades”.
• @McWolf: “[...] To be honest, I think I'd love it if they just had the
original Sims 1 families and recreated their houses in Sims 4. Haha.
Would be very nostalgic.”
All those quotes have hyperlinks to the forum posts.
How to solve this problem?
Want it or not, for some players those are huge
problems. Unfortunatelly, probably there is no way of
fixing that in Sims 4, but if ti was respected and taken
seriously, it would be one of the coolest selling points
in a “Sims 5”.
What can be suggested in Sims 4 is, if the choice was an
alternate universe where all iconic families from
different timelines mixed, then take that seriously. Add
more families (not to the gallery as has been done), at
least one classic family per new world. Introduce all
iconic/classic families to the newer simmers that
started simming in Sims 4. But, remember to respect
how they were in previous games, what they looked
like, dressed like, their personality, body type, skin
tones, everything. Make it fun. Post pools for the
community to choose which family from “Twinbrook”,
or “Sugar Maple Coast”, “Desiderata Valley” or
“Bluewater Village” they want in the next pack.
Also, remember that people played with characters
from console versions, with families from the “Family
Bin”... Give those sims their chance to shine!
 Sims 5 premades, timeline and stories.
Reboot everything.
No, not another alternate timeline, and no... Don’t forget the classic premade sims. But,
since Sims 1/Sims 2 the game had some discrepancies in timeline. Like the young adult “just
out of college” Michael Bachelor becoming Bella Goth’s older brother in Sims 2. Now, Sims
5, new chances, pay attention to the mistakes that simmers have pointed on the timelines
and also, never do what was done in Sims 3 where each world was in a different time, it get
confusing.
But lets start from the beginning, not Sims 1 neighborhood, but the furthest living sims.
They were the sims from Twinbrook/Bridgeport. Alexander French can become Molly
Frenchs grandfather now, (linking people with the same surname would be a cool
approach). Ricky Bailey can become the adopted brother of Buddy Bailey. In the same
timeline can be shown how the earliest Goths lived. What about Morgana Goth’s first
appearance? Make her Victor’s mother! Show us what the old country was! Frida is just a
kid now and Gunther Goth is about to be born, Timaeus Goth can be Victor’s brother now...
And what about solving Lolita Goths mystery? She can be the younger sister of Victor that is
dying from electrocution when you first start playing the family. Solving old mysteries is cool,
just like making new ones to be solved in future iterations, like... Who was de Landgraab
that was promised to marry with Frida?
If Sims 4 is an alternate timeline, than use
the new premades form that game to
anchor everything. Did Eliza and Bob broke
up? The hidden “trans flag” in Bob was a
prediction about his gender identity? Is
that why he’s always sad? And Iggy? He
became na angst teen after his parents
went rival to each other? Make them
contemporary to Victor Goth.
Make Sims 5 premades cool and
remarkable, and the game will have good
points in its favor! In Sims 6 follow directly
from there, like in Sims 1/2.
“But what about Bella Goth? People will
be enraged if we don’t add her to the
game!”
Well, add her to the game then. Add her
to the tutorial like Alex Moyer in Sims 4
was added, add her in the Sims 5 Gallery
as well. Use her in promotional content,
add references to her in easter eggs,
paintings, books... We never needed
Llamas in the game for them to be the
mascots (altought it would be funny to
play with).
 The Worlds/Neighborhood Epiphany
Stop discarding cool stuff! The Goths don’t need to be living in a new home and town
in every single game. They are not gypsies! Remaking their hometown and house
shouldn’t be avoided at all costs!
Recently, with the announcement of the StrangerVille GP for Sims 4, many simmers
shown a want for something deep down in their forgotten wishes. Everyone was so
excited thinking that the new GP would include a remake of Strangetown, some were
wondering if it was going to show them as they were in Sims 2, or after, or before...
But, as always, everyone was fooled.
But, at least something can be learned from that. Simmers love and respect previous
worlds and neighborhoods and to see remakes of them alongside new ones is
something to be excited for. This way the Goths also don’t need to be moving
neighborhoods all the time, just when it makes sense, like... Lets say that Sims 5 shows
how was Victor Goth’s life in the Old Country. But, we know that he moved to the
“New Country” at some point... That makes sense, but why did the Goths lived in
Sunset Valley, Old Town, Pleasantview, Willow Creek, etc...? There is no problem with
having a gypsy life, but they are not gypsies!
 World & Neighborhoods in the Timeline
I have done some research to find out where each world/neighborhood from The Sims games (including console) can be placed in the
timeline. I have used Sims 4 “normal lifespan” to “calculate” this. The earliest attested world/neighborhood in the timeline is
Twinbrook, the others I used references of the premades that appear in other neighborhoods and their ages in other games.
Day Neighborhoods/Worlds
0 Twinbrook / Bridgeport*
82 Sunset Valley / Riverview / Hidden Springs / Moonlight Falls / Al
Simhara / Champs Les Sims / Shang Simla

99 Aurora Skies / Midnight Hollow

105 Sims 1 Neighborhood / Roaring Heights
117 Sunlit Tides
119 Sims 4 Worlds**
121 Lucky Palms / Monte Vista
132 Dragon Valley
133 Island Paradise
154 Sims 2 Neighborhoods
162 Strangetown from PSP***
168 Barnacle Bay
 Observations

• *Bridgeport was hinted a lot during the release of Ambitions. You could see the skyscrapers far in the distant view
from Twinbrook, as well as you can see Twinbrook far in the horizon of Bridgeport. They seem to be
contemporary, but there is no way to be sure.
• **Sims 4 was included there considering the Goths as na anchor to all worlds. Cassandra is younger than Sims 2,
Mortimer is not an elder, Bella Goth didn’t dissapear yet, but if the classic premades got deleted it could be
placed anywhere on the timeline, even in the begining alongside Twinbrook and Bridgeport as suggested before.
• ***I have included the Strangetown from PSP, because it kinda shows what happens after Sims 2 Strangetown.
Some sims died, other had kids, other grown up. I didn’t include other neighborhoods/worlds from console,
because some of them have no connections to the premades from other towns. Some of them seem to be
completely in another timeline and some can be placed anywhere like Sugar Maple Coast. The are Rebecca Goth
and Timaeus Goth there, but there is no way knowing how they are related to Victor, Gunther and Mortimer.
• Oasis Landing and Lunar Lakes are far in the future, and simmers don't usually care about the connections the
citizens from those places have with the families from other worlds/neighborhoods, because the time distance is
so big that it just doesn’t matter. But, I would use their names as inspiration for the descendants/ancestrals of the
existing families. Like Jeremy Goode from Lunar Lakes could be the name of the unborn baby from Goodwin
Goode and Jenni Jones-Brown from Twinbrook.
• There is no way to know where Starlight Shores and Appaloosa Plains could be set in, because there are no real
visual relations between any premades that could help calculate and set them. The Parrot family from Appaloosa
Plains could be both before, after or between Sunlit Tides and Isla Paradiso’s Parrot families, while Starlight
Shores has the Worthington family which could be also before or after the Frances J. Worthington III from Sims 2
University. So, i think those can be moved freely between the timeline.
 How to calculate that?

• I don’t know if i can call that a calculation, but... You need a “excel
spreadsheet”. You will create a default “sim” just to lay the life stages
and how many days it takes to ages. Starting from the day your sim is
born as a baby (day zero). Sims 4 normal life span is like that:

Baby Toddler Child Teen Young Adult Adult Elder Total

Lifespan
0-3 days 7 days 13 days 13 days 24 days 24 days 10 or + days 81 or + days

Attention: When Toddlers where added they tweaked the othar ages
duration. In case the update, it can change again. Make sure to check if its
the same as this one here. You can use the life span from other games like
Sims 3 and 2, but Sims 4 is the more likely to be used again in other
iterations (Sims 5), but it can change just like it changed from Sims 3 to 4.
 • In the spreadsheet I’ll do something like that:
Sims 1 /
Name Roaring
Heights
Mortimer 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
Goth
Young
Adult
Cassandra XXX XXX 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Goth

Baby Toddler Child

• In Sims 2, Cassandra is an adult and becomes an elder in 26 days while her father is in his 5th day as an
Elder. By doing that I found out that she would have been born when he was an teen, or that nobody
cared to calculate that. But, maybe it was because Sims 2 base game didn’t came with young adults in its
release (they were added in University). We can forgive that, but it something similar happens in Roaring
Heights, by doing this you find out that Consort’s kids were born before he turned into a Young Adult, but
in Sims 3 we already had young adults in the base game, then I think it was a mistake. But those things
can easily be corrected in future worlds and games if the devs bother to have one of those spreadsheets
to see if some births should be possible or not. I’ll be adding one of the spreadsheets I used to find out
where the worlds were set in the timeline, this way you can better visualize that. I think I wasn’t good
enough to explain that, but I hope you understood.
 Authors Opinion:
I have been playing The Sims since I was a kid, i don’t remember exactly when it started, but sure was around
2000/2004, because i remember going crazy over The Sims 2 announcement. I am 22 now, but i remember many things
from those days. Remember playing with families that we could download from the official sims website (the Hatfields, the
Snooty Patooty, etc...), the release of Sims 2 and everyone going crazy over it.
The first memories I have from simmers wanting a sim back in their games was in the release of the H&M Fashion
Stuff and everyon thought that Mellisa and Chris Roomies were going to return to the game (I have always thougth that
they were supposed to be the first gay couple of The Sims, because in Brazil they were named Valente instead of roomies,
giving the impression that they were married). Sadly, like the Hicks or the Mashugas they never made an appearance in any
other games.
I remember every sim from Sims 2, because i played rotationally with all of them, including the ones from the
family bin. At some point, Sims 3 had too many sims for me to say that i know every single one of them, but I am pretty sure
i now must of them. I played lots with the Bakers, the Lums and others from the family bin, I played a lot with sims from
each world. And, with Sims 4 it wouldn’t be different as I play even with the sims from the Maxis gallery like Babs L’Amour,
Aileen... Etc...
In Sims 5 I’ll probably miss the Pancakes, Vlad, the Villareal... And i would love to see them coming back, growing
older, see that they had kids and married. I have been long enough in the forums to know that i am not the only one. When
i thought that the devs were going to release a remake of Strangetown... Oh, i can’t even describe the feelings my inner
child felt. I was so heartwarming to believe that, but it was just StrangerVille. I am sure that many simmers i talked to felt
the same way.
I would say, please Gurus, remake the worlds/neighborhood without fear. We would love that! I mean, we love
new worlds, sims, etc... But should be done with balance. For every new sim, an classic sim, for every new
neighborhood/world, a new one. They don’t need to be exactly the same, with the same clothes and objects in their houses
(but i wouldn’t complain), but they can change... Actually, they should change, cuz thats teh point of it all. Seing their lives
progress, to see that they reformed the bathroom and kitchen, had children, married and unraveled mysteries…
Please, hear my voice.