To respond to the Q&A part 2, and the whole open world/loading screen here’s my 2 cents :
Very short loading screen to enter SOME big buildings that are for instance far from your Zoi (for example, let’s say I’m at the beach and I want to go to the court house, give us an option on the phone to ’ go to the court house ’ and the loading screen /short video will pop up). Pretty much just like when the zoi go to work but this time it will let us follow the zoi.
A short video to represent the location we are going to (just like we have when we travel to Cahaya) would be great (instead of a blank loading screen). For instance, a short video of a zoi going to a busy hospital etc.
The rabbit holes should in the future have the option to either be accessible via a short loading screen or stay as is (meaning we won’t follow the zoi and the clock will pass). That way we have the option to choose if we want to follow or not our zoi to that specific location.
No to loading screen when the Zoi is literally in front of the small locations (surf shop, bar etc.) . The open world is a great asset and I believe the community (including me) DO NOT WANT what TS4 has become : loading screen for everything single place. It literally destroys the feeling of immersion. The team need to be very careful about this as it could ruin the game.
I have an even better idea. What if, when a Zoi enters a building, the outside stays visible at first — for example, for about 3 seconds — and then the building gradually becomes transparent? That way, there’s no loading screen, while the game still has time to load all the details and NPCs inside.
At first my guts were strongly against the idea of doing anything that might hinder the open world feel of inZOI, but I believe there are ways to go about this that shouldn’t affect that feeling at all or at least much.
One option is to only do this to the bigger buildings like you said above. A hospital, the courthouse, etc. These are big buildings that are usually full of people going on about their business, and I don’t think adding a short loading screen will hinder our gameplay that much. Particularly because unless your zoi is a doctor, or a lawyer, they won’t visit these places often.
Another option is not to affect certain buildings, but to divide cities into smaller instances areas. I like this idea particularly because we would be able to go in and out of buildings freely. It might hinder the immersion while driving a little bit, but if they keep the loading screens short, as they say, shouldn’t be very noticeable.
All in all, if we have to add loading screens, I hope they will be similar to the ones in Throne and Liberty, where you get some sort of small video of your character getting into the place, and by the time the short video is over the character is already in the instance area.
I think if it is inevitable to have some loading screens, it can be done to still fit the open world style of Inzoi and this video posted by @Moooody is a great example of that. I think “small loading screens“ can be done nicely as well, and it might help the game in the long run
Also, I think it would be good if we can’t see the interior of the buildings while outside, or the outside while inside of buildings.
Another option is not to affect certain buildings, but to divide cities into smaller instances areas.
Sorry, but I’m completely against it. I think the way how it’s done in the The Sims 4— is the worst way to design the world. It would be much better to simply have closed-off building interiors.
The example shown in the video wouldn’t work either in Inzoi, because in Inzoi the camera is positioned above the character and in the game it is from third view. Constantly zooming the camera in too close would feel strange in Inzoi. And what would the player even see outside the building? In the video, for example, when the character enters, the interior loads in but the outside world disappears— that’s how it usually works. In Inzoi, you can see both the city outside and the interior of the building at the same time, so it would be strange if, the moment you entered a building, you could see everything inside while the outside world just disappeared.
If this was added as an option for lower end hardware, fine. If the intention is to impose it on all of us, absolutely not. Sims 4 is horrible in this way, gameplay is interrupted constantly by load screens to access anywhere.
Loading screens should be completely avoided in open worlds if possible, otherwise they are not open worlds.
Hold on… When it comes to the implementation challenges behind these systems, that’s not the players’ responsibility, at least not the way I see it. First of all, for some reason, the team chose a heavy and arguably suboptimal engine for simulation in its base config. Ok, fine, if they assessed the risks. But that choice comes with a major upside: millions of active specialists work with this engine, there’s extensive documentation, and Epic Games is open to collaboration. As far as I know, Epic has a history of working with teams like CD Projekt RED on advanced World Partition/Proxy/Mass Framework/Data Layers setups for massive worlds and simulations. So what’s the problem with reaching out?
We’re not talking about The Sims 4 engine, which was torn out of an MMO framework back in 2013 and barely forced to function in a familiar scenario. We’re talking about the most advanced engine of our time, and what comes to mind is something closer to a custom Sims 3 architecture (RenderWare + TimeSlicing/Async + AI LODs/Proxy + offline logic, etc.). How did this game end up being compared to Sims 4 at all?
Only because they are contemporaries in the same genre, not due to any technical similarities whatever. I don’t think anyone making any comparisons is considering the game engine.
Inzoi is distinct from TS4 - and IMO better - because it is open world, and above all else that needs to be safeguarded, and not changed, as that would go against the USP of the game.
Afaik Sims and inZOI are atm the only games with a bigger playerbase in this subgenre and Sims is aware of inZOI being their direct competitor (until Paralives’ early access in December). Sims already made a survey to ask their players what’s so great about inZOI.
Of course these two games are getting compared to each other.
And who, if not Sims players, are the main target group for inZOI?
The Sims Team even visited inZOI in South Korea and brought presents - and I really wonder what this was all about
I have no idea why not earlier? Maybe because in South Korea (while not as many might have their own computer) they have access to very cheap Gaming Cafe’s and they just realized most of us not.
I’m really sad they are touching the open world and I fear the closed buildings are not the end of these changes
I wrote an objection letter about this issue by reaching the support section via e-mail and I shared the same here. Don’t let them turn the open world into a ridiculous form like a semi-open world. If they do, the game will be completely ruined and will resemble the sims 4 we know.
We are waiting for your support regarding the request I have opened.
I am kind of worried that this game might turn into something I don’t like. TS4 was a huge disappointment in some ways, and while I still play it (occasionally), I bought into Inzoi because it promised something the last Sims game never would - the open world that TS3 had and we would never get back.
Honestly, I’m just tired of all this, too tired to even explain why. Sims 4 is an old game, fundamentally limited by its MMO-based engine. Everyone knew the consequences of rushing to convert it from online to single-player in six months under EA’s top-down pressure, classic survivor’s bias.
InZOI is a new game, and yes, it started out with engine-related issues. But both were presented as products. Meanwhile, many games just release quietly and quietly turn out good. I don’t understand why, with such massive budgets, life simulation games can’t (like so many others) confidently present themselves as uncompromising best experience possible. Why do they keep involving players in behind-the-scenes problems instead of simply saying, “Look what we’ve got for you – just enjoy”?)
Because that’s what we are. Players. And players buy and play the the games. If it’s a game that’s developed without thinking about what we’d like, we just don’t buy it. And how does one find out what players like? Asking them
Maybe small studios can afford to devolop a game out of the blue, with new innovations. But the more money behind a game, the higher the pressure.
Kjun might be the producer and developer of inZOI, but he has to answer to Krafton and other investors. And they have high expectations. He told us at the Meetup how hard he had to fight to make inZOI the way he imagined it and not a copy of the Sims’ style.
I buy a lot of games that never ask for my preferences, and yet they do everything to deliver the best possible experience, even things I couldn’t have imagined) I’ve been playing Sims since 2000, and the first three games definitely didn’t ask for my preferences yet they were mind blowing. Something broke in life sims in the early 2010s, and it still hasn’t been fixed.
He told us at the Meetup how hard he had to fight to make inZOI the way he imagined it and not a copy of the Sims’ style.
Well, that’s exactly what I’m wondering, why did such major difficulties start in this genre after Sims 3? It’s just a game genre, not some other kind of product. It’s not some special genre, in some areas, it even has fewer challenges.
Game development is incredibly hard, but it’s rarely treated as something worth emphasizing. There have even been cases where people slept at work for months during crunch time, some got sick, some even divorced, the history of this industry could be its own series.
If they want to implement loading screen to spawn more NPC and make the place more alive, they should 100% enhance the existing feature (called Edit public property, which spawn selected NPC). That way, no loading screen and every time a player enter a specific place, it triggers the Edit public property feature.
I want this quote to be emphasized throughout all stages of development, but in a way that’s safe for the team. If a person has fought hard to realize their vision, maybe the best way we can support them is by helping defend that vision. He’s not required to know or handle everything himself – that’s more within the competence of his developers, outsourcing, and other professional support. That’s what I mean.
Please Keep the world open! Im here, playing Inzoi, because I dislike sims 4 closed neighbourhoods, gameplay and gfx. Inzoi: Open world, great customisation, beautiful gfx, great creativity tools! Inzoi has it all and it “could” be a sucessor of the mighty sims 3!
Its 2025, people have phatt computers, nay people require phat comupters, in order to run Windows 11.
Windows 10 is being depreciated soon, so most folks will need to move to win11 and upgrade their computers.
As for console players, yeah do what you want mate. If you want to make Inzoi with load screens on console, fair enough, thats understandable, but please, not for computer users.
Very short loading screen to enter SOME big buildings that are for instance far from your Zoi (for example, let’s say I’m at the beach and I want to go to the court house, give us an option on the phone to ’ go to the court house ’ and the loading screen /short video will pop up). Pretty much just like when the zoi go to work but this time it will let us follow the zoi.
A short video to represent the location we are going to (just like we have when we travel to Cahaya) would be great (instead of a blank loading screen). For instance, a short video of a zoi going to a busy hospital etc.
No to loading screen when the Zoi is literally in front of the small locations (surf shop, bar etc.) . The open world is a great asset and I believe the community (including me) DO NOT WANT what TS4 has become : loading screen for everything single place. It literally destroys the feeling of immersion. The team need to be very careful about this as it could ruin the game.
