Total realism vision for AOIs

[cbokilo18]

Consumption and Daily Life

• Integrate all types of beverages: bottled juice, sodas, coffee, etc.

• Ability to open certain bottles with teeth or a bottle opener (with risks: damaged teeth → dentist).

• Effects of coffee: tooth yellowing if poor hygiene.

• Hygiene management:

  • Bad breath

  • Body odors

  • Use of perfumes and cleaning products

• Consumption of varied foods:

  • Yogurts, hot/cold meals

  • Impact of temperature (food too hot or too cold)

  • Usefulness of microwaves

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Health and Human Needs

• Natural needs:

  • Thirst, hunger

  • Going to the toilet (urinating, defecating)

• Illnesses:

  • Stomach aches

  • Fatigue

• Medical system:

  • Hospitals

  • Dentists

• Importance of sports:

  • Strength training + endurance (cardio, real fatigue)

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Transportation and Mobility

• Complete driving system:

  • License (car, motorcycle)

  • Traffic police with fines

• Realistic vehicles:

  • Radio, internal features

  • Visible damage (broken headlights, bodywork)

  • Breakdowns (flat tire)

• Realistic travel:

  • Roads to build

  • Airport with functional planes

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Urban Life and Infrastructure

• Free construction:

  • Offices

  • Entire neighborhoods

• Essential services:

  • Electricity, water, internet, gas (bills to pay)

  • Management of power plants

• Waste management:

  • Garbage trucks

• Vehicle registration system

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Commerce and Economy

• Supermarkets:

  • Purchase of products for home and work

• Shopping centers:

  • Escalators

  • Elevators with mirror (see your character)

• Varied hotels

• Custom signage for businesses (restaurants, shops)

• Job system:

  • Painter (buy or make paint)

  • Oil (supplying the city)

  • Lawyer (defend clients, investigate, collect evidence)

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Living World and Information

• Realistic newspapers specific to each city

• Dynamic news influencing gameplay

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Interaction and Combat

• Realistic combat system:

  • Against NPCs or online

  • Inspired by MMA and boxing

• Taking into account:

  • Endurance

  • Fatigue

  • Injuries

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Overall Objective

Create an ultra-realistic life simulation where every detail matters:

• The player doesn’t just “play”… they live.

• Every choice has an impact (health, money, reputation, appearance).

• The world reacts like in real life.

[Carnel]

You know, when people suggest ultra-realism in games, most of the time what they really want is the ability to see it all once, not play through it constantly. Remember how often Zois are now trying to shake a pebble out of their shoe. At first it was very cute, but over time it just got annoying. Especially when an elegant, sophisticated lady with a VIP appearance suddenly lifts her leg just like a little girl on a walk.

What do we rely on in real life when deciding what we want? Our senses. Say I notice a slightly odd taste in my mouth, and then I can assume that at that moment I might have bad breath. If I eat a dish with garlic – I experience the taste, it lingers on my tongue, and I automatically understand that I should probably brush my teeth.

But in a game we don’t have these indicators. When Zoi eats – I see the hunger bar fill up, but I don’t taste anything (unless I really try hard, but even then it’s unlikely to be unpleasant – watching him eat cake, I might feel a slight sweetness as a result of self-suggestion. And I definitely won’t be mentally reproducing the taste of garlic seasoning for myself). As a result – the need to use breath freshener will come as a complete surprise to me. Because as a player, there were no prerequisites for it.

Zoi lives, and every day he needs to rub his eyes after sleep. Put on slippers. Perform hygiene procedures. And I want to send him to cook food, but suddenly he feels pain from an old hip fracture injury, and all my plans to go to work fall through: now I’m forced to deal with this negative mood by distracting him with something else. But let’s say I managed it, he ate. Now I need to clean his shoes before leaving the house. Along the way, if he sneezes, wipe his nose with a handkerchief. At work solve some tasks. See discomfort again – it turns out his back is itching, and I need to do something about it… Then at lunch he can’t eat because the food overheated – I need to sit and wait for it to cool down. Or what – do we manually adjust the microwave every time before cooking to avoid this?.. And how will we know about it? (I repeat: we don’t feel this ourselves through our body, we need to perceive it somehow differently). Separate indicators for “strength of bad breath”, “food temperature”, “pain from injury”, “itching”, “loudness of surrounding sounds”, and so on?..

We’ll “drown” in it! Really, we’ll get a Zoi whose needs are so great that instead of playing you’ll spend all your time just tracking his every stat like in a flight control center. And before you can go outside to have fun, you’ll spend half an hour getting him sorted: combing, spraying perfume, whitening teeth… Maybe it will actually be interesting, about five times or so. But how soon will this turn from a game into “For God’s sake, how much longer?! Just let me go for a walk, instead of dealing with blisters that came out of nowhere because I walked an extra half hour yesterday!!!”

[cbokilo18]

Let’s be real: if we follow your logic, we’d end up doing nothing at all. Why put gas in a car in a game? We don’t ‘feel’ the engine stalling. Why make a character eat? We don’t ‘feel’ their hunger. Yet, without these constraints, it’s no longer a life sim—it’s just a hollow arcade game.

The goal isn’t to add a meter for every blink of an eye; it’s about picking the most useful mechanics to create social immersion. Look at games like The Sims or even survival titles: if your character never washes, others react and move away. We aren’t asking to brush every single tooth; we’re asking to manage a life. That is what social realism is about. Without that bridge to reality, the game has no weight and no consequences. We don’t want chores; we want our actions to actually matter

[Carnel]

About the need to refuel - yes, that’s correct. I’m confident that when the pose editor is implemented, and you can simply show Zoi pouring gasoline into the tank, that will be more than enough for storytellers. If there’s an auto gas station you can drive to and fill up the tank - with animation and so on - that would be absolutely fantastic. Just as a decorative action that doesn’t really affect anything, except maybe giving Zoi a sense of satisfaction: “How nice to fill up a full tank!”

But honestly, the last thing I (and I think most players) would want is for our car to suddenly break down at some point in the game just because we haven’t refueled for too long, forcing us to run around with a gas can looking for fuel, or call a tow truck.

Traffic fines? If someone really wants to conscientiously stand at intersections waiting for the green light, or never drive into the oncoming lane - sure, go ahead! But 99% of players will be furious if every time they just want to take a drive without thinking much about it, the police hassle them. As if there aren’t enough restrictions in real life.

Remember GTA. It’s all about cars there. Have you ever run out of gas? Imagine what the game would become if, say, while fleeing from police you stole a car, and suddenly it stalls because you didn’t stop at a gas station in time…

To display a character’s needs, there are already plenty of well-tested indicators: hunger, energy, mood, and so on. They’re all present in inZOI. But with your idea, it seems like hygiene should be divided into subcategories: “brush teeth, comb hair, take a shower, relax in a bathtub, file nails, apply makeup, etc.” And each action would matter for Zoi: didn’t do a manicure - people react “Ugh, what unkempt nails!” Took a shower but didn’t brush teeth - “Yuck, bad breath!” We’d spend half the day just on hygiene!

And what about food? Ate steamed fish - fine, but the character would want “soup, a main course, then something for dessert, and maybe tea or coffee on top,” otherwise the hunger need won’t be fully satisfied. Very lifelike, but incredibly tedious within a game.

What I see in your message is very close to “brush each individual tooth,” if you know what I mean. Not everything, but a lot. Because, as you write, you want the player to “live” here. But I believe that most people actually want to “play,” and excessive realism can only do harm. Want real life? There it is, right outside - just turn off the computer. But we’re doing the opposite - we’re turning it on. Probably to experience pleasures that are unavailable in reality, not to immerse ourselves in additional problems like calculating tax benefits and actually filling out a tax return within the game - all seriously, with a calculator in hand and problems with the tax inspector if you accidentally make a mistake in your calculations…

Or go to an auto repair shop to replace a broken headlight here too, in the game? Stand in line, drop off the car, and wait for it to be ready, come back for it again? No, thanks, I’ll pass!