Seeing Kjun’s recent updates about wanting to make Zois more realistic and giving them deeper lives really got me thinking. For me, real depth in a life sim isn’t just about graphics or routines—it’s also about how time flows.
We’ve all felt that frustration in other games where a stationary baby turns into a running child overnight. To avoid these “giant leaps” and give real continuity to our families, I came up with a 10-stage lifespan model.
What this changes concretely:
1. Newborn (0-2m) vs. Infant (2-12m): Current infants look so big that they don’t even feel like newborns.
2. The Pre-Teen Stage (11-13y): It’s missing so much! It’s the perfect transition for middle school, without jumping straight to the older teenager stage.
3. Elder (55-75y) vs. Grand Senior (75y+): Because we don’t age all at once. An “Elder” Zoi can still work, travel, and be hyper-active, while a “Grand Senior” takes a calmer pace and might need a walking cane.
Total Freedom: Play Your Way!
Of course, not everyone plays the same way. For those who prefer faster gameplay or don’t want to manage early years, it should be possible to skip one or several stages at any time (via a birthday cake, game settings, or cheats). The idea is to offer incredible depth to players without forcing it on anyone!
What do you think? Would you like to have this level of nuance for your Zois’ evolution?
I also really love this idea, I’d like to tweak the numbers a bit, to make them more real world, for those who are into the closer to reality vibe.
birth to 1 month = newborn
1 month to 1 year = infant/baby
1 to 3 years = toddler
3 to 6 = early childhood/preschool
6 to 12 = childhood
13 to 18 = adolescence
18 to 25 = young adult
25 to 45 = adult
45 to 65 = middle age
65 to 80 = Senior citizen
80+ = Elder
Also, can we please, please, have our older folks walking upright, and not all bent over, portly. and with their hands behind their backs? I know far, far, too many people in the senior and elder stages of life that are more fit and upright than stooped and frail.
Better yet, can we choose the type of Senior Citizen and Elder we are going to be? Robust, typical, or frail? that would be best.
I would love it if you could add life stages like that, especially for small children who would transition from newborn to baby as it is now, and then move to the infant stage starting from 1 year to 4 years old when they would start to walk on their own…
I wish I could upvote this a 100 times. This would be awesome.
I ran my character in your first picture using ChatGPT and got great results too.
Technically in-game Elder and Grand Elder are there but called Middle-aged and Elder.
I like having a middle-aged stage MORE than I would love having a grand elder, but the size adjustment of Pre-teen and the new toddler stage (or preschooler, whatever the call it) ? that would be great !
This idea is awesome! Players who don’t want to experience it can skip it by having a birthday pass, or even turn it off in the settings; while players who like it will enjoy a lot of fun.
If it’s made into a DLC, it would become a major highlight of this game.
I had not thought about it.
But if they ever give us direct input of the length in days of each age groups in the menu (and I ask for that all the time because they are a couple lines codes away from making it a reality, they chose not to for some reason).
Setting 0 days should just skip the stage to the next one.
Not only this allows us to set each of these groups for as long as we want without being restricted to ÷4, ÷2, Normal, x2, x4 like we have now, but it allows to skip it.
What this changes concretely:
Total Freedom: Play Your Way!
