Better family story telling

Wishlist
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:two_hearts: inZOI Gameplay Wishlist

I absolutely love inZOI and think it has the potential to be an amazing life simulator. I just feel like it needs more storytelling, realistic life events, relationship depth, and autonomous families to keep gameplay interesting.

:broken_heart: Deeper Relationships & Drama

  • More reactions to cheating besides simply breaking up/divorcing.

  • Confront the spouse or the person they cheated with.

  • Tell the other person’s spouse.

  • Arguments, forgiveness, separation, counseling, grudges, etc.

  • More gossip, secrets, rumors, and consequences.

  • More meaningful conversations between Zois.

:family_man_woman_girl_boy: Better Family Relationships

Add:

  • Stepchild / stepsibling

  • Half-sibling

  • Aunt / uncle

  • Cousin

  • Niece / nephew

  • In-laws

  • Adoptive family

Blended families should automatically recognize these relationships and have unique interactions.

:pregnant_woman: More Realistic Pregnancy & Reproductive Choices

  • Pregnancy tests and confirmation

  • Choice to continue a pregnancy or have an abortion

  • Adoption

  • Miscarriages

  • Pregnancy complications

  • Different pregnancy symptoms

  • Partner/family reactions

  • Unexpected pregnancies

  • Teen pregnancy

  • Fertility differences

  • More realistic pregnancy progression

  • Post-pregnancy experiences

:dna: DNA & Paternity

  • DNA/paternity testing to find out a child’s biological father

  • Ability to request a test privately or openly

  • Paternity disputes and accusations

  • Results revealing that the presumed father isn’t the biological father

  • Reactions from parents, children, and extended family

  • Children discovering their biological parents later in life

  • Family tree updating after confirmed DNA results

  • Half-siblings discovering each other through DNA testing

:globe_showing_americas: Unplayed Families Should Have Their Own Lives

Unplayed families should autonomously be able to:

  • Date, marry, and divorce

  • Have children or adopt

  • Move in together or move out

  • Buy/rent new homes

  • Have children grow up and move out

  • Start new relationships

  • Change careers

  • Create blended families

The world shouldn’t freeze just because we’re not playing that household.

:houses: A Living World

Imagine playing your family for 10 in-game years and discovering your neighbor got married, had 2 kids, divorced, moved away, and a completely new family moved into their house.

Notifications could say:

“Your childhood friend just got married!”

“The Johnson family welcomed a baby.”

“Michael and Sarah finalized their divorce.”

“A new family moved into your neighborhood.”

:performing_arts: More Random Story Events

  • Family arguments

  • Unexpected pregnancies

  • Breakups

  • Weddings

  • Births

  • Deaths

  • Reunions

  • Family secrets

  • Friends falling out

  • Old friends returning

Overall, I don’t think inZOI needs to completely change what it is. It needs more depth, choices, consequences, and autonomous storytelling.

I want to feel like I’m living in the world, not controlling the entire world. :heart:

4 Likes
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Welcome to the forum​:four_leaf_clover:

I definitely agree that family storytelling and relationships still need more depth, but I think quite a few things in this post are either already in the game or already announced by Kjun.

For example, adoption is already in the game. “Adopt a Child” was originally available through the computer and was later also added to the smartphone:

A lot of the relationship/family ideas are also already listed in the Fundamentals First & 2026 Roadmap:

This includes things like:

- non-blood relationships in the family tree and manual relationship labels

- autonomous marriage and divorce

- different breakup outcomes, like staying friends or becoming enemies

- different reactions to cheating depending on personality, including revenge, grief or reconciliation

- divorce lawsuits and custody disputes

- twins and triplets

- baby showers and gender reveal events

- more positive AND negative family dynamics

- more romance dialogue

- controls for married Zois flirting/cheating depending on personality and traits

Kjun also talked specifically about adoption, blended families, step-parents and guardians when discussing the family tree:

And autonomy itself is currently being reworked so Zois make more decisions based on personality and relationships. Kjun even used the example that a family-oriented Zoi should naturally prefer spending time with their spouse and children:

Of course there are still ideas here that go beyond what has been announced, like DNA/paternity testing, fertility differences, miscarriages, family secrets etc., and those can definitely be discussed. :four_leaf_clover:

I just think it would help to separate “already exists”, “already announced but could be expanded” and “completely new suggestion” a little more. Otherwise it can make it sound like inZOI has no plans for family/relationship improvements when quite a lot of this is already actively being worked on.

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If there is a case of infidelity where the mother cheated on the father with another man, but the first man decides to stay in the child’s life instead of “severing ties” (which would make them have no relationship, his relationship bar would drop and the child could be sad and hurt) OR he could decide to stay in the child’s life and then be a step-father or something?

2 Likes