I would like to see inZOI go even further in what could, in my eyes, make its difference: make the family a true living system.
Not just create characters, give them a beautiful house and decide everything they do.
But create a family where each member has their own opinions, their limits, their preferences, their goals, their memories and, most importantly, their own will.
The idea may seem simple:
Don’t try to build the perfect family. Build a family and discover what story it will become.
We’re used to, in life simulation games, controlling almost every aspect of our characters’ lives. What if, intentionally, we could sometimes lose some of that control?
Not to remove the player’s ability to tell their own stories, but to give them the choice between writing their story exactly as they imagine it and letting their Zois participate in writing it.
A family that has its own will:
Family gameplay could become much more alive if Zois had their own opinions, limits, preferences and goals, instead of systematically obeying the player.
For example:
Dad thinks:
“I’m very close to my daughter.”
His daughter may think:
“Dad loves me, but he never listens to me.”
This simple disconnect could create enormous emergent situations.
The player could influence their family, but not necessarily control everything.
The system I would propose:
Each family member would have their own opinions and could react differently to decisions made around them.
For example:
- You decide to move → your spouse refuses.
- You want to have a third child → your spouse disagrees.
- You punish your teenager → your spouse thinks your decision is unfair.
- You unintentionally favor one child → their sibling becomes jealous because they feel their parents prefer them.
- Your child wants to drop out of school → parents can have opposite reactions.
- Your teenager wants to go out → you refuse → they can negotiate, get upset… or go out anyway → punishment.
- Grandparents can criticize the way you raise your children.
- Grandparents can intervene and have their own opinion on family decisions.
- Your spouse can disagree with the way you raise a child and let you know.
- Your spouse can make certain decisions without you. At their own risk.
- Your spouse wants to change jobs → impossible, because the eldest is starting expensive long-term studies → the youngest goes to private school → you’re still repaying the house loan → conflict.
And that’s precisely where the system could become interesting.
You could influence, but not always control.
These disagreements shouldn’t be just simple relationship penalties. They could trigger arguments, compromises, reconciliations or completely unexpected events.
Conflicts that become real stories:
Conflicts wouldn’t simply be:
“Relationship -10”
They could have a memory, evolve over time and trigger new situations.
Let’s take an example.
You ask your teenager to come home at 10 p.m.
They come home at 11:30 p.m.
You can:
A. Punish them severely
→ immediate obedience
→ trust decreases
→ resentment increases
B. Talk with them
→ you discover they were with a friend whose parents are divorcing.
C. Ignore it
→ more freedom
→ but they might do it again.
And most importantly, this decision shouldn’t necessarily disappear after a few minutes.
Years later, this story could still have consequences.
It’s this kind of memory that would allow family relationships to become much more organic.
Conflicts could really evolve:
Let’s take another example:
You want to move.
Your spouse disagrees.
It’s not simply a relationship bar that goes down.
They could respond:
“You really want to move? We can’t afford it financially. The kids’ school would be far too far away. And we wouldn’t live near our parents anymore.”
Then:
discussion → compromise → new argument → temporary separation → reconciliation… or something else.
The outcome wouldn’t necessarily be predetermined.
And it’s precisely this unpredictability that could make each family unique.
Give chaos to the player!
Most of all, I’d like to see a system of adjustable autonomy:
Full Control → Autonomy → Chaos
Full Control
The player keeps control of all Zois.
This would be important for players who like to create exactly their stories or produce YouTube content.
(But also, for some, it’s quite boring since we get trapped by our own playstyle and every family looks the same and every playthrough too).
Autonomy
Zois start taking their own initiatives.
They can suggest things, make certain decisions and react more to events without constantly waiting for the player’s orders.
Chaos
Zois can really contradict the player and disrupt their plans.
So the goal wouldn’t be to remove control from the player.
It would be to give them the choice between:
telling exactly the story they imagine
or
letting their family write part of the story themselves.
I’d like to be able to create a family in inZOI…
without knowing exactly what family it will become.
You build a story, but you don’t know exactly how it will unfold.
And for players, this could be particularly interesting because two people could start from the same family and get two completely different stories.
The house would be a true family system:
The house shouldn’t be just a decoration element.
It could really influence the family’s life.
Small house
- family closeness
- low cost
- lack of privacy for Zois who like to be alone
- potentially more frequent arguments
- a Zoi very focused on family could conversely be happy being constantly surrounded
Large house
- more personal space
- more comfort
- higher cost
- family members can isolate more and thus be happier if they need space
- conversely, a family member seeking more closeness could feel melancholic due to the lack of shared moments
It could even push them to create family events to compensate:
- family dinner
- Sunday barbecue
- outings
- family games
- family traditions
The house would thus become part of how the family functions, not just its backdrop.
Money would be much more interesting:
Money shouldn’t simply be:
work → money → buy a house.
It could create real family trade-offs.
Let’s say you earn 1,200 Meow per day.
You have to decide how to allocate your money between:
- housing
- food
- vacations
- children’s activities
- tutoring
- car
- education
- savings
- help for grandparents
- renovations
- leisure
- insurance
- medical expenses
- etc…
And most importantly: financial choices should have consequences for the family.
You can pay for private school for your child. But that might mean:
→ fewer vacations.
Or:
→ moving to a cheaper city.
So there wouldn’t necessarily be a decision that’s simply “better”. Each choice could create new consequences.
Family events would be the heart of the game:
The game could generate family events. Very simple events:
“Your son got his first diploma.”
“Your mother is coming to dinner Sunday.”
“Your daughter wants to adopt a cat.”
“Your brother asks you to watch his kids.”
“Your teenager doesn’t want to come to family vacations anymore.”
But also much more important events:
- birth
- marriage
- divorce
- death
- moving
- unemployment
- illness
- inheritance
- birth of a grandchild
- child leaving home
- child moving back home after job loss
- child moving back home after complicated divorce
- temporary move back home to save money for an ambitious project
- move back home after being scammed
- your child gets married and asks you for help financing their wedding or part of it
So you wouldn’t just control one character.
You’d be managing a family system as a whole.
Each family member would have their own life:
The central idea would be:
Each family member has their own life, their own needs and their own memories and you must work with them rather than simply give them orders.
This is where I think inZOI could really create something special.
Your child could become someone completely different from what you imagined.
Your spouse could make decisions you didn’t expect.
An argument could have consequences even years later.
A tradition could appear spontaneously.
One family could grow closer.
Another could fall apart.
And sometimes, a decision made almost without importance could end up completely changing a family’s life.
A family history spanning generations:
I’d also very much like to have a family history, like an intimate journal tracing the major events of a family across generations.
No need to record every detail.
Just the important events:
- marriage
- divorce
- death
- birth
- fortune made
- job loss
- moving
- major conflict
- reconciliation
- birth of a grandchild
- child leaving home
At the end of a generation, the game could display something like:
“Your family lived for XX years.”
Then:
Important moments
- 3 births
- 2 marriages
- 1 divorce
- 4 moves
- 6 careers
- 2 major family conflicts
- 1 reconciliation
And you could look at your family’s history. A trace of the life you built.
There wouldn’t really be a “victory”:
I don’t think there should be a goal like:
“Perfect family”
Because that would quickly push the player toward absurd optimization.
A family that’s happy all the time wouldn’t necessarily be an interesting family.
Instead, each playthrough could generate a personal and unique story.
One family might experience conflict.
Another might be extremely close-knit.
Another might go through divorce, then rebuild.
Another might be very wealthy but have little connection between members.
Another might live in a small house, have little money, but spend lots of time together.
There wouldn’t necessarily be a “right” way to play.
There would simply be the story of your family.
And AI could make all of this even more powerful:
This is probably the aspect that makes me dream the most.
With an AI capable of retaining a memory of conflicts, events, relationships and characteristics of each Zoi, reactions could become much more coherent with their personal history.
A Zoi could remember being favored over their sibling.
Another could keep the memory of an argument with their father.
A parent could remember that their child supported them during a difficult period.
A grandparent could have a very different opinion from their children about raising grandchildren.
And all these experiences could influence their future behaviors.
It would give the impression that Zois aren’t simply characters the player moves around.
They would be individuals living together who remember what they’ve experienced.
My ultimate dream for inZOI:
I think that’s my ultimate dream for inZOI.
Not just having more objects, more clothes or more locations.
I’d like to be able to create a family, give them a house, personalities, relationships and a few dreams…
Then watch them live.
See my children become people I hadn’t planned for.
See my couple go through difficult periods and eventually reconnect.
See grandparents intervene.
See traditions appear that I never programmed.
See an insignificant decision have consequences even years later.
And most importantly, start a new family and discover a completely different story.
I don’t just want to tell a story in inZOI.
I sometimes want to be surprised by the one my Zois will write with me.
That’s why family gameplay is, for me, the ultimate dream for inZOI.
And with AI and true memory of relationships, events and personalities, I think a system like this could become truly possible.
Creating a family would no longer be just creating characters.
It would be creating the beginning of a story whose end nobody, not even the player, knows exactly. And no game has done that yet.
Thank you for reading all the way through.