My wish: Inzoi devs should play their own game

Wishlist
1

TL;DR: My wish is that Inzoi devs take more of the initiative instead of waiting for players to tell them what it takes to make a fun and playable game. Play the game yourself. Yet, look at it through the eyes of a consumer. Then and only then will you begin to see why some players have turned away from the game.

I could easily fall in love with Inzoi, truly. However, it often feels as if the devs are waiting for the players to tell them what to do. If they’re playing it themselves, they should have already noticed some of the things that irritate and possibly turn players away:

  • The backpack has carry restrictions, yet there is no storage in the game.
  • The resale store is restrictive in what it will buy. Not every player wants to run a booth at the market in order to get rid of expensive items. In my experience, crafting items, such as tools, can’t be sold online either.
  • Produce can only be sold one category at a time instead of all in one go.
  • Seed extraction is tedious.
  • Zois won’t stay still; that includes Zois that are in a scheduled meeting.
  • Some interactions are so short that they serve no purpose: pool, chess, etc.
  • There are too many decorative items that should be functional: microwave, juicer, etc.
  • The game requires too many clicks as a whole but especially when farming. A single click should have been enough to complete watering, weeding, and fertilizing of all crops. It’s the same with cleaning.
  • Zois can’t swim without the player constantly holding down a button on the mouse/controller.
  • Cahaya natives are all treated like tourists. They have no option to buy snorkeling equipment or boats. These items are a money sink in a game that doesn’t need one.

All of the above are the most obvious examples of things that should have been fixed before launch. Yes, even for an early access game!

I know that this post may convince devs/readers that I hate Inzoi, or that I don’t know how early access games work. However, neither thing is true. My library is full of EA games. Lots of them have been fun from the start. However, I can’t say the same about Inzoi. Parts of it are such a drag and I don’t understand why they were left as they are.

Players’ money and time are precious resources. In this case, it feels that the they are being misused for things that the developers could have discovered for themselves, long before EA launch.

(Edited for typos and clarity.)

18 Likes
2

I agree with your overall view on this, but I have to keep reminding myself '“What was the first version of The Sims like?” I think there’s a real learning process that has to go on for developers to understand what makes a life-sim usable and fun. I really hope that inZOI is a reasonable success and the devs are able to take the lessons learned to make an even better inZOI 2.0 in the future. I’m happy to support them as they travel this multiyear road.

Your first point about the backpack is definitely one that should have been caught though. The Cahaya DLC is mostly about collecting – fish, minerals, crops, etc. So better inventory management is a must. I think the simplest solution is to have a bottomless storage box available in Build Mode. Players could place multiple of these, even color-coding them. Blue for fish, red for minerals, green for crops, etc.

Transferring items from the backpack to a storage box should be a one-step process, e.g. a pop-up window with your backpack on one side and the storage box inventory on the other. Ideally just drag and drop to transfer items but that doesn’t work too well for game pad users. Those players could select an item then click a left- or right-arrow button to transfer one way or the other. It’s still better than the current system of taking an item out of the backpack and into your hand , then placing it on a (limited) display surface.

OK, I’ve babbled on long enough! :grinning_face:

5 Likes
3

You weren’t babbling. You had good points. :slightly_smiling_face:

The reason that I hold Inzoi to a higher standard than the other franchise is because they’re not the first. They’re entering a genre that has been around for a long time. At this point, they should be able to recognize tedium and clunkiness when they see it. Especially, IIRC, the lead said that he was a fan of the other franchise.

I really want Inzoi to succeed. To do that, they’ve got to focus on quality of life as well as features. I’d argue that QOL fixes should have come before they set up a mod delivery system, for example.

2 Likes
4

One click to say “Water all crops” or “Pull all weeds” (etc)
Then your family of zois (or just the one) chains the actions until either cancelled or done.

I dislike magical harvesting/watering/tending weeds.
I want my zoi to do the work, it’s far better immersion.

Totally agree with you about too much clicking and many of your other points
But I dont want magical “POOF! DONE” button.
Like the current scarecrows allow to gather a 5x5 plot of farming when positioned right.
But it’s just “POOF! DONE !” :frowning:

Hopefully they address that.
And yeah the inventory needs a whole rework. When getting a harvest, I can get to 2-3k/100 and the “featherbag” cheat is an absolute must !

Let’s wish ourselves luck that this will be addressed soon :slight_smile:

2 Likes
5

I agree with pretty much all the issues mentioned in the OP, but I think the devs are probably well aware of many of them. They’ve been pretty clear about the fact that many game mechanics, especially the ones introduced in the latest update, are not finished yet. Part of the problem with ‘Early Access’ is that it’s an incredibly broad term covering games at very different stages of development, from ‘prototype’ to ‘basically complete, but we’re giving it out early to superfans’. Games like The Sims almost certainly had the same type of problems during development, but they didn’t get released until everything was polished up. I think a lot of people just expected Inzoi to come out at a rather later stage of development.

One thing that definitely does need an urgent overhaul is the ‘you must hold this item in your hand to interact with it’ system. Having to take items out one by one to use or place them is maddening and inexplicable, especially since some objects DO allow for direct interaction (mining spots, for example). Interactable objects in the gameworld should just do an inventory check for the relevant item, and then have your Zoi take it out automatically, while using/placing/selling inventory items should be available directly from the inventory.

6 Likes
6

In this case, the players themselves act as partial playtesters and QA — ironic as that may sound. It’s probably cheaper this way, and Early Access can justify it to some extent, but it’s no substitute for professional teams. Players often push back, saying “It’s fine, you’ll just fix it — it should work like this, this, and this”.

But I work professionally in this field, and some team members have 5, 10, even 20 years of experience — and yes, player feedback is tracked one way or another, but even for professionals, it’s hard to define how things should be, let alone for players.

That’s why proper testing is done in five stages:

  1. Initial internal dev testing — level designers/QA, ongoing

  2. General dev testing with team leads and external devs

  3. Closed beta testing by professional gamers from other titles in the genre

  4. Influencer early beta testing with limited publication (they act as the voice of the community — and mostly as critics, rather than promoters, they highlight potential problem areas and amplify feedback from their audiences)

  5. Public beta testing on the test build (direct feedback from players)

After each stage, the update goes back into refinement cycles — two weeks, and so on. Final release on the main build (when the game is in public beta, it’s still not a release).

1 Like
7

Concering inventory it also would be nice if you could click on any item within backpack and get all avaiable interactions without the need to take it in your hands before being able to do so (and they take the item into hands if needed for the action automatically). Especially as some items are very small and Zois are always moving a little so sometimes its even hart to hit the item in their hands without pausing time to freeze them…

3 Likes
8

Just to reiterate on collectibles — no game has done it better than Farming Simulator (crates), Valheim (multiple storage types), RDR2 (lockboxes, detector, satchel), EFT (realistic puzzle inventory with stash expansions), and so on…

All those typical RPG tricks around inZOI feel outdated — like something from an old pocket RPG manual or a beginner’s tutorial on YouTube. And those surface ores… that was a total immersion killer. I’m very sorry, but…while other aspects of the game were met with reasonable expectations and just needed refinement, this one hit me like a headshot :cry:

Modern challenges in immersive gameplay demand modern solutions.

9

And another point I’d add to this list:
When developing new mechanics and concepts that were already explored by similar games or other games of the genre it might not hurt to take a brief look on how they solved things - this is not about “cloning” everything but about “best practices” and there is no need to reinvent the wheel for everything :smiley:

3 Likes
10

I mean, that’s basically what I’ve been working on in development — and posting about on the forums too, like here:

it’s just that I’m an active developer myself, and our interaction with marketing follows an extremely strict pipeline. We need to assemble a refboard and at least 5-10 concepts. They’re typically cross-genre and field-tested, avoiding direct overlap with competitors.

Every thread is backed by references from actual games. Sure, the posts are unpopular here, but at least I know I’ve done deep research on each topic, specifically in terms of how it’s been used across other games. My role here is modest — just to suggest and showcase. And even with all that baggage, I’m afraid I might just make things messier — it’s up to the players to decide what level of familiarity with trends and quality standards they’re comfortable with.

1 Like
11

I’ve always defended the game, even on Steam, because there are things I really like about it, and it’s actually on EA. But maybe I’m a little too early :).
There are way too many bugs or missing features. I’ve logged over 500 hours of gameplay, but I’m getting a little tired of the problems.
I’d like to think the developers have put a lot of time into Cahaya, making the game more appealing to as many people as possible, and that they’re now focusing on improving the overall game.

12

I think a lot of what you are listing is just because the game is not finished being made yet. Just keep that in mind while playing. Also, they very well might be playing it themselves, but it takes time to code and implement everything, so they are doing it bit by bit and paying attention to feedback along the way instead of making us wait for the entire thing when it’s finished. I think they want players to give them feedback not because they aren’t trying or playing their own game, but because so many people view things differently, they want to see a wider and bigger range of what could go wrong and opinions and what people notice. In addition, they then can prioritize things with the help of seeing what the majority of people are wanting or not wanting.
For example, if you knew a house wasn’t done being built, but were able to use the house to some extent before it was finished, you probably wouldn’t abandon the house entirely because it doesn’t have a shower yet; you’d make do how you could until it was finished.
The base game is not finished, so we can expect things to change

3 Likes
13

I believe it is still in development, so keep that in mind with the bugs and missing features

2 Likes
14

i think how they do it is kind of cool. at first i reacted how you say, but then i let go of assuming convenience equals better and lack of convenience makes it worse, and it became very fun.
afterall prioritizing convenience is essentially what is killing the world and people’s mental health all over and I know in Eastern culture there are beliefs in not making everything easy or convenient, so i assumed it had to do with being a Korean company and don’t mind the game reflecting that fact to some extent

1 Like
15

Exactly what I’ve been thinking. I don’t think they’re just relying on us to essentially make their game for them. They’ve suggested their own ideas with how to improve features and ask us what we think. I rather them do that then just do things however they see fit ( in certain circumstances) and then next thing you know, a majority of players aren’t happy with how they do it. This way they can get the most feedback and actually implement what the players want to see before just jumping the gun. And after reading koins replies in the first part of the ama on Reddit, a lot of what people asked about are features they are already working on or on their list of things they had planned to have in the game earlier but weren’t due to other things taking priority. So obviously they know what areas are lacking and they’re already working on it. Like for example, with having to buy a house just to go vacation at the resort, they know this is an issue and they said they’re going to work on a better solution for it. Just like how snorkeling isn’t free roam yet but they intend to make it that way in time. And ntm based off the interview Kuhn did at gamescom it seems like krafton wants to get the game out of EA before the end of next year while kjun said he doesn’t see that happening by the end of next year so he clearly wants to take the time to make things as good as possible. I think Krafton may be rushing them to get things out and that’s why some features are they way they are rn.

2 Likes
16

I don’t think it’s fair to compare ourselves to the early version of The Sims. The fact that The Sims launched in such a rough state doesn’t really give us a reason to relax and say, “Well, The Sims was even worse.” If the goal is to make a better game, it makes more sense to look at strong examples that had more polished early releases and take those as our reference point.

4 Likes
17

Very sound judgments, guys. From my side, I’ll say — yes, it’s great that they’re engaging with players, that’s important and valuable. But let’s also recognize what parts of this chain can break down.

QA (Quality Assistance) usually refers to hired specialists who work with documentation and specific metrics — tools that help assess the quality level of different product aspects. The Testing Group, likewise, tends to be composed of hired testers working from guidelines, checking for compliance.

This layer is crucial for balancing and stabilizing quality across the board, and for providing a degree of predictability.

I’m not saying this layer doesn’t exist — I’m saying it would be great to see it clearly positioned between developer and player. Even when buying early access, I want to feel the team’s cohesion and vision. And when you’re told right at the start that the roadmap has been canceled — meaning the pipeline and documentation are gone — you start to wonder whether discipline exists at all.

Kjun’s a great guy — I’ve watched all his pre-release interviews, and he said very grounded things. I’m not interested in the Cahaya DLC itself (because it lost the core concept and broke down into fragmented mechanics from 2009–2014, and doesn’t offer freedom to experiment or other things that matter in simulators — it’s just a short tour), but damn, he sold a solid core game concept that 1.3 million people bought! A concept that’s at risk of falling apart before our eyes, sadly.

Those interviews — that’s what real success looks like. That’s when you can step back and hand things off to salaried specialists.

Why did it sell? Because it’s authentic. It represents fresh air and a way out of the genre’s stagnation. I strongly recommend watching those interviews and presentations, and comparing them to the small details we’re discussing now.

Players can’t see the full picture, the interconnection of systems, can’t reliably say how things should be built. And therefore the player base can’t be the 100% foundation for product evaluation or decision-making.

For example, we’re not even talking about Zois’ personalities at all. That’s something critics bring up, they’ll say “this and that is great, but it doesn’t mean anything if Zois are still semi-dead dolls in a dollhouse.” But the fanbase often shuts down critics with “look how terrible Sims 4 was at launch.” That kind of reaction makes people who genuinely want the game to succeed turn away, and stop participating in building its success.

The heart and soul of a game can’t rank below the snorkelling mechanic, etc., you know what I mean? We’re shifting the developers’ focus away from the actual problem — the one that stops many people from buying the game (and thus excludes them from active participation in voting) — toward something minor.

1 Like
18

YMMV on these things, of course, but I very much doubt this particular issue is down to some kind of grand philosophical difference between Korean and Western devs. I think it’s just bad UI design. They can defend it on the grounds of “convenience is bad” if they want, but that’s probably a bad idea if they actually want to sell their game.

2 Likes
19

Normally I would agree but I do think life Sims need a lot of input, angles and perspectives from all types of people from diverse backgrounds to become a well rounded, appealing life sim.

Suppose they just went ahead and made it how they think it should be made? It would not be the lifesim it is gearing up to become.

20

I do take it into account, in fact, it’s the answer I’ve always given to those who condemn it outright.

I love many things about this game and I’m patiently waiting for future updates.

However, the Cahaya release came with quite a few bugs. They’ve slowed down my game quite a bit.

I made a mistake by creating families and buildings that I’ve become “invested” in from the beginning, because it’s the first Early Access game I’ve bought. But it’s the only way I have to play, it would bore me to think of being just a tester :).

1 Like