Hello everyone. I’d like to start by saying that I really like this game, and at first I was genuinely impressed by how great the communication between the developers and the players is. I truly admire that we’re given the opportunity to suggest improvements for the game.
However… I feel that this approach might need to be paused. I’ve been noticing that players keep asking for “this” and “that”, and while we do get those things, the question is: in what form? Yes, I know the game is in early access, but I’m honestly surprised by the development strategy the company has chosen.
It makes me wonder whether it would be better to temporarily slow down on adding new content and instead focus more on fixing and polishing what’s already in the game. Bugs are something I can still justify — I’m a developer myself, and I fully understand that no product is ever bug-free and that fixing issues takes time. But what I find hard to justify is the quality of the newly added content. To me, much of it feels very shallow and unfinished.
So this raises an important question: should developers stop catering so much to player requests and instead focus on improving what already exists? Or is it better to keep adding a lot of new content, even if it’s still “raw”?
Yes, they should pause and focus on improving the existing content.
No, I like that new content is constantly being added to the game, even if it’s a bit raw.
I feel neutral about this and don’t consider it a problem.
Most features they work on atm are totally fine for a future DLC and I think most players would understand. And they already do.
When Kjun announces on discord that this or that feature won’t make it into the update because they are struggling, there is nothing but understanding, and ‘take your time and don’t forget to rest’ comments.
So I don’t even think it’s so much the players who put the team under pressure, but the publisher and the investors.
Where I really thought ‘this has to end’ was, when Kjun announced the cats eye ‘plumbob’ would come back because players requested it.
So some like it and some don’t.
What will they do if others request the other one back again?
This is not just an ‘oh ok, then we just change it again’ - I fear many hours/days get ‘wasted’ with such lesser important decisions.
There are meetings and discussions that rather should be held on what’s really important
→ right now ←
I wish before every decision they are going to consider, they’d ask themselves:
Is this really the most important thing → right now ← or can it wait until the game is stable - and on a good way for final release.
inZOI already has much too much features for a base game.
That might look impressive at first sight, but will remain flat and soulless.
How many times we’ve already heard: We’ll flesh that out later.
And it never happened. Diving for example.
There is no ‘later’. They’ll always be busy.
Right now with getting the game ready, and after final release with the next DLC.
We’ve already seen that in the Sims 4, barely anything gets ever fixed.
(Like the ‘Dine Out’ pack for example, or ‘for Rent’)
Do you maybe want to start a poll for this?
It’s really easy and so users, who don’t want to write a reply, could share their opinion about this.
Thank you for your help and for sharing your opinion. I’ve set up a poll, and I’m really interested in the majority opinion of the players. Discord isn’t very convenient for me, and it’s hard for me to keep track of players’ opinions there.
Personally, I am really looking forward to how traits impact the bigger social machine; and also how genetics eventually influence offspring, both appearance and personality.
The hyperrealistic graphics were what caught my attention, but a more complex, AI improved social landscape is what keeps me hanging around.
Once I can see the effects of this fully realized vision in my generational gameplay, of which I have not done at all yet bc it is such a shallow depth at this point…which is fine. It’s pre-release.
But that is the focus I hope takes center stage sooner than later. The last update seemed a bit of a step backwards to me but again - pre-release.
From my point of view, there are two different types of content:
A- content that, for me, must be part of the base game, the fundamentals for the game to be interesting and well playable.
B- those pleasant ones that can easily wait.
The fact is that what is a priority for me may not be for the majority of players, it depends a lot on the playstyle. For example, the Halloween update didn’t excite me, the December one seems much more interesting.
I’m quite convinced that if a game (but also a film, for example) tries to please everyone, in the end it doesn’t please anyone, because it’s something empty, devoid of soul.
Perhaps the expression of Zoi’s soul, which was there and is there, has been somewhat slowed down by commercial reasons.
When I see the 1300 players on Steam, it seems to me a bit like a small boat in the middle of a storm and I wish (and I wish myself) that it manages to stay on course.
For me personally, a base game should focus on the fundamentals: excellent optimization, a genealogical/family tree, core gameplay systems, and well-developed relationships between family members and NPCs. I believe these aspects should be polished to near perfection.
Everything else, in my opinion, should be released as DLC and be thoroughly planned and developed in advance. For example, it would make sense to dedicate 4–6 months to a “Crime” DLC, where systems like the justice system, interactions between thieves, police, and courts are deeply and carefully implemented.
My main criticism is that right now both the base game and smaller updates (such as business in the future, crime, etc.) feel very raw. Instead of refining and perfecting one system at a time, new content keeps getting released over and over again.
The DLC way would be the best way to add content imo.
If there were a crime DLC, for example, we’d had the option to simply ignore/not buy it and we wouldn’t have to deal with it in our game.
I also agree with you. I am mainly looking forward to additional content which I consider essential for the base game such as developing the babies and toddlers more, having multitasking, more group activities to do stuff together with family or friends, family calendar and tree, bring karma back, give us the option to decide if and how the NPC families progress in the city etc.
Apart from that I would hope that they focus on fixing all the issues which have been posted here in the forum all over: things like event invitations not working and disappearing, skill progression is very unbalanced for some of the skills, textures change their color when scaled up and down, Zois standing around idle when talking to each other because they are waiting for some stranger far away to join their conversation etc, etc.
Yes, you described exactly what I expect from a base game — something that you can play and truly enjoy. Unfortunately, I stopped playing this game about a month ago, and at the moment I don’t really feel the desire to return.
Even so, I really like the game (I even like it more than The Sims), and I’m confident that if all the annoying bugs are fixed and the base game is improved and refined (rather than focusing on DLC-style content), I will happily come back and play it every day.
Is there a way to make this post noticeable to the devs to let them know that inZOI can be great if they perfect what they already have and not to spend time creating more stuff yet?
For me they need to focus on making the game run properly and realistically
IE they added the dance clubs but then you click the dance anim and often it barely lasts a second .
I constantly have issues with building where often i can only add one or two items then it stops working and i have to exit and restart the save or clicking on the floor to move stops working .
They added toddler furniture into the original release BUT still toddlers cannot use it
