[1.16.26] The beginnings of 'Fundamentals First' (Updated)

[Kjun]

Hello!

Wow, even though it’s winter here in Korea, it’s 10°C today—it feels warm.
Lately, the temperatures here swing dramatically between -10°C and +10°C.

It seems like development doesn’t always follow a fixed rhythm either.
Some days progress quickly, while others feel like we’re stuck in place, but what’s important is that we keep moving forward without stopping.

This week, although we didn’t include it in the video, we spent a lot of time discussing the record system.
In a life simulation game, it’s easy to lose track of what a Zoi is doing if you look away even for a moment.
Since we’re not the ones playing, but more like observers, it becomes difficult to understand Zoi’s actions without some kind of record.
That’s why we’ve come to think that a system for recording things like memories, diaries, and activity logs is something we need to build sooner rather than later.
It would help players understand Zoi’s behavior patterns and get a sense of what happened in their day.

Even if there aren’t any flashy results to show, I believe the bits of code and thoughts we add each day will eventually come together to create an amazing version of inZOI.

I hope you enjoy the development updates we worked on this week.
As for me, I’m going to see The Lord of the Rings—it’s getting a re-release!
Wishing you a wonderful weekend~

— K.jun

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Kjun’s Reply to Your Comments

Hello everyone — happy Wednesday!

Your communication with the inZOI team is always a huge source of energy for our developers. This week, you shared a wide range of feedback and suggestions about the latest update, feature improvements, bug fixes, and our future development roadmap. Players especially appreciated our efforts to strengthen the game’s core fundamentals and improve fine details — particularly independent dual-arm functionality, smaller grid snap options, the emotion and memory system, family and social interactions, and Build Mode improvements.
And yes… fine-detail improvements are only just beginning. Please look forward to what’s next. ^^

Strengthening core features & improving animations

Many of you responded positively to the idea of both arms working independently, enabling multitasking — like holding food in one hand while using a phone with the other.
We also received a lot of feedback asking for more natural animations and behavior in everyday actions such as walking, talking, and cooking — including improved facial expressions, better lip-sync, and especially more variety in emotional expression and body language. Our artists are currently collecting and reviewing the many references and suggestions you’ve shared on Discord, and actively developing improvements based on them. Please stay tuned.
In Build Mode, you requested more granular grid snap, better object collision, and more intuitive ways to rotate and move objects. We’re aware of these areas and will continue improving them step by step.

Memory & emotion system

There’s strong excitement around the memory system, and many of you believe it will make Zoi behavior and storytelling much richer. You suggested many possible uses — such as photo albums, diaries, and investigations or events that reflect memories.
You also requested clearer explanations (and ideally a reference guide) for emotion icons and thought bubbles, and pointed out the need for improved visibility of emotional states and interactions. We aim to make Zoi behavior and storytelling significantly deeper through this system.

Character & life-stage improvements

Many of you noted the need for clearer visual and behavioral differences across life stages — infants, toddlers, teens, adults, middle age, and seniors. In particular, you emphasized improving realism in body proportions and behavior patterns for toddlers, children, and teenagers.
You also requested more detailed senior representation (posture, wrinkles, physical changes), as well as pregnancy behaviors, parenting interactions, and newborn care features.

Social interaction & relationship systems

You asked for more variety in social interactions — conversations with strangers, emotional exchanges between family and friends, affection, dating, and anniversary events.
There were especially strong requests for natural romantic actions (hugs, kisses, holding hands), family hugs, and richer parent–child interactions. Wow — there have been so many requests here that we’ll need to work even harder.
You also suggested Autonomy improvements, including stopping all autonomous actions when Autonomy is turned off, and giving player-controlled interactions higher priority. We’re currently discussing this, and we plan to provide more detailed Autonomy controls through the HUD. It may take a bit more time — sorry about that.

Career & economy system development

You shared feedback on improving realism and depth in the career system — including job interviews, resumes, promotion requirements, and stronger workplace relationships. You also requested expanded content around running businesses such as stores, clothing shops, salons, massage shops, and more.

While there may be a few smaller updates in between, this aligns closely with our team’s major April update plans. Thank you. Of course, it won’t match every suggestion exactly — but there’s significant overlap, and we’re glad we’re aiming in the same direction.

Other improvements

Other topics included seamless movement between city areas, hotel and rental systems, and seasonal festivals/events (Valentine’s Day, summer festivals, Halloween, etc.), as well as improvements to traffic and public etiquette systems.

You also discussed improvements to clubs and venues, more natural audience and crowd behavior, DJ booth music synchronization, fabric physics, more hairstyles and accessories, introducing a pet system, and expanding everyday-life content like swimming, exercise, and outdoor activities.

On top of that, steady requests continue for core quality upgrades — bug fixes and stability, UI improvements, save system improvements, animation speed controls, and additional convenience features.

Thank you again for everything this week.

In 2026, we’ll continue strengthening core gameplay and improving fine details to create a more realistic and immersive life simulation. We’ll actively incorporate your feedback into our 2026 roadmap, and we’d like to share development progress in a table format as well.

Korea has been extremely cold lately — dropping as low as -14°C. Still, reading your messages has been a real joy. That said… the office is freezing too, so I should post this and hurry back to the warmth of my family.

Thank you,
kjun

Discord - Group Chat That’s All Fun & Games

[LennyOgg]

For the memory system:

please make it editable so that it doesn’t look like:

Monday: - got insulted by an NPC I’ve never seen before

Tuesday: - got insulted by an NPC I’ve never seen before

Wednesday: - the NPC who insulted me and therefore ended up in my contacts died and now I’m sad and depressed for a week

[theboynub]

I don’t want to seem rude, but everything I see from you lately reminds me of a certain Sims audience (I play both games), who, during such comments, killed all logical connections with the team, and then emerged in a complete misinformation that only grows and grows. This does not mean that one should not criticize the game, its shortcomings and all that, but you yourself literally promote such views, as a result of which serious disputes are born, which are precisely what takes away resources, even on a topic when the team has answered a million of these questions

[Starwing]

Thanks for another great update post and video.

I’m excited about the fundamentals being addressed first. It’s a great approach to getting the game to a great place even before it’s finished so more new players will be drawn to inZOI and have an amazing time playing it.

Small things like improving the behaviour when zois bump into things is massive for immersion. I remember one time recording a let’s play video, I was surprised when I saw an NPC walk over the top of a bicycle and it stopped me from talking about whatever I was saying because it grabbed my attention so much. Now, it will be a different situation, such as seeing what happens if an NPC knocks something right in the way of my zoi and how I will react. I love it, and I can’t wait. (Well, technically I can wait, so don’t rush! lol)

Being able to adjust the grid size in Build Mode could be very helpful. But not as helpful as restoring the black grid for ceilings. It’s very difficult to align and space lights without it. I have no idea why it was removed, but its replacement would be the first thing that would improve my building experience by about 100%.

Multitasking is coming along so well. I love it and look forward to seeing these improvements in my gameplay sessions. It’s already so nice seeing zois multitask in certain situations, so I’m definitely looking forward to its continued direction.

I’m very curious about the memories and I hope it will feel unique and not repetitive. I stopped playing with Smart Zoi on because it felt so generic. Like @LennyOgg I’m a storyteller when it comes to these games. Yes, I love building, creating zois, and designing new outfits, etc., but creating my own stories is the most important to me.

When I play, I get very immersed in the story I’m creating and the characters have specific motivations to go somewhere and do something. The memory system isn’t likely to connect the birth or aging up of a child and the father’s visit to the cat temple that same day in any meaningful way, yet it’s a definite intentional act full of meaning for me in my storytelling.

I am really looking forward to how it is implemented. I can’t give feedback about it until then anyhow. Because I’m a storyteller first, the feature may also become something like Smart Zoi to me: something I think other people get a lot of enjoyment from, but it’s just not for me. I’ll hope for the best, though, and let you know what I think when I get to see it.

[GDfromRivendell]

Oh bro, we keep going and promote the game in a positive way for our audiences. I’ve already realized myself that constant help in pushing certain things, which some others are dissatisfied with, just boils down to the fact that those people are simply consistently dissatisfied. Ofc, I won’t say that if it’s so unbearable to play, communicate, and accept the game’s direction, then what’s the point of such sacrifices? Oh, I already said that, ok.

Overall, Sims has really become a bad example of communication, and I’d long since put this series aside, everything general that was taken from it’s fine and already enough, we move forward on our own.

Regarding the memory system, I fought for it myself and also heard from players that they believed it wasn’t first in line, nor even third. But I knew it would be carried over from the previous roadmap (Dec 2025) into the new one. And as we can see, the team now treats it as a top priority in Q1 2026, covering both the logs and event memory (the timeline/diary), which was shown in the early game footage.

[Taibak]

Many thanks to Kjun and the team for their transparency.

I’ll post my brief feedback on fundamentals first and hope that the team isn’t just focused on Discord.

Because I enjoy building for hours and days on end, I really like the smaller grid snapping function and consider it an enhancement. The work on the memory system, Bug fixing, the revision of the recently adapted Zoi pathfinding system, and the introduction of independent arms are certainly a step in the right direction.

Subsequent changes to Zois’ age via CAZ, further physical adjustments and changes to family names, as well as additional careers and businesses that could also be run from home.

[amelialsquires]

I like the smaller grid snapping.