Posts Tagged ‘rumblings’

Back now in hopefully a somewhat regular fashion. Between the site problems and other Life 1.0 issues, it’s a wonder anything gets done. Anyways, there’s been a lot of feedback, both here and via email/forums/passenger pidgeon/etc. about the ‘Pro’ versions of our software so I thought I would address them in this post.

As for blueprint, it will still be free. I stated that long ago and continue with that stance. blueprint (the version you download from here) and all it’s future versions will always be free. blueprintPro. Well, that’s an uber-enhanced version with features that were not part of the original design or features that just help people along the way. Will some ‘Pro’ features migrate into the free version? Probably not but anything is possible. The base functionality of the system and the ability to create objects will be the same in both, however the way you do it in ‘Pro’ might be easier, faster, etc.

The new ‘free’ version will be released shortly to co-incide with the ‘pro’ version however since I don’t have to produce CDs, ship boxes and all that jazz, you’ll be able to get the free version sometime earlier than the pro one hits the stores. When exactly I’m not sure as something set me back so I’m still finishing up Pro then migrating some of the changes back into blueprint, however before Sept. 1 is an accurate estimate.

As for the price of the pro version, $30 is what we agreed upon based on other products out there, the cost of the game itself, etc. etc. At some point you have to decide on something and that was it. Of course, like anything, software always fluctuates. If you really don’t like the price then the answer is quite simple. Don’t buy it and use the freeware version instead. No price will appeal to everyone (even free as some people still think that’s too much) so it’s just a matter of finding something that looks right and going with it.

If you have any other specific questions, don’t hesitate to contact me or take it to the forums (preferred) where we can duke it out like real mice. Enjoy!

Hi guys. Don’t have much to talk about on the blue side of things. Still working through the new proggies, getting a new beta out to the testers and seeing how I can get everything running smoothly. On the game side of things, that’s a different story. Seems things continue to go downhill, from a fans perspective, with The Sims.

Quick recap. About two weeks ago they asked that a 3rd party program to edit behaviors and other low-level stuff be removed from the website. Still waiting on the official verdict on that. Last week a new tool, the Date Maker, was released for Simday but was wrought with problems. All your dates were men, etc. A patch was released and there are still problems. The sex change problem appears to be fixed but all the townies are named “Randy” and there are a few other problems with careers, astrological signs, etc.

So there are some rumblings in the community. Some people are just downright peeved and won’t buy any Maxis products anymore. Others find it amusing and wait to see the next blunder they’ll produce. A letter is circulating around the newsgroups now asking for a complete boycott of The Sims products. Below is the full text. You decide what to do next. Note: the author of the letter later remarked that he had no intention of a full boycott but perhaps a 1 month waiting period before everyone rushes out to buy The Sims stuff would be advisable, waiting for the fallout from the .0 releases. Unfortunately I can’t comment on the stability and functionality of the game as a game. I fire it up a few times a day but only for a few minutes to test objects, never really getting into playing it. The key thing here is keep your cool and act responsibly. Don’t go flying off at the handle since that doesn’t do anyone any good. Here’s the letter:

Dear colleagues,

Thanks for your time and help.

Edith, The Sims Book and quelching the rumors

Argh. You know, I find it somewhat amusing that the wheels of the internet slowly grind away while you’re sleeping, working and whatnot. Little rumblings gyrate behind the scenes without your supervision and all the time people making up fancy tales that are based on speculation, having no real resemblance to truth. Like I’ve said before, the crutch of the matter is that you can’t ever proove anything on the internet. You stand at the top of a mountain proclaiming something grand, and everyone hollers and dances then pulls back the covers wanting proof. And how does one proove ones claims in this anonymous ether we call the net?

Okay, enough of the pathetic attempt at literature. I’m rather irked by all the rumblings going on regarding Edith, The Sims book and whatnot. I thought I’d do this post to try to set the record straight, but thinking about it, it really doesn’t matter because even if Will Wright himself sent everyone a personal email saying “Everything Bil Simser says is true”, some still wouldn’t believe. In any case, I’ll take a stab at some of the major issues here.

Some claim that the whole Edith thing is a farce. To what end, they can’t say, so why would Maxis say they’re going to release it only to yank that hope away from you sometime in the future? It does them no good. True, eons ago someone from Maxis claimed that Edith would never be released to the public and it would be kept privately. Times change. When the book idea came about, the concept of releasing a version of Edith came with it (not sure how this really manifested itself as I can’t find the exact thread in my emails with Will). In any case, here’s an email from Will regarding Edith:

Bil,

-Will

So yes, they are putting the original author of Edith under contract to build a watered down version of Edith. Don’t get your panties in an uproar right now though. It will still let you do tons of cool things, they’re just removing a few of the more nastier primitives and making it a little easier to use.

Now onto the book itself. There’s no official announcement on Maxis’ site simply because a) we haven’t thought about it yet (the book is still in draft form and far from completion) and b) it’s still undecided who the publisher will be. This is a message from Maxis regarding the publishing:

Hi Bill,

Good news. The folks who published our Sims strategy guide (Prima) have given their verbal consent for your proposed book. Our legal and OEM people are drawing up an addendum for Prima to sign to make it official. We should be seeing this sometime next week. I’ll let you know as soon as it’s a “done deal”. Let me know if you have questions or concerns and thanks for your patience with this matter.

Sam

Later, I got the “official” word from EA/Maxis in this email:

Hi Bill. Well, we’ve finally received the official go ahead for you to proceed with your Sims book. Consider this e-mail official approval from EA. Thanks again for all your patience with this process.

Sam

So it’s up in the air right now about who is publishing it. I’m talking to Maxis/EA now to figure that out. It might be Prima, it might be someone else. Hence no announcement on Amazon.com or other book dealers. At some point (hopefully in the near future) I’ll send off a few drafts to people, everyone will sing and dance and perhaps Maxis will make an announcement on their site. I just haven’t got that far yet.

Now there’s the question of the whole deal itself. A lot of people seem to have it out for me, no matter how well liked I am (okay, maybe I’m not THAT liked). In any case, Maxis did NOT approach me on this, I did, and it was the result of an inquiry from a fan. It started with this email (edited for length):

Hello Bil,

Lisa Herschbach

Thus it began and a flurry of emails to Will started:

Hi Will,

liB

And the initial response:

Bill,

-Will

After a couple of months of emails, the official word (above) was given and work began on it. Now the immediate question is how can a guy like me pull off making money from a product from Maxis? The answer is simple. Go visit your local bookstore and look at all the non-Microsoft books written about Microsoft products. Or the game books not written by the game companies. It’s just typical of the market. Maxis has the resources to focus on games, not books. Perhaps there were some people at Maxis that contributed to the strategy guides you can see as there will be certainly people contributing to the product, but the effort comes from me. How can I profit from such a thing? Devoting hundreds of hours of working on it should have some payback. Writing a book is nowhere near the effort of reading one. Just because you can tear through a book in a weekend sitting doesn’t mean it can be put together that quickly. So I’m looking for some payback, but the money isn’t the important fixation here. It’s the content. I know how complex The Sims is from a programming aspect and I know that Maixs would like to get this information out to the public. They just are too wrapped up in writing the games instead of documenting them. Look at any game company and ask them for internal documentation on how games work. Most of them have nothing except a few skeleton text files and the rest you learn if you’re involved in the project. In any case, the situation here is that given the complexities of The Sims and Edith, I saw a need for a book and decided to give it a shot. Also note that the book isn’t just Edith. It covers all aspects of the Sims including file formats, reading and writing game content, how files work and interact with the game, third party tools (gotta toot my own horn sometime) and of course, Edith.

Well, hopefully that wraps up some questions you had about this. I’m sure there are hundreds more. Sorry, there is no X-Files conspiracy here. No hidden agendas and no magic bullet. Rather than spend countless hours spreading rumors and mistruths, just fire off an email and ask. I’d be glad to answer whatever question you have. I’d rather people know what’s going on from the horses mouth instead of other peoples opinion (some that have nothing to do with the project). Even with the emails I’ve posted here, there will still be some that will not be convinced until they have it in their hot little hands (and even then, they’re still not convinced) so for you types, I’m sorry you don’t have a more open mind about things but ce la vie.