The Sims team has released a Guru Spotlight on TheSims.com
We’re back with another Meet a Guru spotlight! We’re so fortunate to have people working on The Sims that choose to take on extra duties as SimGurus, and these individuals are excited about engaging with our amazing community and sharing their knowledge with you! For this spotlight we wanted to highlight one of our more playful SimGurus who had a hand in the creation of The Sims 4 Vampires Game Pack.
Can you give us a brief introduction to yourself?
My name is Dave Miotke (David if I’m in trouble) and I’ve been with EA & Maxis for over 8 years. I love strategy & simulations games, collecting vintage toys from the 80’s & 90’s, gardening, and (recently) playing VR games.
I started here at Electronic Arts as a QA tester and worked on titles like The Sims Pet Stories, The Sims Castaway, and MySims Kingdom.As a designer, I worked on MySims Agents; a game I’m very proud of. I joined production to work on The Sims Medieval series before moving onto The Sims 4 team in 2011. Alas, I remember joining EA like it was yesterday. I was so happy, excited, and full of youthful energy. Now I have greying hair, an ever expanding tummy, and a growing appreciation for dad jokes.
Basically, I’m super old now. But I’m young at heart and still madly in love with games and with Maxis! So I have that going for me.
What do you do on The Sims 4?
I’m a Producer; one-part planner, one-part cheerleader, and one-part tester. (or I think that’s the official recipe to make a producer).Early in a project I help to pitch & refine ideas & concepts. If a pitch is green lit, I help to further clarify and prioritize features for the pack as well as communicate the intent and ongoing progress team wide. Later in the project I help to evaluate the software and plan for iteration and/or additions to maintain a high quality bar for you, the players.
To date I’ve worked on…• The Sims 4 base game: working on social system, relationships, screenshots/memories, social events, etc.
• The Sims 4 Get To Work ( The Sims 4’s first expansion pack), The Sims 4 Get Together ( The Sims 4’s second expansion pack), The Sims 4 Dine Out (The Sims 4’s third Game Pack), and… The Sims 4 Vampires! (The Sims 4’s fourth Game pack), where I generally oversaw gameplay features.
What’s the best thing about being a SimGuru?
The best part of being a SimGuru is interacting with our players, of course. It is so much fun to be able to directly chat with people and see what kind of fun and trouble they are getting into with this game. Our community is one of the best and even when they yell at me for misusing the word “soon” I’ve got nothing but love for them.
What do you love most about The Sims franchise?
I absolutely love that The Sims is so open-ended and caters to so many different play-styles. It’s amazing to see what architectural madness our hard-core builders cook up and submit to the Gallery. It’s a blast following strong storytellers to watch their drama and characters emerge over multiple Let’s Play segments. It’s super fun watching game play-oriented folks create and run through legacy challenges. It’s just such a diverse game that caters to your personal desires; it’s awesome. I’m a bit of a subversive player myself. I immensely enjoy creating perfect worlds and then wreaking havoc with my sims to see it all go down in flames.
What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
The flavor of ice cream is unimportant. What’s important is that it comes with a large slice of PIE!!!!!! Mmmm…. pie.
Or Cobbler… YUM! (Sad side story – A shoe repair store on my way home prominently features a “Cobbler” sign. When I see it my tummy grumbles and then I get sad that it’s the wrong kind of cobbler. Every darn time. Stupid shoe cobbler. Why do they even still exist?!)And did you know that pie/cobbler pairs perfectly with barbecue?
Of course you knew. It’s common knowledge that BBQ + Pie is nourishment for the soul.
Oh my goodness. Pulled pork. Brisket. Mac & Cheese. A nice cornbread muffin and maybe a few ribs for good measure. I’m literally drooling now. For all that is holy, why did you ask me an ice cream question? You know I have a food weakness!!
It’s a serious condition.Well, it’s been nice chatting with everyone, but I need to go grab a bite to eat before I get hangry. Talk to you all again soon!
