EA.com released a behind the scenes look at creating Brindleton Bay
The Sims 4 Cats and Dogs expansion pack is coming November 10. To get prepared, we sat down with the JM Sudsina, the lead producer for world design for The Sims 4to learn about how the team designed the coastal town Brindleton Bay.
How did you decide on the type of world you wanted create for The Sims 4: Cats & Dogs?
The awesome thing about working on a constantly evolving game like The Sims is that our team gets regular opportunities to try new things with every new world that we create.
When we’re deciding on what a new world will look like, our Art Direction and Design Team ask themselves ‘Where haven’t The Sims gone yet? What styles of clothing and architecture do we think we can use?’ And most importantly, ‘What kind of world will really showcase the key features in this new pack?’
A variety of styles help bring Brindleton Bay alive.
The idea of a smaller coastal town offered large open spaces for walking dogs, docks and fishing so we could highlight some activities for pets. A coastal town setting would also let our Art Team explore new aesthetics when it came to architecture, clothing, furniture and pre-made homes.
Brindleton Bay’s lighthouse and piers.
Did any real-world locations help inspire Brindleton Bay?
Of course! The Sims 4 is a game with the unique advantage of having worlds rooted in reality. This means drawing tons of inspiration from real places!
The park area of Brindleton Bay.
Our Art Director would send photos to our Environment Artists of everything from town centers, to beach houses, to fishing shacks based in the American Northeast. One of our Environment Artists grew up in a seaside neighborhood, allowing him to offer valuable insights about what felt “real”.
Some of the seaside elements that make up Brindleton Bay.
Was the inclusion of a veterinarian business a natural choice?
After all the positive fan feedback we received for ownable restaurants in The Sims 4 Dine Out, we wanted to create another ownable business, and the vet business was a perfect fit.
Treat animal ailments as a veterinarian.
We’re always trying to offer our players new experiences, and something we had never done in a Sims Pets expansion before was to allow players to run their own vet clinic.
