EA.com has released a Sims Mobile Blog featuring SimGuruAzure and SimGuruRiley
The Sims Mobile is almost here! To celebrate our excitement, we’d like to introduce you to two team members that are working hard to make this game amazing. There’s so much happening behind the scenes, and you may be curious about what developers do, how they impact the game, and what they’re most excited to share with players.
Say hello to SimGuruAzure and SimGuruRiley.
What do you do on The Sims Mobile team?
SimGuruAzure: Hi, Simmers! I’m the Content Producer for The Sims Mobile. I work primarily with the artists and designers to create clothing, objects, and game features like the Fashion Shop.
SimGuruRiley: I help the art team create beautiful assets. I help troubleshoot things that are broken, and I occasionally make cookies.
We know you used to work on The Sims for PC. How does the development pace of The Sims Mobile compare to working on The Sims?
SimGuruAzure: There are a ton of similarities between working on The Sims for PC versus The Sims Mobile, but I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to work on a game that has had time to grow and evolve through soft launch. For months, we’ve been watching how players interact with the game, gathering their feedback, and fine tuning our features to bring a fun mobile experience to life. Getting that player insight before a game is released to the world has been like a special treat. I’ve never had that privilege before and it’s definitely been my favorite part of making this game.
SimGuruRiley: OMG! It’s crazy. We go so much faster! And it’s really cool. The team is smaller so we can have informal meetings to solve a problem and go test it out in an afternoon.
What are you looking forward to when the game launches worldwide?
SimGuruAzure: I’m most interested in watching videos of the Sims and houses people have created using the items we’ve made. I usually have a picture in my mind of the types of things the community will make, but I’m always completely blown away! On launch day, I’ll be all over Twitter and YouTube, trying to find cool stuff to send back to the team so they can see what people are creating with what they’ve made. It’s a really special and fun time for us, and we feel really connected to the community.
SimGuruRiley: To hear what the players think! I hope players will love some of the upcoming features. I’m excited because we’ll be able to change the game for our community, and we can keep building upon what we already have.
What has been one of the most surprising moments of development so far?
SimGuruAzure: I’ve been really surprised by how fast the team is able to move. Anyone who’s been playing the game throughout soft launch knows how much we’ve changed it in the past few months. As soon as we’ve seen an opportunity to jump in and make the game a better experience, we just start working on a solution. It’s rewarding to be able to move so rapidly.
SimGuruRiley: How much we have done in such a short amount of time. The Risky Actions feature was one of my favorite things to work on. It had a pile of challenges we had never tackled before, and some of them were really difficult, but we worked together to solve them. I think that feature prototype was functioning in-game in about two weeks.
What advice would you give anyone who is looking to develop on mobile for the first time?
SimGuruAzure: I think the most important thing I’ve learned is how to be flexible. Game Developers spend a lot of time with our features and we love them; they’re like our babies! But if you put a feature out there and it doesn’t resonate or players don’t like it, you have to change it, especially in mobile gaming. So, it’s important to be passionate and to love what you’re working on but you also have to be willing to let things go and change up your strategy if it’s not working.
SimGuruRiley: That’s a really hard question. There are so many different types of games and so many different roles on a team. I guess I would say focus on what gets you excited and always try to work with good people. The excitement I got out of a new problem to solve, and the people who helped support me while I was fumbling my way through things, have been some of the best moments in my career.
What is your favorite food?
SimGuruAzure: I love potatoes. Seriously. Fried, mashed, scalloped, baked. Potatoes are amazing. Cake is pretty great, too.
SimGuruRiley: All of them. Oh wait, not broccoli! Definitely not broccoli. I guess if I had to choose one, it would be pancakes. I love them plain with no syrup or fruit or anything. I make them almost every Saturday for breakfast.
