Kenneth Toney, 3D artist who worked on The Sims 4 during its original development recently posted some new images of prototype sims that were used early on in the game’s development. We previously reported on some of these images back in 2015, but are sharing these again, as Toney has published some additional imagery that hasn’t been seen before.
For this project my main responsibility was to create prototype items such as hair styles, clothes, and accessories. The images you see below are all prototypes. For Sims 4 the art budget was quite low so we had no normal mapping or specular mapping. We had to paint in all the shadows and highlights into the diffuse maps. It ended up looking quite nice and created a new look for the game.
The following are very early prototypes back when The Sims 4 was being developed under the code name “Olympus”:
“Teen Girl”
“Rugged Worker”
“Oprah”
“Feisty Latina”
 
The following are character customization concepts that were made further along in development, and reflect a more finalized look that may seem closer to the sims we have today in-game:
If you’re interested in more posts about early Sims 4 character prototypes, check out the following articles:
