inZOI Wants to Rival The Sims with Compelling SimCity Elements
inZOI is a realism-oriented rival to The Sims. Curiously, it also draws inspiration from the SimCity series, allowing you to edit an entire city.
Life simulation fans definitely have something to look forward to. Despite The Sims series dominating this genre, a few upcoming titles aim to challenge the giant and take its throne. Life by You from Paradox will be released in early access in June, and Paralives is scheduled for release next year. However, later this year, a title with the most realistic approach to the topic - inZOI - is scheduled to hit the market.
The game, developed by the Korean studio Krafton, was famous primarily for its amazing graphics based on scans of real objects. Its narrative approach is also distinctive because we will embody a company employee who tests computer-generated lives. So this is more like playing God. An interview was recently published in which one of the developers shared new information about the game.
SimCity inspirations
Hyungjun "Kjun" Kim talks openly about his love for the SimCity series. The series was the one that motivated him to incorporate greater flexibility in editing not just our character's home but the entire city as well. In this way, for instance, you'll be able to change decorations, trees, the density of the cat population, weather, or schedules of individual ZOIs (equivalents of sims). The billboards placed in the city will have the ability to display videos from YouTube.
The dev considers it an important element of the game to provide the best possible creation tools, which, in his opinion, were severely limited in The Sims. For example, in inZOI you will be able to stack objects. It might hinder interaction with them, but it will definitely be a major benefit for players looking to demonstrate creativity in building.
Since I've played these games for such a long time, it's natural for me to try and create the ultimate simulator that does everything I've always wanted.
Kjun also shared some info about the second of the three planned cities. The first - Dowon - was created based on compact Korean towns. The second one - Bliss Bay - is heavily inspired by American Santa Monica and is characterized by a much larger area.
Occupations, conversations, and AI
The current version of inZOI comprises four occupations that characters can pursue. These are a firefighter, a K-pop star, a shop salesman, and a chef. Kjun revealed that there are plans to add a veterinarian and a game developer. We will need to go to work and complete tasks to practice our profession, and our potential promotion or dismissal will depend on our efforts. Therefore, the length of one day will be extended compared to The Sims and will be 40 minutes instead of 24.
Conversations between ZOI are expected to differ significantly depending on the relationship. For instance, you can ask the child about their homework or decide on the amount of their pocket money.
To achieve the target level of conversations, devs use AI. The team has used AI for other purposes before, such as generating graphics that can be used as patterns for furniture or clothes.
inZOI is scheduled to premiere at the end of 2024.
