Went looking and at the very least I'm pretty sure it's NOT related to Vacation (or at least doesn't appear to be in any Vacation-specific globals files).

I searched through the group that Island Models belong to... It’s related to cooking on kitchen counters. I found many constants and BHAVs connected to cooking. The constants marked as unused have been added to The Sims 2 page on The Cutting Room Floor:

https://tcrf.net/The_Sims_2_(Window...package#Cooking

Paradoxically straight off my ongoing hiatus we now have renditions of late '98 game snapshots (Steering Committee Season 2?) that are of slightly clearer than the previously only known scans with their quasi-native quality and all. The articles down @ tcrf will reflect this minor discovery. That wouldn't be such a big deal otherwise, but I found these dev builds so strangely cool and seemingly solid .








Signing off...

Congratulations, @LUCPIX. This discovery has been covered on mainstream gaming sites.

https://www.thegamer.com/the-sims-p...nline-playable/

Edit: Solved! I had to deactivate ClearType on Windows.



You guys,

I have a problem with my 1999 alpha version. It is playable but some text is barely legible. Can somebody help me? I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Yep, the known betas have this problem with ClearType--it's also an issue with Steering Committee and affects any text that's like ACTUAL text (rather than an image of text). I assume Windows is trying to smooth its edges but its resolution and weight (how bold/non-bold it is) mean Windows just... eats it.

Hello,

I found an interesting magazine that might be useful for describing the development history of The Sims on TCRF.

This article describes strategies for managing large-scale graphics production, using the collaboration between the studios Maxis and New Pencil on the The Sims franchise as a case study. The text highlights four key components of successful outsourcing: accurate cost forecasting, adherence to a unified visual style, phased organization of work, and rigorous progress tracking. Special emphasis is placed on quality control through the use of checklists and libraries of ready-made assets to speed up development. The authors stress that clear communication and a structured approval process make it possible to deliver a huge volume of content without sacrificing detail. These methods are applicable both to external contractors and to internal teams aiming for high productivity under tight deadlines.

https://archive.org/details/GDM_January_2002

Page 32-38.

this looks cartoonish as fuck (i mean the image not the post)

wow it's been so long @simsample; is a TS1 character now!... (or WAS at least the last time I saw his avatar)



Hi...

I am going to post this because I think the quasi-Jungian synchronicity situation linked to the surfacing of the 1999 prototype (plus myself, of course) owes an explanation to you...

While my previous post has a semi direct connection to the prototype that surfaced a few hours later (even though they are not the same build, technically), you need to believe me when I tell you that both events are in no way related to each other — When I curated + uploaded + sent those screenshots in, I had zero idea that I'd be able to play that specific (even though they are not the same build, technically [2]) build that week or day.

Minutes post-posting the screenshots, I came across this comment from one of my youtube videos, written by @FokieHikari



Jumping to the mentioned footage (plus taking it as genuine if a bit alien), I contacted the video uploader, whose name weirdly rang a bell immediately — he was the "Bowsersaurus" guy that posted a mysterious snapshot of the prototype looooooooooong ago, ultimately leaving me gawped in silence and motivating me to create this thread in the first place! It's basically where it all started. Something about the way it was presented made one believe that the snapshot was the actual thing that he had found stored within a disk drive in a thrift store when, in reality, the actual content of the disk was a fully playable build — the one that, at this point, you had the chance of enjoying as much as I did.

So yeah, it's crazy, it's very unlikely, and yeah, I'm looking forward to having discussions about the contents of this build eventually.

------------


P.S.: Onto a different comment: Bowsersaurus owns an indie gaming company that is, of all names, called Protosprite. He's made a fun platforming game and dropped a Steam card for those who want to give it a shot. I promised him I'd let you all know...


PGCVV-BZWRZ-GTVIV


https://store.steampowered.com/app/...idge_the_Tiger/

Gradually speaking back in TCRF. I repeated the TV breaking/repairing scenarios and checked the (base game) code enough to conclude that these are impossible to be reproduced in normal gameplay


a2o-x-repairkick.cmx



a2o-x-repairslap.cmx


Plus, a fun video:

Certainly not the most interesting thing to be noted on the 1999 Brain UI Alpha That Surfaced In Recent Time (weird that I can say this in a context where it's true), but a personal head scratcher of mine has been, uhh, unplagued.

The unused door opening/closing animations are not remnants of a deprecated door behavior where Sims would open/close doors every single time they walked through them. It was only meant to be used when they greeted NPC's (or, exclusively, the maid).



aaaaaaaand this half-explains and half-justifies why the accompanying greeting animation is suffixed as an adult-to-object (not adult-to-adult) anim



sul-sul

I didn’t know that American McGee was contacted by Maxis to work on a game based on the Timeline film franchise. And that he was one of the people who helped decide whether Maxis should be allowed to continue working on The Sims. This whole story took place in the late 1990s.


😮 🏡🪐 Unexpected Connection: American McGee and the Development of The Sims

An interesting episode from the early development of The Sims, related to American McGee’s time at Electronic Arts.

Before creating American McGee’s Alice, the developer spent about a year working as a creative director at Electronic Arts. His job involved visiting internal studios across the company, observing development progress, and deciding whether projects should continue or be shut down.

During that period, McGee frequently visited Maxis — the studio where The Sims was being developed. At the time, the project was viewed with skepticism by EA leadership and was considered for cancellation multiple times. McGee attended meetings and contributed ideas for the game’s development — some of them quite provocative.

In one interview, he recalled:



Interestingly, this “dark” idea from McGee eventually became one of the core mechanics: in the final version of The Sims, characters have a bladder need, and if the player ignores it, Sims can wet themselves, leading to hygiene loss and discomfort.

McGee also took part in discussions about ambitious but ultimately unreleased projects, such as Sim Mars:



But his time at Maxis wasn’t defined only by controversial ideas. McGee also shared impressions of working with Will Wright and his unique approach to game design:





Sources:

https://www.shacknews.com/article/1...hooters?page=12

https://www.americanmcgee.com/about/

https://www.arcadeattack.co.uk/amer...ce-id-software/