The Sims 3 Pets (Nintendo 3DS)

Electronic Arts, Nintendo 3DS (view on MobyGames)

Responsibilities: Training/Mentoring, Gameplay Programming: Pet Socials

The last of 9 Sims games I helped make at EA/Maxis was The Sims 3 Pets for Nintendo 3DS. As an expert in the proprietary language used to write gameplay behavior in The Sims games, I was brought back for the final project to use that technology. EA had just acquired a company called Playfish in Salt Lake City, Utah, and had assigned a team of their engineers to do the bulk of the work. I spent some time in Utah training and supporting the staff there before returning to Redwood City, CA to complete the game.

The Sims 2: Castaway

2007, Electronic Arts, PS2/Wii (view on MobyGames)

Responsibilities: Game and Lot Design, Prototyping, Lot Transition Portals, Gameplay Programming: Harvesting, Crafting, and Music Systems

As a radical departure from the traditional “get a house, get a job, buy stuff” gameplay of The Sims, Castaway pitched the player onto a tropical island where they had to harvest materials to build their own shelter and find their own food. I helped design and prototype the crafting system which allowed players to unlock recipes as they explored the island, finding ingredients, and exploring ancient ruins.

The Sims 2 Pets (PSP)

2006, Electronic Arts, PSP (view on MobyGames)

Responsibilities: Training/Mentoring, Porting Code, Gameplay Programming: Pet Interactions

The Sims 2 for PSP was a hybrid game which copied the Sims 2 Pets base game from console, but made its own changes to the game design and code. I was sent to train a team of engineers at EA Canada and support the process of merging code from the Pets game being finished in California while implementing the custom behavior changes. After five weeks of hard work we finished the port and I returned home.