The Sims

We've spent countless hours and lived a dozen lives in The Sims. Learn what you need to make The Sims just that much more fun with our ProTip Guide. Not only that, but we've got tips from The Sims design team at Maxis.

Success in The Sims is all about balance. Balancing your time versus your needs and improving your situation. Having been the top of every profession now, I can tell ya how to make your Sims' life way more interesting than you own. Dan Amrich of GamePro magazine has thrown in his opinions and so has the Maxis development team including designer Will Wright!

Character creation
Starting characteristics are important, but you shouldn't have to worry about them unless you make a completely unbalanced person. I tend to lean towards most characteristics having mostly the same statistics with two or three a few bars more important. Outgoing, nice and active are three good characteristics to have higher than the rest. Neatness is less important since you'll probably get a maid.

Don't name the first family you make after your own. Your going to make mistakes that first time around for certain, besides you are going to want to start single. Taking care of a family of Sims is better left to the experienced.

You can import Sims faces and bodies with different tools found on the official webpage, www.thesims.com. So if you want to see a likeness of yourself in the game, it's possible.

Tips from Will Wright, Designer of The Sims
Each kid in the family counts as a tax credit, your bills are 10% lower for each kid in the family. 4 kids = 60% (100% - 40%) of the regular tax bill.

Once you have a good pile of cash you can earn a nice living by just buying and selling the expensive artwork (buy low, sell high).

Make rooms on the larger side to allow them to hold more objects down the line.

You can build outside stairways to save on interior space. Just make sure the top landing for the staircase falls on a valid second floor tile.

You can build elevated walkways around your lot using the columns and floor tool.

You can use the flooring tool to entice your Sims to prefer certain routes outside. They will try to stay on a floored path if it's not too far out of their way (a useful trick for keeping them out of the flowerbed.

Sims prefer rooms with interesting shapes (rather than boxy, rectilinear ones).

Picking your House
Generally, the starting houses aren't that great. They are adequate but you will need to expand them as time goes on or move to a new home.

Don't be afraid of the building tool, you can build a home, make tons of mistakes and then move out the family that is now destitute from your bad spending habits. You can then move in a nice new family that has much more money to spend on furnishings.

After you play the tutorial, evict the Newbies and put your own family in that house. It's the best beginner dwelling, offering good space for low money, and it's easy to expand.

Downloadable houses are also available at www.thesims.com.

Chris Trottier, Assistant Producer
Invite neighbors to do fun things with you (like watching TV, getting in the hot tub or playing pool.) They will only do most of those things if you're doing them first.

Likewise, neighbors will leave if they don't get enough comfort. To help them, invite them to do something where they'll be sitting, like eating, playing chess, or watching TV.

Don't spend personality points on neatness. It's cheap to get the maid to clean up after your Sims.

To avoid neat Sims washing their hands constantly, don't buy a sink.

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