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The Sims uses a super smart AI system to make virtual people who think, feel, and interact in a believable way. Here's how.

=== Sources and Resources ===

- Footnotes

(1) Most numbers in this video are for illustrative purposes only, and do not necessarily represent the values in any The Sims game.

(2) In The Sims 3, the "Comfort" and "Room" motives are removed, leaving six basic needs. These are instead represented by "Moodlets", which are little boosts and nerfs to the Sim's happiness for doing things like sitting in a comfy chair or walking into a smelly room.

(3) The Sims are strictly male and female in the first three games, but The Sims 4 expands this with the ability to individually set a character's appearance, pronouns, and more.

- Sources

[1] Those Darned Sims: What Makes Them Tick? | GDC Vault
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1013969...

[2] Will Wright explains what The Sims and an ant colony have in common | Joystiq
https://web.archive.org/web/201112181...

[3] Simulation and Modeling: Under the hood of The Sims | Northwestern University
https://users.cs.northwestern.edu/~fo...

[4] Some notes on programming objects in The Sims | Northwestern University
[PDF] https://www.qrg.northwestern.edu/pape...

[5] JustJakeSimpson | Twitter
https://twitter.com/JustJakeSimpson/s...

[6] Needs-Based AI | Robert Zubek
[PDF] http://robert.zubek.net/publications/...

[7] Traits | The Sims Wiki
https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Category...)

[8] Modeling Individual Personalities in The Sims 3 | GDC Vault
   • Modeling Individual Personalities in ...  

[9] AI Development Postmortems: Inside DARKSPORE and THE SIMS: MEDIEVAL | GDC Vault
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014569...

[10] Emergent Storytelling Techniques in The Sims | GDC Vault
   • Emergent Storytelling Techniques in T...  

[11] Will Wright Teaches Game Design and Theory | MasterClass
https://www.masterclass.com/classes/w...

[12] The Sims Design Documents | Various
https://linkedbyair.net/bin/The%20Sim...
https://www.gamedev.net/tutorials/gam...
https://web.archive.org/web/201708131...

[13] AI Postmortems: Assassin's Creed III, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and Warframe | GDC Vault
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1018058...

- Additional resources

AI Made Easy with Utility AI | Medium
  / ai-made-easy-with-utility-ai  

Improving AI Decision Modeling Through Utility Theory | GDC Vault
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1012410...

An Introduction to Utility Theory | Game AI Pro
[PDF] http://www.gameaipro.com/GameAIPro/Ga...

Knowledge is Power: An Overview of Knowledge Representation in Game AI | GDC
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1025172...

=== Chapters ===

00:00 - Intro
01:26 - Decision Making 101
03:43 - Advanced Decision Making
06:52 - Utility AI
07:51 - Unique Sims
09:50 - Social Situations
11:09 - Hard-coded Rules
13:00 - Background Sims
15:35 - Storytelling
19:51 - Conclusion

=== Games Shown ===

The Sims 2 (2005)
The Sims 4 (2014)
The Sims 3 (2009)
The Sims (2000)
SimAnt (1991)
The Sims: Unleashed (2002)
The Sims Medieval (2011)
SimCity 2000 (1993)
Middle-earth: Shadow of War (2017)
XCOM: Enemy Within (2013)
Minecraft (2011)

=== Credits ===

Music provided by Epidemic Sound - https://www.epidemicsound.com/referra... (Referral Link)

Music from The Sims OST, by Jerry Martin

Music from The Sims 3 OST, by Steve Jablonsky and Pieter A. Schlossern

=== Subtitles ===

Contribute translated subtitles - https://amara.org/videos/cVoJS4OdmVql/