Sims 3 Pets 3DS Sims with (mobile) pets
Project Description
A 3DS game developed in tandem with the PC version of Sims 3 Pets which was set to launch concurrently. The 3DS port was developed on a restructured engine that had been (messily) ported to the 3DS for a 3DS launch title. This first 3DS game made by EA Salt Lake, and development occured on pre-release 3DS hardware.
Because of these challenges the team encountered unexepcted, but interesting challenges.
My Role
Engineering QA
Published
Engine
Custom Sims 3
Dev Time
~ 6 months
Team size
30+
Platform
Nintendo 3DS
About My role in the project
This was my first experience on a published video game. I was hired onto the QA team and quickly promoted and joined the engineering team as the studio's first 'Embedded Engineering QA'. This meant I was now part of the engineering team and tested code even before it went into the main dev line.
I contributed to all submissions to ESRB, Internal Certification, Alpha, Beta, and Final declarations. I also became the main liasion between QA and engineering teams on the project.
The first Sims 3DS was a launch title that was panned by users and critics for being slow and buggy. We were able to recreate the entire UI from scratch, and change core engine rendering techniques. These were risky changes, because of the amount of QA that we had to do, not to mention the inclusion of dozens of new AI decision trees with the pets. However, the efforts paid off and Pets 3DS was the better game and much better received.
Video Launch trailer
Screenshots Various marketing and in-game shots
Download Check it out yourself
While it is possible to find a copy of the 3DS version, it's getting more difficult. You can pick up a copy from either Amazon, Gamestop, or other seller. Used copies also appear from time to time.
The digital pc version is much easier to find and represents some of our work.