Hey Simmers, here is the latest blog from Seasons producer, Graham Nardone. Enjoy!

Hey everyone, I’m Graham Nardone – one of the producers on The Sims 3 Seasons. Hot on the heels of The Sims 3 Supernatural, we’re bringing another creature to The Sims 3, the frequently requested and mysteriously absent alien! Long-time fans of The Sims will recall that aliens last made an appearance in The Sims franchise way back with the original release of The Sims 2. With The Sims 3 Seasons, we have designed aliens to interact with weather in unique ways, but to be completely honest, all of us here at The Sims Studio were fed up with not having aliens in our games and wanted to include them in this EP! Considering the limited role they played in the past, aliens were the perfect creatures to bring back and dramatically improve. We’re happy to say that aliens in The Sims 3 Seasons will offer great new moments that you’ve never experienced in The Sims before!



So just how do your Sims discover that they aren’t alone in the universe? If your Sim is oblivious to the existence of extraterrestrial life, their day-to-day routine will continue uninterrupted, for the most part. As your Sims sleep, aliens will sometimes visit the world on intelligence gathering missions, scanning objects to record data on your planet and occasionally leaving behind clues of their presence. Should you see sparkling anomalies in the sky and hear a sound akin to shimmering wind chimes, chances are there’s a cloaked UFO hovering above an alien that’s visiting the world.



As aliens become bolder in their mission to explore your planet, the time may come for experimentation upon live human subjects. Sims may find themselves awoken in the middle of the night, inexplicably drawn outside, suddenly abducted and taken on an intergalactic flight. Nobody knows exactly what occurs during this time, but subjects find themselves returned home with a foggy memory and an acute case of paranoia. Surely that squirming sensation in your Sim’s tummy will resolve itself after a few days of recovery!



Sims who desire a close encounter of the fourth kind can engage in certain activities that will attract an alien’s attention. Studying the stars through a telescope or collecting space rocks that appear in the world will not go unnoticed as the aliens monitor Earthling activity. Sims who seek out paranormal activity tend to harbor a curiosity for interacting with these beings from the sky, and as aliens continue to visit the world, your Sims can begin to form friendships and possibly even relationships with them. As these bonds strengthen, an alien can ultimately be asked to join your family, allowing them to assimilate further into your society and continue working towards their primary directive.



Of course, data collection goes both ways, and Sims desire to learn more about aliens as well. The military is prepared to spend generously to acquire intelligence from any alien that is willing to betray its own kind. Furthermore, the scientific community is very interested in potential biological advancements that could be developed from examining aliens . Any alien is more than welcome to sign up for a career as a test subject at the Science Facility, which is new to The Sims 3 Seasons.



Once you actually have an alien in your household, you’ll discover that aliens have a wide range of telepathic powers at their disposal! Want to know more about your cute Earthling neighbor? Perform a mental scan on them and learn all about their traits (In the picture above, Gobias is looking especially attractive with his chrome dome). Did an object in your home break? Recombobulate it by using waves of mental energy until it’s as good as new! House looking a bit messy? Why not invite a friend over and make them your mental servant? Command them to tend to the cleaning while you kick up your feet and relax. Running low on cash? Use controlled bursts of mental power to transmute precious metals and gems to increase their value or even completely alter their geological composition, rapidly accelerating the natural process of heat and pressure that typically takes thousands of years. Then there’s my personal favorite; players who have The Sims 3 Ambitions installed will be able to use their aliens to look to the celestial heavens in an exhausting effort of mental fortitude and summon a meteor to fall at their targeted location with devastating results.







Of course, all of these new powers come with a cost; each one requires precious mental energy to perform. Aliens have evolved to the point where they no longer need to replenish their bodies with sleep each night, but they do have a new Brain Power motive to tend to. Thankfully, restoring their gray matter is as simple as taking a moment in any relaxing location to meditate. If an instant shot of power is required, an alien can always keep space rocks on hand to consume for a large boost. Aliens have advanced means for taking care of their other motives as well, and they can establish telepathic links to other nearby Sims – either to drain the Sim of his or her motives, transferring a variety of benefits directly to the alien, or to boost another Sim by sacrificing their own motives.



Clearly, aliens are powerful beings all on their own, but you can unlock some of their more powerful abilities through the use of their UFO. A UFO is an alien’s preferred vehicle for zipping quickly around town, but it’s much more versatile than a simple vehicle. As they pilot the UFO, aliens can abduct their friends as a practical joke, although the abductee may not find it quite as funny (perhaps probing them afterwards would lighten the mood). UFOs can also create violent storms in the world by flying into the atmosphere and seeding clouds to create precipitation. Aliens are still honing this aspect of their technology, so watch out for freak snow storms in the summer.





UFOs can also be upgraded to unlock additional functionality. Strap rockets to your UFO to give it the ability to travel to deep space over the span of mere hours and visit far off planets, zoom through asteroid fields or even take a quick jaunt to the moon. Your alien will return with tales of their adventure and perhaps even some special objects they picked up along the way. Alternatively, you can add laser cannons to your UFO and terrorize the local denizens. Invade various locales in your neighborhood and watch as the Sims below you go from awe-filled to horrified as you fire laser beams in every direction while they run for cover.



Aliens are one of the most packed and intriguing creatures that we’ve ever added to The Sims! On a personal note, this was my first time getting to work directly on one of the creatures and I’m so thrilled that we’re going to blow away players’ expectations and deliver a type of character that has over-the-top fun in spades. This blog was just a taste of what you can expect when you play with aliens; there are more big secrets we’re leaving for all of you to discover when The Sims 3 Seasons blasts off this November!