Behind the scenes: Integrating Baby and Toddler Interactionsš¶
Hi, Richard here. Today, I will show you the progress on babies' and toddlers' interactions. Alice and Lina have showcased the animations in these previous posts:
Animation Showcase: More Toddler Interactions!
Animation Showcase: Hackweek and More Baby Interactions!
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Characters can now be restricted to an item
For both toddlers and babies, we needed a new system to restrict them to an item, as they shouldnāt be able to get out by themselves and require an adult to pick them up.
Some interactions involve other characters, such as āpick upā, where the adult looks for the item the toddler is sitting on to determine the proper location to walk to pick them up correctly.
Washing toddlers in the bath
We also worked on animations involving 2 characters and an item. There are many little details to take into account, such as ensuring the characters donāt clip into an object (have some of their body parts go through).
On the topic of baths, Alejandro and ChoƩ have worked on making the water rise properly.
Taking care of babyās Hunger need
For all adult needs, there are interactions that you can do yourself to fill your own needs. While babies can be controlled directly by the player, they can only get fed by an adult via breastfeeding or bottle feeding. We now have interactions for those.
Bottle feeding a baby.
Locomotion on stairs
As seen in Animation Showcase: More Toddler Interactions!, we have a different animation for walking up and down the stairs for toddlers. We had to change a little bit of code to make it so that toddlers turn around and go down the stairs backwards, since for adults, they go down the stairs the same way they are facing.
The most important feature: the educative toy wheelās animation
With Alejandro's system to animate objects, we have animated the wheels of the educative toy. A small detail that is cute to watch in action. :)
My most important work of the year: animating the educational toy.
š Bugs and various funny GIFs
Here are some of my best bug GIFs for this feature.
Trying to figure out the timing and values to animate the āāpick upāā interaction correctly.
Who put oil in the highchair? Itās too slippery!
Enjoy your weekend and eat your vegetables :).
Richard
Comments (64)
I love the animation of the toddler going down the stairs backwards!
For toddler to go down stairway could be and slide on bum xD as variation maybe for playful para toddler ;) i did this even when i was kid xD was safest way
I would love it if we could someday have an animation of a toddler going down the stairs facing down and on his butt ! I used to do that a lot when I was smoll and I remember it being so fun and way less scary than going down normally ! Maybe it could be later down the road when the toddler actually starts to learn how to walk... I dunno
A note on toddler/children bathing safety in case this is something you wish to incorporate in the life sim. (As a nurse and former nanny, I always appreciate portrayal of basic and practical safety in media that can help indirectly educate players of all ages and backgrounds, in this case supporting child safety). Recommendations are generally to keep bathwater less than 5" deep or no higher than the waist for toddlers (1-3y) and young children. Otherwise, the process looks perfect from a safety standpoint (filling tub before placing child in water). As always, love the behind the scenes look at development!
cool i didn't know that before. that also sounds easier from a dev/rendering perspective bc its less water to model and its shallower so its easier to avoid having the water go outside the tub
āWho put oil in the high chair?ā omg lol š¤£š
Iām late to this post but aaaaa so cute! The bugs are all so silly and the temporary toddler turning animation has me cracking up too. I also love the little wheels on the toy and the fact they spin in the right directions! Toddlers are gonna be adorably insufferable to play with <3 Keep up the good work team!
Some child proportion critiques from a preschool teacher: babies legs are shorter than they would be on an adult, then young kids are all legs with big heads. Most toddlers have some form of "pot belly" though some have more obvious ones than others and their heads are still big. Fingers should be chubby, not lean. I know child proportions was a concern from fans. No one is comfortable seeing children as sized down adults. These don't look too bad, just wanted to mention it!
I think things like fingers and pot bellies are less of a standard to keep to. me and all my siblings had narrow fingers from very young and some of us no pot bellies,, so that could perhaps be decided by the fat slider
that last GIF made me laugh so hard ššš the slippery high chair.. i canāt
I loved the bugs so much and of course I am so happy to see all the progress which you made. I have a question and a wish: Do you know flip stools? Or maybe you call them montessori flip chair? The are children's furniture and grow with their age since you can use them in three different ways for sitting (and you can of course build a stove, a car, a train, a teddy bed and whatever. Beside that adults can sit on these chairs as well and In my imagination the parents sit on one of these (tiny) stools and play with their children. Maybe it would be too difficult to program (especially the multi use) but that's what I see the children doing in my kindergarten group and it's just so adorable and simple.
In response to another question, you answered that teenagers can't get pregnant but can care for babies and toddlers. Can teenagers live alone with a baby? (If the adult has died, for example) And I just noticed that there's a book about sign language on the table. Can paras learn sign language? Will there be animations for it at some point? Can you also learn other languages āāas a skill? I'm just so excited about everything I see, find, and learn. I can't wait for December. šš ā¤ļø
Looks great! I hope that goofy hatsune miku hair will be in the game š
There should be an alt animation of toddlers scooting on their bottom to go down stairs too. Because it happens IRL too. I have seen my own nieces and nephews do that when they were younger. :)
Yes and what about needing baby gates? Sometimes I realize that there have to be limits on what can feasibly be recreated in the game..but worrying about toddlers having troubles on the stairs is certainly real! Edit: love the scooch idea, it's something I consider using as and adult in frightening situations involving heights haha.
The bugs! š¤£ I love seeing the animations come together. I have twin toddler nieces who are learning to go down the stairs and that animation is pretty close; they get into a crawling position before they start trying to back their way down the stairs.
LOL at the bugs, I almost want them into the game!
All of these animations look really good! I really like the details, like the wheels on the toy spinning.
Oh I am so looking forward to this! Squee!!!
Ouch his poor little chin
That girl with the pink and blue is a menace š. Fabulous work. It's nice to see more about the little ones, save that Pic where that one toddler was drowned by the pink and blue haired lady. Also, I love that little toy that toddler had. It reminded me of that physica toy I used to love as a child. There are some great toys out there.
I love this! Such attention to detail! Not to be a hater though, but I can see the white circle beneath the feet getting off-putting pretty quickly when playing. Is there a way to just have it be there for like a couple seconds to show whoās in your group, and then fade away? Just a random thought. But yay I love this game!
Im obsessed with the moving toy, itās too cute! One question - This might be asking for a lot but is it possible to have a feeding baby animation sitting down as well as standing up? A feeding animation in a rocking chair would be so adorable for instance, or on the side of the bed for the sleepy late nights when the baby wakes you up lolll. I know that might be very complex to animate so totally see if itās not possible š
Thanks :D. It' s totally doable but for the moment we are doing the basic and in the futur we can add more variety. Rocking chair would be awesome! :D
Omg the educational baby toy is adorable and it looks like something you can actually find in real life for a baby to play with. I'm so excited for this game!
Thanks :D
I feel like Iāll tire myself out for saying this every time you guys update us, but WOW! I am so impressed. Toddler interactions was one of the parts I was most concerned(?) about, but you guys have done a phenomenal job with animations and object tracking. For once, Iām looking forward to family gameplay involving babies and toddlers āļøāØ
Awww thanks :D
Straight up laughed out loud when that toddler slipped clean outta that highchair š¤£š¤£ the bugs you guys share always crack me up. Anything to do with babies and toddlers, I am here for šš¼šš¼ Love the educational toy and can see how it was ABSOLUTELY the most important thing you've done to date this year.
^_^ bugs are my fav too !
I love these bugs, thanks for sharing them with us. šš¤ One question: Can only adults care for babies and toddlers, or teenagers too? And can teenagers get pregnant themselves? I would appreciate more information about what children and teenagers can do, for example, whether they can help with their younger siblings and how much they can help with household chores, etc.
Thanks :) (your one question is multiple ones :P - teenagers can also take care of babies and toddlers - Adult only can get pregnant - Teens can do most of the adult interactions ( clean dishes, watch tv, mop, dance, take care of babies, etc )
Great job!! This looks so good. Also the bugs are so funny š
thanks :). The bug part is always easier because i love making bug gif and sharing internally, so i have choices. But I make less clean ones XD.
The toy animation is too cute!
What do you mean? the first one is the perfect amount of water to bathe a toddler. I seriously can't wait for when this releases, even if it has a bunch bugs that I will most likely laugh at.
hahah thanks :D. Don' t worry all those bugs are already fixed, except one that need to figure out an important big system first.
Ohhh I love the bugs! It's so funny! Btw great job, thank you so much!
Thank you :D
Omigosh the bugs are so funny! I love all the cute interactions. I dont know how hard it is to do but one thing that always bugged me is the long hair that doesnt flow with the body and just... sticks out awkwardly when someone bends as shown here. I dont know if that was something that was going to be worked on, to have the hair stay close to the body, or if its too complicated to to achieve.
Thanks :D. Hair physic is complex and expensive on the graphic's card, so that' s why we don' t see it usualy.
Not the disappearing toddler in the high chair. Why does that have me laughing so hard. šš Love to see the different animations and interactions for babies and toddlers.
Thanks you :D
Great way to keep baby cool in those hot summer months - naptime in the toilet! ššš
toilet water is always cold :)
Wonderful work team!! The toddler playing with the educative toy is so cute!! And ngl the toddler falling of the chair bug got me a good laugh hahaha
Thanks :D
Bottle feeding baby, 10/10 father of the year ā¤ļø ā¤ļø ā¤ļø Honestly, you did such a good job with this all, Ric!! Interactions between paras really make the game come alive! If I may offer some feedback (though maybe this is already in and just not shown!): When the interactions are unavailable due to the para being locked in place - like in the first image - could hovering the disabled options show a tooltip with information about why the option is disabled? I think that would be super helpful if there's a situation I don't realise locks the para in. Or, simply, if there's a bug; then it can help explain the origin! Lastly, can I say that while I know you're going back to look at it, I actually find the turn around dance kinda cute š AMAZING POST!!! Can't wait to play the game!!! (Unrelated: when is Jason becoming an official para? š)
Thank you :D! Yes we have a system to say why an interaction is disabled, we either hide or disable depending on the situation.
How can you choose to breastfeed or not ? Just an interaction in game for all character even if they are not a women or it's choose when you create your para?
For the moment everyone can do both, but it's because it's not finished. This is something we need to figure out.
As I have a newborn myself it made me laught so much!! š
Congratulations, i hope you are not doing half of the things i do in that post!
The educational toy is so cuteš„¹š„¹!!
What other kind of actions might require another Para to do something for another? Getting stuck in a trash can maybe. Getting buckled in to a car or ride at a fair?
Yes all this and this system could also support helping someone to walk, etc. It can be adult to adult too.
I laughed harder than I'd like to admit at the baby playing with the dumbbell ahahah. I love seeing the bugs.
That was not a bug, i switched it :D. But i HAD to change it back to a rattletoy :(
I love the turn around dance! It's so cute š I know you guys will probably change it for the final product, but it will live on in my heart ā¤ļø
The most important item in the game indeed, that's such a cute design š„ŗ
So cute! I canāt wait to see more toddler interactions and features like watching tv, dancing, as well as learning more skills or even having the parents taking them to community lots!
Thanks :). Small spoiler, there is watching tv :). I have just not shown it yet.
Miki is a 10/10 babysitter - such a great post!!
:) thank you! Yes it' s miki thats the good babysitter, not me doing those things! :)