Prerelease:MySims (Wii)

This page details prerelease information and/or media for MySims (Wii).

To do:
Quite a bit.

Start the early development section, stuff gathered from interviews
https://www.thesimszone.co.uk/news/search.php?q=mysim&start=11
http://wii.gamespy.com/wii/the-sims-wii/775850p1.html Mar 07 hands on

There's suprisingly a lot of differences to be spotted in the game's prerelease.

Development Timeline

2006

circa. Feb - MySims begins development, in tandem with the DS counterpart.^[1]
Nov. - A Sims title for the Wii is confirmed to be in production. Domains called TheSimsWii.com, WiiTheSims.com and WiiAreTheSims.com were also registered.^[2]
Nov. 25 - MySims was officially unveiled at an event in Japan, as the tentative title of Boku to Sim no Machi.^[3]

2007

Feb. 22 - MySims was internationally unveiled, containing some new screenshots.
March 28 - The next batch of screenshots were posted.
Apr. 7 - The Sims 2: Celebration! Stuff is released, containing a hint towards the then-upcoming MySims game.
Jul 11-13 - MySims was shown off at E3 2007.
Sep. 18 - MySims was released in North America.

Early Development

2006

November

Website Teaser

A Sims title for the Wii was tentatively revealed as Boku to Sim no Machi (ぼくとシムのまち) revealed in late November^[4], albeit at a Japan-only event.^[5]. Though the game was under development, the team would like to do ideas like "opening a store", "linking with DS" and "online functionality". The latter would be retooled for the Windows version of the game.

Though more screenshots were revealed in the following month, they all share the same build style.

Screenshots

A screenshot depicting the town square in a very early state.

The plaza was completely different, lacking an outer sidewalk.
The buildings originally surrounded the plaza, giving it less of an isometric look.
The Hotel has three stories, something that isn't possible in the final without modding.

An early screenshot of the interiors, including that of Chef Gino's Ristorante.

The Jukebox appeared to have originally been decorative objects than just furniture that can be crafted.

An early look into Create-A-Sim.

The last image appears to show the Create-A-Sim with a darker background.

A slightly later look of Create-A-Sim was posted on the Degenki Online article, likely from a later build.

Trailer

To do:
Replace with MP4 upload.

A trailer for it was released, though an English version would come out a few months later.

Japanese trailer

The sign for Poppy's Flower Shop was different, depicting that of a rose.
Near the end of the trailer, the yellow flowers are shown being stomped on yet only pink tulips appear in the game as interactable flowers.

2007

February

Full Revelation

MySims is officially unveiled on February 22, 2007, thus the very first batch of images were released on that date. Some of them were released later on, but share the style of the build in that month. At that period of development, they were still refining the art style and Wii's engine.

It is confirmed that 80 characters will appear in the game^[6], where in the final, a total of 83 characters make an appearance.
The article mentioned that flowers could be planted via Essences, but it's unknown if it is referring to the Cute Flower Essence Trees, or the plants that appear around town where specific essences would appear if interacted with.
It was mentioned that there would be a "volcano area" where miserable characters would go if they hated the player's town but no such area exists in the final.

The following images contain numerous differences from the final.

Images of the town.

It seemed that the player could originally Prospect around town than in a specific area.
The Town Hall was in a very basic state.
Windows were originally more detailed, before they were simplified in the final.
The image with the flowers appear to show that there were supposed to be many different types as opposed to tulips that occasionally spawn around the world. No flowers spawn in the garden with the trees in the final, nor they can't be watered.

An early screenshot of the interiors.

A look into Create-A-Sim.

Images of the furniture crafting feature.

Images of the house-building feature.

House features were accessible via buttons, but those were changed to simpler arrows in the final.

March

MySims was shown off to various press editors, including GameSpot. At that time, a Star Level feature was confirmed.

It was explicitly stated in the GameSpy preview that the game would have had the plot of the town being the residence of their grandparents, but it's not bought up in the final.

Screenshots

A more fleshed-out look at Create-A-Sim

A slightly later appearance of the Town.

A slightly later look at interiors.

The fountain in the Hotel was positioned differently.

House building mode.

The flooring was much more detailed before being changed to a simple checker pattern in the final.

Crafting Mode preview.

The effect spots were different.

Videos

The videos that were released contain some brief gameplay footage, but there's a lot of differences to be found.

GameTrailers Gameplay	GameSpot Interview

There was only one track that played in the house and object creation modes.
The entrance to the Forest area was blocked off via a fence (requiring a Crowbar) rather than a log (requiring a Saw) in the final.
The player's Sim originally ran very fast than gaining speed when walking.
The HUD was simplistic in design and was different from the final;
- Interactions were represented as thought bubbles with text on top, albeit without a graphic behind the text. No graphics were made for interactions either.
  - When interacting with Sims, there were six Interaction slots whereas in the final, there are only three.
  - While the interactions are hard to make out due to the video footage, Get Task was an interaction.
- The HUD was very, very simplistic in design, thus graphical icons made for interactions didn't exist yet.
- There was originally a day/night cycle on the right corner, which was likely removed in the final for not serving much purpose.
- The Backpack icon was originally located at the top left part, where it would be moved to the top right in the final.
- There was no map on the bottom right.
- The cursor is now a five-fingered glove like the final, though it still has the earlier style.
Create-A-Sim is starting to take its finalized form.
There were no effects when placing furniture with specific Essence types.
The animations of the Sim reacting to the placed furniture appeared to have lagged, though this is not the video footage as evidenced by the cursor moving.
Completing a Task for Poppy originally gave the player a "shiny red apple" as a reward. NPCs originally could give the player Essences but in the final Essences appear from them when they react.
Furniture Crafting was slightly different;
- Colors were displayed as palette graphics than as color blocks and would cycle in time with changing the patterns or colors.
The House Builder is now closer for the final, which has the same outer field aside from a few changes;
- The Button sounds were different, with some reused from The Sims.
- Parts are switched via an elevator-type animation rather than being "thrown around" in the final.
- The ground blocks weren't checkered.
- The metallic door in the House Builder isn't present in the final.
- The player could originally place any shop sign on any building as opposed being a requirement in the final. The early "Rose" sign for Poppy's Flower Shop is still present there.
- Square and Round House Blocks were pieced together in the same category than being separate.
- Roof features were originally separate.

April

The Sims 2: Celebration! Stuff Hint

When The Sims 2: Celebration! Stuff was released on April 3, 2007, one piece of item, called The Deplorably Adorable Sweetheart's Figurine was a hint towards the then-upcoming MySims video game. The textures for the statue are referred to as sculptureweddingproposal, and are extracted below;