OXCGN interviews Jennifer Lane for Katy Perry’s ‘Sweet Treats’ Sims expansion

Trick or treat?

by: Arthur Kotsopoulos

©2012 Arthur Kotsopoulos

Thanks to EA Australia I had the chance to have a ‘short and sweet’ (no pun intended) Skype video/voice call with Jennifer Lane, Sims Guru and Sims 3: Katy Perry Sweet Treats Producer.

While this was my first interview via Skype (on my Galaxy Tab 10.1V) I unfortunately didn’t get the chance to record the conversation word for word but what I got was an amazing insight into the world of Sims 3 and what is expected of the community come the release of Sweet Treats.

Despite the negative criticism towards the pack which has been addressed in the Live Chat back in April, I strayed away from asking any questions of this manner and focused on the pack itself and what it meant for players.

Without further ado…

Jennifer introduced herself and explained a little bit about her role as a producer and how it includes working with various sections of the development team from legal, design, Q&A and so forth.

It’s an extremely vigorous but rewarding job especially when the end result is everything that the team aimed for.

Since this content pack features more items than any other Stuff Packs, Jen went into great detail about how the team worked long and hard for hours on end to cram as much content possible in Sweet Treats.

Whilst there isn’t an exact number of items, you will find that this content pack includes a lot more than what Pets or Showtime would have included.

There’s plenty for everyone from new pool/garden items, candy bikes to ride, Katy Perry inspired clothing from various film clips, hairstyles and so much more that still haven’t been officially revealed.

After asking Jennifer how important it was to have the level of depth and detail in every item, she explained that the team tried to give each piece of content an equal amount of attention and that overall they will look fantastic.

If you watched the live chat back in April (re-watch it here) you would have watched how when Jennifer went into detail about the clothing. While modelling it on her character you would have noticed that each piece of clothing had a 3D effect where they each have depth and aren’t just a picture slapped onto a dress.

She stressed that the team wanted to give this content pack more life and pour in the same amount of dedicated time and effort as they would have for a normal expansion pack.

Katy Perry played a big part in Sweet Treats as well, as she’s been giving insight to the Sims franchise since Sims 2.

It’s extremely evident in Sweet Treats, where Maxis ran almost everything by her to get her approval and insight to what could possibly have made it better.

Community

Straying away from Sweet Treats, I asked Jennifer that with more than 12 million fans on their Facebook page for Sims 3, if she was excited with what the community would come up with upon the release of Sweet Treats.

She responded with a level of excitement that many gamers have when their favourite game is getting a sequel or expansion pack.

Her and the whole development team at Maxis are extremely excited for what the community come up with, combining the base game of Sims 3 and Sweet Treats.

Having asked how important it is for a developer to support the community post relase she replied by stating that it “is”  indeed important to support the community post release and continually be releasing content so people not only continue playing their product but to keep them happy with the game.

I agreed that with a game as robust as the Sims 3, there is a definite need to continually release content and that Maxis were doing an amazing job of it.

With a conversation lasting a mere 20 minutes, it was more than enough to see how dedicated Jennifer is to the project and how excited for its release she is.

For any fan of the Sims franchise or just the Sims 3 you can bet that this pack will have enough content to tide you over until the already announced “Diesel Pack” is released.

Be sure to check out on May 24th when Jennifer will once again be showcasing new content from Sweet Treats in another live stream.

Sweet Treats includes Katy Perry-inspired furniture, outfits and hairstyles, including banana split couches and cotton candy trees, a pool, a park and a hangout decorated with these fantasy items, and a Simlish version of Katy Perry’s single Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.).

©2012 Arthur Kotsopoulos

Filed under: Console gaming, PC News, PC Reviews, Xbox 360 Tagged: | Electronic Arts, katy perry, Maxis, PC, Sims, Sims 3, Sims Stuff Pack, Sims Sweet Treats, sweet treats