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Sad news today...The Sims co-creator Tim LeTourneau passes away | VentureBeat
Tim LeTourneau, one of the creators of The Sims franchise at Maxis and a game creator at Zynga, has passed away.
Tim LeTourneau, Co-creator, of The Sims has passed away. Announced by his wife Donna on social media, Tim's legacy is one worth remembering.
Tim LeTourneau Former Sims producer has passed away
Tim LeTourneau, long-time The Sims producer, has died.
LeTourneau worked at Maxis for eight years, and then at EA for a further five after it acquired The Sims' studio.
A 3D artist who said LeTourneau had "changed [their] life" when he took them on "at the age of 23 with no experience and no professional training, just a ton of passion for making games" similarly made a touching tribute. "The entire Maxis family is shocked and devastated to hear that we lost Tim LeTourneau this weekend," they wrote. "Making a Sims game is incredibly difficult and takes hundreds of thousands of hours from hundreds of people in many disciplines. Tim's job was to see that it all came together, that people were treated fairly, and that the fans got the best game we could deliver. He did all of that and more, with a big smile and a dose of his generous laughter. "The real beauty of The Sims was always the commitment to inclusiveness, openness, and the humanity of not only our simulated people, but the real ones who bring them to life. It's difficult to keep such projects true their original vision and free of the worst impulses of corporate owned game development and as a producer Tim was the best there has ever been. He was mentor to a lucky few, was a friend to a great many, a leader for thousands, and a champion for millions of gamers. "There is a reason why I called it the Maxis family, because it has been that for most who work and worked there," they concluded. "A place where we could all contribute our skills, passion, and visions while keeping our humor, our energy, and our sanity. Tim was a true father of that family."
Several townies and NPC's from The Sims 2 were named after Tim LeTourneau and voice actor Donna LeTourneau and if you listen to Sims while they're playing Marco Polo they say TimLe and Tourneau:
Tim LeTourneau, Co-creator, of The Sims has passed away. Announced by his wife Donna on social media, Tim's legacy is one worth remembering.
RIP Tim LeTourneau—than man whose is responsible for bringing cars to The Sims 2! You have made this lonely girl’s life where she can hide in a world she created in all her Sims games because kids where teasing her in school; and then once she got older and life got hard she did the same—and still does. A thank you wouldn’t be enough.
Create a Tim
The Sims most crucial ExPack Producer, Tim LeTourneau has gone, it's lef...
From video description by Eric Hedman:
Tim was an amazing man. He had an amazing career, family and legacy.
He made the Expansion Packs happen as they did and helped us make them exceptional so The Sims had serious Legs and eventually became the franchise we all know. :) He will be missed, although the warmth in many hearts will be blazing from the sparks he helped ignite. :)
Apparently I can only upload one video per tumblr post so this is part two of my previous post dedicated to Tim LeTourneau who recently passed away (but I guess also an unplanned pride month video due to an unexpected twist.)
From a 2005 interview about The Sims 2 Nightlife:
GS: Tell us about the role of drivable cars in the expansion. What can cars do, and what can't they do? TL: Well these are Sims cars obviously. I don't want anyone to think we've made The Sims 2: Need for Speed, though wouldn't that be cool (imagine Mortimer Goth as a high-speed racer through SimCity!).
It's not quite Need for Speed, but it is The Sims.
Also if you watch my YouTube channel I am working on my next video and I'm hoping to upload it by the end of the month. I was just reading that old interview and it inspired me to make a video of Mortimer Goth zooming around the Sim world.
Also includes Boroughsburg which is a pretty amazing world.
The Sims 2 Nightlife Q&A - Exploring and Living Downtown
Senior producer Tim LeTourneau is back once again to fill us in on the latest details of the expansion pack.
By Gamespot Staff on September 1, 2005 at 5:43PM PDT
Senior producer Tim LeTourneau is back once again to fill us in on the latest details of the expansion pack.
EA announced earlier this week that The Sims 2 Nightlife, the second expansion pack for last year's hit game, has gone gold. This means that development on Nightlife has finished, and it's now on its way through manufacturing before arriving at a store near you later this month. Nightlife promises to be a huge expansion for The Sims 2, because it adds a gigantic new downtown area to explore, not to mention lots of new content, ranging from objects, fashions, character interactions, and more. There are even cars and vampires added to the core game. So in our final Nightlife Q&A, we once again turned to Tim LeTourneau, the longtime producer of The Sims and The Sims 2.
It's not really a party unless it's a karaoke party.
GameSpot: How are the downtown areas delineated in Nightlife? Are they integrated into the existing neighborhoods, or are they all set on a separate screen, much like the college campuses in The Sims 2 University?
Tim LeTourneau: Downtown is a whole new neighborhood (just like the campuses in The Sims 2 University). What's really cool is we have added the ability to set neighborhoods to nighttime, which kind of goes with the whole theme of the pack. So when you see our downtown you see searchlights combing the sky in a dramatic cityscape. I think players are really going to be surprised when they see it.
GS: Will the current neighborhoods in The Sims 2 (Strangetown, Veronaville, and so on) have their own custom downtown areas? Will you be able to "share" a downtown area with different cities?
TL: Each neighborhood has its own downtown. Now the players can either create a downtown using the template we provide, or if they prefer, they can build one from scratch. Sims can also move to the downtown as well, so if you prefer to tell the story of your sims living a more metropolitan life, you can.
GS: How many different "plots" are there in a typical downtown that you can develop? Is there enough room to create a diverse downtown, with clubs, bars, restaurants, bowling alleys, and more?
TL: Well the downtown that we provide has over 20 different lots that sims can visit, with all the variety you can think of--restaurants, bars, bowling alleys, diners, poker clubs, etc. Players will definitely find their favorite hangouts, or make their own and add them to the list.
Deep down, every sim is a party animal.
GS: Speaking of bars, restaurants, and bowling alleys, what other sorts of downtown locales are possible?
TL: There are karaoke lounges, nightclubs, card rooms, and, my personal favorite, there is even a cemetery--a great place for dates with vampires. And as I said, you can combine any of the different locales, so the possibilities are only limited by the player's imagination.
Dating Dracula
GS: How much will a car cost? Does owning a car actually save a lot of time, or is it more a prestige thing for your sim?
You must be one with the bowling ball.
TL: They range in price from the introductory hatchback all the way to the sports car. Having played a lot now, I can honestly say that a car has become an essential purchase with my starting funds. They save so much time in a career, because they give you an extra hour to get to work. But they are also so convenient for going out, as there's no need to waste time waiting for the cab. The prestige part is just a bonus.
GS: How many different car models do you expect in Nightlife? And will mod makers be able to create custom car designs, like they create custom objects?
TL: There are five cars that are shipping with the pack (with a great variety of design modes). We also have another one available for download if you preorder. I'm sure the modders will figure out how to expand that number greatly.
GS: Let's go back in time a bit. When did the development of Nightlife begin? Were the first initial expansion packs plotted out before The Sims 2 shipped?
TL: We have talked about a lot of different expansion pack ideas. Probably any pack we would ever do has crossed our mind at some point by now. About halfway through The Sims 2 University, we thought about what we'd like to see The Sims do next. The community experience wasn't everything we thought it should be in the base game and we wanted to add more of a reason for sims to get out of the house. That's really how The Sims 2 Nightlife took shape. Of course, our memories of The Sims Hot Date also had some influence on this decision, too.
GS: Is there a list of potential expansion ideas floating around somewhere at Maxis, and how does an idea move to the top of the list?
TL: There's definitely a list, but that doesn't mean that any of the things on there will gel into an actual pack. As I said, a lot of ideas are floating around in our heads. We really rely on what the community of players is asking to be able to do as well--they are our greatest influence. We couple their requests with our own creative juices and ultimately settle on a pack concept that we think will be the right thing to do next. You'd think after all these years it would be more scientific, but the reality is that The Sims is a game that is made from the heart. We can feel it when we've made the right choice when the whole team embraces the concept and makes it their own.
They aren't kidding when they say poker is everywhere nowadays.
GS: And finally, any hints as to what's next for The Sims 2? There are the console and handheld versions coming out, but what about future expansions for the PC version?
TL: Players will know what the next expansion pack is soon enough. For now, you'll just have to wait!
GS: Thanks, Tim.
TL: You're welcome. I'm always happy to tell people what's up with The Sims.
