Thanks to Kotaku, we have 18 minutes of The Sims 4 live mode gameplay footage to show you. Check out the video below, particularly interesting is the multitasking shown at the 04:50 mark.
Meanwhile, The Sims Legacy Challenge got a recent look at careers and school in The Sims 4. Sims' careers include promotions like in the past but the method in which Sims achieve better positions has changed. While performance is still the number one indicator, there are other aspects involved.
Your Sims' modd affects their performance at work. Arriving in a good mood and on time will boost performance but arriving late or in a bad mood will make things worse. If Sims are dirty, hungry, or really want to use the bathroom they'll experience the "uncomofrtable" emotion which will negatively affect their work.
Every career has an ideal emotion associated with it. Being inspired, for instance, is particularly useful in careers such as writing or performance. While it helped to have the right friends and skills to increase your performance in The Sims, those things are required in this game. For example, as a writer you might need to practice writing (rather than simply writing your book) and overcome writer's block in order to increase your performance level.
While writer's block and similar issues will eventually fade away, your Sims' job expects you to deal with the issues that arise. Jobs also have optional daily tasks which will help boost your performance.
Once your hard work pays off and you earn a promotion for your Sim, you'll unlock a sizable cash bonus as well as a particular item associated with the career, an old PC that's perfect for writing but not say, playing games.
School takes the place of a career for children and there are now required daily tasks for them to complete which will boost their grades. All kids start off as C-students but can improve or lower their grades based on how much effort they put in. Homework is the daily requested task for school and parents can help out. This puts kids into the 'focused' emotion which boosts their learning but you'll need to factor in emotions like 'confident' and 'energized' to improve their grades.
When your Sims hit old age they can retire from their careers though there's no obligation for them to do so. If they do retire they unlock a portion of their former salary as a pension every day.
The Sims 4 launches on September 2nd for PC, a Mac date has yet to be confirmed.
