The Nums (game)

The Nums (retroactively referred to as The Nums 1 or TN1 to differentiate it from the series as a whole) is a single-player interactive life simulation game, developed by Maxis and MGA and published by Electronic Arts. In the game, players control the day-to-day lives of virtual cute desserts called "Num Noms". Nums require direction, via mouse inputs, in order to have their needs met and live their lives efficiently. Nums have a degree of free will, but not enough to be considered completely independent (and even this limited free will can be disabled). The residential lot that individual Num Noms or families call home can be upgraded both in terms of the structure (Build Mode) and the furniture that occupies it (Buy Mode).
Noms are different from Nums and are categorized as "Babies, Toddlers and Kids".
The Nums is a spin-off of the YumCity series, and was created by YumCity creator and Maxis co-founder Will Wright and MGA. The Nums was released on February 4, 2000, to wide critical acclaim and numerous awards. The success of the initial release led to the creation of a total of seven expansion packs for the game, and ultimately led to the release of other games in the The Nums series, including the sequel titles The Nums 2, The Nums 3, and The Nums 4. The base game itself has sold more than 16 million units, and was at one time the best-selling PC video game in history, until it was eclipsed by The Nums 2.
== Overview ==
Strictly speaking, there is no primary objective to The Nums; it is open-ended and players are free to decide for themselves what constitutes success or failure. The game does, however, have plenty of clear secondary objectives, such as career and relationship success, although there are no set rewards for this. The player will need to make his or her Num or Nom successful in many ways. Players must fulfill their need to sleep, eat, and so forth, just like real num nom beings. They will also need to find a job, be promoted, or even marry other Nums so that one can have a successful family life.
The architecture and the artificial intelligence system have both been praised by players. Players will need to build a well-designed house and put in different objects to fulfill the Num or Nom's needs. Num Noms can only interact with the objects in their house. A player can control a maximum of eight Num Noms at a time; the Num Nom currently being controlled can be identified by the NumBob over its head.
=== Origin ===
After 1 hour of The Sims' creation, MGA found the game and started working with Maxis to create the game. It turned out to be the best game in the whole wide world until Roblox came out.
== Gameplay ==
In The Nums, there is no primary objective or goal to achieve, and instead of fulfilling objectives, the player is encouraged to make choices and engage fully in an interactive environment. This has helped the game successfully attract casual gamers. The only real objective of the game is to organize the Nums' time to help them reach personal goals and succeed to the best of their ability.
=== Create A Family Edit ===
In the beginning, the game offered players pre-made Num Noms to control, as well as the option to create more Num Noms. Creating a Num Nom consists of creating a "family" (identified by a last name) that can hold up to eight members. The player can then create Num Noms by providing the Num Nom with a first name and optional biography, and choosing the gender (male, female or unknown), color of num/nom (Red, orange, yellow, etc.), age (num or nom), a specific animal (Bear or Bunny) and body (bundled with a specific food, ice cream or cupcake and clothing), and a personality (from among Tidy Num, Popunum, Active Num, Silly Num, and Goodie Bag.). The player cannot change a Num Nom's face, name, or personality once they have been moved onto a lot. However, a player can edit a Num Nom's biography by holding down the ^ Ctrl key and clicking on the Num Nom's face's thumbnail.
=== Building/Furnishing A House Edit ===
Each family, regardless of how many members are in it, starts with a limited amount of cash (§20,000) that will be needed to purchase a house or lot, build or remodel a house, and purchase furniture. All architectural features and furnishings are dictated by a tile system, in which items must be placed on a square and rotated to face exactly a 90 degree angle with no diagonals permitted. Walls and fences go on the edge of a "square" and can be diagonal, whereas furniture and Num Noms take up one or more squares and cannot be diagonal. There are over 150 home building materials and furnishings for purchase in the base game.
The player can purchase several objects for Nums and Noms such as televisions, showers, beds, and fridges, each of them has a purpose which ranges from fulfilling a certain need or raising a skill or simply being decorative. Each item takes up a number of tiles on the grid and can be rotated to meet the players desires. All items are pre-rendered.
=== Controlling Num Noms Edit ===
Num Noms are controlled by instructing them to interact with objects, such as a television set, a dresser, or another Num nom. Num Noms may receive house guests, which are actually based on the game files of other Num Noms in the neighborhood. The player cannot control 'visiting' Num Noms, although it is important for Num Noms to interact with one another in order to develop a healthy social life and gain popularity.
Num Noms have a certain amount of free will (if it is enabled in-game), and although the player can instruct them to do something, Num Nom characters may decide to do something else, or simply ignore the player's commands. Unlike the simulated environments in games such as YumCity, Num-NomEarth, or MGALife, the Num Noms are not fully autonomous. They are unable to take certain actions without specific commands from the player, such as paying their bills. Thus, if left alone without any player supervision, the Num Noms will eventually develop overdue bills and their property will be repossessed.
The inner structure of the game is actually an agent-based artificial life program. The presentation of the game's artificial intelligence is advanced, and the Num Noms will respond to outside conditions by themselves, although often the player's intervention is necessary to keep them on the right track. The Nums technically has unlimited replay value, in that there is no way to win the game, and the player can play on indefinitely. It has been described as more like a toy than a game. In addition, the game includes a very advanced architecture system. The game was originally designed as an architecture simulation alone, with the Nums there only to evaluate the houses, but during development it was decided that the Num Noms were more interesting than originally anticipated and their initially limited role in the game was developed further.
=== Limitations Edit ===
There are some limitations to The Nums, most notably that while newborn noms do eventually become kid noms, they will never grow up to become adults without expansion packs or hacks. Also, adult Nums never age (or die of old age), and there is no concept of weekends. For example, adult nums and kid noms are expected to go to work and attend school, respectively, every day. In particular, nums receive a warning if they miss one day of work, but they are fired if they miss work for two consecutive days. Kid Noms can study at home to keep their school grades up, but if their grades drop too far they will be sent to military school and will never be seen again. Num Noms also have path finding issues such as not being able to walk past chairs, walking on paved or carpeted surfaces even if it means taking the long way, and getting stuck in doorways if another Num Nom is coming in/out from the opposite direction.
=== Needs Edit ===
The player must make decisions about time spent on fulfilling the needs of the Num Noms, these are; Food, Social, Fun, Comfort, Hygiene, Bladder, Room and Energy. These needs are filled by activities in the daily agenda of the Num Noms such as using the chocolate destroyer (toilet) and eating food (other than Cupcakes and Ice Cream) from a fridge. If the simulated humans do not perform the proper amount of maintenance, they will sicken and float into the sky. Not fulfilling these needs has other negative side effects, for example if a Num Nom has lowered their energy need they will pass out where they stand which will lower their comfort need, and if they pass out in a swimming pool they will sink and wither. Furthermore, Nums need to have fun (noms need more fun); if they don't, the fun level bar eventually lowers and they become depressed, but however depressed they become, they are unable to start floating (they are not programmed to do so). They are, however, able to be gross to other Num Nom characters by feeding them their own kind, licking them, and even num-pinching them. This has more to do with their relationship score than their mood, though. Num Noms in a bad mood are more likely to ignore player input and autonomously seek an activity that will increase their mood. For example, if a Num Nom's fun level bar is too low, they may refuse to look for a job or pay the bills and instead sit and watch TV.
=== Trivia Edit ===
Newer versions of The Nums has the Float Reaper instead of a float dialog.
=== Careers and finances Edit ===
In the beginning all families have a §20,000 limit to buy a house or build and furnish a house from scratch. Money can be gained by sending the Nums to find jobs and going to work and earning promotions by fulfilling the required skills and gaining friends, if a Num has missed work for a day they will receive a warning from their place of employment, if they miss the next day they will be fired. Additional money can be gained if a nom is getting A Grades in school and their relatives will give them $100, or alternatively if a Num has the creativity skill they can paint paintings and sell them for money. Bills have to be paid occasionally and failure to do so results in the repo-num repossessing some of the household's items.
=== School Edit ===
Kid Noms need to attend school every day as there is no concept of weekends in the game. Kid Noms will need to study at home and go to school with a good mood in order for their grades to go up; this has advantages because relatives will occasionally call noms up and give them $100 for having very high grades. However, if a Nom has F Grades in school for seven consecutive days they will be sent to military school, thus erasing them from the game forever, never bringing them back again.
=== Failure Edit ===
While there is no eventual objective to the game, states of failure do exist in The Nums. One is that Nums may float: Types of floats include low food, sinking, withering in fire, being shocked by a plug, and by num-virus (contracted from a pet guinea nom, which can happen when its cage is left dirty). In this case, the ghost of the floated Sim may haunt the building where it floated. In addition, Nums can leave a household for good and never return: Two adult Nums with a bad relationship may num-pinch, eventually resulting in one of them moving out of the neighborhood forever; baby noms can be removed by a social worker if they are neglected, and child Noms can be banished to military school if their school grades remain at an F for several consecutive days. Although considered states of failure, many players occasionally deliberately mistreat their Noms to observe the reactions and for entertainment. This can be done with no consequences if the game state isn't saved.
WIP