‘Hazbin Hotel’ Star Amir Talai Reveals His Wild Simlish System for ‘The Sims: Hot Date’ (Exclusive)

The Simsa groundbreaking life simulation game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts, has been a staple of gaming culture since its release in 2000. Players create and control characters, or “Sims,” ​​who guide them through everyday activities such as eating, sleeping, working, and socializing. The open-world nature of the game allows players to build homes, develop relationships, and explore a virtual world filled with endless possibilities. The Sims: Hot Datereleased in 2001, was the third expansion pack for the original game and introduced a new downtown area where Sims could date, shop, and socialize. Actor Amir Talaiwho did the voice work for this expansion, recently shared his experiences bringing this huge game to life.

One of the game’s most well-known features is Simlish, the nonsense language that the Sims speak, which adds a special charm to their interactions. Talai described how the voice actors were given certain scenarios, such as when the Sims were in a park or an arcade, and then had to improvise to fit the situation. In an interview with Perri Nemiroff for Collider forceswhere he was nominated for his role in Hazbin HotelTalai explained that while the scenarios were scripted to some extent, the Simlish dialogue required creative improvisation. He explained:

“So it was an expansion pack that let you send your Sims on dates, and everything I did was related to the dating world. They gave us phrases like, ‘They’re at a pond, in a park,’ or ‘They’re in a place like Dave and Buster’s.’ Then they’d say, ‘It’s going well,’ or ‘It’s not going well. You’re flirting, you’re really hotly courting her.’ But then you just have to (speaks Simlish) use the phonemes, right? They’re not even words.”

Talai revealed that he developed his own system for generating Simlish. “So I did this: My I wrote the alphabet in a grid. I wrote A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J in a small box and moved my eyes across the grid to form words. I “I did my Simlish,” he explained. Despite the structured approach, Talai admitted that the details faded over time. When asked if he could remember any of the words he made up, he said, “Oh God, no. That was over 20 years ago.” He recalled the process fondly, however, saying, “It was fun and we came back a lot. You spend a lot of time trying to get that right.”

The Sims are still successful

The Sims Franchise is still hugely popular with new generations of gamers, but it is expected to find an even larger audience. Fresh from the success of Barbie, Margot Robbie will now be the chaotic world of The Sims to life in a new film. In collaboration with her production company LuckyChap Entertainment and Amazon MGM, Robbie is diving into the digital world of the popular life simulation game. Amazon MGM secured the rights after a bidding war and beat out Netflix. As opposed to a streaming release, Robbie and her team are aiming for a theatrical debut and are making sure that the Sims Experience reaches the audience on the big screen.

Stay tuned to Collider for further updates and don’t miss Talai’s full conversation with Nemiroff in the latest episode of Collider forces below. You can also see Talai’s language talents in Hazbin Hotel on Prime Video.

Hazbin Hotel

In search of a non-violent alternative to reducing overpopulation in Hell, Lucifer’s daughter opens a rehabilitation hotel that offers a group of wayward demons a chance at redemption.

Release date

28 October 2019

Creator

Vivienne Medrano

Pour

Erika Henningsen, Christian Borle, Alex Brightman, Amir Talai

Seasons

2

Watch on Prime Video