

Yeah, I think it’s smart to be making an MVP that’s just the engine with plugin support. I think you’ll need a minimal reference mod at least to show how you’d go about making a proper mod that’s actually a “game”. It’s totally valid for that minimal reference mod to be really minimal. Like, more of a testing tool than a “game” per se. Use stick figures. Or even worms or something.
Once you’ve got something that can support mods that other folks could make, folks can jump on board and help if they want to. If not, you can start focusing on a mod that’s an actual “game” later, if you’re still able and willing to continue working on the project.
Importing from Sims games is pretty cool. I’d definitely be interested in that as a feature. But if that was never supported, that’d honestly be fine as well.
If someone wanted something that was “true” to the Sims games, they could make a mod. There was a mod for Luanti called “Mineclone2” (that I think has renamed since, but I don’t recall what to) that was a relatively faithful reproduction of Minecraft in Luanti. Someone could do that if they wanted to. Especially if what you’re building (“SimGine”) get a pretty active modding community like Luanti has.
Because Congress is letting him.