#david patch

David Patch, the art director of The Sims 2, posted samples of his work on his page, showcasing the creation of objects, characters, and promotional banners for The Sims 2 and its expansion packs. The artist’s own commentary is included.

This image demonstrates a new aspect of aging in The Sims 2. I used developer scripts to extract the characters from the game assets. The poses, lighting, and rendering were done in Maya. I later turned to Photoshop to add the logo, shadows, and the baby’s burp.

This illustration served as the background for a flyer at the E3. At the same time, it reflects my personal vision of the game.

A career reward from the expansion pack The Sims 2: University. The final model was created under my direction by Jason Leong and Steve Kody.

This is a special object that I created for the expansion pack The Sims 2: Nightlife. The final model was made by William Mendoza, and the concept sketch was by Brian White.

A career reward from the expansion pack The Sims 2: Nightlife. The final model was created under my direction by Tim Lageux.

A career reward from the expansion pack The Sims 2: University. The final model was created under my direction by Jason Leong and Steve Kody.

A Harajuku-style outfit designed by me for the expansion pack The Sims 2: Nightlife. The final concept sketch was created by Emmy Toyonaga.

An outfit designed by me for the expansion pack The Sims 2: Nightlife. The final version of the concept sketch was created under my direction by Eric Chin.

Another outfit designed by me for the expansion pack The Sims 2: Nightlife. The final concept sketch was created by Eric Chin.

The FryGuy outfit, designed by me for the base game. The final concept sketch was created by Emmy Toyonaga.

Simo_Jima-Front2.jpg

This pose was used on T-shirts that we handed out at the launch party for the game.

The image of Bella was used in our internal presentations. Later, it was included in the final game as a painting.

Above are all the outfits I modeled for the "Female – Adult" category in Create-A-Sim. This represents just one of the ten age groups, each of which contains roughly the same number of items.

Promotional banners created for a German gaming conference. At full scale, they measured up to 2.5 meters.

This image appeared on various backgrounds on the covers of 21 issues before the release of The Sims 2.

Source (RU):

I know you’ll like this. I’m working on a horror themed battle vest & acquired this David patch today. ⚰️🦇

According to The Sims 2 art director David Patch, this screenshot was used as a print on T-shirts that were handed out at the official launch party for the game in 2004.

It is clear that the scene directly references the legendary historical photograph by Joe Rosenthal, “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima”.

If you dig into the history of the photo, an interesting fact emerges. The author of the original image, Joe Rosenthal, was born into a family of immigrants from the Suwałki Governorate, in the territory of the so-called Kingdom of Poland, which at that time was part of the Russian Empire (today this area is in Poland). In the United States, people from that region were for a long time simply recorded as “arriving from Russia.”

And here things get strange: if you run this Sims screenshot through an AI colorizer, the flag held by the Sims turns into strictly white-and-red colors — matching the Polish flag.

Coincidence? Or did Maxis hide an Easter egg?

But the most interesting detail is hidden elsewhere. In the original photograph, the flag is raised by six people.

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raising-the-Flag.jpg

In the Sims screenshot — there are exactly four.

At first, you might think this is due to technical limitations of the 2004 game engine, or perhaps a Japanese superstition (on Iwo Jima, the number 4 sounds like the word “death” in Japanese).

But look more closely at WHO is actually raising the flag:

These are not random Sims. These are iconic NPC tricksters who appear in the game only when everything goes completely wrong.

This quartet is a perfect representation of total system failure — literally “The Four Horsemen of the Sims Apocalypse,” symbolizing collapse across key simulation systems:

💀 Death (Grim Reaper): Physical collapse. The point of no return and the end of a Sim’s existence.

🧠 Therapist: Mental collapse. The figure who arrives when a Sim completely loses control after aspiration failure.

🐰 Social Bunny: Emotional collapse. Extreme loneliness and social deprivation.

But what is the Llama doing here?

🦙 Llama Mascot: Unlike the Cow mascot, the Llama is harmless — it simply dances, makes noise, and represents campus-style chaos. It is not a punishment mechanic.

So why is it here? The Llama is a core Maxis symbol and the franchise’s signature icon (from loading screen jokes to school mascots). In this artwork, it functions as a kind of author signature.

While Death, the Therapist, and the Social Bunny represent the darker and more complex simulation systems of The Sims 2, the Llama crowns the composition — serving as a silent Maxis seal and a reminder of the series’ absurdist humor.

What do you think?

Sources / References

• David Patch — comment about T-shirt usage of this artwork:

https://fan.prosims.ru/articles/item/sims2-articles/david-patch.html

• Joe Rosenthal biography:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Rosenthal

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Rosenthal-554

https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/GC48-QY4/joseph-john-rosenthal-1911-2006

• Information about the Iwo Jima photograph:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_the_Flag_on_Iwo_Jima

• Japanese superstition related to the number 4 (tetraphobia):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraphobia

• The Sims Wiki / Fandom:

Grim Reaper — https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Grim_Reaper

Therapist — https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Therapist

Social Bunny — https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Social_Bunny