I really often interact with kids and babies, mainly because my family is a foster family (not for me, for others).
Simulating a child will always be too unrealistic. You couldn’t learn anything from that game.

1. Different needs can be told by different signs. Most of those signs aren’t recognizable. They are mostly subconscious.

2. What if you d something wrong? Will the baby start to cry? Can you just turn it off, when it annoys you? Reload it on a different mood? Will the baby die? Will it evolve difficult character-traits?
Mainly the last one is important, I think. The cliffs of buildup of character are not to simulate. And thats the most important part in our society (where you could play this game).

Of course it could be fun, but if anyone beliefs you could learn anything by playing that game that would be really bad.

Brilliant!

Keep in mind, this is all quite tongue in cheek, and meant to be humorous.
Hopefully you’ll all think so…otherwise I’ll just kind of look like a jaded sleep deprived old man. (Oh wait…I am

The game is called “New Baby”, and is to be played from the perspective of the “Father”

It starts out in the middle of the night with a lot of VERY loud screaming, there should be a new type of controller attachment…where instead of a “rumble” pack there would be a kind of blood pressure testing cuff that squeezes your arm tighter as the birthing gets closer. Upon arrival, there are smiles all around, everyone is exhausted and you should pass out ASAP in order to prepare for the next level of the game.

Once that cut scene is out of the way, game play can begin.

Upon waking it is your job to keep the baby from crying…as much as possible.
The baby crying results in what can only be described as “spine-fusing, high decibel audio noise in the “Spinal Tap” measurement of “this one goes to 11″ loudness”…at this point in the game, the afore mentioned controller attachment should be placed around your head in a headband configuration so that during said screaming it will tighten like a vice causing much pain and discomfort.

Rather than a point system, you have a “family happiness meter” which vacillates between: green (happy) and red (not so happy)…keeping your baby in the green is the goal of the game.

Other meters may include: wife happiness, your happiness, sleep amount, house cleanliness, #of visitors, etc…
Advanced levels include: additional children happiness, amount of work waiting for your return to “normal” life

The meat of the game would be played by:
Feeding
Holding
Sleeping/Transferring
Changing

and various other mission type activities like; make dinner, wash dishes, do laundry, take shower, sleep (yourself), other…

Feeding:
Can be accomplished (usually) only by the mother by nursing (breastfeeding) except in special cases where bottle feeding is necessary, or when the baby gets older. Over feeding may result in spit-up/barfing/urpsee and may also affect the wife happiness meter if she is relied upon as the sole comfort for a screaming baby. It is your job to take as much of the burden off of the new mother as possible by offering to do as much as possible for her/baby during the first few weeks of the infants life.

Holding:
While holding the baby, rhythmically tapping various buttons on the keyboard/controller while holding the baby in order to rock it to sleep, this will need to be done rhythmically and may have to be switched up from time to time in order to keep the baby sleeping. There is good potential for musical licensing tie-ins to aid in the rhythmic accompaniment.

Sleeping:
Once the baby is asleep in your arms, it is your job to attempt to “transfer” the sleeping baby to its crib so it can sleep (hopefully) and you can perform other assigned tasks/goals/missions. The transfer is a sensitive time, as the transition is a bit cumbersome moving from holding to laying and the baby is often apt to wake from it’s restfulness…possibly a meter measuring how asleep the baby is during the maneuver, and if it reaches 20% there is the potential that the baby would need to be patted on the back, sung to, or various other potential special powers that could be gained/learned during the game. Controls for this activity should be VERY cumbersome, including possible a large #of keys spread across the keyboard/controller with no option for adjusting them to the way (the player) might like them…it’s difficult, and that’s that.

Once the baby is successfully transferred, the babies sleep meter will continue to show and if there are any loud noises, bodily functions, unexpected visitors the meter will reflect the level of sleep in %…when the meter reaches zero, the baby will need to be “managed” again.

Changing:
Usually upon waking the baby will need to be changed. This is not too hard once you get the hang of it, but may be complicated by other factors. If the diaper was not secured by the power of Zeus to “lock in wetness” it may have leaked and made your babies clothing wet/soiled…if this is the case, a new outfit will new to be selected and the baby will need to be changed. During the changing the baby will have a happiness meter that usually starts out very high right after sleeping, but could change drastically at any point during the changing should it take too long to perform the tasks involved. If you should have the diaper off, mid change, and the baby have a…ahem…bowel movement, there will be a fountain of yellow Kurdish waste ejected from it’s bottom that will need to be cleaned up either right away, or after the baby has been diapered/changed as necessary. If it doesn’t get cleaned up right away, or well enough, you can be sure that it will affect the mother happiness meter.

A certain amount of wakeful “happy” time is expected, and you should cherish every moment of it, as it will affect YOUR happiness meter in a life recharging kind of way, reaffirming your belief in the power of love.

Missions:
Will need to be done during either babies wakeful happy time, or while the baby is sleeping…some require more skills that may need to be learned, others can wait an indefinite amount of time, and may only weigh heavily on your own happiness if they fail to get done.
If you don’t shower for an extended period of time, this may be ok for you…but may affect your wife’s happiness.
If you don’t do the laundry, it will affect her happiness…if you don’t separate the lights from the darks, again…affects wife’s happiness.
You will need to eat in order to have strength/stamina to perform the tasks, this may involve cooking…if you do not have this skill, it will affect your health and your happiness/ your wife’s happiness.
Washing dishes will need to be done, as well as “tidying up” the house when visitors are expected…which is every coupla days for the first few weeks.

This proposal also includes the potential for a prequel and a sequel:
Pregnancy - What is this growing in me?
(Played from the role of the mother or “host”, and would include proper eating, exercise, mental stress, awkward walking/control scheme, supply gathering, social gatherings (i.e. baby showers, family inquisitions, etc), and MUCH lower back pain.
)
2nd child - What is this thing that has invaded my home, and has taken the attention of my parents away from me?
(Played from the role of the first child upon arrival of the “New Baby” where the goal of the game is to cause as much trouble for the parents as possible…without dying. Game play would include; redefining boundaries previously established, getting away with things never before conceivable, trying to stay in your parents good graces, learning how NOT to kill the new baby, and other various skill based learning adventures.)