Hi I've unfortunately had cases in my family in which a couple has children, and, unfortunately, one of the two adults die. In my game, at least, they are unable to remarry(but if they're a childless couple and one of them dies, they CAN remarry ). It used to be a trouble for me to only have one income when this happened, and now, when my family doesn't exactly need an income other than interest, it's just no fun . I hope there is a change to this, whether it be in an update or VF3. But also, why was the decision for that option to be unavailable made? It seems harmless . Thank you
PS: I've also noticed that, if you adopt a child before a marriage proposal, you're still able to get one. Whaaa ? Lol

Making a game like Virtual Families requires some complex balancing between realism and satisfying game play. Sometimes we have to wrestle with exactly how we should do something, and we usually go with what will be the best choice for the majority of players. There is actually a good reason for preventing remarriage when a couple has had children.

The decision to restrict remarriage in families with children was made to preserve the integrity of the family tree and the generational relationships. When a childless widowed peep in Virtual Families remarries, their original spouse is replaced on the family tree, and any children that they might subsequently have are listed as their children in that generation. It has to work that way to preserve the data structure of the family tree.

It's upsetting enough in Virtual Families to experience the death of a family member. Seeing Dad or Mom replaced on the family tree, as if they never existed, creates an additional shock that we wanted to avoid. Since letting childless peeps remarry doesn't affect as many parent/child relationships on the family tree, we decided to allow it in those situations. As it is, by allowing childless peeps to remarry, we have received feedback like this, "I don't like it when the original parents get replaced on the tree. I'd be sad!"

It's harder to make a game than most people realize, given the choices that have to be made to produce good game play. We can't please everyone, but we try to achieve a good balance.

You do have some options about how to play the last part of each generation. Once either parent dies, you can start a new generation right away or continue playing until the house is empty. Many people choose to keep playing the current generation until all of the peeps are gone (in one way or another). However, some players find it more fun and interesting to start a new generation right away. The choice is entirely yours.

If you would rather start a new generation sooner, rather than later, after one of the parents dies, look on the Family screen and you will see that there is a button to start a new generation above the family tree. Push that button and you can start the next generation even if there are children still living in the house. When you do that, your game will be instantly advanced to a point where the children are adults. You can then choose a child to come back to live in the house and start their own family without waiting for the current generation to end.