@heimlichbourger's sims and mythology are invading my head! I am attempting to write an essay, which I have just realised would make so much more sense if I included something about adults "looking at their own faces in the water" when they look at children. Which, unfortunately, would make little sense to my lecturer unless she is a @heimlichbourger reader. Which is, sadly, unlikely.
Sigh.
(If, by any chance, you are not familiar with Heimlichbourg (where have you been?!) then you should seriously go check it out).
I’ve got a couple of great responses to my building question since I posted it. Thanks so much @heimlichbourger and @samantha-kathy for your replies! You two are awesome Simmers and your advice is already helping a lot.
Under the cut you’ll find both replies. If you’re a fellow buildophobe, I hope their advice helps you too. :)
heimlichbourger said: What always works for me is starting with the local flora– I set up some (quite arbitrary, really) rules for where particular plants grow, then I try to build lots that follow those rules. For example, each of my subhoods has a dominant color, (red for Chthonia, yellow for Heimlichbourg and blue for Umberwold). However, these colors shade into one another (the southern coast of Heimlichbourg has lots of Chthonian plants, mountain areas in every subhood have blue plants like Umberwold). I also try to make flora (and grass) much more lush near water features. Once that’s done, the lots look a lot less naked, so I have something to go on.
samantha-kathy said: You are not alone in hating building. I do too. And decorating. So here’s what I usually do - it might or might not work for you.
First you must know that I have two series of buildings I downloaded - both from Plasticbox - the newbie road series and the backalley lane series (at least, I think the town houses are called that). And a few other buildings that I loved. But even if you don’t have any downloaded houses at all, this will work. But since I prefer smaller lots, I had to download a few that I liked first.
I used to try and build entire hoods, but by the time I finished building them my enthusiasm for them was gone and I didn’t play them at all. So now, I only build what I need, when I need it. And first I ask if I can find a building that works (kind of) for what I need. Take for instance the Wilkie family that I made playable in Widespot. They needed a house to live. So I placed a plasticbox newbie road house and redecorated it a bit to account for the tastes of the people in there - mainly this meant changing out the living room furniture and making the spare bedroom into a teenage room. A lick of paint on the walls, maybe one or two painings and some curtains and I was done. I usually don’t decorate much as a rule and I like playing a family and getting to know them and their tastes first anyway.
I like to change rooms ‘in play’ when it comes to decorating. For instance, when Candy married Junior in my previous version of Widespot, she was horrified by the childish bedroom he had - so she redecorated it (also, as an apology for cheating, but that’s a seperate story).
Sometimes, a building works but not quite. I’m quite capable of (mostly) gutting a house and even extending it a bit here and there. But I keep the outside fairly untouched (aside from different color, maybe different door, and different roof color). I do that a lot to make shops. Take a plasticbox newbie road house. Gut most of the interior to make one large room, put counters in + cash machine + whatever goods they’re selling. I usually don’t bother with decorations in a store. I might do a little bit of it, when the mood strikes, but otherwise, no.
When neither of those options work, I need to build something. This is often the case in Simtopia, because everything there needs to stick to the story. Or it’s like forest lots where they can hunt. When I do that, I usually plop down the skeleton in one go - like with the quarry I built, I put all the rocks the way I liked them. Then I leave the lot and get on with playing. Another time, I made sure the ground color was correct. And another time I placed some wild mushrooms on the lot. A single, simple lot can take me 4 or 5 times/play sessions to build because I only do like fifteen minutes at a time. And I only do the absolute necessary to make it look remotely good.
Because I only build in small increments, I don’t get sick of it. IT does mean I need to start well in advance. I made the river lots in Simtopia weeks before I actually needed them. The quarry’s finished too, but won’t be used until generation 3 (and I’m only on gen 1). I started building the island Tropicana somewhere around the first baby turning into a child - and we’re close to the kids turning into teens now.
So that’s how I deal with hating building. But what about the getting started part? I make a plan - what do I minimally need on this lot for it to function as I need. For instance, the plantsim community + some wild cats needed a home. I wanted them to have resources - so I picked reeds, fish and lemons. I created a large pond in the middle of the lot and placed reeds around it. Then I placed lemon trees around the edge in two rows (also took away the view of the road at least a bit). That’s about all I did that round. Next round, I knew the plantsims would need water to meet their needs. So I placed a hotspring on the lot + a water crafting station in the form of a rock near the pond so they could get a bucket of water if needed. Another building session done. Next building session I focussed on getting food & a place to sleep for the cats. A pet food station from Sunni & Frac was placed on the lot as well as a natural pet bed. I placed a couple of plants too to finish the lot up. It’s all very minimally, yes, but everything I needed was there. I’ve seen beautiful tropical lots with lots of plants, but I could never build something like that. I don’t have the patience for it.
So my advice? Little bits at a time, with plenty of playing time in between. And make a plan in advance. Hopefully those two things together (along with the knowledge you only need to do 15 min of work before you can do something fun again!) will help you over your buildophobia!
penig said: It’s good to see him feeling tenderness for something. But I’m scared for the envisioned companion. Maybe he only wants a puppy. That could be all right.
I actually laughed out loud:) That might be the only thing that could purge Umberwold of its deep rooted darkness and violence-- puppies for all! A little brown puppy to break Moonwatcher out of his isolation and make him a kind and merciful leader! A little white puppy for Kyrill to teach him unconditional love and cure him of his need to manipulate! A little spotted therapy puppy for Lanja to make her stop reenacting her trauma on Kazamir! A lazy chubby puppy for Silan to make him chill the hell out for five minutes! Maybe they can all quit fighting over what gods to draw on their cave walls and just paint their puppies. Sadly, Kyrill has something else in mind...
penig said: Means corrupt ends, Chronos! This is becoming too easy a decision for you.
That’s the thing, he used to hesitate about using mind control, but he didn’t even bat an eye this time-- the more involved he gets in the big supernatural struggle, the more what’s happening to the real people around him starts to look like sideshow crossfire. When the war is over, Rhea and the matriarchs might find that Chronos is almost as dangerous as his sister...
veetiesims2 said: I’m sorry it had to come to this, and I understand your reasons for doing it - but I have to admit the “Cars are fun” comment made me giggle. :)
Cars are fun, no doubt about that! I’m looking forward to Umberwolders in their pickup trucks with gun racks and Wolf or Owl painted on the back, Chthonians in their flashy sports cars and Heimlichbourgers in their sensible minivans:)
penig said: Don’t feel bad. I’ve never had anon on. Because, stalker. The truly invested will put a face on.
Yikes, stalkers are the worst! Yeah, this is a project that thrives on readers getting into the story and following it over time, developing the sense of context that playing a long historical game is all about, and anons aren’t quite appropriate for that atmosphere.
Thanks for the support, guys! This is really all about you core readers, if you’re cool with the no anons policy, then so am I:)
WCIF those log and stump chairs from the island? Those are great!
The log (and a tree stump that I haven’t used on the island yet) are by darylmarkloc at Mod The Sims and can be found here - http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=140459 and the tree stumps are by boblisman, also from Mod The Sims, and can be found here - http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=97826 :-)
Video game asks: A:Favorite Game of all time? F: Biggest Let down? G: What're you currently playing?
a. the Sims hands down! Sims 2, Sims 1, Sims 4 & then Sims 3, in that order.
f. hmmm Sims 3 lol. or maybe chrono cross on playstation.
g. lol lots of games. i like to keep busy. gta 4, borderlands with the husband, the sims 2, swtor, life is strange, and then a few games on my phone :-)
P:Favorite Genre? I'm always interested to hear about a simmer's other gaming interests, since we all came to the sims games in different ways:)
It’s most likely rpg…any game where I can get emotionally attached to the characters and then fall apart when they die (I don’t know why I keep doing that to myself) , one of the first games that did that was Baldurs Gate and I would constantly reload, even if I lost hours of gameplay, if a character died.
