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I Just Made My Game a Lot More Interesting
NoWayJose527
Posts: 1,456 Member
I woke up thinking about my sims, especially all those townies. I've always hated townies, but that's about to change. I'm in the middle of a major townie project, and it's already got my imagination working full speed ahead. What I'm doing is giving each unplayed townie in my Household Management an occupation, a bit of backstory, and a little more. I'm adding in a lot of darker elements, but I won't go into detail here on the board. (I probably will write about this later on my simming blog, and I can provide more information there.)
To start, I spent a long time making a spreadsheet of all unplayed sims. Next, I put together a list of over 50 different occupations. These include not only the in-game careers, but many others -- such as funeral director, martial arts instructor, factory worker, and more. I randomly matched each sim up with an occupation and then edited the sim (using cas.fulleditmode) to ensure that the sim was a good fit for the career.
Along with this, I also ear-marked every 13th sim (sounded like a good number LOL) to become a criminal. I also compiled a list of different types of criminals...arsonists, confidence artists, forgers, and more. I matched these up with the appropriate sims. Again, I won't go into all of the details here. I'll only say that the results have created some very interesting sims, a few well-kept family secrets, and a lot of story fodder.
Many of my sims have already had some interaction with these unplayed sims, and now as I learn their backstories and get better acquainted with them, it's going to add immensely to the on-going storylines I create as I play my multiple families.
Before you remind me about "culling", yes, I realize that a lot of my work today will be whisked away and many of these unplayed sims will simply disappear from the game. That's going to happen, yes. It happens in real life, too, in the sense that people move away for different reasons. At least I'll know who's moved, and I can probably imagine why based on the information I now have about them.
And, new sims will come into Household Management. I'll add them and learn their life stories, too.
Oh, I'm also creating company/business names and making notes of who works there. For instance, I have old Mr. Farley, a retired factory worker from Alston Products. Another unplayed sim, Kirsten Flint, is an office manager there. Yet another sim (one I'm hoping one of my young ladies might get to know), Calvin Finn, has just gone to work in the sales department.
Yes, I'm finding lots of possibilities for stories. Even though it's taken me hours to put this all together, I'm loving it. I know it's going to add a lot of depth and realism to my game and make my stories more interesting than ever.
ETA: After several hours of work, my game now has a little of everything...from crazy Annabelle Wynn who does the early morning show on station WSOS in Oasis Springs (102.9 on your FM dial) to muscular Mark Stone, a male dancer at the Carnival Club. I have a young woman who teaches fencing at the college and helps actors learn swordplay techniques, a horse trainer, a retired lawyer, and so much more. I've also uncovered a multitude of family secrets.
Now, I'm off to play! I can't wait to see some of these townies strolling around town now. I just hope my sims steer clear of the "bad apples" I've thrown into the barrel. We'll see!
To start, I spent a long time making a spreadsheet of all unplayed sims. Next, I put together a list of over 50 different occupations. These include not only the in-game careers, but many others -- such as funeral director, martial arts instructor, factory worker, and more. I randomly matched each sim up with an occupation and then edited the sim (using cas.fulleditmode) to ensure that the sim was a good fit for the career.
Along with this, I also ear-marked every 13th sim (sounded like a good number LOL) to become a criminal. I also compiled a list of different types of criminals...arsonists, confidence artists, forgers, and more. I matched these up with the appropriate sims. Again, I won't go into all of the details here. I'll only say that the results have created some very interesting sims, a few well-kept family secrets, and a lot of story fodder.
Many of my sims have already had some interaction with these unplayed sims, and now as I learn their backstories and get better acquainted with them, it's going to add immensely to the on-going storylines I create as I play my multiple families.
Before you remind me about "culling", yes, I realize that a lot of my work today will be whisked away and many of these unplayed sims will simply disappear from the game. That's going to happen, yes. It happens in real life, too, in the sense that people move away for different reasons. At least I'll know who's moved, and I can probably imagine why based on the information I now have about them.
And, new sims will come into Household Management. I'll add them and learn their life stories, too.
Oh, I'm also creating company/business names and making notes of who works there. For instance, I have old Mr. Farley, a retired factory worker from Alston Products. Another unplayed sim, Kirsten Flint, is an office manager there. Yet another sim (one I'm hoping one of my young ladies might get to know), Calvin Finn, has just gone to work in the sales department.
Yes, I'm finding lots of possibilities for stories. Even though it's taken me hours to put this all together, I'm loving it. I know it's going to add a lot of depth and realism to my game and make my stories more interesting than ever.
ETA: After several hours of work, my game now has a little of everything...from crazy Annabelle Wynn who does the early morning show on station WSOS in Oasis Springs (102.9 on your FM dial) to muscular Mark Stone, a male dancer at the Carnival Club. I have a young woman who teaches fencing at the college and helps actors learn swordplay techniques, a horse trainer, a retired lawyer, and so much more. I've also uncovered a multitude of family secrets.
Now, I'm off to play! I can't wait to see some of these townies strolling around town now. I just hope my sims steer clear of the "bad apples" I've thrown into the barrel. We'll see!
Post edited by NoWayJose527 on
51
Comments
With Sims 2, I managed over 200 actively-played sims, and I've always been careful about keeping track of character details. With Sims 4, I only have 36 active families, so adding background for 80 unplayed sims isn't as difficult for me as it might sound. I'm accustomed to it. LOL.
One thing I have learned in the game is that if an unplayed sim becomes crucial to a storyline, I can place him or her in a house. Even if I don't actively play that lot, the game skips over it when culling. At least, that's been my experience so far.
My simming blog basically follows the life of one character, but I also post information about game play and various other sim-related topics. I will definitely be sharing things about this "Townie Project" on the blog.
Oh, thanks! I love randomizers of all kinds. I'll definitely be sharing this with others. In fact, I'm going to add it to my blog page right now!
Oh, that could be fun. I can imagine him as a "great pretender", always acting like he knows it all in order to impress people. Choosing traits at random is a great way to spark creativity.
I love video games because of the things that I could never do in real life... For instance, in the sims you can get a job and a house.
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It actually adds a lot to the stories, I think, to have people leaving. In the household I played earlier today, teen Liam Madrigal went through his first heartbreak because the girl he had a crush on moved away. Next thing I knew, he was setting the kitchen on fire. I swear, that kid has a destructive streak. Now his worried parents are wondering if they'll have to deal with a fire every time their son's adolescent love life goes sour. They're considering a psychiatrist for Liam. Thank goodness, I happen to have one of those waiting in the wings
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For a long time, I've hated townies! LOL Now, with this new "townie project" I'm getting very attached to them. I feel that they're real now instead of just random sims. It was interesting to go in and check to see who had been culled. Old Norah Messer, the retired music teacher from the elementary school passed away. And Arturo Jimenez, the retired lawyer died. Actually, they just "disappeared" due to the culling but because of their age I'm creating obituaries for them for my daily sims news report.
This little project was time-consuming at the start -- I spent most of the day yesterday compiling my initial spreadsheet and information -- but it's worth it. I can quickly see how useful it's going to be for creating dramatic storylines.
Absolutely! I love sims 4 because it allows stuff like this, but there could be improvements to make it easier.
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If a sim becomes crucial to a storyline, I definitely move him or her into a "safe house" as I call them. Even though I still mark them "unplayed" the culling process seems to skip over them.
So far, my "Townie Project" has exceeded all my expectations. I'm sharing a few thoughts on my simming blog and will be going into more details there since some of the storylines that are resulting might not be considered appropriate for discussion in the forum. I'm sure I will occasionally be disappointed when the game removes certain sims, but disappointment is part of life -- for me and for my sims. In a way, it adds more realism, and that's how I enjoy playing.
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Fun idea. I do have a few clubs that include townies, but I could put together a few others that could be very useful. Thanks for the suggestion.
Could you explain please, how it works in your game? I mean, say your sim meets a townie - do you just look at your spreadsheet and think, 'oh yeah, that's Joe Bloggs who works at the corner shop and has just been ditched by his wife of 10 years' - but in reality he has no job and was never married? And what about criminals? Do they actually act like a criminal or is that all imagination?
It's mostly imagination. I try to match up traits with what a person in that occupation would have, and for some, I've gone in and given them jobs. The business career can substitute for a lot of things. Mostly I'm using it to add backstory for the characters as my sim meets them. It's uncanny, too, how it sometimes fits together.
Here's a "for example". My sim Alonso has been trying to start a romance with a pretty townie. She'll come over, have lunch, but she's really skittish around him and usually leaves. Well, when I did this townie project, I did a double take when the spreadsheet showed that her father was an abusive man. How well that fits in with the storyline. Now, I know what's making her act so cautious, and I wonder, will she ever confide in Alonzo?
It doesn't take much to spark the imagination. Just assigning occupations to the townies really helps to flesh them out and makes them more real. Then I can build on that a little, especially through watching their interactions with others. And when the game culls a sim, I can find a reason LOL. Oh, yeah, that morning DJ, you know. She got fired from the station and moved away. Oh, dear old Miss Messer the music teacher passed away. I can hear my sims reminiscing and gossiping and that adds a lot to their stories, too.
The culling can be frustrating, but here's how I'm approaching it. If there's a sim I really, really don't want to lose, I place him or her in a house. Even if I don't play that lot, the game skips over it when it does the culling.
When sims do get culled, I look now at the spreadsheet and figure out a "logical" reason for that person or family to leave. If it's an elder, most likely they've died. A family? Probably a job relocation. Losing friends can become an important part of a storyline. It happens in life, so I'm actually glad that's become a part of my game. Now, instead of dreading the culling process, I'm looking forward to it each evening before I shut off the game. I really enjoy seeing people come and go now. I'm having fun getting to know them...and so are my sims.