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Careful planning or go with the flow?
mmt3363
Posts: 385 Member
I was inspired recently to do another total game makeover, creating new sims and remodeling/building all new lots until I’ve laid hands on everything. I have all the family’s names and ages outlined, and have a list of 104 clubs that I want to create and utilize when I get to the actual gameplay part of the recreation. As I’m placing the families and building their houses, their stories become a little more fleshed out.
Like the family holding onto their farm land in Willow Creek; Arthur Fellows inherited the farmhouse that’s been in his family for nearly 100 years, but he hardly works the land there. That usually falls to his busy wife Mona who is simultaneously running a bakery, keeping up with the meals and cleaning for the household, and wrangling 4 children, 17 year old Fox, 15 year old Sparrow, 9 year old Poppy, and 3 year old Ash. Arthur is more focused on pursuing his dream of becoming a world renouned artist, which is great and all, but Mona sure wishes he’d help out more.
Or the family I’m currently working on: Jonah Lennox, a chef working as a programmer on the side to save up for the restaurant he wants to buy, his mommy blogger and aspiring parenting guru wife, Christina, and their two little ones, 7 year old Lucy and 2 year old Jude. (The young couple met at a Beatles tribute concert, hence their childen’s names.)
But all this got me wondering if other simmers neurotically plan out their games like I do. I always like to have an idea going in about the family’s backstory, their individual goals, who they would be friends with, who they wouldn’t get along with, and so on. I feel like it helps me create a world that feels interesting and complex.
Do you find that you do a lot of preplanning, or do you like to just go with the flow and live out your sim’s lives on a whim?
What family have you done the most planning for, or what family has been most exciting for you to play in the fly?
Like the family holding onto their farm land in Willow Creek; Arthur Fellows inherited the farmhouse that’s been in his family for nearly 100 years, but he hardly works the land there. That usually falls to his busy wife Mona who is simultaneously running a bakery, keeping up with the meals and cleaning for the household, and wrangling 4 children, 17 year old Fox, 15 year old Sparrow, 9 year old Poppy, and 3 year old Ash. Arthur is more focused on pursuing his dream of becoming a world renouned artist, which is great and all, but Mona sure wishes he’d help out more.
Or the family I’m currently working on: Jonah Lennox, a chef working as a programmer on the side to save up for the restaurant he wants to buy, his mommy blogger and aspiring parenting guru wife, Christina, and their two little ones, 7 year old Lucy and 2 year old Jude. (The young couple met at a Beatles tribute concert, hence their childen’s names.)
But all this got me wondering if other simmers neurotically plan out their games like I do. I always like to have an idea going in about the family’s backstory, their individual goals, who they would be friends with, who they wouldn’t get along with, and so on. I feel like it helps me create a world that feels interesting and complex.
Do you find that you do a lot of preplanning, or do you like to just go with the flow and live out your sim’s lives on a whim?
What family have you done the most planning for, or what family has been most exciting for you to play in the fly?
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Comments
I usually do a vague backstory, but it kind of changes and gets more detailed as I go.
The one I'm doing right now has more of a story element to it than I usually have. A couple, Cannon and Stone, are surviving in an apocalypse type scenario, where the world has basically started over. There's no electricity, and they keep to themselves because the few survivors that they see are untrustworthy. It's dangerous to go too far from their main shelter, and they have to live entirely off the land. Despite this, they're eager to start a new family. So far they've given birth to Gunner, though they plan on having more. They'll do anything it takes to protect their children from the harsh new world. Anything.
I think it makes it more fun to have a story element, that way it's sort of like you're writing your own book or movie, but because it's The Sims, there are elements that you can't plan for, which makes it more interesting. I guess The Sims is the same as playing with dolls, but it's for adults :blush:
Sometimes I’ll switch to a different household and be surprised that they’re involved in an extra marital affair lol but I’ll actually go along with it and may even invite the neighbor over for a rendezvous.
I have finally finished my Legacy Challenge , these are the Levis (numbered by Generation!)
https://imgur.com/L3Q6aQZ
I'm just somewhat far into a rotation where I'm basically playing most of the characters in the town with all of these different story lines. I do think of ideas for new characters who interact with the others and then seeing how things develop. Right now, for example, I have a new generation in a few households that are growing up. I'm thinking about bringing in a few wealthy young descendants of older generations. The Landgraabs died off as townies in my game but I'm considering bringing back a young descendant of theirs depending on where I put him as a kind of wealthy bad boy who is new in town. I'm also considering bringing in an heir to the Von Haunt/Windenburg estate and making that a really aristocratic residence for a handsome young stranger who is new in town. The Von Haunt guy would be kind of the opposite of the Landgraab guy so I would see what develops, such as if they fight over the same woman/women or how they are otherwise rivals.
I'm not very good at having characters really sustain lasting animosity towards each other so in reality, they would probably both get roped into their lives. I also already have quite a few wealthy characters, though I guess that they could all be friends. I try to make sure to play various socioeconomic brackets. I'll admit that my sims are generally all "good" on some level. I can think of one or two exceptions that I play more for fun rather than actually liking them, because their deviousness is funny. Most of my sims are all very decent, even Max Villareal who is my primary vampire. He is just an aristocratic loner living a life of leisure with a lot of time ... and plasma-drinking.
I just go with the flow
The other family is my Ancestral game play save. In doing my family research, I have fallen in love with my sixth great-grandparents and their branches to either side, not just them and their children. It makes for a rather interesting rotation save. My sixth great-grandfather became a bit of a somebody, so his timeline is known. While I can't recreate all that they lived through (French and Indian War, Pontiac's War, the Siege of Fort Watauga 1766, and a significant battle in the Revolutionary War. Battle of Kings Mountain, SC), I can simulate the relationships.
In that respect, yes, it's pre-planned.
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
I come up with a basic scenario for the households I create remake premades and townies when I start a new game. I build and create many clubs. However I also go with the flow.
For example My sim Damian I create married Max Villareal which was not something I was trying to do. I was playing Victoria Van Helsing's household when he married Max. I didn't have a romantic interest between the two of them when I switched over to Victoria. She's been slumming with the mortals and I have been trying to get over her relationship phobia she has because she saw her beloved murdered by her family centuries ago and has branded her a traitor by them all because she fell in love with a vampire. She is my infamous ex-hunter She has issues but she is one of my favourite households I have created. I have her looking like a female Baron Semedi because of the things she has gone through in her past. She has a sort of "blood" debt to pay to The Vatores. While I was playing The Sinclair twins who are Templars Max and Damian had twins. Again I didn't try for a baby with them but it is something I didn't plan for.
I have a lot of autonomy in my gameplay to add flavour and roll with what happens as a result of that autonomy, It might be an alien invasion it might be the rise of the vampires sims getting married and having kids. Sometimes it can be something crazy since I allow teens to marry and become pregnant in game. The reason behind this was I was thinking wouldn't it be entertaining if... Cassandra Goth came home pregnant and being even more depressed than usual. Wolfgang Munch being the father and being the jerk he is making Cassandra go through it all alone while her refusing to tell her parents who the father of her child is wondering if she should confide in her brother Alexander the whole time or Malcolm Landgraab and Luna Villareal having their families force them to marry each other after she finds out she is pregnant with his child. We all know Geffory wants grandkids one day even though he might want to wait a However, MCCC gave the game other ideas. It adds to some interesting twists.
Currently, I'm on generation two of my legacy, I have some things planned (weirdly enough these plans mostly revolve around death
Then again there's times where I'm adamant. Legacy founder Erin moved from Sim City to Sim Francisco while being pregnant from Danny Shino-Miller according to my story and I wanted the child to meet his father at his YA birthday. So I ignored every text message or sighting of Danny's, because storywise they "could not" happen.
For my other Saves, it's a mixture of game-driven events or plots I come up with. I actually have chapters & writing that details all these things that have happened in her Save. She was born in-game as human....happily married with 3 kids. Husband cheated, and then my Save crashed. So I wrote something up....as to what led to her divorce. & then Kelsi turns vampire...but not by choice....I write about Vlad forcing vampirism on her....& Kelsi's adjustment from being human to vampire. She meets this evil vampire, Ambrose who is under Vlad's leadership, & he ends up courting Kelsi and they have this romantic relationship. Ambrose convinces Kelsi to kill Vlad....which she does. Ambrose & Kelsi marry, start their family. Ambrose wants power of all vampires. But then I was playing with MC Mod...and the update at the time was risky vampirism where your Sims could turn Sims vampire by feeding from them. I was messing with the settings....& I guess had it too high....as everyone in my Save became vampire. So I had to make something up about that.....as humans were basically extinct & vampires were out of control with no leadership. Kelsi's half-sister Alexus arrived....and she caused all this chaos, bringing into town Ambrose's first wife, Seraphina. Alexus was jealous of Kelsi & wanted everything Kelsi had & set out to ruin her. Alexus almost succeeded, but Kelsi was onto what Alexus was after. Kelsi ended up turning Alexus human, stripping her of her powers. & currently in-game Kelsi is on a mission to make Alexus pay. I had Kelsi skill up her archaeology skill....so she could explore the temples & find those powerful relics. I'm trying to find the marked for death one, so ultimately Kelsi will kill her. But yeah.....I just got a little crazy with my supernatural save....as anything goes. Something will happen....like me experimenting with a mod or something in-game, & I write as I go. Some stuff is game-driven & some stuff is just my own devious mind.
Some things I plan, other things jump out at me though and I will go with the flow if they happen