Hi all, just checking in. I just can't seem to get any play time in. This pandemic thing keeps me busy at work and ready to relax then sleep. I do pop in periodically to see what is going on in everybody's games. I don't really do much commenting because I am usually like 10 pages behind.
Oh well hopefully on my next day off I can actually get some play time in and post something.
@OJenn I've been doing a lot of playing without updating too. I want my heir to be done with college by the time the new expansion comes out.
I was so waiting to see your dorms and they look good. I love it. I love her hair, it makes me want cc hehe She would make such pretty babies with Jordan! He needs to be a future mate!
I have been reading through the first few pages of the old forum to get a feel for what's going on since many people were continuing their storylines from the last forum. I just finished a scaled down version of the 100 baby challenge (I did 50 instead), and I'm excited for this challenge! I saw it back in March and I have been thinking about it ever since, haha. I love how flexible the rules are while still providing structure.
@Mionax I chose White/Native American. I would say it took me between 1.5-2hrs to make them. :# I went with a NA male and a white female. I'm stoked to see what their kids look like! Their features are pretty different, so the features on the kids should be distinct. Can't wait to share them!
As far as screenshots go, I have just been pressing "C" to capture in game photos. Is there a better way to capture screenshots to share on here?
@Awenya Pressing C in game to take photos is how I do it too. Sometimes I push my 'print screen' button on my keyboard and edit it in a photoshop/paint/etc program. Your family sounds great.
Hey guys! I'm FINALLY feeling better and my life has settled down a bit (well aside from all the chaos in the US right now, but that's another story ). The store where I work may be fully re-opening in another week or two, which is partly frustrating (cause our cases are still increasing), partly sad (cause I won't have as much free time), and partly needed (cause bills lol). We've technically been open for a little over a week now, but we have super reduced hours so I'm only working a couple days a week. It's so tiring after doing nothing for several weeks straight though, I can't even imagine how tired I'll be going back full time But I'm excited that I'll get to play with the new pack before we completely re-open at least. I'm SOOO excited for this pack!
Welcome to all of the new faces here! I also use 'c' to capture screenshots, but I do it in 'tab' mode so I can move the camera around and get the perfect angle without the UI in the way and everything. I also use the Sims 3 camera, because it gives me more control over the angles/zoom.
I'm going to try to play this week and get through Mac's teenage years (but not age him up into a YA yet), so I can make the gen 2 house with the new pack and give him one of the new aspirations and maybe a new trait. He's creative so I'm thinking he'll be a crafter of some kind. I reeeally want to move him to the new world 'cause I think it fits his personality better - he's more of an industrial/city guy to me. What do you guys think? I'm so torn cause I love Willow Creek and actually want to finish it but arrrrgh I love getting a new world lol.
Thanks for the tips, @Mionax and @JordanNicoleJJ :)
I'm currently trying to go back and catch up on this forum by reading all of the pages. I'm on page 17 xD As far as starting in the new world, Jordan, I am at the part of the forum where everyone did that with Brindleton Bay with the Cats & Dogs release, so it would be fun and natural to do it again!
I'm trying to decide how much I want to start on this challenge before the June 2 patch comes along and breaks all of my mods and probably some CC as well. I'm stoked for the pack but also nervous since I have quite a bit of CC! Maybe I will build the founder's house without CC just to make things a bit easier on myself.
I have some screenshots cued up ready to post once I become a full-fledged member tonight! I have never done any sort of Sims storytelling or SimLit before, but I did read through the "how to" guide for SimLit to get some ideas. I just spent an hour messing around with poses (I've never done this in the Sims 4 - the Sims 3 was SO MUCH EASIER!) and teleportation and ultimately gave up on both. Other than this first post, my Sims screenshots will have to be more gameplay-driven because trying to make those poses work made me want to throw something haha.
All right! Here's my first foray into documenting a challenge and doing a build/genetics challenge. I think I will play with the lifespan on short for now since I have trouble with burnout in legacy challenges. I'm a micromanager, so I think a short span will help me keep things moving!
I decided to use the Native American | White pairing. Making a Sim intentionally look like a defined ethnic group was very difficult for me, even with a reference photo! In the end, I am happy enough with the result.
Meet the Founders
This is Lonan Shale. I modeled him after this photo of Jay Tavare, a Native American actor.
This is his wife, Amelia Shale. I modeled her after the Australian actress Isabel Lucas (this photo in particular served as inspiration).
Backstory and Beginnings
Lonan and Amelia grew up as childhood friends in Willow Creek. Their friendship blossomed into romance during high school, and they both decided to move to Windenburg after high school. Amelia pursued her creative interests by working for an advertising firm that recognized her potential. She rented a room from a lovely old couple while Lonan lived alone in an apartment, where he quickly put his handiness skills to work when he figured how expensive it was to call the super every time something broke down. Their relationship progressed while away and Lonan eventually proposed. Amelia was over the moon, and the couple had a cheap but lovely wedding in a local park. Everything was perfect, until...
Hurricane Mortimer destroyed their childhood home, Willow Creek.
After receiving the devastating news in a late-night phone call from Amelia's parents, the couple decided to hop into the car to see what remained of their beloved hometown.
Unfortunately, what remained wasn't much. Amelia and Lonan are shocked and horrified as they witness the devastation that Hurricane Mortimer left in its wake.
The Shales were devastated. As Amelia looked at the trash-strewn site of her childhood home, she broke down. Lonan, ever the optimist, reassured her that it would be okay. Lonan comforts a shaking Amelia.
After getting over the shock of seeing their childhood destroyed, Lonan proposed an idea that lifted Amelia's spirits. "Why don't we rebuild Willow Creek? With your creativity and my handiness, we could make this town great again, and our future children will love it just as much as we did." Lonan proposes to rebuild the community they both knew and loved.
Amelia immediately agreed. So the Shales quit their jobs, moved to the debris-strewn world of Willow Creek, and worked hard picking up rubbish. It was hard work, but they finally cleared the lot. After reviewing a lot of blueprints, Amelia knew she wanted to start off with something small to get her feet wet. Lonan saw the wisdom (and potential) in her plan and quickly agreed. The blueprints I based my first build on, found here.
After many hard days of labor, MacGyvering, and ingenuity, Lonan and Amelia built their first home together from the ground up. While they did run out of funds partway through the project, their parents recognized the vision of their children and pitched in a one-time loan to help them complete their modest home. The happy couple even planned ahead and added in a kids room since they hoped to soon be a growing family! The final results of the outside and floorplan. I was going to just use the starting funds of the couple, but I ended up giving their funds a little boost to complete the house in a visually pleasing way. They will have to save up and earn money to finish the landscaping and backyard!
Now that they have their living space figured out, the couple only has 500 simoleons in their pocket and are eagerly job hunting in nearby towns that weren't hit as hard by Hurricane Mortimer. Perhaps one day companies will return to employ Willow Creek citizens... only time will tell.
Some quick comments on the last couple pages worth of updates ~
@debjameswhite I LOVE that house. The exterior fits into Willow Creek PERFECTLY, and the interior is so warm and homey. I really like the kids' toys and decor in the living room - it really feels like a family home. What a beautiful wedding! Jools looked stunning in that dress. The game really needs better wedding dresses Eeeee nooboo incoming!
We don't have beaches or hiking trails or anything here, so now that the stores have fully or partly re-opened, everyone's going shopping or just walking around stores for fun...putting all of us retail workers at an even higher risk Kansas is on phase 2 of re-opening, but my county got held back because we have the second highest number of cases in the entire state (and a neighboring county has the highest). It's even more sad when you realize we only have a population of ~35k, yet we have more cases than the 3 big cities in KS - Topeka (~125k), Wichita (pop ~390k), and Kansas City (pop ~2.4 million!!). I'm just hoping I got a false negative on the test, that I've already had it, and that I (hopefully) won't get it again, cause otherwise the odds are not in my favor
@OJenn I love the quick snapshots of Sage's dating life. I can't WAIT for dorm remodel pics! I want to remodel the dorms at some point, but I can't stand having that many sims (that I'm not controlling) in my living space, so I never use the dorms anyway Those college life pics are great. The dorm is so cozy, especially with that tea maker!
@Awenya You're reading through all of our old posts?? You're a brave soul -- I can barely catch up when I've missed a few pages This is a super fun challenge though - I'm glad you're joining us! And congrats on getting member status! We all have different styles of storytelling/writing, there's no right or wrong way. I'm pretty sure I've switched up my writing style like 10 times since I started this challenge I realized that I burn out quick if I try to get too story-heavy, so I just do a casual gameplay narration now. And I can't figure out poses either - they drive me insane Oh my god your sims are so cute!! And they're pretty spot-on to the reference images you provided. Okay I don't know what simlit 'how-to' guide you read but obviously I need to read it cause you just came in here and completely showed me up day 1 Seriously though, I love the hurricane pics - all of that clutter makes it look so real...I didn't even know we had half that clutter in the game And that little house is perfect - you've joined the green siding club! (It's a running joke cause several of us unintentionally used that same
green siding on recent builds lol.) The floor plan is perfect for a starter - small enough to be affordable but just big enough to start a family right away... -hintIwantgorgeousbabieshint- I can't wait to see more!
@Mionax Okay, you and @Awenya have convinced me, I'm moving into the new world when it comes out
@Awenya Welcome! I'm so glad you've decided to join this challenge! Whoa going back reading everything?! That's a daunting task. I did that too but the challenge was just a baby challenge when I did it!! Native American/White is what I picked the first time too! I did not use models though and you did a great job! As the other's have already said, I use C to capture pictures as well. Sometimes if I want to get an image of the UI I'll use my snipping tool. I just recently learned about pressing the tab button when taking pictures and that's a game changer. Where have I been??
I love your story telling method. Such a great start! I love how you incorporated everything. Showing your floor plan inspiration is fun I think. I usually use one too but it's kinda fun to see how close you got! Actually this last house I built was the first one I ever did without a floor plan
@JordanNicoleJJ Hooray! I'm so glad you're back and I'm so glad you gave me comments! I'm so relieved that you feel better. I've been thinking about you and hoping you're OK. I appreciate you so much working in retail and going in so other's can still get the items they need. I'm super excited for the new pack too. I've been trying to rush my heir through so she's ready when it comes out. I haven't even shown her in the forums yet! I'm planning to do what I did when Island living came out. I will move <spoiler> Lia to the new world and play her there but then when the next heir is ready I'll move them back to Willow Creek. I remember Windenburg came out when we were all starting the challenge and it was so painful not to try out the new world! I've done it enough times now that I don't feel bad taking a break for one generation!
@JordanNicoleJJ It’s a big undertaking, but it’s fun to see the progression in the storylines! I admit I do skip over the posts where the images no longer work since it is now a few years later. I love your post style! I actually modeled my post after your style because I find your storytelling so engaging! I have a feeling I will only do a sort of in-depth story for my first gen/founders. My second gen on will probably just get one-sentence captions for photos, haha! Also, thanks! I spent a long time throwing random objects on the ground and hunting through debug. It was my first foray into that mess, so it was time-consuming, haha! Only to bulldoze it all afterward, what a shame. Here’s a picture of the set-up if you want to peep what the entire lot looked like from an aerial view. Some of my favorite things (like the downed tree) didn’t make it into the background of the photos.
@debjameswhite Thank you! I’m in currently in the 30s. Less than a hundred to go! It seems like Native American | White is a popular pairing for founders! I wonder why that is? Thanks for the tip on using the snipping tool! If I ever go to windowed mode, I’ll definitely use it! Thank you for your kind words! You guys made me feel so encouraged and welcome, I couldn’t wait to jump back in!
@Mionax Thank you kindly! I just love how they turned out.
I’m a teacher, and I’m off for summer now. I had a lot of time on my hands to play these last few days! That, and I wanted to get another round of playtime in before the patch dropped and broke my mods. Please let me know if I’m posting too much!
LONG Update! (Image Heavy – SORRY!)
Amelia and Lonan settled into their new house right away. The first night, they broke in their new loveseat and made some eyes at each other, but nothing came of it. They knew they had some big days ahead, and their minds were on their financial needs.
Amelia’s overall desire was to start a family (Successful Lineage aspiration), so she didn’t want to tie herself to a career where her future children would be left in daycare all day. This led her to take up freelance writing as a career. With her creativity (trait), she knew she could accomplish anything! As an added bonus, she found ways to incorporate spreading awareness about the plight of Willow Creek. Her first gig led to her writing a piece she was deeply invested in, “10 Ways to Rebuild after a Hurricane.”
Meanwhile, Lonan jumped straight into interning at a hospital in the neighboring town. His desire to give back to the community and help injured and displaced hurricane victims pushed him into a medical career he didn’t see coming. However, he took to it like a fish to water and rocked his first day. He even had time for a coffee break!
Harvestfest was upon the Shale family before they knew it! Fall has always been hurricane season in Willow Creek, but the couple forgot just how close to Harvestfest it was when they moved in! Lonan tried his best, but unfortunately his grand meal wasn’t so grand after all. Amelia was not shy about letting him know. “Why does this taste so bad?! What did you do, fart on it?”
Good thing Lonan has a sense of humor!
Just as Lonan was settling into a routine at his job, a huge upset happened. One of his coworkers died from old age during the middle of her shift as he was treating a patient! All of the orderlies and patients left their posts to mourn this event. I bet that didn’t inspire confidence in those waiting to get checked in!
Meanwhile, Amelia was determined to do more to help the homeless community around Willow Creek. Inspired by her research for writing her “10 Ways to Rebuild” list, she ultimately settled on creating a community garden to help feed the town. Her intentions were good, but poor Amelia didn’t realize that planting late in the fall wouldn’t be that much of a help in the short-term. In addition, she didn’t have the resources to purchase all of the seeds to plant! Luckily, the community relations liaison of a local garden store had read her top 10 list published by PlumbFeed and felt deeply moved. Luv 2 Garden donated plant starts, established shrubs, seeds, and other landscaping materials to make her dream a reality!
Check out my 2nd build for Willow Creek, a small community garden, in the spoiler below! It is right across the street from the Shale’s house! It's technically a national park in game.
I took inspiration from this layout, especially the wall of sunflowers surrounding the swing set!
With this thrilling success and Lonan’s recent promotion, Amelia finally felt ready to try for a baby.
And it took! Lonan was ecstatic to become a dad.
Throughout her pregnancy, Amelia kept working at the community garden and freelance writing. She raked as many leaves as she could before the snow started falling as fall turned to winter.
Even when her computer broke down which prevented her from working, Amelia’s spirits were high. She focused on reading parenting books instead to prepare for her little one while she waited for Lonan to return home to fix it.
Lonan continued to thrive in his position at the hospital, and he became well-known for his bedside manner. He was especially good with kids.
This ended up being a good thing, because Amelia went into labor on the eve of Winterfest!
Lonan was calm, cool, and collected in the delivery room… that is until the doctor actually started up the machine. Despite being a man of medicine, Lonan left the room in a panic. However, all went well and they ended up with a beautiful baby girl! In honor of her Native American heritage, the couple wanted to choose a name based on nature. Given the season, they immediately agreed that her name was destined to be Holly. Both parents were over the moon in love.
Amelia and Lonan celebrated their first Wintersday as parents. Amelia did not let Lonan cook the grand meal this time, and being the overachiever (trait – mod) that she is, the meal turned out splendid. They decorated the tree and even received presents from Father Winter! Lonan especially loved his chess set from Father Winter, as he aspires to build his handiness and logic skills (Nerd Brain aspiration).
Lonan used his paternity leave to continue his family’s tradition of welcoming new life into the world – he got a tattoo on his left arm! As his father explained, “With a child, your heart is forever changed. The tattoo is a physical representation of an altered life.” Parenthood came easily to Lonan and Amelia, and they were more in love than ever. (Also, this is the cutest interaction I’ve ever seen! I haven’t seen this one before, and they did it autonomously!)
In what seemed like a blink, baby Holly aged up into a toddler! She was a perfect angel (rolled trait) for her toddlerhood.
Holly enjoyed playing and reading with Mom when Lonan was at work…
And then received some personal attention from Dad with flash cards after he got home!
When Mom was busy with writing, she found ways to entertain herself as well.
Amelia couldn’t believe how easy being a parent was. So easy, in fact, that she began thinking… “One is nice, sure, but what about two?” Lonan immediately agreed, and Amelia was stoked to try again!
The good news: a new baby was on the way! The bad news: this pregnancy is not nearly as easy as the last. It started off rather unpleasantly.
However, Amelia was determined to celebrate Holly’s birthday in spite of her morning sickness. She began baking a cake…
But before she could finish, Holly aged up alone in her room! She was devastated that her mom forgot her birthday and came out of her room crying. She wouldn’t tell her mom why, but her mother suspected the reason.
Amelia took Holly on a walk to the community garden to talk. Holly admitted that she felt neglected and forgotten. Amelia felt terrible. “Sweetie, I was in the middle of making you a cake! I’m so sorry. I’d never forget your birthday. In fact, I have a very special present for you… you’re going to have a little sibling!”
Well, this announcement cheered Holly up so much that she let go of her initial sadness. Of course, the quality time swinging with Mom helped, too.
Once Lonan returned from his shift, the family sat down for dinner together. As they laughed and joked around, Holly thought that maybe her birthday wasn’t so bad after all.
Here’s the first Shale child! She is the spitting image of her father – I don’t even know if she inherited anything other than her freckles from her mom! Exact same skin tone and eye color as her fathers, along with eye shape and I am guessing nose as well.
I used the in-game randomizer and she got Competitive (custom mod trait) and a number generator to randomize the aspiration: Social Butterfly. This makes sense for her because communication was the only toddler skill she hit level 4 on before she aged up!
Sorry for the LONG post. I got a lot done over the last few days! Also, man, short lifespan is short! I am pausing aging for Lonan whenever Amelia is pregnant, so they get more time as young adults than they initially would have. I just wasn’t ready for them to age up already! I honestly love these founders more than I have ever loved any of my Sims in my life. They are just too dang adorable.
I will definitely split up my posts/play time next time! A lot happened in a short amount of time, but... that's short lifespan for you!
@debjameswhite I can't wait to see your heir! I always get so excited to post an update when someone ages up in my game or when it's time to move on to the next generation. I loved when you did a generation in Sulani - I'm sure Evergreen Harbor will be just as awesome! I'm excited to play with the new pack and see how I like the new world, then I'll decide if it will be a 'one generation move' or if I want to move the family there permanently. I'm REALLY excited for the apartment lots and to make a container home. Unfortunately neither of those are very family-friendly...
@Awenya Man...it really has been a few years since we started this challenge, time flies! And thank you, that's a huge compliment! If you're modeling your style off of mine, you're also modeling it off of @Heckstress17 and @Kiwicantdie to some extent, cause I love their casual, fun writing styles and have been trying to model mine off of theirs Also, post/pic spam is more than welcome here! I love having some updates to read! Amelia definitely strikes me as a stay-at-home-mother/writer, it fits her perfectly! And Lonan makes one handsome doctor That community garden is PERFECT! I love love love it. I put a small community garden space in my park, but I haven't done anything with it yet. Gardening is so much harder with all of the plants being "seasonal" now. I mean, I like the realism, but it's so hard to keep plants alive let alone evolve them Ahhh congrats on your first nooboo of the challenge!! Holly is the perfect name. Part of me wanted her to take after Amelia so she might look like Holly from The Office But she's absolutely perfect the way she is. You're reeeally making me miss cc skin/eyes...the last time I fell down a cc rabbit hole I didn't get out for two weeks and ended up removing it all anyway because I couldn't find a few broken things lol. I have such a love-hate relationship with cc. Aw poor Holly...those birthdays really sneak up on you on short lifespan! I'm glad spending the day at the garden helped, and she actually does look excited to be a big sis! I almost never get that reaction in my game She definitely takes a lot after Lonan, I'm curious to see her as a teen since the genetics sometimes transfer weird between males and females. As of right now she's a total cutie! Again, don't be sorry for the long post, I'm living for it! I already want more
I'm still trying to find time to play my own game...something always comes up when I think I finally have time to play I know I'm only an in-game week or so away from aging up Mac, so here's to hoping I can get at least 1 full day to binge-play this week before work Friday
There is a lot going on in this thread!!! I've enjoyed reading it so far :0! I'll have to go back and read over the entire thing but the pages parts I read were fun! I've essentially began a similar concept, I didn't know there was a big post about it! I've taken a nuclear explosion route, and rebuilding from the ground up in Oasis Springs. I'll post some photos once I get some saved!
I am back for an update while my game updates. Picture heavy.
Sam and Astrid loved playing together while Coco was at work After Coco returned home, she took a pregnancy test and it was positive "Sam I know this was unexpected and we did just have Astrid but I'm pregnant" Ok Sam no need to look all crazy I get you are excited At least Sam was happy about the news Poor Coco this pregnancy was definately different. Sam never likes to get dressed and he is ok with cooking in his underware Coco has been trying to bond with her bees and take good care of them. Though they always seem to sting her With the new baby coming soon Coco new that Astrid's days of being an only child were coming to an end. She wanted to teach her as much as she could Though Astrid was not pleased with Sam Sam's favorite part of bedtime was reading Astrid to sleep. It was finally time for Sam and Coco to get married. Unfortunately it was raining on their wedding day Sam is looking very happy while Astrid is not at all Coco feeling the baby either kicking or elbowing her It was time for the I Do's the couple look so happy Exchanging the rings Sam is loving his wedding band You may now kiss the bride After the kiss and everyone was having a good time Coco went to her siblings and tried to take some selfies. She needs some work. Here is Coco and Basil Coco and her sister Brie Coco and Colby And the bride and groom Coco loved little Astrids outfit she had to take some pictures with her posing She looked so cute Who cares if you get your dress dirty, Astrid needs to know those flash cards Coco was getting bigger by the day. Sam was finally able to feel the baby kicking He was so excited and couldn't wait to meet her or him With the baby coming Coco needed a laundry room. She finally added one right near the guest bathroom off the kitchen Coco also enjoyed playing with the doll house with Astrid It was finally time for Coco to have the baby Sam was panicking A beautiful baby boy named Cosmo was born Sam enjoyed feeding the baby Astrid wandered into her parents room to meet the new baby She was not happy to have a little brother It was finally time for Cosmo to turn into a toddler And her is a picture of little Cosmo
Thats all that I have for right now. I can't remember if I saved after some big things happened so I will leave those pictures for later once I open the game back up.
I uploaded my game and thankfully I did save so back for the rest of the update.
After the wedding Sam and Coco celebrated their wedding night together woohooing all over their bedroom. After woohoocapades she decided to try her hand at making some flower arrangements Afterwords she took a pregnancy test (I'm a gluten for punishment lol) Sam is just going with the flow at this point, 3 pregnancies back to back It was getting closer to Astrid's birthday so Coco wanted to spend as much time with her. Though she was feeling pretty sick during this pregnancy It felt like just yesterday she was telling Sam about the pregnancy now she was in her third trimester and she was big Cosmo went down for bed and Coco went in and tucked him in And gave him a kiss on his little head It was also Astrid's birthday. Coco made a honey cake Coco brought it into the kitchen and went and got Astrid. It was finally time for her to age up into a child. She did not get her mothers powers I think Astrid looks mostly like her mother And before she knew it Coco gave birth to twins! Lucious And Draco Here is a close up of Draco And one of Lucious I really wanted one of the kids to have Sam's eyes and because Coco was the last heir this gen it has to be a boy. So now I have to decide do I go with one of the twins or Cosmo. What does everyone think? Also Cosmo will be a witch when he gets to a teen.
@JordanNicoleJJ It is crazy to think how consistently many of you have played and stuck to this challenge! I am in awe of your ability to do so. I am one of those obsessive players. I play a lot for a short time and then drop it for 6 months, haha! Also, you are SO right! I also took a lot of inspiration from @Heckstress17 and I really enjoy reading her posts as well. I haven't read any of Kiwi's yet, though!
I totally understand the frustration with the seasonal plants! I only started playing Sims 4 last year when the base game was free and I got seasons almost right away in the June sale, so I don't know any different. The good news is that plants maintain themselves on community lots - no watering/evolving needed! So that's nice.
With today's patch, you should feel lucky you don't play with defaults! All default CC eyes broke, and I can't make myself load into the game because I love the way my sims look at the moment. I just wanted eyes that did justice to brown eyed individuals because most of them are way whack. #justiceforbrowneyes But I totally understand what you mean about the CC hole! I have got on my laptop fully intending to play and then I just spend like 3 hours downloading CC. It's terrible! The tray importer really helps find broken CAS cc, though!
@mattiemayhem I'm currently reading from the beginning and it is fun! Time consuming, but it's so cool to see how the stories develop. Your take on the challenge sounds really awesome and I can't wait to see it!
@Awenya thanks!! i totally didn't read the rest of @OJenn 's actual post to see what they were saying to do in Oasis Springs, /s... I hope I'm not stepping on toes by switching it around a bit. But now that I'm a little more caught up, it's so incredible seeing what everyone's families had developed into. Your sims are absolutely ADORABLE. Can't wait to see more! With this new update that rolled today, I'm sure all of our stories will get so much more interesting!! I'll be putting my sims off the grid for a little to play around!
Okay, here's my little story now that I'm at my computer!
The way I'm playing is essentially the same way just with some storytelling and gameplay elements. I'm doing the 10 generation rebuild in Oasis Springs (and later, elsewhere) with a nuclear blast as the reason everything's been flattened. Only a few well built, or built enough, locations survived. Each generation has a goal to fill one section of neighborhood with at least 1 community lot and the rest residential. Here's what I mean:
(ignore the lots that remain, it's all gunna come down/be different eventually). Each number is a generation. Brianna is in '1' right now. She'll turn the biggest lot into a park after spending 1k, and the rest of the lots will be the houses of the friends she makes. She can only move them in if she is at least good friends and can spend 500 simoleans, and the house has to be under 20k. All the while, trying to update her own home, that cannot be above 20k itself. It'll change into different prices and stuff per generation, too, to keep the challenge aspect going!
This is my sim, Brianna Brenninger! I've chosen to use my sim of East Asian descent and she'll get with a white man, Johnny Zest. So far with my 'nuclear blast destroyed her home' stitch, she's woken up in a hastily made bunker that did it's job- survived the blast. It has the essentials, a 1 tile bathroom, cot, barely running fridge and some counter space, a stack of clothes and things to keep her busy. She has a woodworking bench and a guitar!
She's okay at it. Even picked up some singing too to lift her spirits!
The heatwave post-blast had been a nightmare so far, but she scrounged up a deflated pool and made herself right at home in the water. I don't know how safe the water from the creek is, but I guess we'll find out...
As for how she's going to manage to get through all this nonsense, she's gunna need.. Well, friends! She has the 'friend of the world' aspiration and her generation goal is to build a community park and garden for everyone and future generations to enjoy! Though, in the middle of a block party with the survivors, the heat got to one of them.
Geoffrey Landgraab has passed away!
It gets a bit morbid, but I was genuinely curious as to how Nancy would react if Brianna gave her Geoffrey's urn since I'd never done that before. People don't die on my lots often.
look at that sheepish smile!!! She knows this is weird, and so does Nancy, but god, its the aftermath of the apocalypse. What else are you supposed to do, Brianna, keep it?! I think she's appreciative of your concern. Maybe Nancy and her child can move into the neighborhood to have some company, with friends like Brianna!
Back into the pool again...
Maybe things can get easier for me if I found someone to spend my time with, little Ducky. That Johnny Zest dude was my first friend, so maybe I can ask him to move in and we can do this together. I just gotta kick some walls out of this junkhouse and make some space...
Here's to hoping..!
This was a lot of fun to write xD and oh now I got some ideas for this xD
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Origin #: madebymionax
Oh well hopefully on my next day off I can actually get some play time in and post something.
I was so waiting to see your dorms and they look good. I love it. I love her hair, it makes me want cc hehe She would make such pretty babies with Jordan! He needs to be a future mate!
I have been reading through the first few pages of the old forum to get a feel for what's going on since many people were continuing their storylines from the last forum. I just finished a scaled down version of the 100 baby challenge (I did 50 instead), and I'm excited for this challenge! I saw it back in March and I have been thinking about it ever since, haha. I love how flexible the rules are while still providing structure.
Origin ID: LadyZOOKOR
Origin #: madebymionax
Origin ID: LadyZOOKOR
Origin #: madebymionax
As far as screenshots go, I have just been pressing "C" to capture in game photos. Is there a better way to capture screenshots to share on here?
Origin ID: LadyZOOKOR
Origin #: madebymionax
Welcome to all of the new faces here! I also use 'c' to capture screenshots, but I do it in 'tab' mode so I can move the camera around and get the perfect angle without the UI in the way and everything. I also use the Sims 3 camera, because it gives me more control over the angles/zoom.
I'm going to try to play this week and get through Mac's teenage years (but not age him up into a YA yet), so I can make the gen 2 house with the new pack and give him one of the new aspirations and maybe a new trait. He's creative so I'm thinking he'll be a crafter of some kind. I reeeally want to move him to the new world 'cause I think it fits his personality better - he's more of an industrial/city guy to me. What do you guys think? I'm so torn cause I love Willow Creek and actually want to finish it but arrrrgh I love getting a new world lol.
Origin #: madebymionax
I'm currently trying to go back and catch up on this forum by reading all of the pages. I'm on page 17 xD As far as starting in the new world, Jordan, I am at the part of the forum where everyone did that with Brindleton Bay with the Cats & Dogs release, so it would be fun and natural to do it again!
I'm trying to decide how much I want to start on this challenge before the June 2 patch comes along and breaks all of my mods and probably some CC as well. I'm stoked for the pack but also nervous since I have quite a bit of CC! Maybe I will build the founder's house without CC just to make things a bit easier on myself.
I have some screenshots cued up ready to post once I become a full-fledged member tonight! I have never done any sort of Sims storytelling or SimLit before, but I did read through the "how to" guide for SimLit to get some ideas. I just spent an hour messing around with poses (I've never done this in the Sims 4 - the Sims 3 was SO MUCH EASIER!) and teleportation and ultimately gave up on both. Other than this first post, my Sims screenshots will have to be more gameplay-driven because trying to make those poses work made me want to throw something haha.
Origin ID: LadyZOOKOR
I decided to use the Native American | White pairing. Making a Sim intentionally look like a defined ethnic group was very difficult for me, even with a reference photo! In the end, I am happy enough with the result.
This is Lonan Shale. I modeled him after this photo of Jay Tavare, a Native American actor.
This is his wife, Amelia Shale. I modeled her after the Australian actress Isabel Lucas (this photo in particular served as inspiration).
Backstory and Beginnings
Lonan and Amelia grew up as childhood friends in Willow Creek. Their friendship blossomed into romance during high school, and they both decided to move to Windenburg after high school. Amelia pursued her creative interests by working for an advertising firm that recognized her potential. She rented a room from a lovely old couple while Lonan lived alone in an apartment, where he quickly put his handiness skills to work when he figured how expensive it was to call the super every time something broke down. Their relationship progressed while away and Lonan eventually proposed. Amelia was over the moon, and the couple had a cheap but lovely wedding in a local park. Everything was perfect, until...
Hurricane Mortimer destroyed their childhood home, Willow Creek.
After receiving the devastating news in a late-night phone call from Amelia's parents, the couple decided to hop into the car to see what remained of their beloved hometown.
Unfortunately, what remained wasn't much.
Amelia and Lonan are shocked and horrified as they witness the devastation that Hurricane Mortimer left in its wake.
The Shales were devastated. As Amelia looked at the trash-strewn site of her childhood home, she broke down. Lonan, ever the optimist, reassured her that it would be okay.
Lonan comforts a shaking Amelia.
After getting over the shock of seeing their childhood destroyed, Lonan proposed an idea that lifted Amelia's spirits. "Why don't we rebuild Willow Creek? With your creativity and my handiness, we could make this town great again, and our future children will love it just as much as we did."
Lonan proposes to rebuild the community they both knew and loved.
Amelia immediately agreed. So the Shales quit their jobs, moved to the debris-strewn world of Willow Creek, and worked hard picking up rubbish. It was hard work, but they finally cleared the lot. After reviewing a lot of blueprints, Amelia knew she wanted to start off with something small to get her feet wet. Lonan saw the wisdom (and potential) in her plan and quickly agreed.
The blueprints I based my first build on, found here.
After many hard days of labor, MacGyvering, and ingenuity, Lonan and Amelia built their first home together from the ground up. While they did run out of funds partway through the project, their parents recognized the vision of their children and pitched in a one-time loan to help them complete their modest home. The happy couple even planned ahead and added in a kids room since they hoped to soon be a growing family!
The final results of the outside and floorplan. I was going to just use the starting funds of the couple, but I ended up giving their funds a little boost to complete the house in a visually pleasing way. They will have to save up and earn money to finish the landscaping and backyard!
Now that they have their living space figured out, the couple only has 500 simoleons in their pocket and are eagerly job hunting in nearby towns that weren't hit as hard by Hurricane Mortimer. Perhaps one day companies will return to employ Willow Creek citizens... only time will tell.
Origin ID: LadyZOOKOR
@debjameswhite I LOVE that house. The exterior fits into Willow Creek PERFECTLY, and the interior is so warm and homey. I really like the kids' toys and decor in the living room - it really feels like a family home. What a beautiful wedding! Jools looked stunning in that dress. The game really needs better wedding dresses
We don't have beaches or hiking trails or anything here, so now that the stores have fully or partly re-opened, everyone's going shopping or just walking around stores for fun...putting all of us retail workers at an even higher risk
@OJenn I love the quick snapshots of Sage's dating life. I can't WAIT for dorm remodel pics! I want to remodel the dorms at some point, but I can't stand having that many sims (that I'm not controlling) in my living space, so I never use the dorms anyway
@Awenya You're reading through all of our old posts?? You're a brave soul -- I can barely catch up when I've missed a few pages
green siding on recent builds lol.) The floor plan is perfect for a starter - small enough to be affordable but just big enough to start a family right away... -hintIwantgorgeousbabieshint-
@Mionax Okay, you and @Awenya have convinced me, I'm moving into the new world when it comes out
I love your story telling method. Such a great start! I love how you incorporated everything. Showing your floor plan inspiration is fun I think. I usually use one too but it's kinda fun to see how close you got! Actually this last house I built was the first one I ever did without a floor plan
@JordanNicoleJJ Hooray! I'm so glad you're back and I'm so glad you gave me comments! I'm so relieved that you feel better. I've been thinking about you and hoping you're OK. I appreciate you so much working in retail and going in so other's can still get the items they need. I'm super excited for the new pack too. I've been trying to rush my heir through so she's ready when it comes out. I haven't even shown her in the forums yet! I'm planning to do what I did when Island living came out. I will move <spoiler> Lia to the new world and play her there but then when the next heir is ready I'll move them back to Willow Creek. I remember Windenburg came out when we were all starting the challenge and it was so painful not to try out the new world! I've done it enough times now that I don't feel bad taking a break for one generation!
@JordanNicoleJJ Coming to the new world with your family? Great!
Origin #: madebymionax
@debjameswhite Thank you! I’m in currently in the 30s. Less than a hundred to go!
@Mionax Thank you kindly! I just love how they turned out.
I’m a teacher, and I’m off for summer now. I had a lot of time on my hands to play these last few days! That, and I wanted to get another round of playtime in before the patch dropped and broke my mods. Please let me know if I’m posting too much!
Amelia and Lonan settled into their new house right away. The first night, they broke in their new loveseat and made some eyes at each other, but nothing came of it. They knew they had some big days ahead, and their minds were on their financial needs.
Amelia’s overall desire was to start a family (Successful Lineage aspiration), so she didn’t want to tie herself to a career where her future children would be left in daycare all day. This led her to take up freelance writing as a career. With her creativity (trait), she knew she could accomplish anything! As an added bonus, she found ways to incorporate spreading awareness about the plight of Willow Creek. Her first gig led to her writing a piece she was deeply invested in, “10 Ways to Rebuild after a Hurricane.”
Meanwhile, Lonan jumped straight into interning at a hospital in the neighboring town. His desire to give back to the community and help injured and displaced hurricane victims pushed him into a medical career he didn’t see coming. However, he took to it like a fish to water and rocked his first day. He even had time for a coffee break!
Harvestfest was upon the Shale family before they knew it! Fall has always been hurricane season in Willow Creek, but the couple forgot just how close to Harvestfest it was when they moved in! Lonan tried his best, but unfortunately his grand meal wasn’t so grand after all. Amelia was not shy about letting him know.
“Why does this taste so bad?! What did you do, fart on it?”
Good thing Lonan has a sense of humor!
Just as Lonan was settling into a routine at his job, a huge upset happened. One of his coworkers died from old age during the middle of her shift as he was treating a patient! All of the orderlies and patients left their posts to mourn this event. I bet that didn’t inspire confidence in those waiting to get checked in!
Meanwhile, Amelia was determined to do more to help the homeless community around Willow Creek. Inspired by her research for writing her “10 Ways to Rebuild” list, she ultimately settled on creating a community garden to help feed the town. Her intentions were good, but poor Amelia didn’t realize that planting late in the fall wouldn’t be that much of a help in the short-term. In addition, she didn’t have the resources to purchase all of the seeds to plant! Luckily, the community relations liaison of a local garden store had read her top 10 list published by PlumbFeed and felt deeply moved. Luv 2 Garden donated plant starts, established shrubs, seeds, and other landscaping materials to make her dream a reality!
Check out my 2nd build for Willow Creek, a small community garden, in the spoiler below! It is right across the street from the Shale’s house! It's technically a national park in game.
I took inspiration from this layout, especially the wall of sunflowers surrounding the swing set!
With this thrilling success and Lonan’s recent promotion, Amelia finally felt ready to try for a baby.
And it took! Lonan was ecstatic to become a dad.
Throughout her pregnancy, Amelia kept working at the community garden and freelance writing. She raked as many leaves as she could before the snow started falling as fall turned to winter.
Even when her computer broke down which prevented her from working, Amelia’s spirits were high. She focused on reading parenting books instead to prepare for her little one while she waited for Lonan to return home to fix it.
Lonan continued to thrive in his position at the hospital, and he became well-known for his bedside manner. He was especially good with kids.
This ended up being a good thing, because Amelia went into labor on the eve of Winterfest!
Lonan was calm, cool, and collected in the delivery room… that is until the doctor actually started up the machine. Despite being a man of medicine, Lonan left the room in a panic. However, all went well and they ended up with a beautiful baby girl! In honor of her Native American heritage, the couple wanted to choose a name based on nature. Given the season, they immediately agreed that her name was destined to be Holly. Both parents were over the moon in love.
Amelia and Lonan celebrated their first Wintersday as parents. Amelia did not let Lonan cook the grand meal this time, and being the overachiever (trait – mod) that she is, the meal turned out splendid. They decorated the tree and even received presents from Father Winter! Lonan especially loved his chess set from Father Winter, as he aspires to build his handiness and logic skills (Nerd Brain aspiration).
Lonan used his paternity leave to continue his family’s tradition of welcoming new life into the world – he got a tattoo on his left arm! As his father explained, “With a child, your heart is forever changed. The tattoo is a physical representation of an altered life.” Parenthood came easily to Lonan and Amelia, and they were more in love than ever. (Also, this is the cutest interaction I’ve ever seen! I haven’t seen this one before, and they did it autonomously!)
In what seemed like a blink, baby Holly aged up into a toddler! She was a perfect angel (rolled trait) for her toddlerhood.
Holly enjoyed playing and reading with Mom when Lonan was at work…
And then received some personal attention from Dad with flash cards after he got home!
When Mom was busy with writing, she found ways to entertain herself as well.
Amelia couldn’t believe how easy being a parent was. So easy, in fact, that she began thinking… “One is nice, sure, but what about two?” Lonan immediately agreed, and Amelia was stoked to try again!
The good news: a new baby was on the way! The bad news: this pregnancy is not nearly as easy as the last. It started off rather unpleasantly.
However, Amelia was determined to celebrate Holly’s birthday in spite of her morning sickness. She began baking a cake…
But before she could finish, Holly aged up alone in her room! She was devastated that her mom forgot her birthday and came out of her room crying. She wouldn’t tell her mom why, but her mother suspected the reason.
Amelia took Holly on a walk to the community garden to talk. Holly admitted that she felt neglected and forgotten. Amelia felt terrible. “Sweetie, I was in the middle of making you a cake! I’m so sorry. I’d never forget your birthday. In fact, I have a very special present for you… you’re going to have a little sibling!”
Well, this announcement cheered Holly up so much that she let go of her initial sadness. Of course, the quality time swinging with Mom helped, too.
Once Lonan returned from his shift, the family sat down for dinner together. As they laughed and joked around, Holly thought that maybe her birthday wasn’t so bad after all.
Here’s the first Shale child! She is the spitting image of her father – I don’t even know if she inherited anything other than her freckles from her mom! Exact same skin tone and eye color as her fathers, along with eye shape and I am guessing nose as well.
I used the in-game randomizer and she got Competitive (custom mod trait) and a number generator to randomize the aspiration: Social Butterfly. This makes sense for her because communication was the only toddler skill she hit level 4 on before she aged up!
Sorry for the LONG post. I got a lot done over the last few days! Also, man, short lifespan is short! I am pausing aging for Lonan whenever Amelia is pregnant, so they get more time as young adults than they initially would have. I just wasn’t ready for them to age up already! I honestly love these founders more than I have ever loved any of my Sims in my life. They are just too dang adorable.
I will definitely split up my posts/play time next time! A lot happened in a short amount of time, but... that's short lifespan for you!
Origin ID: LadyZOOKOR
@Awenya Man...it really has been a few years since we started this challenge, time flies! And thank you, that's a huge compliment! If you're modeling your style off of mine, you're also modeling it off of @Heckstress17 and @Kiwicantdie to some extent, cause I love their casual, fun writing styles and have been trying to model mine off of theirs
I'm still trying to find time to play my own game...something always comes up when I think I finally have time to play
@mattiemayhem Welcome!
Origin #: madebymionax
I am back for an update while my game updates. Picture heavy.
Sam and Astrid loved playing together while Coco was at work
Thats all that I have for right now. I can't remember if I saved after some big things happened so I will leave those pictures for later once I open the game back up.
Origin #: madebymionax
@Mionax Thank you.
I uploaded my game and thankfully I did save so back for the rest of the update.
After the wedding Sam and Coco celebrated their wedding night together woohooing all over their bedroom. After woohoocapades she decided to try her hand at making some flower arrangements
I totally understand the frustration with the seasonal plants! I only started playing Sims 4 last year when the base game was free and I got seasons almost right away in the June sale, so I don't know any different. The good news is that plants maintain themselves on community lots - no watering/evolving needed! So that's nice.
With today's patch, you should feel lucky you don't play with defaults! All default CC eyes broke, and I can't make myself load into the game because I love the way my sims look at the moment. I just wanted eyes that did justice to brown eyed individuals because most of them are way whack. #justiceforbrowneyes But I totally understand what you mean about the CC hole! I have got on my laptop fully intending to play and then I just spend like 3 hours downloading CC. It's terrible! The tray importer really helps find broken CAS cc, though!
@mattiemayhem I'm currently reading from the beginning and it is fun! Time consuming, but it's so cool to see how the stories develop. Your take on the challenge sounds really awesome and I can't wait to see it!
@Mionax Thank you!
Origin ID: LadyZOOKOR
Okay, here's my little story now that I'm at my computer!
The way I'm playing is essentially the same way just with some storytelling and gameplay elements. I'm doing the 10 generation rebuild in Oasis Springs (and later, elsewhere) with a nuclear blast as the reason everything's been flattened. Only a few well built, or built enough, locations survived. Each generation has a goal to fill one section of neighborhood with at least 1 community lot and the rest residential. Here's what I mean:
(ignore the lots that remain, it's all gunna come down/be different eventually). Each number is a generation. Brianna is in '1' right now. She'll turn the biggest lot into a park after spending 1k, and the rest of the lots will be the houses of the friends she makes. She can only move them in if she is at least good friends and can spend 500 simoleans, and the house has to be under 20k. All the while, trying to update her own home, that cannot be above 20k itself. It'll change into different prices and stuff per generation, too, to keep the challenge aspect going!
This is my sim, Brianna Brenninger! I've chosen to use my sim of East Asian descent and she'll get with a white man, Johnny Zest. So far with my 'nuclear blast destroyed her home' stitch, she's woken up in a hastily made bunker that did it's job- survived the blast. It has the essentials, a 1 tile bathroom, cot, barely running fridge and some counter space, a stack of clothes and things to keep her busy. She has a woodworking bench and a guitar!
She's okay at it. Even picked up some singing too to lift her spirits!
The heatwave post-blast had been a nightmare so far, but she scrounged up a deflated pool and made herself right at home in the water. I don't know how safe the water from the creek is, but I guess we'll find out...
As for how she's going to manage to get through all this nonsense, she's gunna need.. Well, friends! She has the 'friend of the world' aspiration and her generation goal is to build a community park and garden for everyone and future generations to enjoy! Though, in the middle of a block party with the survivors, the heat got to one of them.
Geoffrey Landgraab has passed away!
It gets a bit morbid, but I was genuinely curious as to how Nancy would react if Brianna gave her Geoffrey's urn since I'd never done that before. People don't die on my lots often.
look at that sheepish smile!!! She knows this is weird, and so does Nancy, but god, its the aftermath of the apocalypse. What else are you supposed to do, Brianna, keep it?! I think she's appreciative of your concern. Maybe Nancy and her child can move into the neighborhood to have some company, with friends like Brianna!
Back into the pool again...
Maybe things can get easier for me if I found someone to spend my time with, little Ducky. That Johnny Zest dude was my first friend, so maybe I can ask him to move in and we can do this together. I just gotta kick some walls out of this junkhouse and make some space...
Here's to hoping..!
This was a lot of fun to write xD and oh now I got some ideas for this xD