@Skeilah Yeah, there are a bunch of custom traits out there! But don't forget that those are one of the things that need to be updated with almost every patch of the game.
Sims 2 and 3 had zodiac signs, yes. They weren't traits but something that was assigned separately. In Sims 2 it was based on the personality points you gave your sim and in 3 you could just select whichever one you wanted. In Sims 2 the zodiac sign helped calculate the chemistry sims had with each other and in Sims 3 there are compatible zodiac signs and they might get along better? I'm not sure.
The reward trait zodiac signs also have that compatibility, so sims will get buffs whenever they're around someone who's compatible. I think it should also give them a friendship bonus or make the gain faster or something.
I was thinking about some other fun things we could do in this thread and I have some ideas, if anyone is up for it?
I ran into a thread on this forum called The Art of Storytelling when I was researching storytelling in sims and I saw they had some pretty cool discussion questions over there. The thread is dead by now, but I thought it'd be fun to do some random discussion questions throughout the week (for everyone) as well, for example that one thread I shared about what form of storytelling you use. Could be about anything having to do with writing, storytelling or picture taking though. Since everyone has read the chapters and commented on the discussion questions posed by @Skeilah, there's not much left to do. Everyone can respond in their own time obviously and questions can carry over into the next weeks, but it keeps the conversation going which I thought would be fun.
Another idea I have is some sort of 'awards show' after everyone got the opportunity to present and discuss their story (so every six weeks). We could come up with categories like 'character who needs to take a hint', 'best relationship', etc. We could establish those categories, then make a survey out of it. The answer boxes can be open-ended, so everyone can fill in their own answer. Answers can be anonymous. We could also do this per story, so the awards would go to characters in one story. If anyone has a better way of executing this, I'd love to hear that too.
@Duvelina I love this idea! Everybody writes and takes pictures in different ways, so it's always interesting to see what other people do compared to yourself. And small character awards sounds like it could be a lot of fun
I have a question (though this is more for the story-focused simmers than the gameplay-focused simmers, I think) that I've been wondering about. Do you take pictures first and write second, or do you write first and take pictures second?
I tend to take pictures first and write later, then go back to the game and take pictures again if they're not what I want. It's pretty time-consuming, but I'm very picky about what goofy expressions they show
Hosting D&D sessions on the side. Interested in playing through some fantasy-themed shenanigans? Send me a message 😘
Some ideas of mine for the award show: every time there's going to be an award show, someone's going to be the 'host'. The host will make preparations for the award show and can choose in which way he or she wants to organize the show, which awards will be given, ... What do you think of that?
@_sims_Yimi For the Ridley Residence: I take my pictures first and write my story based on my pictures. I don't always follow the order of my pictures (sometimes I switch order because I like it more that way ) but I'm not really in the possibility to retake pictures.
I also have a SimLit. In that case I write my story first and then I'll take my pictures so I don't have to go back to the game. I'll have the story next to me on another screen so I can see where in the story I can put my pictures best.
@_sims_Yimi I always take pictures first. I take my pictures with the snipping tool on my computer and I name them something I can piece back together when I start writing. I rarely rearrange pictures either, although I did do it with something I wrote today.
I'm glad the ideas sound fun to two of you already! I like the host idea, @Skeilah. That takes the burden of one person having to do it every time. You'll basically have to host once in a little more than half a year. 😁 And the award shows will never be the same, because everyone shows their creativity in different ways.
@Duvelina um, that sounds AMAZING. I really love both ideas! Yes, yes, yes, I'm so up for that! It really would keep the discussion going and make this even more fun. As long as the current week's author is OK with it, I think it would be cool to incorporate this. @Skeilah I think the different host plan would be great, too. It's a cute way to have each of us in here show our creativity and different style, as well as not having only one person take the full responsibility of running the awards show every time. I love, love, love this awards idea.
@_sims_Yimi this is a great question. My story is mostly plot-driven but sometimes it's gameplay-driven (the first few episodes, for example, I allow the sims to do whatever they want outside of challenges so as to plant the seeds of their storylines based on who they interact with, what they do, etc.) so I always take the screenshots first. In more recent episodes, I usually have an idea of what I'm going to write so I let them run around, take in-action screenshots that could fit in with what I have in mind for the characters, then I do the posing scenes for specific things I need to have happen (like the confessionals), and then the "challenge" scenes, and only then do I write (and I do the same process for the elimination episodes). I've never written the story (aside from very basic outlines) before the screenshotting, I wonder what that would be like! I do go back and get more screenshots if I need them but this is so time-consuming so I usually make do with what I have.
@ajamkeevin That's great! So happy you like it. I think we should choose someone at random and notify them on the first day of the last person's week? That way, they have about a week to formulate the categories and people can vote from Monday onwards in the new rotation. That's what I was thinking anyway. 😁
I used to be really active over on the Art of Sims Storytelling thread but it hasn't been active for awhile. I love the idea of general storytelling questions.
I also used to do a little awards shoutout thing on my blog/ the forums. I think it's a cool idea. I miss doing that.
Oh wow, it's Sunday already Thank you everyone for the fun discussions this week! I'm looking forward to finding out who the next simmer is going to be
Hosting D&D sessions on the side. Interested in playing through some fantasy-themed shenanigans? Send me a message 😘
Me too! I have been getting a head start on some of the other stories this week, like Tales of Camelot and The Krazy Crazy Life of Kassiopeia Fullbright because I was so excited and didn't have huge amounts of reading to do in the future.
In what time zones are you all (just being curious now)? I'm from Belgium so in EU time zone (CET). It's currently 1:35 pm here (when I'm posting this hehe).
Oh my, are we all neighbors around here? I’m in France, CET as well!
The week went by so quickly! It was a great first week of discussion, thank you @Skeilah for the great questions and your story♥️ Can’t wait to get around to Liz, Ninja, and Brent again!
I’ve pulled the next name out of the (imaginary) hat and this week is going to be focused on Tales of Camelot by @_sims_Yimi ! I’m super excited to get into the discussion for this
Hope you’ve all had wonderful weekends! Cheers, everyone~
@ajamkeevin Yay, another neighbour! Small world, it is
Oh dear, it's me? I did not expect my turn to come up so soon!
Okay, I'll use this evening to think of some questions, and I'll post them here somewhere tonight.
Hosting D&D sessions on the side. Interested in playing through some fantasy-themed shenanigans? Send me a message 😘
Hate to burst your bubble but I'm in the U.S. Mountain Time. But that's cool that you're all close-ish. I have Dutch in my blood if that makes it any better.
This was a fun week! I'm so excited Tales from Camelot is next. Off to Camelot we go.
P.S. Thank you @Duvelina for already reading KCLKF. I'm enjoying reading your comments.
@ajamkeevin I can have little conversations with you, whooo! I go on vacations in France every Summer. I loveeeee France. My French is not THAT good, but I can help myself^^
@AdamsEve1231 Ah, someone needs to be the outsider Nah, just joking. Having Dutch blood is also a good thing ^^
@_sims_Yimi Good luck this week! I'm exited to see your questions and I'm also exited to answer them!
GENERAL
- Cats or dogs?
- Okay, questions for realsies now. What are your general thoughts on the story so far?
WRITING
- What do you think of my writing style? Are the sentences clear? Too short? Too long? Am I saying the same words repeatedly?
- I sometimes switch between points-of-view as the story is going on. Is this confusing to read? Should a writer stick with one pov, or is it all right to peek into multiple people's heads in the same chapter? What do you think?
- My chapters tend to hover around 3,000 words, with some longer and some shorter. What do you think about the length? I sometimes have trouble hitting the right story beats with fewer words per chapter, but I realize that too long a chapter can overstay its welcome.
STORY
- What do you think about the main characters (Arthur, Gawain, Morgana)?
- What do you think about the side characters (Uther, Richard, Gaius)?
- What is your favourite moment in the story, and what is your least favourite? Why?
- Where do you think the story is headed? Where would you like to see it go?
VISUALS
- What do you think about the pictures taken? I have a habit of showing close-ups to showcase their emotions. Are they too close, or do you like them this way?
- What do you think about the size? They're now 1200 x 675, and 1100 x 612 in the next chapter. Are they too big?
- In TS3, we could tilt the camera to give dynamic angles to our pictures. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do that in TS4. Did they remove the option?
- For purposes completely unrelated to the story *cough* I need magic. All the magic. Do you have any good CC for visual effects? Alternatively, is it worth buying the Realm of Magic game pack?
MISC
- The white pose statue and I are at war after I spawned him at the bottom of a pond by accident and forgot about him for a week. He has sworn watery revenge. I need allies. Are you with me, or against me?
- I like having my cast comment on things out-of-story. If you want, you can ask questions of them, and I'll write the answer from their POV (they may not be completely truthful, though )
Hosting D&D sessions on the side. Interested in playing through some fantasy-themed shenanigans? Send me a message 😘
Since I've already read the entirety of the story, I'm going to work on those questions now. I'll do it in 5 different parts, I think, so I won't overwhelm myself.
General
Cats or dogs? If these were my two options, I'd always go for dogs. I find cats way too unpredictable for my liking, although I could compare myself to the personality of a cat. Maybe we're too alike. 😂 Sometimes I wouldn't even choose dogs either. Dogs can scare me very easily if I don't know them or what they can do. A dog needs to gain my trust basically.
What are your general thoughts on the story so far? I love it. I think it's the only story in the bunch that's somehow set in the past, although fantasy. The setting keeps my attention because I'd definitely be interested in writing my own story set in the past. For the overall story, I don't know anything about Camelot. I only know vaguely about Arthur and Merlin, but that's about it. I've never even heard of Morgana and I'm not going to look it up either. I like surprises and since this is something completely new to me, I'm excited to see where this all ends up. I get happy whenever I get to read something new from this story, so I'd say it's going great so far.
Comments
Sims 2 and 3 had zodiac signs, yes. They weren't traits but something that was assigned separately. In Sims 2 it was based on the personality points you gave your sim and in 3 you could just select whichever one you wanted. In Sims 2 the zodiac sign helped calculate the chemistry sims had with each other and in Sims 3 there are compatible zodiac signs and they might get along better? I'm not sure.
The reward trait zodiac signs also have that compatibility, so sims will get buffs whenever they're around someone who's compatible. I think it should also give them a friendship bonus or make the gain faster or something.
Too Good at Goodbyes forum thread
Too Good at Goodbyes blog
I ran into a thread on this forum called The Art of Storytelling when I was researching storytelling in sims and I saw they had some pretty cool discussion questions over there. The thread is dead by now, but I thought it'd be fun to do some random discussion questions throughout the week (for everyone) as well, for example that one thread I shared about what form of storytelling you use. Could be about anything having to do with writing, storytelling or picture taking though. Since everyone has read the chapters and commented on the discussion questions posed by @Skeilah, there's not much left to do. Everyone can respond in their own time obviously and questions can carry over into the next weeks, but it keeps the conversation going which I thought would be fun.
Another idea I have is some sort of 'awards show' after everyone got the opportunity to present and discuss their story (so every six weeks). We could come up with categories like 'character who needs to take a hint', 'best relationship', etc. We could establish those categories, then make a survey out of it. The answer boxes can be open-ended, so everyone can fill in their own answer. Answers can be anonymous. We could also do this per story, so the awards would go to characters in one story. If anyone has a better way of executing this, I'd love to hear that too.
Anyway, just some food for thought. 😊
Too Good at Goodbyes forum thread
Too Good at Goodbyes blog
I have a question (though this is more for the story-focused simmers than the gameplay-focused simmers, I think) that I've been wondering about. Do you take pictures first and write second, or do you write first and take pictures second?
I tend to take pictures first and write later, then go back to the game and take pictures again if they're not what I want. It's pretty time-consuming, but I'm very picky about what goofy expressions they show
Some ideas of mine for the award show: every time there's going to be an award show, someone's going to be the 'host'. The host will make preparations for the award show and can choose in which way he or she wants to organize the show, which awards will be given, ... What do you think of that?
@_sims_Yimi For the Ridley Residence: I take my pictures first and write my story based on my pictures. I don't always follow the order of my pictures (sometimes I switch order because I like it more that way
I also have a SimLit. In that case I write my story first and then I'll take my pictures so I don't have to go back to the game. I'll have the story next to me on another screen so I can see where in the story I can put my pictures best.
I'm glad the ideas sound fun to two of you already! I like the host idea, @Skeilah. That takes the burden of one person having to do it every time. You'll basically have to host once in a little more than half a year. 😁 And the award shows will never be the same, because everyone shows their creativity in different ways.
Too Good at Goodbyes forum thread
Too Good at Goodbyes blog
@_sims_Yimi this is a great question. My story is mostly plot-driven but sometimes it's gameplay-driven (the first few episodes, for example, I allow the sims to do whatever they want outside of challenges so as to plant the seeds of their storylines based on who they interact with, what they do, etc.) so I always take the screenshots first. In more recent episodes, I usually have an idea of what I'm going to write so I let them run around, take in-action screenshots that could fit in with what I have in mind for the characters, then I do the posing scenes for specific things I need to have happen (like the confessionals), and then the "challenge" scenes, and only then do I write (and I do the same process for the elimination episodes). I've never written the story (aside from very basic outlines) before the screenshotting, I wonder what that would be like! I do go back and get more screenshots if I need them but this is so time-consuming so I usually make do with what I have.
Kev & Get It • Forum Thread
Too Good at Goodbyes forum thread
Too Good at Goodbyes blog
I also used to do a little awards shoutout thing on my blog/ the forums. I think it's a cool idea. I miss doing that.
Find me elsewhere:
My EA App ID: livinasimminlife
Livin' A Simmin' Life Stories
My Worldbuilding Blog
Simblr
My Sims Pinterest
Too Good at Goodbyes forum thread
Too Good at Goodbyes blog
Niceeeeee! I'm actually half Dutch, half Flemish :P
Too Good at Goodbyes forum thread
Too Good at Goodbyes blog
The week went by so quickly! It was a great first week of discussion, thank you @Skeilah for the great questions and your story♥️ Can’t wait to get around to Liz, Ninja, and Brent again!
I’ve pulled the next name out of the (imaginary) hat and this week is going to be focused on Tales of Camelot by @_sims_Yimi ! I’m super excited to get into the discussion for this
Hope you’ve all had wonderful weekends! Cheers, everyone~
Kev & Get It • Forum Thread
Too Good at Goodbyes forum thread
Too Good at Goodbyes blog
Oh dear, it's me? I did not expect my turn to come up so soon!
Okay, I'll use this evening to think of some questions, and I'll post them here somewhere tonight.
This was a fun week! I'm so excited Tales from Camelot is next. Off to Camelot we go.
P.S. Thank you @Duvelina for already reading KCLKF. I'm enjoying reading your comments.
Find me elsewhere:
My EA App ID: livinasimminlife
Livin' A Simmin' Life Stories
My Worldbuilding Blog
Simblr
My Sims Pinterest
@AdamsEve1231 Ah, someone needs to be the outsider
@_sims_Yimi Good luck this week! I'm exited to see your questions and I'm also exited to answer them!
Okay, I'm mining this for all it's worth! Woo!
- Cats or dogs?
- Okay, questions for realsies now. What are your general thoughts on the story so far?
WRITING
- What do you think of my writing style? Are the sentences clear? Too short? Too long? Am I saying the same words repeatedly?
- I sometimes switch between points-of-view as the story is going on. Is this confusing to read? Should a writer stick with one pov, or is it all right to peek into multiple people's heads in the same chapter? What do you think?
- My chapters tend to hover around 3,000 words, with some longer and some shorter. What do you think about the length? I sometimes have trouble hitting the right story beats with fewer words per chapter, but I realize that too long a chapter can overstay its welcome.
STORY
- What do you think about the main characters (Arthur, Gawain, Morgana)?
- What do you think about the side characters (Uther, Richard, Gaius)?
- What is your favourite moment in the story, and what is your least favourite? Why?
- Where do you think the story is headed? Where would you like to see it go?
VISUALS
- What do you think about the pictures taken? I have a habit of showing close-ups to showcase their emotions. Are they too close, or do you like them this way?
- What do you think about the size? They're now 1200 x 675, and 1100 x 612 in the next chapter. Are they too big?
- In TS3, we could tilt the camera to give dynamic angles to our pictures. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do that in TS4. Did they remove the option?
- For purposes completely unrelated to the story *cough* I need magic. All the magic. Do you have any good CC for visual effects? Alternatively, is it worth buying the Realm of Magic game pack?
MISC
- The white pose statue and I are at war after I spawned him at the bottom of a pond by accident and forgot about him for a week. He has sworn watery revenge. I need allies. Are you with me, or against me?
- I like having my cast comment on things out-of-story. If you want, you can ask questions of them, and I'll write the answer from their POV (they may not be completely truthful, though
General
Cats or dogs?
If these were my two options, I'd always go for dogs. I find cats way too unpredictable for my liking, although I could compare myself to the personality of a cat. Maybe we're too alike. 😂 Sometimes I wouldn't even choose dogs either. Dogs can scare me very easily if I don't know them or what they can do. A dog needs to gain my trust basically.
What are your general thoughts on the story so far?
I love it. I think it's the only story in the bunch that's somehow set in the past, although fantasy. The setting keeps my attention because I'd definitely be interested in writing my own story set in the past. For the overall story, I don't know anything about Camelot. I only know vaguely about Arthur and Merlin, but that's about it. I've never even heard of Morgana and I'm not going to look it up either. I like surprises and since this is something completely new to me, I'm excited to see where this all ends up. I get happy whenever I get to read something new from this story, so I'd say it's going great so far.
Too Good at Goodbyes forum thread
Too Good at Goodbyes blog