Have you ever admired those who start a New Year doing a one photo per day contest? I have, but I've never tried it. I had an idea pop into my head on New Years Eve for a challenge similar to those, only using TS4. So I put together something on the fly and I hope it works out. I'm calling it the
One Month One World One Year Challenge. It's a work in progress, but one thing will always stay the same. I will post one photo of my Sim's adventures during a gaming session per real life day for 2021.
Basic Rules/Guidelines:
*Note - Work in Progress, subject to change.
Updated January 10, 2021
- One Photo post Per Real Life Day on the forum in this thread
- One World per Real Life month *Note - See schedule of Worlds in spoiler below
- After every three Real Life months has passed, my Sim will age up. *Note - Timeline posted in spoiler below
- My Sim will start out Rags to Riches style. *Note - Optional: May use 20K starting funds and your Teen may take odd jobs and/or have a part-time job.
- Aging off until it's time to age up.
- The first World will be Mt. Komorebi, progressing backwards in time as packs were released, with one exception. The last world will be Sulani where my Sim will retire as an elder. *Note - Newcrest may be designated a 'neutral' world and venues placed there for your Sim to use at your discretion. Optional: You may use Worlds in any order, but I suggest Britechester (if you own the Discover Univerity EP) as the World to live in when your Teen ages up to a Young Adult so they may attend University to fulfill the world aspiration.
Vacation worlds are not used in this challenge as your Sim can't properly live there without a Mod, only rent for up to a week at a time. Optional: Sims may take a vacation if they have enough simoleans. However, rental lots in residential worlds should not be used until the world where they have been placed has been previously played.
- Any aspirations released with a world will be the priority aspiration(s) to be fulfilled first. If none are available, a base game aspiration will be chosen. May also choose a base game aspiration if you have finished aspirations that came with a world where your Sim is currently living. *Note - May also aspiration hop if you wish to build Satisfaction points. I just prefer to do only the aspirations for the current world one at a time.
- My Sim may marry and have children. Aging up children is at your discretion. If I plan to continue the challenge, I will make sure the 'heir' is at least a teen before the end of the year. A Teen 'heir' may carry on the challenge starting in 2022 and begin with any aspirations not fulfilled. IF, I actually make it that far!

- My Sim will begin as a Teen. Optional: Your Sim may be a Young Adult instead for 6 months before aging up to an Adult. The only cheating allowed will be during the Teen lifespan if they are in danger of flunking school and could be taken away. This cheating entails buying school projects and/or increasing their grade. But these two things should only be done after all vacation days have been taken, their grade has dropped from low performance or a warning is given. Optional: Teen may go to school
- The beginning of each new month/world may start from scratch Rags to Riches style. Optional: My Sim may keep any personal possessions they want, sell the rest and bulldoze the house. They will then use simoleans from the sale and accumulated household funds to build or download from the Gallery a new house in the new world.
- If my Sim dies at any point, it's game over unless a spouse or offspring is available to bring them back to life. Optional: Oldest child or Spouse may continue the challenge. OR You may bring back your Sim by not saving or using a prior save to continue the challenge instead.
- Occult states may be removed after they have left the world where those aspirations were fulfilled.
- If a new world is released with a new pack any time during 2021, I have the option to swap that world with another prior released world. If that happens, any offspring will continue with the exchanged world in 2022 first.
- I'll give myself a break if I miss any days due to internet outages, vacations/holidays or sickness. In those cases, I'll try to post one photo for every missed real life day the next day possible.
- Extra photos may be posted here in a spoiler at the end of the daily post or in the Last Screenshot or Favorite Screenshot threads. But the main One Photo Per Real Life Day for the challenge will always be posted here along with a (hopefully) short synopsis of the prior night/day's gameplay session progress.
- Rags to Riches Teens may use cell phones at your discretion.
- Autonomy Off *Note - Optional: May use any Autonomy setting you wish
- May travel to other worlds for Festivals, Dates, Parties, etc. But, only if invited. *Note - Optional: Only allowed if the world where the activity is happening has already been played.
- Any Satisfaction points earned may be used to buy and use any reward traits, with the exception of the Money tree seed.
- While teens do not participate in the Lottery, YA, Adult and Elder lifespans are not allowed to buy a ticket either.
- Beginning season and the length of days is your choice. I started in Summer with a 14 day season length.
- May participate in all default Holidays, (except Lottery) modify them, and/or add your own. I might modify Harvestfest before it happens to remove the Gnomes part of this holiday. This is optional for anyone else trying the challenge.
- Other participants may post their Daily posts here in the thread, or a link to your preferred Blog site.
Aspirations Progress Chart: - Credit to
@mcrudd (Thank you!)
Worlds and Age Up Timeline:
*Note - Subject to change if any new Worlds are released with new packs:
Beginning Age: Teen
January - Mt. Komorebi
February - Windenburg *Note - I switched around Windenburg and Evergreen Harbor so Tessa could have an aspiration Teens can complete.
March - Glimmerbrook *Note - I switched around Glimmerbrook and Britechester so Tessa would be a Young Adult when she lives there and can attend University.
April 1st: Age up to Young Adult
April - Britechester
May - Strangerville
June - Del Sol Valley
July 1st: Age up to Adult
July - Brindleton Bay
August - Forgotten Hollow
September - San Myshuno
October 1st: Age up to Elder
October - Evergreen Harbor
November - Choice of; Oasis Springs, Willow Creek or Newcrest if not designated a neutral world.
December - Sulani, retiring after completing the Beach Life aspiration
Challenge End Date: December 31, 2021
Links to My Daily Posts by Month:
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
APRIL
Links to other Simmers Day 1 Challenge Post and Blogs:
@SoulGal7 with
Sakura Li@Hermitgirl with
Roxanne Newbury@Skeilah with (Blog)
@Ellupelluellu with
Melody Connors@Kanindota with (Blog)
@permanentrose with
Jules Warner@lilypadmeulin with
Jenny Proserpin@AnnoyingTiger with (Blog)
Here's my Sim for the challenge and the Day 1 Photo:
Essa Ellington aka Tessa Tyler aka Vanessa Varela - Teen
Traits: Genius, Loves Outdoors
Beginning Aspiration(s): Extreme Sports Enthusiast and then will do Mt. Komorebi Sightseer, if there's enough time left in the month.
World: Mt. Komorebi
Neighborhood: Senbamachi
Lot: 6-4-1 Hanamigawa (Premade house/lot bulldozed)
Household Funds: 0
14 Day Seasons: Beginning season - Summer (Wednesday)
January: Day 1 Notes (they're long, but I'll try to keep notes going forward much shorter):Tessa has been fishing to earn simoleans so far, but she was gifted a Simi (Iggy Fabulous) by forest spirits worth 100 simoleans. She used the public restroom in the Bamboo forest and I happened to see them so she ran over and made a wish. She's been buying food from a vendor since no harvestables were available yet. So far she's found one plant each of the following; mushroom, pear, snapdragon, strawberry and chrysanthemum. Only the chrysanthemums are in season and have grown so far. She harvested 3 seeds and planted them.
She also bought a package of starter fruit seeds when she was hungry and the vendor was closed. The package contained 3 grape seeds and 6 plantains. I had her plant one of the plantains and eat the rest. She'll save the grapes for Fall along with all the other plants available in the world for that season. Tessa also fished up a Bonsai bud and planted that too.
She was too busy to greet the Welcome Wagon and now the neighbors don't like her.

Oh well. She met a teen male Sim (Kyoshi Ito?) while fishing and got to know him a little by cloud-gazing, but then had to run off to go pee. I'm sure she'll see him again. She's good friends now with a YA, my Super Sim Josh Hunter, who was fishing when she arrived one day. She asked him to mentor her since he is Level 10 in fishing. She has the 'Impressed' sentiment for him now. She's at Level 5 in fishing so far.
Her first purchases besides the starter fruit package was a poo hoo bush and a portable shower. She's been sleeping on a bench near her lot. The next goal is to get her a bed. So far she's carrying a C in school and has been doing her homework everyday. She has 3 vacation days to use at some point.
The only thing she's done for the first aspiration milestone so far is buy a remedy or deterrent from a vending machine. I think it was a bug spray. Whatever is the first cheapest thing offered for 20 simoleans. I don't remember. I'm hoping she'll have shelter before the first thunderstorm. I don't see one on the calendar so far, so I think she has awhile before that happens.
I'm open to suggestions for changes/modifications or additional ideas for this challenge if anyone would like to share them! You can post them here in the thread or send me a PM. Thanks and if you try this challenge yourself, Good luck!. Have fun!

Happy New Year and Happy Simming!
Comments
This is such a fun and novel challenge! I'm bookmarking it to visit it when I'm back on these forums. Happy New Year to you too!
*Notes: (long again, sorry o.O)
Between the funds from Adam's photo and a few high priced Simis she took a chance to buy, Tessa had a little over 5K in simoleans to build a little house for herself and finally get a bed. She also splurged on a laptop so she could buy climbing equipment and for other general uses such as getting focused by browsing Simpedia before going to the mountain. I thought she could use a yoga mat for that too, but her house is too small, so settled for a chess board instead.
Being a teen it was inevitable she'd get some silly moods/phases. She got the Breakout Mood and the 'I vont to be alone' Phase on top of it. A little jog to clear her mind did the trick though and she was back to her cheerful self. Fishing has been going alright, but it's a slow way to build funds. To help with that, Tessa read Volume 1 of the Vampire Encyclopedias and learned how to convert fish into plasma packs. Those go for 50 simoleans a pop. Now all those goldfish and minnows will actually be worth something.
Two days before the end of Fall, Tessa finally made it to the mountain and is on the second milestone of her aspiration now. I gave this day's photo the above title because she didn't do so well. She fell off the small rock wall and got embarrassed. When I sent her to go snowboarding, she stopped at the foot of the bunny hill to cry, but then went up to the top anyway. As you probably guessed, she fell off the snowboard too and hurt her back. She got up though and looked up with that look of sheer determination on her face as she moved away. She didn't cry this time.
Back home Tessa went for a hike through the Bamboo Forest and encountered Kodama who gave her a 12 hr. tranquility blessing and as a bonus, while she knelt at the trailhead to do her homework, she saw some more forest spirits and was blessed with 50 simoleans from them as well. The next day she spent some time working in her garden, making a group meal since she'd run out of salad and then got a notice the Spice Festival was in town. Kyoshi again invited her, but I couldn't click on it fast enough for them to go together. I still sent her though where she harvested plants and tried the Spicy Curry Challenge. She lost. Oh well. The Festival of Lights was happening at the same time too, but it was getting late. However, I did get a very pretty screenshot of the paper lanterns floating down the canal by her lot.
I have so many great screenshots I'd love to share, but this is supposed to be one photo per day. I'm thinking I might put some extras in a spoiler at the end of these posts, or maybe I'll just post them in another thread? Hmmm...
Anyway, thanks to whomever reads this and Happy Simming!
EDIT: Decided to include a few extra screenshots. Hope you like them!
Extras:
I am the mask you wear, it's me they hear.
My spirit and your voice, In one combined.
The Phantom of the Opera is there... Inside your mind..
I did bookmarked this when I saw you posted it, sounded so interesting challenge in that other thread
I am the mask you wear, it's me they hear.
My spirit and your voice, In one combined.
The Phantom of the Opera is there... Inside your mind..
You did? Aww, thank you, made me smile.
EDIT: Or, you could even just start out playing with a YA you've created and turn aging off without aging them up for the entire year. *shrugs* I just thought it would be interesting to age up one Sim every 3 months starting with teen and ending as a retired elder in Sulani. Like I said above, I just thought it up on the fly on New Years Eve, so I'm open to suggestions for improvement.
*Notes
I'm a little concerned about her school performance. It went down in the red to poor and then she dropped to a B. o.O I had her do a school project thinking it would help, but the bar didn't budge. I cheated to give her an A again and it raised up to average at least.
Tessa reached Level 3 by climbing the small wall and can now climb the medium wall. I didn't have her try right away though because she fell again and was sad and also embarrassed from the poor school performance. She cried again and then went jogging to clear her mind. After that it was getting late, so she did her homework at a picnic table under the moonlight instead. A townie walked by behind her with a judgmental look on his face and I wondered, "Who do you think you are Dude? How dare you!?" It was the Dad of that boy she's friends with. Uh oh...
Homework done, I spied a Simi machine and had her buy one. I can't resist those things!
I felt bad for Tessa that she keeps falling and crying so decided to buy Skill Books 1 & 2 for both Snowboarding and Rock Climbing. I also added the Peace & Quiet, Geo Thermal and Natural Springs lot traits. While she was reading, she had the option to do a Surge Emotion, so she chose Centered (focused) for 12 hrs. Wow, her skill bar was flying up so fast after all that! Tessa reached Level 4 in both before stopping for the night.
The next day there was a thunderstorm, and she was out of food. I didn't think to have her take a thoughtful shower to get inspired, she took a regular one, so now what? I sent her to the mountain in hopes the weather would be better there. It was Sunny! Woo Hoo! She needed to do a high intensity Snowboard or Skiing on the Intermediate hill and since it was right there, I had her try that first. You've probably guessed by the Pic of the Day how she did. The look on her face made me so happy. She stuck the landing too!
Lastly, hey since she was on a roll, why not try the Medium rock climbing hill, right? o.O It was scary watching her, I thought for sure she was going to fall again, she slipped several times, but made it to the top! Double Yay!
Extras:
Look at all those townies there fishing with Tessa. I don't know why, there's usually only one or two. *shrugs*
"Felt cute, might delete later." She spun into her school uniform because I didn't cancel going fast enough. Opps!
I have added another restriction for my sim, that until they get to a certain pack, they cannot go to another world. So, if my sim is invited to a club. etc. in Windenburg, they will not go, as that 'world' isn't 'LIVE' yet. The only exception I am going to do is that if they are invited to a 'Base Game" club, activity, they will go, as you need the Base Game to add any packs.
Created my sim and will start to play her first day today.
A teen in Mt. Komorebi
Aspiration: Mt. Komorebi Sightseer
Traits: Adventurous, Loves Outdoors - Bonus Trait: Home Turf
She has zero simoleons, starts at 2-4-1 Wakabaromi in Wakaba Neighborhood
Spring, Sunday
January (Sunday) DAY 1 : Swimming in the Wakaba River Near the Falls
I replied to your post about not going to other worlds until it's been played earlier this morning and updated the rules, but for some reason my post got lost? I don't know where it went. o.O Anyway, I love that idea, it makes sense! It's too late for Tessa since she's already gone to the Romance & Spice Festivals, but I'll stick to that from here on out. Thanks for the suggestion!
Love your Sim for the challenge, she's so cute! Sounds like it's slow going for her so far, but she'll get there! Bummer she got sick.
I haven't seen any thundersnow yet, you're so lucky!
What are your plans for the mountain climb event? Did you know everyone going (you need at least one other Sim) need to be Level 6 in rock climbing to climb the last part to the top with the tallest walls? I'm thinking I'll have to move someone in with her so I can help them get to that skill level before she does that for her aspiration.
EDIT: Forgot to answer your question about the one photo per day. I intended for it to be one photo per real life day, not Sim day. I've been playing more Sims days at a time per day, and then choose one of the screenshots I've taken that night to post the next day. Does that make sense?
@SoulGal7 , Sakura did managed to cure her illness , or did I missed something? (day 3)
I am the mask you wear, it's me they hear.
My spirit and your voice, In one combined.
The Phantom of the Opera is there... Inside your mind..
@Ellupelluellu - Yes, Sakura cured that illness. She fell asleep in the onsen and I guess she needed the rest. lol
@Karababy52 - Right now, I am switching back and forth between Mt. Komorebi Sightseer and Extreme Sports Enthusiast. I have also had her switch to Friend of the World, when meeting new sims, and joke star for the tell jokes to 5 sims. The piano was in the lounge build, and since I started in spring, the only harvestable I could find in Wakaba was that parsley. She played (badly) for tips on the piano, and I changed to the Musical Genius Aspiration to work on that. When she collected the parsley, I was on The Curator, and when she planted and watered it, I was on freelance botanist. She grabs chips at the lounge for food...lol...other than that horrid fruitcake that is in her personal inventory from the welcome wagon. She has 8 parsley plants planted. I bought her one piece of wall to display some photos that she took. This is the other way she is making simoleons, but most of those photos are poor quality, worth $1 or $2 simoleons.
Maybe one of the rules should be that no-one can move in until they have a house built. She is a long ways from that right now. Are they permitted to get a job? Maybe a part-time job as a teen? What do you think?
As for the mountain expedition, she has become rather close with Kiyoshi Ito, but he doesn't have any rock climbing skill it seems. But apparently, I read in an article on the premades that he has some sentiments towards Naori Nishidake. I was actually thinking of a 4-team trip, but unless Kyoshi gets some rock climbing skill, that won't work. So, Jenna and Kado Akiyama both have rock climbing skills (4) and (5) respectively. I have gone on "travel with" with them, but when you get to the wall, there are no interactions for "all" to climb. So....suggestions here would be great
If I've done this wrong, let me know, I can always start again as it's still early in the challenge.
Ah, okay, that's another good idea. I thought about doing it, but I guess I was trying to make it harder on Tessa by sticking to the one aspiration and then switching to the other afterward. My personal choice, you can do it however works for you. It's a pretty open challenge in a lot of ways. Although, I'm a little bummed I didn't switch around now since Tessa is Level 9 in fishing already. But then, there's only one fishing spot, so she wouldn't have been able to progress past the first milestone anyway.
Another good idea that I've done in the past with Rags to Riches Sims. Or I set some kind of simoleans goal for them, like I did with Tessa. She had to have earned 5K before she could build a proper house. However, she did live on the lawn beforehand with a fridge, portable shower, poo hoo bush, a counter and a folding chair. She also had 4 wall pieces under a roof so the fridge wouldn't break if it rained and for general shelter from it. It wasn't enclosed though, just two back pieces and one on each side of those with the roof suspended above that.
Very unrealistic and looks odd, but she needed shelter from the rain, it was raining A LOT! o.O I guess I could've just had her hang out at the Onsen when it rained. That would be an option or the lounge, the bar etc. if you didn't want your Sims to build until they had the simoleans to do so.
I'm not opposed to part-time jobs for teens. Rags to Riches without a job is just my preferred way to start all my challenges/saves. Sakura could've even started out with the 20K if you'd preferred playing that way. It just makes it a lot easier. I usually try to be as tough on my Sims as I can when playing Rags to Riches style, but I have been a bit easier on Tessa, for instance letting her convert fish to plasma packs. That's actually a bit cheaty I think, probably should've waited until Forgotten Hollow was played eh? I didn't plan this out too well.
Yeah, Kyoshi just has the adventurous trait, but I don't think he has any climbing skills. I did the same thing with him, Tessa brought him to the Onsen with intentions of climbing together. But when I put them in a group, there was no option to 'climb together.' Bummer... I wonder if they added that as a club activity. That might be an option to get other Sims skilled up for the mountain climb. Need to look into that. Other than that, the only other ways I can see is what I mentioned, moving a Sim in and skilling them up that way. I'd say you could play other potential team members in their own home (if they have one) to skill them up, but I don't think I'd personally want to do that.
I don't think you've done anything wrong, like I said, it's a WIP and I'm open to suggestions as well. For instance, you're sending Sakura to school? I might end up doing that too, but it takes up SO much of their time during the day when they could be doing other things to progress. That's why I prefer to not send Tessa and just cheat up her grade if it gets too low.
*Notes
Tessa spent her day mostly just reading her Rock Climbing skill book, she reached Level 6 so I had her go try out her new skills on the medium wall at the top of the mountain. She did okay at first, but then fell, again and hurt herself. That was a good thing though, seriously! It's one of the milestone goals to endure an injury, it was filled instantly. I'd forgotten about that goal until that happened. \o/ That was enough for rock climbing. Tessa headed back down the mountain and I noticed a lot of other Sims hanging around, more than usual, including kids! One of the Festival's was happening and I didn't even notice. Opps! Tessa bought a Simi and it was another Golden one worth 300! After that, she bought a Tri-colored Dango to eat and then went home.
Now, I had a decision to make. How was I going to get any team member(s) she needed at the proper Rock Climbing level without cheating? In my eyes, moving someone in seemed the best option. But who? She really only had two options, both good friends; Kyoshi Ito - Teen, or her fishing mentor, Josh Hunter - Young Adult...
I chose Josh for a number of reasons. Some of you may know he's my absolute favorite Sim I've ever created. I put him in my custom template save three years ago and haven't played with him at all since then. He's somewhat of a 'Super Sim' with a butt load of Level 10 skills and many completed aspirations Not all of them, but quite a few. Almost all base game and aspirations from packs released before I stopped playing with him in the Apocalypse challenge when he died.
I miss him, I miss playing with him and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. It also helped that Kyoshi almost never came over to visit, but Josh was there every, single, day. Kyoshi would call asking her to Festivals and to hang out though, Josh never called to ask her to Festivals, or hang out, obviously, he didn't have a house. The biggest thing against having Kyoshi move in for me was then I'd have TWO teens with the need to cheat or send to school with no time to do much of anything else. Whereas, Josh is a Young Adult, no school! Plus, he doesn't sleep because of reward traits. I could get him up to Level 6 in record time. My plan is to either have him move out back to live with his two brothers after they climb the mountain, or let him stay until Tessa ages up to a Young Adult, then move him out.
While Tessa is at school, having Josh there will give me something else to do as well. He reads the skill book and afterward, I have him work on some of the skills he doesn't have yet. They do stuff together too, watch movies, or just talk and joke around. He's her BFF and Snow Bro now too. They're getting very close with a Deep Connection sentiment for both. I built Josh his own bedroom before I found out he doesn't sleep, but oh well. He also had a job, which I had him quit, don't want him bringing any income into the household. Plus he has the Fresh Chef trait, any food he makes is the highest quality and never spoils. So, they will eat only what they've made themselves to get around that.
I had thoughts of perhaps hooking them up once Tessa ages up, but since he's got all those skills, I don't think it's a good idea. Seems cheaty. So they'll stay just very, very good friends. Josh will be more like her cool big brother.
I'd love to hear any thoughts y'all have on this. Let me know what you think. Thanks!
Extras:
So pretty!
Are you sure about this?
Yes, I need you, thank you!
Let's do this Bro!
(Gawd, this movie is so boring! Hey Twitter, s'up?)
Isn't this a great movie?! (Oh Puhleeeze! No! Ugh!)
Teen angst. Gotta love it!
That's great there's an option for hiking and rock climbing as club activities! If you've read my notes for today, you'll see I went with my original idea though, for a number of reasons. One of them I didn't mention above is also, how do you get them the climbing equipment without cheating? They have a much lower chance of making it to the top without having that from what I've read. Anyway, I'll be interested to see how it goes for Sukura if she decides to start a club and do it that way. Maybe it will be alright without equipment and I'm just being silly, who knows!
Have a great day!
I want to know if you can aspiration hop? Like if you start with the Mt. Komorebi Sightseer aspiration can you switch around as you are able to collector, fishing, gardening, friend of the world ect... I might do it anyway and just use the challenge as a guide.
Also I get that you age up your sim every three months and that's good but how do you do children? If your sim has a child as a young adult or even adult I'd guess you need to have your child be a teen by the time they are elders. So just age them as you feel they reach certain milestones or stick to the every three months (mom has child as young adult... child, toddler, as an adult the toddler becomes a child, as an elder the child becomes an adult?) Or maybe age them slightly faster so they can be a teen when the the main sim is still an adult?
Do they have to finish an aspiration or if they don't do they fail?
Any suggestions on season length? A month seems too long in comparison to how fast they are aged so I might go with the quickest or 14 day seasons.
I already play on doing them exactly in order of release. I kind of like guides more than challenges so either way I'm going to do something close to this just to have my sim live in every world and actually bring up kids (not a big family player I need a push). Also I know real life will get in the way of me playing or posting daily so I'm going to go by when I can play and just count the months within the sim game.
edit... Okay wait so we play them for 3 real life months before we age them up? Der sorry I got confused. I'll just have to keep track.
One question, you mentioned there is one fish spot in the SE world ? And it is showing in your pictures aswel. Where is it? I have tried to find if there are any and so far haven't found any
I am the mask you wear, it's me they hear.
My spirit and your voice, In one combined.
The Phantom of the Opera is there... Inside your mind..