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Idea - how Sims would use desks for Blocking, or how to "edit" your sims' knits.

I've seen a lot of people answer @SimGuruConor 's question #3 about knitting and desks with "No. they should knit in a chair" And that's fine. That's actually where I stand on knitting itself

However

Many, though not all, knit projects should be blocked. For those who don't know, blocking is a technique to even out and straighten up the stitches in a project. It's not just for knitting. Many crochet, embroidery and cross stitch projects can also benefit from blocking. Usually this involves dampening the project, then arranging it on a towel and letting it dry flat.

Now, do all projects need to be blocked? No. Depending on the materials used and the nature of the project, the project may not need blocking, or may be able to get away without it. But for the purposes of a game, that's a level of complexity I'm willing to ignore.

So what I'd like to see is blocking used as a way to effectively "edit" your sims' knitting project.

Now, in the steps I detail out below, I make a lot of references to existing animations and assets. This is a Stuff Pack. I'm not going to assume that they have the budget in either dollars or man hours to make a whole new set of animations and assets in addition to the ones they're making now. That and a lot of these steps don't need new animations, and there is no point in making new animations that look the same as animations already available. (And if they are going to make new animations, I'd rather it be for crochet and maybe sewing with a machine)

I'm also assuming that knitting will have an item or icon that represents the project in progress - A ball of yarn with a pair of needles

When a Sim has finished their project, it will have a quality rating - Poor, Normal, Good, Excellent, Outstanding. You can then complete the project - making it into the actual craftable item - or if the quality is less than outstanding, you can block it.

Ideally, Blocking would be a 30 minute to 1 hour action in total, not including any needed travel time. The sim would go to a sink, use the washing dishes animation, but the dishes would be blue, or red, or some other color with a knit texture. They would then carry the project using the Laundry Bag/garbage bag asset to a desk or a table, but the bag would have a new texture to represent the towel the project is now wrapped in. They can put it anywhere you can put a computer. And you can direct them to a specific spot. There the would unroll the towel and fiddle with an asset that represented the finished item, then walk away for a little while. About an hour later, an action to go retrieve the item would cue up, and then the sim would put the project in their inventory, its quality improved by a step or two, and then the could select whatever interaction to complete the item.

How much of that is actually feasible within budget? I don't know. And as I said, I'd like other animations to take priority. But it would add some of the much requested "realism" to knitting.

Comments

  • cheescaekscheescaeks Posts: 902 Member
    edited March 2020
    i think i'd rather them focus their energy into other things, like crosspack functionality, online etsy store gameplay, and itchy sweater moodlets and animations. i want the quality rating but i mean, if its a poor quality item just start over with a new project tbh.
  • DaWaterRatDaWaterRat Posts: 3,351 Member
    In general, I'd agree that the energy should be spent elsewhere. But In his post on Knitting Gameplay Questions, SimGuruConor did specifically ask about using the desks with Knitting gameplay. This is essentially my "extended" answer to that, detailing out how I'd like it to work if they went with something like Blocking. If SimGuruConor hadn't asked about desks and knitting gameplay, I wouldn't have worried about it.
  • ForgeronForgeron Posts: 272 Member
    If they are going to add new animations, I don't want crochet and maybe sewing with a machine. I voted for knitting, so I want the knitting skill to be as best as we can. Also, I don't want half-baked crochet/sewing just because they had a small space to force it to fit in. So, I agree with you... knitting should be much more than our sims just sitting or standing up doing circles with their hands with needles on them till something magically appears on their inventory.
  • lisamwittlisamwitt Posts: 5,079 Member
    edited March 2020
    I crochet, but yes blocking is essential to finishing a project. I generally do it on the bed or an ironing board depending on whether it's washed and blocked or steamed and blocked. I could see Sims reusing the "wash dishes" interaction and then using a desk, since they decided to put desks in the pack.

    But little details like that are lacking in Sims 4 in general.

    They should grab their stuff out of their basket (I personally use a yarn bowl and would love to have seen one of those), and have the yarn trailing to it as they work, and their project should slowly get bigger.
    But, what will happen is they'll grab "at" the knitting supplies, then as Forgeron said, make circles with their hands until something appears. Then it will just go into their inventory, ready to use.

    I actually miss the sewing machine and would love to have it back, but I agree that it's place isn't this pack. They've said they do one "hero" object in a pack, so it needs to be knitting related.
    Gallery ID: LadyGray01
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