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Paranormal Stuff Pack Dev Blog Part 2

SimGuruConorSimGuruConor Posts: 16 SimGuru
Welcome back to another dev blog about our latest Stuff Pack! This week let's talk about the Seance Table, Paranormal Investigator Career, and an interview with our Art Director!

So let's just get right into it!

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Thanks Doctor Ashely for this horrifying scene.


Seances for Everyone!

The Seance Table is here! Talk to ghosts! Scare your friends! Summon the unexpected! This thing is capable of all sorts of spiritual meddling, and functions on any lot!

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Your Seance Table can be decorated too! It's a table surface, so feel free to put a Crystal Ball on top, or maybe a Sacred Candle? Slot any chair you want too!

When you use a Seance Table you’ll develop your Medium Skill, unlocking new Seances, the ability to host Group Seances, and the ability to draw chalk Seance Circles anywhere in the world! And if you’re a Spellcaster Sim, you’ll gain skill much faster due to your familiarity with the mystical arts. This skill and the Seance Table are available for Children and older too!

One of the main purposes of the Seance Table is to perform a ceremony that strengthens the spiritual serenity of the house, making it a little less creepy. However, if the Seance is interrupted for any reason, it might have the adverse effect, so make sure your Sims are protected (Hint: Sacred Candles!).

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Seance Circles for the Medium on-the-go.

Other Seances include the ability to commune with the dearly departed. Hopefully, they'll offer some sagely wisdom, or perhaps they’ll just insult you. Who knows? Great for parties.

Or if you’re really looking to stir up some trouble, you can also invoke spirits from the Seance Table too. Kind of like a ghostly grab bag, just reach in and pull out something deceased. A great way to spice up any lot, or completely ruin it. Honestly, this Seance isn’t entirely recommended, but since when has that stopped anyone?


Bonehilda!

Bonehilda is back! She'll clean, fix your electronics, garden, fight fires, lay out snacks, and more! Summon her on the Seance Table or Seance Circle whenever or wherever you need her!

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She’ll also be your buddy! As long as your Sims don’t mind being around a fully sentient skeleton that is, but I hear they’re pretty open-minded. Bonehilda won't ask for anything in return either, she’s just here to have a good time.

Summoning Bonehilda is extremely useful while living in a Haunted House, she can help take care of the place while your Sims are preoccupied with other pressing matters. Bonehilda also has a great protective instinct, and will swiftly and enthusiastically show harmful Ghosts the door (with her fists of course).


Paranormal Investigators Wanted

The last feature I’d love to talk about is the Paranormal Investigator Freelance Career. This career is kinda special, and only available for elite Sims with a Paranormal Investigator License. Sims can get the License by becoming a master Medium and becoming certified by Guidry, or by purchasing one in the Reward Store.

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A properly certified Paranormal Investigator.

This career is aimed for Sims who have mastered the paranormal and will have to use everything they’ve learned while living in a Haunted House to their advantage.

The gigs for this career are pretty straightforward. You’ll be sent 3 gigs to choose from, either an Easy, Normal, and Hard Investigation. Once you select your preferred difficulty, you’ll be instructed at 9:30 pm to go out on an investigation to an undisclosed location.

Where will the investigation take you? Anywhere! (Well any residence at least!)

Sometimes the Pankcakes will have a bit of a Specter infestation, sometimes Goth manor will need an exorcist. It's your job as a Paranormal Investigator to go wherever the action is, and snuff out any unwanted spirits.

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It ain't much, but it's honest work.

You also won't just be sent to premade Sim houses, but also your own created households! Your other played Sim families might be in need of a spooky exterminator too! And don’t worry, the house won't be permanently haunted either (You’ll have control over that with the Haunted Lot Type!).

Finishing these gigs on time leads to all sorts of weird and strange rewards. Feel free to hang up your Specter-in-a-Jar as a trophy. Or amass a collection of exorcised dolls! There’s tons of strange stuff to acquire!

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Name them too!

Since this is a freelance career, feel free to take these gigs whenever you feel inspired to snuff out some spookiness. These gigs can be demanding on your Sims psyche, but thankfully they pay fairly well.


Art Direction

This pack has a ton of both fictional and real-life inspiration. To go over where these influences come from, and how they manifest in-game, I’ll take it over to our Art Director Stephan Edwards!

Conor: Can you tell us what an Art Director does on The Sims 4?

Stephen: The AD works initially with Production, Design and Marketing to define the visual direction. Once we have moved into production their role is to maintain and inspire that vision by providing direction and feedback to artists, from concept through to the final asset.

Conor: What goes into the creative process when concepting for the Sims?

Stephen: Once the general theme and tone is locked down and approved, the team then refers to the key visuals and goes broad on gathering reference that reflects that direction. We begin on concepting out room views/clothing to investigate different narratives and moods, identifying elements of style, construction, pattern and color. At this stage, we are still working loose to make sure we explore all options and don't box ourselves in. As the team iterates on designs, we start to narrow down the selections and then turn to final renders. We draw on those early investigations to help inform our palette, material and pattern choices.

Conor: What sort of real-life examples were used for the Paranormal Stuff Pack?

Stephen: Reference gathering is a huge factor in designing assets and so it's fair to say that all the content is based on real life to some degree. The team tends to deconstruct styles and translate them through a SIMS lens, the simplified and stylised art of SIMS4 has a further impact on the final result.

Conor: If you had to choose, what was your favorite feature to work on across all of the Sims?

Stephen: Aaarg! That's a really tough question. Because the packs are so diverse each one has its own set of unique challenges. I would say the supernatural aspect of this stuff pack was a lot of fun and allowed the artists to get a little more fantastical and creative. Storytelling is such a fundamental part of the SIMS and that permeates through CAS and BB designs. While curating all the eclectic pieces we stuffed into this pack I was constantly making up little stories in my mind. Where the characters may have found it, what relevance does it have to them and ultimately is there enough depth in the design to spark the same questions in the players. Oh, and Guidry, he’s a composite of eras and characters. I would be really interested whether the players can pick apart the influences.

Thank you!

That about concludes our look at our latest Stuff Pack! Big thank you again to the SP18 team, working with everyone was an amazing experience and made the later part of 2020 a little less awful. Watching this pack come to life was an absolute thrill.

The prepatch including the new Scared Emotion is coming out January 21st, and the Paranormal Stuff Pack comes out January 26th!

Until next time,
SimGuruConor


Post edited by SimGuruConor on

Comments

  • RavenSpitRavenSpit Posts: 1,387 Member
    This is all so awesome, really!
    I just.....I can not wait, I am SO happy you guys made this pack!
    Gallery ID: ra7orrat

  • KojiKKojiK Posts: 786 Member
    This is getting better and better with each dev blog.

    EA Game Changer

    If inspiration bites, grab on to it!




  • Ana__AndreaAna__Andrea Posts: 14 New Member
    This is first pack I will pre-order . Usually I wait for reviews, but I love it so much so far 😄
  • DaWaterRatDaWaterRat Posts: 3,351 Member
    I said it before during Nifty Knitting's development, but I absolutely love SimGuruConor's blogs. I especially love the interviews and getting a look into how the packs are developed.

    I hope we can continue to get more such blogs on future packs as well - at least the ones that SimGuruConor works on.
  • logionlogion Posts: 4,712 Member
    Thank you for the dev blog. It's always fun to read these.
  • crocobauracrocobaura Posts: 7,342 Member
    My heart skipped a beat when I saw that tea set and the rag dolls. I thought we're finally getting a proper working tea set, but no, it's a set up. Ugh! @SimGuruConor we need a proper working tea set for our sims. Love the rag dolls and the spookies in a jar.
  • divanthesimmerdivanthesimmer Posts: 1,462 Member
    Awesome blog! The 26th can't come soon enough! :smiley:
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    Check out my SimLit blog here: https://ageekylegacy.wordpress.com/
    Follow me on Twitter @divanthesimmer
    Follow me on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/divanthesimmer
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  • krist556krist556 Posts: 70 Member
    cant wait for it :)
  • CarmillaVampireCarmillaVampire Posts: 15 Member
    Bonehilda in the mirror is the definition of self-love at its finest! she is beautiful, and she knows it !!! <3
  • MeowchaFrappeMeowchaFrappe Posts: 840 Member
    Conor, you are seriously making me more and more excited for this pack as the days go on.

    I don't think I can wait another week, I need this pack now. Lol. Thank you so much for making another one of these dev blogs. I really appreciate being able to know what to expect in advance so that I don't get my hopes up too much. (I'm still really hoping it's possible to romance Guidry though.)

    I love that we'll be able to make séance circles outside of just using a séance table all the time too and the paranormal investigator career sounds awesome! As does Bonehilda beating up ghosts. :lol:
  • TrimothTrimoth Posts: 418 Member
    So excited for Bonehilda's return this pack is sooo exciting !
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    Origin id: trimoth

  • friendlysimmersfriendlysimmers Posts: 7,542 Member
    as i said as a player in the pack I am only interested in the buy mode build mode content and i feel as a player of the sims that the sims4 needs more toggle to turn off un played features and i will also add this as a player when it comes to patch content players should have the choice to chose what they went patch in and what content from the patch they do not went on occasion i play aliens but as for the other supernatural life states i have 0 interest and i have use a mod to turn off ghost in game and use said mod to humanise all vampire but thats me as a player
    If you went the sims5 to remain offline feel free to sign this petition http://chng.it/gtfHPhHK please note that it is also to keep the gallery



    Repose en paix mamie tu va me manquer :

    1923-2016 mamie :'(
  • krist556krist556 Posts: 70 Member
    plz tell me we get a proton pack device in Paranormal Investigator
  • To7mTo7m Posts: 5,467 Member
    as i said as a player in the pack I am only interested in the buy mode build mode content and i feel as a player of the sims that the sims4 needs more toggle to turn off un played features and i will also add this as a player when it comes to patch content players should have the choice to chose what they went patch in and what content from the patch they do not went on occasion i play aliens but as for the other supernatural life states i have 0 interest and i have use a mod to turn off ghost in game and use said mod to humanise all vampire but thats me as a player

    Oh, play a new tune will you? Jeez.

    Just saw this on FB and it bought me here. Pack looks... alright. I don’t play the game anymore but might give it a try.

    Tell me; any new spells?

    —T
  • mustenimusteni Posts: 5,403 Member
    I love that kids get to use seance! So exciting :)
  • panamakirapanamakira Posts: 120 Member
    edited January 2021
    I am so excited about this! Like I want to incorporate this pack with my Spellcasters. I've been hoping for a career for occult Sims and the new gameplay and items just make me happy. Can't wait~!!!
  • LoanetLoanet Posts: 4,079 Member
    edited January 2021
    I'm so glad I almost got finished with my 4-person Strangerville quest.

    If the different coloured Spookies have different abilities, do the different Dollies have different abilities?
    Prepping a list of mods to add after Infants are placed into the game. Because real life isn't 'nice'.
  • KerriganKerrigan Posts: 1,571 Member
    My Sims ain't afraid of no ghost! Sacred candles are for amateurs. My sims will take whatever a haunted house wants to throw at them. And LIKE it!
  • SPARKY1922SPARKY1922 Posts: 5,965 Member
    fabulous I am lovin the look of that seance table and bonehilda :)
  • BabykittyjadeBabykittyjade Posts: 4,975 Member
    Yessssss this sounds so amaaazinnnggg!🥰🥰🥰🥰
    Zombies, oh please oh please give us zombies!! :'(
  • LoanetLoanet Posts: 4,079 Member
    I'm thinking it takes a Level Ten Grind to Medium to open that career.
    Prepping a list of mods to add after Infants are placed into the game. Because real life isn't 'nice'.
  • KerriganKerrigan Posts: 1,571 Member
    Loanet wrote: »
    I'm thinking it takes a Level Ten Grind to Medium to open that career.

    I was thinking more of an Aspiration reward to break up that monotony.
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    This looks so good!

    I love how customizeable everything is, from putting our own deco on the seance table to chalking circles everywhere to simply being able to purchase the investigator license with satisfaction points. Myself I'm going to cheat the skill to max for my first investigators. They're currently undergoing training with the Mt. Komorebi spirits, so they should be good to go. In later playthroughs I'll play by the rules.

    Question: If I purchase the license for a sim with below maximum Medium skill, will that sim face misshaps or other unplessant stuff during work? Not that I'd plan to put a poor little sim into this situation, of course >:)

    I also like the concept of every hause being a potential location for the new career. On the one hand it's beyond silly when my Detroit-based police sims get sent to patrol in Sulani (it happened. a lot.) or Mt. Komorebi (didn't happen yet), but on the other hand I won't have to place dozens of haunted houses just to have enough locations. Admittedly I was a little stuck what lots to sacrifice for that purpose.
  • sweetliljasweetlilja Posts: 39 Member
    I like we can choose from easy to difficult in the gigs, more of this in future stuff. 👍 also great that kids also can use this thing. I wanna create a creepy child now.

    Can we use the seance table to summon evil spirits too? If wanting to play the game a different way?

    How does the communication with dear ones work, is it any difference to how we can talk to ordinary ghosts normally. It would be cool if ghosts could be turned off and this would be the only alternative to speak with them. Or to visit a medium somewhere for help, or like call them as a service if your house is haunted and you don't wanna skill up your own sim.
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