Hey everyone! I used to be pretty active on here but kind fell off. I'm currently back in playing the Sims ( I go from playing nonstop to months off). I'm picking up some of my stories, slowly, but it's happening. If you're interested in checking them out link to site is in my signature.
I was wondering about everyone's process. Does everybody here plan out there story completely? Anyone here just let their sims play their own life and create their story around that? That was one of the reasons I stopped playing for awhile. I felt like I was just setting up shots and not really playing the game anymore. It got more of a chore then fun.
Anyways just thought I drop in say hey and dive back into this creative world that is the sims!
@swcheppes I usually play a challenge and write a story surrounding it- a mix of pre conceived ideas and plot points inspired by the gameplay. I’d say try writing a story to accompany a challenge if you want to get into playing the game again, instead of just doing screenshots. My current project is purely narrative-driven and it has been a bit more difficult since I have to rely on my own storytelling abilities instead of letting the game do half of it for me. XD
I sort-of plan. I don’t write stories in advance, but I have ideas in my head for what I want to happen. And then sometimes I get ideas in my head as gameplay goes on.
I don’t have Pose Player. I get that it can be a useful tool but it just seems really complicated to me. I just press P to pause the game and then press C for the screenshot
@Lucy_Henley I’m a console player so I don’t use Pose Player, I use the Free Cam option where you can change perspective, angle etc. and Pause to get the shots and then use art programs to spice up the screenshots. I did use Pose Player on TS3 though for my constant pictures of Sims’ outfits : p
I write a story called Sim 66 and it's about Sim City in 1966 and the years following. I created a setting and characters, retconning the pre-mades to look like they're from the 1960s instead of the present day. After that, the early chapters followed the game play and I would write up what happened as a story. I didn't plan on a definite ending as I didn't know where the story was going in those early chapters and I would say Sim 66 is more like a soap opera than a closed story. It began as an experiment in "can I write Sim Lit?" and has mushroomed from there.
More recently I combine game play and interpreting what went on in the game session with pre-planned sub-plots of my own. Although I still don't have an end point for Sim 66 in my head, I have chapters and storylines planned out in advance, ideas I want to pursue and then game it out. I don't steer my sims in the most efficient way to achieve promotions, relationships and milestones; the overall plot is key and often the sims will behave in a way I hadn't planned on but if I think creatively I can weave those moments into the story. For example in the most recent chapter I noticed during game play that the Sim kept wanting to drink lots, got whims such as "drink a glass of nectar at a bar" and had to purchase a glass of Instant Fun because nothing they were interacting with was pleasing them...so I interpreted that as them having the start of a drinking problem and that's going to be a sub-plot for them that will crop up from time to time.
Characters are the most important aspect. I have a "voice" for each one in my head; the way they speak, the slang and language that they use and their turns of phrase which gets turned into the dialogue. Hopefully the reader will get the charm of all the different characters and make them seem more convincing. And if that fails readers can always enjoy the fashion and music of the era!
@swcheppes Hi, welcome back to the forums! I remember the Blancs from waaay back, so it's lovely to see you're still keen on continuing
I think it's a good idea to experiment with how you approach the story, if anything just to see what suits you more! I used to always play first but over time I completely flipped over and now I write first and screenshot second, though you're absolutely right the screenshotting part can feel like a chore of you do it that way. That being said even when I "just play" my brain always sort of gets ahead of me so I end up planning a story of sorts whether I'm writing it or not.
It really just depends on what suits you best at the time, if you think playing the game and making up a story around that will reinvigorate your enthusiasm then go for it I think it's a more common approach to do it that way among a lot of the active stories right now and can definitely work well. At the end of the day the most important thing is that you're enjoying yourself
That being said even when I "just play" my brain always sort of gets ahead of me so I end up planning a story of sorts whether I'm writing it or not.
This so much!!!
Whenever I would just play my brain was still wired to take tons of screenshots and create stories. I've forced myself to have a save that's purely for playing. No screenshots, no forcing storyline, it's purely what that play wants to be. It's been great and has gotten me really inspired to pick up a few of my stories 😁
@swcheppes I remember you! I've recently got back into playing the sims too...again.
Right now I'm just playing the game. I may have gone overboard and started some plot points for the story last night (I blame the melatonin.) and it's actually really good! So I might go ahead and try to do another story. I miss writing but work and married life keeps me busy nowadays. Which is why I've been lurking.
Yeah I've just been playing for fun, no story planned to write and it's been great. But I'm getting the writing bug again 😄
I'm toying with the idea or bringing back my bachelor/bachelorette series 😉
Will probably take a break from SimLit for a while to give me some time to try catch up on other games. I might do some builds in the meantime if I get bored: I've made a page on my blog for that.
Yeah I've just been playing for fun, no story planned to write and it's been great. But I'm getting the writing bug again 😄
I'm toying with the idea or bringing back my bachelor/bachelorette series 😉
YEES. Do it! I'll definitely read!
I feel ya. I've had the writing bug for a while. I've been using a really cool world building/writing website to gather the thoughts and do some character development.
I was wondering about everyone's process. Does everybody here plan out there story completely? Anyone here just let their sims play their own life and create their story around that? That was one of the reasons I stopped playing for awhile. I felt like I was just setting up shots and not really playing the game anymore. It got more of a chore then fun.
Hey welcome back! And regardless of what I say, good luck with getting your writing groove back too.
And the answer is kind of both. A lot of my projects are built from gameplay, buried somewhere deep, but I can't go into a game blind and there needs to be a "hook" that gets me to start something at all. It's really fun to incorporate gameplay details into a story though and you have to be loose enough to actually let them happen. I'm actually writing one of my favorite Outrun the Scythe chapters that hinges entirely on EA's dumb TS3 story progression doing what it does best (killing off townies for no good reason) while I was playing the challenge that's behind the story. I'm also reeling from a rotational challenge I was playing in TS4 blowing up in my face because of how bad I am at getting promoted in careers...anyways my favorite part was one of the founding husbands stalking his vampire sister-in-law and I came up with a pretty amazing idea as to why he wouldn't leave anyone alone. I guess lots of people crave blood after all...
But none of that would be meaningful without a plot that injected meaning into the random acts of simming that happen every day. I used to be better at filling in context for those without any planning but I'm in too deep with telling stories these days.
Origins aside, I do a lot of post-gameplay planning that includes reshooting gameplay scenes into something more meaningful (especially because I take a lot of shortcuts with gameplay, I LOVE giant difficult wedding scenes but when I'm playing the game I often just have them elope) and using lots of custom poses. 10-20 per chapter is normal now and I find myself making more and more of them myself. That's a whole other topic! But it's yet another thing to try and organize. Currently I have a number of pre-written chapters for various projects that have comments about what screenshots and poses are needed for each block of text. If I can get my focus back then I just have to blast through what I've told myself.
i'm here. i pretty much do dishes at work so now i overheat easy but now its monday and i'm home til saturday and feeling better. so gonna see what trouble the benders get in usually lots lol.
i don't understand alana. she once pushed Rylan away when he tried to kiss her. i just aged them up and she kissed some random guy. no i didn
t do it she found him outside.
Everyone graduated successfully! Sadly Alexander suffered some weird glitch where he ended up with the graduation cap stuck on his head. I found a solution online though so hopefully it’ll work.
Part Five: Graduation Narrated by Alexander Paraskevas
That Friday evening, the Spice Festival was being held in San Myshuno. Wanting a break from studies and a change in atmosphere, we decided to visit. It also happened to be "Night on the Town", when businesses offered customers free food and drink.
"I love the colourful atmosphere of this place," Erytheia said as we queued for drinks. "So many amazing smells and sights."
"I know. There's so much to see and do here," Xanthe replied.
"So, how are you feeling about Monday and exams?" I asked.
"About as confident as I can be. I mean, I've mastered both cooking and gourmet cooking so that should help a lot. I'm not going to master acting in just a couple of days, but I'm not so bothered about how I do in my elective class."
"Yeah, I feel the same way. I mean, I'd like to do well, obviously, but I'm not going to get upset if I don't get an A+."
The next day, I decided it was time to get studying, first by working on my presentation and then by working on my acting skill. I felt rather ridiculous reciting lines dramatically to myself in front of a mirror.
And then:
Part Six: A Very Important Question Narrated by Alexander Paraskevas
Erytheia and I moved into 930 Medina Studios, whilst Xanthe moved back in with her parents temporarily. Of course, the first thing both of us did was to get jobs. Both of us had managed to graduate with honours (as had Xanthe) so we both received a real boost.
(And yes, I made many of their furnishings red )
Helen popped over for a chat.
"So, you've graduated now! Wow, it feels so odd that I've got a grown-up, adult brother," she said.
"Well, it's nearly your own birthday," I replied. "Any ideas for future plans?"
"I'm not sure yet," she said. "There's so much out there."
"You don't have to have a set idea about a job," I advised. "Plenty of people start off in one area and then retrain later in life."
"That's very true," she replied.
"Anyway... I was planning to propose to Erytheia today," I whispered, looking round. "I'm not sure of the ideal place to do it."
"Oh! How exciting!" she grinned. "Well, she's so in love with you I don't think she'll care about the location... but how about the Magic Realm?"
"Yes! What a great idea!" I exclaimed.
The rest of both posts are in the thread. I made up middle names for everyone, obviously they're not a thing in-game but I thought it'd be a fun thing to do for the proposal. Only Erytheia and Alexander have them here, but I made them up for all the Masterson kids as well as Alexander's sister Helen. No real reason behind it, I just thought it'd be fun.
busy day for me yesterday real life kept invading. so today aging and updating the benders. aging comes first. then i'll probably switch the bunk beds ut just til after the patch. so far 4 of 7 are aged up.
Comments
I was wondering about everyone's process. Does everybody here plan out there story completely? Anyone here just let their sims play their own life and create their story around that? That was one of the reasons I stopped playing for awhile. I felt like I was just setting up shots and not really playing the game anymore. It got more of a chore then fun.
Anyways just thought I drop in say hey and dive back into this creative world that is the sims!
I don’t have Pose Player. I get that it can be a useful tool but it just seems really complicated to me. I just press P to pause the game and then press C for the screenshot
I write a story called Sim 66 and it's about Sim City in 1966 and the years following. I created a setting and characters, retconning the pre-mades to look like they're from the 1960s instead of the present day. After that, the early chapters followed the game play and I would write up what happened as a story. I didn't plan on a definite ending as I didn't know where the story was going in those early chapters and I would say Sim 66 is more like a soap opera than a closed story. It began as an experiment in "can I write Sim Lit?" and has mushroomed from there.
More recently I combine game play and interpreting what went on in the game session with pre-planned sub-plots of my own. Although I still don't have an end point for Sim 66 in my head, I have chapters and storylines planned out in advance, ideas I want to pursue and then game it out. I don't steer my sims in the most efficient way to achieve promotions, relationships and milestones; the overall plot is key and often the sims will behave in a way I hadn't planned on but if I think creatively I can weave those moments into the story. For example in the most recent chapter I noticed during game play that the Sim kept wanting to drink lots, got whims such as "drink a glass of nectar at a bar" and had to purchase a glass of Instant Fun because nothing they were interacting with was pleasing them...so I interpreted that as them having the start of a drinking problem and that's going to be a sub-plot for them that will crop up from time to time.
Characters are the most important aspect. I have a "voice" for each one in my head; the way they speak, the slang and language that they use and their turns of phrase which gets turned into the dialogue. Hopefully the reader will get the charm of all the different characters and make them seem more convincing. And if that fails readers can always enjoy the fashion and music of the era!
Read Sim 66 here:https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/978195/sim-66/p1
https://kelloggjkellogg.blogspot.com/2020/10/sim-66-prologue.html
I think it's a good idea to experiment with how you approach the story, if anything just to see what suits you more! I used to always play first but over time I completely flipped over and now I write first and screenshot second, though you're absolutely right the screenshotting part can feel like a chore of you do it that way. That being said even when I "just play" my brain always sort of gets ahead of me so I end up planning a story of sorts whether I'm writing it or not.
It really just depends on what suits you best at the time, if you think playing the game and making up a story around that will reinvigorate your enthusiasm then go for it
Story Blog | Forum Discussion
This so much!!!
Whenever I would just play my brain was still wired to take tons of screenshots and create stories. I've forced myself to have a save that's purely for playing. No screenshots, no forcing storyline, it's purely what that play wants to be. It's been great and has gotten me really inspired to pick up a few of my stories 😁
Right now I'm just playing the game. I may have gone overboard and started some plot points for the story last night (I blame the melatonin.) and it's actually really good! So I might go ahead and try to do another story. I miss writing but work and married life keeps me busy nowadays. Which is why I've been lurking.
Yeah I've just been playing for fun, no story planned to write and it's been great. But I'm getting the writing bug again 😄
I'm toying with the idea or bringing back my bachelor/bachelorette series 😉
. Chapter 13: Dragons' Tears
Will probably take a break from SimLit for a while to give me some time to try catch up on other games. I might do some builds in the meantime if I get bored: I've made a page on my blog for that.
YEES. Do it! I'll definitely read!
I feel ya. I've had the writing bug for a while. I've been using a really cool world building/writing website to gather the thoughts and do some character development.
https://kelloggjkellogg.blogspot.com/2021/05/chapter-106-fab-gear.html
Read Sim 66 here:https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/978195/sim-66/p1
https://kelloggjkellogg.blogspot.com/2020/10/sim-66-prologue.html
Hey welcome back! And regardless of what I say, good luck with getting your writing groove back too.
And the answer is kind of both. A lot of my projects are built from gameplay, buried somewhere deep, but I can't go into a game blind and there needs to be a "hook" that gets me to start something at all. It's really fun to incorporate gameplay details into a story though and you have to be loose enough to actually let them happen. I'm actually writing one of my favorite Outrun the Scythe chapters that hinges entirely on EA's dumb TS3 story progression doing what it does best (killing off townies for no good reason) while I was playing the challenge that's behind the story. I'm also reeling from a rotational challenge I was playing in TS4 blowing up in my face because of how bad I am at getting promoted in careers...anyways my favorite part was one of the founding husbands stalking his vampire sister-in-law and I came up with a pretty amazing idea as to why he wouldn't leave anyone alone. I guess lots of people crave blood after all...
But none of that would be meaningful without a plot that injected meaning into the random acts of simming that happen every day. I used to be better at filling in context for those without any planning but I'm in too deep with telling stories these days.
Origins aside, I do a lot of post-gameplay planning that includes reshooting gameplay scenes into something more meaningful (especially because I take a lot of shortcuts with gameplay, I LOVE giant difficult wedding scenes but when I'm playing the game I often just have them elope) and using lots of custom poses. 10-20 per chapter is normal now and I find myself making more and more of them myself. That's a whole other topic! But it's yet another thing to try and organize. Currently I have a number of pre-written chapters for various projects that have comments about what screenshots and poses are needed for each block of text. If I can get my focus back then I just have to blast through what I've told myself.
outrun / blog / tunglr
Also started a build showcase thread.
t do it she found him outside.
... to teenage sweethearts...
... to engagement!
Part Five: Graduation
Narrated by Alexander Paraskevas
That Friday evening, the Spice Festival was being held in San Myshuno. Wanting a break from studies and a change in atmosphere, we decided to visit. It also happened to be "Night on the Town", when businesses offered customers free food and drink.
"I love the colourful atmosphere of this place," Erytheia said as we queued for drinks. "So many amazing smells and sights."
"I know. There's so much to see and do here," Xanthe replied.
"So, how are you feeling about Monday and exams?" I asked.
"About as confident as I can be. I mean, I've mastered both cooking and gourmet cooking so that should help a lot. I'm not going to master acting in just a couple of days, but I'm not so bothered about how I do in my elective class."
"Yeah, I feel the same way. I mean, I'd like to do well, obviously, but I'm not going to get upset if I don't get an A+."
The next day, I decided it was time to get studying, first by working on my presentation and then by working on my acting skill. I felt rather ridiculous reciting lines dramatically to myself in front of a mirror.
And then:
Part Six: A Very Important Question
Narrated by Alexander Paraskevas
Erytheia and I moved into 930 Medina Studios, whilst Xanthe moved back in with her parents temporarily. Of course, the first thing both of us did was to get jobs. Both of us had managed to graduate with honours (as had Xanthe) so we both received a real boost.
(And yes, I made many of their furnishings red
Helen popped over for a chat.
"So, you've graduated now! Wow, it feels so odd that I've got a grown-up, adult brother," she said.
"Well, it's nearly your own birthday," I replied. "Any ideas for future plans?"
"I'm not sure yet," she said. "There's so much out there."
"You don't have to have a set idea about a job," I advised. "Plenty of people start off in one area and then retrain later in life."
"That's very true," she replied.
"Anyway... I was planning to propose to Erytheia today," I whispered, looking round. "I'm not sure of the ideal place to do it."
"Oh! How exciting!" she grinned. "Well, she's so in love with you I don't think she'll care about the location... but how about the Magic Realm?"
"Yes! What a great idea!" I exclaimed.
The rest of both posts are in the thread. I made up middle names for everyone, obviously they're not a thing in-game but I thought it'd be a fun thing to do for the proposal. Only Erytheia and Alexander have them here, but I made them up for all the Masterson kids as well as Alexander's sister Helen. No real reason behind it, I just thought it'd be fun.
Parts Five and Six