Style or function, how do you build?

GreenTurtle · June 2021

Builders, what is your ideal lot? Do you care if an item blocks your view when you turn the camera? Would you use a couch as a makeshift headboard for your bed? Did you create the Millennium Falcon before Batuu? Or are you more concerned with walkways and making sure every lot has a toddler potty?

lexibee · June 2021

Function: My lots are optimized for gameplay. I don't go overboard when decorating and use cheats with caution.

I guess out of these options, function? I definitely wouldn't say I go "overboard" but I do always use the move objects cheat. I find it hard to decorate without it. Everything has to be so far away from each other without it, usually for no reason.

I definitely like being creative and detailed with my builds, but I'm a player as much as I am a builder, so I have to make sure that my builds actually work and don't look weird/glitch while playing... I get a little frustrated when I see builds on youtube/the gallery who were definitely built by someone who either doesn't play in live mode at all (because everything looks unroutable), or just doesn't care about things clipping and being distracting. The overuse of decoration objects also gets frustrating. It's why I never use the gallery...

FatTribble23 · June 2021

I'm not a builder.

Not a builder, but a user of the gallery with a deep appreciation for builders who value function over form. It doesn't matter how beautiful a house is if you can't play in it.

haneul · June 2021

Function: My lots are optimized for gameplay. I don't go overboard when decorating and use cheats with caution.

I like using a ton of items and things must look nice, but everything also needs to work.

Onverser · June 2021

Function: My lots are optimized for gameplay. I don't go overboard when decorating and use cheats with caution.

I don't build much but when I do I always only use functional clutter, hate it when builds are totally unviewable because of stuff everywhere

SailorCeti · June 2021

Needs a “A balance of both” option. I couldn’t vote.

LehmanLegacy · June 2021

Function: My lots are optimized for gameplay. I don't go overboard when decorating and use cheats with caution.

Whenever I build I always have to make sure it’s functional, why build something beautiful my Sims won’t be able to enjoy?!

babajayne · June 2021

Function: My lots are optimized for gameplay. I don't go overboard when decorating and use cheats with caution.

I wouldn’t share a lot until I have playtested it for long enough to know it meets my standards. I like large homes, but I hate wasted space. I like seeing something new come together through the creative repurposing of unexpected objects - but I can’t stand if that makes things dysfunctional. I don’t like things to look bare, but I only need a minimal amount of clutter - too much and I worry it’s a waste of resources to load them all. Most importantly, I like to have enough little nooks to customize for my sims’ interests, so I have a little more space than the traditional rooms but not “too” much more space.

Babykittyjade · June 2021

Style: I decorate excessively, but my objects are (mostly) usuable. I tolerate some glitching/view blocking.

I go over the top with clutter and cc. A lot of times I have to keep remodeling because my sims can't move lol😅😅 but it's not all style. It has to have tons of usable objects so I can actually play in it.
Not a builder per se. Can't build more than a square box. I could never learn how to build my own house shapes creatively.
I consider myself a remodeler. Because I use gallery houses for the cool bases then remodel the entire thing.

Kironide · June 2021

Function: My lots are optimized for gameplay. I don't go overboard when decorating and use cheats with caution.

I'm not much of a builder, but when I do build/remodel, function is more important than style. Style however is not totally unimportant.

VeeDub · June 2021

Different things for different purposes. Generally I like my things to be functional but I also like them to suit my personal sense of aesthetics. I like some amount of clutter (not to the point of overcrowding), but only if it makes sense for a particular build and/or situation. Sims might live in a build that's intended to be primarily a form of artistic expression, but not likely any played ones. As for cheats, I use them as often as I need them (I don't upload anything that I build or renovate), regardless of the lot's purpose. If I later find that something doesn't work as intended, I change it to something that does.

musteni · June 2021

Function: My lots are optimized for gameplay. I don't go overboard when decorating and use cheats with caution.

As a builder function is super important to me. I like some decorations, but don't use a lot of cheats. For once there's a poll option that I feel suits me perfectly

Thrior · June 2021

I'm not a builder.

I'm completely hopeless at building. Because of that I have downloaded a fair share of stuff built by other people. Functionality definitely comes first because it's all about gameplay for me. I have downloaded some very aesthetically interesting stuff but ended up deleting (or heavily editing) them because there were some weird things going on gameplay wise.

GreenTurtle · June 2021

SailorCeti wrote: »

Needs a “A balance of both” option. I couldn’t vote.

If you don't mind the occasional visual glitch, like counters clipping or floating objects because a shelve disappeared upon turning the camera, you can pick 'style'. Also, if you're not very particular about an item being unusable by your sims (because they can't reach it, or it's part of a decoration), you can also pick 'style'. If those things bother you, you can pick 'function'.

For comparison, I would consider lilsimsie a functional builder, and Kate Emerald a builder who's more focused on style.

Functional lots can be pretty and stylish lots can be functional. I'm just wondering which way everyone leans.

g01denswan · June 2021

Function: My lots are optimized for gameplay. I don't go overboard when decorating and use cheats with caution.

My builds are mostly realistic, stylish and functional. I use cheats and add some clutter, but not excessively. I don’t place counters, appliances or toilets in front of low windows, and don’t make each room a different colour.

The rooms look like they belong to the same house and logically connect to other rooms. The object placement within the rooms also make sense. For example, I place the kitchen next to the dining room, and don’t place the toilet near the entrance of the bathroom and then the sink further in.

RySBI · June 2021

Function: My lots are optimized for gameplay. I don't go overboard when decorating and use cheats with caution.

I’d say I’m 100% focused on the style - but at the same time, if it’s not functional it’s pointless, so it’s about balance. I don’t believe they’re mutually exclusive… although I have to admit one of my lots has oversized rocks that clip through the walls so I had to make empty rooms around the edge so they didn’t clip into the living space.

Yautjagirl · June 2021

Function: My lots are optimized for gameplay. I don't go overboard when decorating and use cheats with caution.

I am not exactly a builder, I usually download builds from the gallery and refurnish them myself as I like to have control over the function and know exactly what activities can my sims do there. The only thing I use bb cheats on is when I am putting decorations or plants outside to create a more realistic feeling of the spaces, but I always make sure that they will not stop my sims from using objects or routs around them.

haneul · June 2021

Function: My lots are optimized for gameplay. I don't go overboard when decorating and use cheats with caution.

GreenTurtle wrote: »

SailorCeti wrote: »

Needs a “A balance of both” option. I couldn’t vote.

If you don't mind the occasional visual glitch, like counters clipping or floating objects because a shelve disappeared upon turning the camera, you can pick 'style'. Also, if you're not very particular about an item being unusable by your sims (because they can't reach it, or it's part of a decoration), you can also pick 'style'. If those things bother you, you can pick 'function'.

For comparison, I would consider lilsimsie a functional builder, and Kate Emerald a builder who's more focused on style.

Functional lots can be pretty and stylish lots can be functional. I'm just wondering which way everyone leans.

@GreenTurtle Hmm... That's interesting. This is hard. I consider myself to absolutely be a 99.9% functional builder because I mind glitches and floating objects and I like gameplay and want to play the game. I rarely build anything, but ... if someone were to look at my builds, they might say that I'm not a functional builder at all. Even though it may not look like it, I optimize my builds so that they're easy and relatively quick for sims to navigate.

For example, here's part of a child's bedroom.

In this house (this is the back)

TeeSea · June 2021

Function: My lots are optimized for gameplay. I don't go overboard when decorating and use cheats with caution.

For me it’s more symmetry and function.
06-06-21_2-10-23%C2%A0AM.png?raw=1

HavenRose · June 2021

I'm not a builder.

Before I found the gallery, all of my houses were just the Maxis builds with random skill/kid stuff shoved into any available corner. Now that I’ve found a bunch of incredible builders who kindly share their stuff, I use better looking houses with random skill/kid stuff shoved into any available corner until the kids are old enough for one of the nicely decorated bedrooms.

I also much prefer single story homes - I play walls down and will lose my sims and forget about if they go to another floor out of sight.

Mstybl95 · June 2021

Function: My lots are optimized for gameplay. I don't go overboard when decorating and use cheats with caution.

I need an option that is "function, form, design".

My homes are fully functional, but I use lots of objects and decorations. Homes for my families are completely personalized for their personalities, socioeconomic status, and interests.

The only thing I am withheld from going over the top is community lots just because too many visitors can cause routing issues.

Zimz4 · June 2021

Function: My lots are optimized for gameplay. I don't go overboard when decorating and use cheats with caution.

Yeah the voting options are a bit limited here.

While I do build with the intention of everything on the lot to be functional I will use all the tools provided in build and buy mode to conform to what I have in mind for my build to look like, which might require a light sprinkling of cheats.

ACruelButLovingGod · June 2021

Bare minimum: My sims live in a box with the objects they need.

Extremely functional—and at this point standardized to a pattern that works. Wall patterns are all chosen for ecological impact (in my simworld's canon, it's part of a "green new deal"-style government regulation), as are flooring choices, and rooms are standardly sized and laid out as well, the lone difference being that the bedrooms are bigger in the houses on bigger lots.

I might be the world's least imaginative builder, but it's mostly because I want to get the house up as quickly as possible so I can play the sims who live in it.

Simmingal · June 2021

Function: My lots are optimized for gameplay. I don't go overboard when decorating and use cheats with caution.

well in my own opinion all my lots are made to function but for some people it might be excessively decorated or complicated

I usually use quite a lot of moveobjects for decorative purposes but i make sure everything routes how i planned it to route

can't really say i go to level using sofas as headboards and having every surface in the house under piles of decorative objects

cause well firstly it annoys me visually so thats probably why

i do build quite many builds in anticipation of something i don't have yet though

like I don't have laundry pack but i have laundry rooms etc.

aaand there is few castles and apartment buildings and such which are pretty tedious to play but i like having those

GreenTurtle · June 2021

Zimz4 wrote: »

Yeah the voting options are a bit limited here.

I honestly expected a lot more people to favor style a bit more. I used to not mind clipping counters, or floating items, until recently and it changed my build style a bit. I also thought a lot more people would combine items with MOO, like creating different flowers pots by placing outdoor shrubs onto empty indoor vases, or shrinking fireplaces to build a new hearth with cabinets and windows. There are so many tutorials out there on how to create new objects with cheats, I figured it would be more common.

The Guru's also keep sharing TOOL builds on twitter, so I expected at least some of that here, too.

DaWaterRat · June 2021

Style: I decorate excessively, but my objects are (mostly) usuable. I tolerate some glitching/view blocking.

I mean, I keep the blocking to a minimum, and allow lots of space for routing (and practicing spellcasting, and working on projects) so there aren't a lot of places where sims will get stuck.

And I make sure everything is usable, and don't allow much visual glitching.

But I also don't mind if I've got bookcases all over the place blocking some angles, but that's because I grew up in a house with at least one bookshelf in almost every room (and my dad added built-in bookshelves to all three bedrooms) so lots of bookshelves are normal to me.

The Sims Forums

Style or function, how do you build?

Style or function, how do you build? 185 votes

Comments