Welcome to the Build-n-Share Weekly Challenge!
The Build-n-Share challenges will be posted Wednesday of each week and run through the following Wednesday.
Results will be posted approximately one week after all entries have been submitted in the Winner's Circle thread.
The benefits:
First place will be awarded at all levels. If there are at least eight entries in a category, up to four places will also be announced.
Weekly challenges also create an opportunity for community on the forum site. We get to know one another’s names, share news, builds, and positive words. This is a chance to get your name out there, and hopefully make a few friends along the way.
What makes this challenge different from all the other ones I've seen?
We have been hosting this weekly challenge since the first week the game was released. We have many levels of builders in our community and welcome them all. This group is truly a product of all its great members!
Within the first few challenges, our group was recognized by the gurus that be, who have helped the weekly challenges gain even more popularity be stickying both Build-n-Share threads. Since then, we have had at least one featured creation almost every week, and our list of featured members continues to grow.
With 3 successful collaborative neighborhoods (Gnomelandia, Summer of Love, and NYC) just about completed, Build-n-Share hopes to bring more creative challenges and new neighborhood ideas to the community with the help of our dedicated participants who willingly contribute and help each week to make sure each challenge runs smoothly.
The rules:
All entries must be original work. Any competitor who submits another builder’s work will be disqualified and banned from any future Build-n-Share challenge. These competitors will also be removed from the Builders' Boulevard related websites if they have chosen to join (membership to the site and the Yahoo! group are not required to enter a Build-n-Share challenge).
Please announce your official lot posting using the entry form below. Make sure to leave the "Official Entry" label big. If you need to reformat it, you can do this by highlighting the desired text and then selecting "Big" in the font box above. This will help us see the entries in a sea of posts with no pics to guide us.
Entries must be submitted by the deadline, 7 p.m. Wednesday evening (eastern time, USA).
A description of the three major level categories:
Beginner--I have a little experience, but I'm still figuring a lot of things out. I would not call myself an official "builder" at this point.
Intermediate--I have been building for awhile. I know the basics and maybe a little more. I enjoy building, but it is not my primary focus with the game.
Advanced--I know the Sims, and the Sims knows me. My name is familiar to a lot of veteran players, and I've competed in and won some building challenges and maybe even been recognized in a community showcase or two. I know most of the cheats AND I know how to use them.
Official Build-n-Share Animated Siggy
Want to represent Build-n-Share in your signature? Here is our official signature. Just copy and paste [*img]
http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab105/anjubee/bns_fade.gif?t=1251688153[/img] into the signature section under "preferences" and delete the *.
Two additional opportunities:
Love to build? Come join us at
http://www.buildersboulevard.com . The site offers an additional forum for advertising lots, share tips and tricks, and participate in collaborative neighborhood projects!
We also have a Yahoo! Group for builders. It can be accessed at
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/buildersboulevard/ . You do not have to be a member to enter. This group will be used primarily as an announcement center and for some of our more complex polls, and possibly, databases.
Comments
Challenge deadline: Wednesday, April 14th at 7 p.m. (Eastern time)
...
Downsized!
Dear Master Builder,
Please help our family out! My husband recently lost his job due to a corporate downsize and we can no longer afford to live in our lovely home. It is a lavish 4-bedroom, 4 bathroom, spacious home with plenty of room for our growing family. I am a stay-at-home mom, raising my 2 kids (girls), who are also used to living a lavish lifestyle and having plenty of toys. I am also carrying our 3rd child.
While my husband tries to get back on his feet, we need to find a new home with our low starter budget of 20,000 simoleans. We have looked at some of the existing starters around the neighborhood and none of them “felt like home.” Maybe we just have picky taste and are used to finer finishes, but we are hoping to find a good home that we can still feel comfortable in without feeling cramped.
We hope to have at least 3 bedrooms and at least 1.5 bathrooms. While I know we can’t hope for a huge yard like what we have currently, I would like to have at least a small area where I can still garden and a small play area for the kids.
In the main living space, we like having neutral colors and an open floorplan. My girls’ favorite colors are orange and pink and both my husband and I are fond of blues.
I know this is asking a lot and it will be very difficult on our tight budget, but we have heard you can practically work miracles with your building skills. We hope you can help us get through these tough times!
Downsized and stressed,
The Johnsons
...
Optional Challenge:
Create the family and take screenshots of them living in the home you built.
Some notes:
Budget challenges can be very tough. For some tips and tricks on how to maximize your budget, I highly suggest you read up Addict's tutorials on how to pinch your simoleans!
http://www.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=65685
http://www.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=80320
Official Entry
Name:
Link to the posted asset:
Link to media (required):
Optional Challenges entered?:
Experience level:
Lot Name:
Lot address, size, and final cost:
Details and Rational:
Credit to any simmers for custom content you used:
To make it more searchable, we would highly appreciate it if you include Build-n-Share in the description of the lot.
Since judging will now be based on screenshots, we figured this would be a good time to go over some tips and tricks in taking good screenshots to help showcase your lovely builds.
1) Camera Man Mode - This is a must in taking good shots! You will have to be in live mode to do this, but just hit "TAB" to enter this mode. Once you are in this mode, you can use the mouse to freely control the angles and use "W, A, S, D" buttons to move forward, backwards, and side to side. "Z" zooms in, "X" zooms out. "Q" moves up and "E" moves down. "C" to capture the shot.
2) Find the perfect angle - With photography, it is all about finding the right angle. Spend some time in camera man mode to find the perfect angle. Get down to a sim's point of view to take the best shots of rooms.
3) Walls up - Most people play with walls cut away, but when you are taking pictures of your lot, try to keep your walls up to make your shots look more realistic.
4) No grids - Unless you need to show the grid for a specific purpose, make sure no build/buy grid is visible when you take your pictures. You can avoid this by taking pictures in live mode or by hitting the terrain paint button in build mode.
Ok, those are the basics! If you want to further your simatography skills, we highly recommend you visit http://simatography.webs.com for more tips and tricks and to see some excellent shots taken by professional simatographers!
Please try to keep this thread as photo free as possible and either create a story, a slide show, a separate thread, or use the stickied photo thread to post shots of your lots!
Your official judges are Tota, Robodl95, and KitKat7145.
Your backup judges are Fidlerten and Robb.
Freynas is the official organizational guru collecting entrants' names, levels, links, and results!
Judges will post their results in the winner's circle thread: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/47204.page
Look for results typically a week after the deadline.
Big thanks to our judges and helpers!
Beginner
Bluuin
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2225565
Link to media: http://www.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=195845
Optional Challenge: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2226490
BosniaFTW
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2238565
Link to media: http://www.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=197279
Optional Challenge: No
Denisimms
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2248324
Link to media: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/191262.page
Optional Challenge: no
DorkyVampPrincess
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2222836
Link to media:
Optional Challenge: no
Leebeejeebee
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2247993
Link to media: http://www.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=198161
Optional Challenge: Yes, family in lot photographs
Luna74
Link to the posted asset: http://ca.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2246960
Link to media: http://ca.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=198078
Optional Challenge: No
skeletaleffect
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2228247
Link to media: http://www.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=196053
Optional Challenge: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2228258
tigerlily75de
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2236905
Link to media: http://www.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=197125
Optional Challenge: no
xxmccxx
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2229699
Link to media: http://creationsbyios.blogspot.com/2010/04/build-n-share-44-downsized.html
Optional Challenge: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2229698
Intermediate
AlexKnr
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2251354
Link to media: http://www.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=198487
Optional Challenge: no
Amelia
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2228615
Link to media: http://www.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=196072
Optional Challenge: no
BluebellFlora
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2227121
Link to media: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/0/189811.page#2280599
Optional Challenge: no
Brainamp
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2233429
Link to media: http://s854.photobucket.com/albums/ab101/brainamp/Blueberry Cottage/?albumview=slideshow
Optional Challenge: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2233404
Cameonet1950
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2247209
Link to media: http://s305.photobucket.com/albums/nn232/Cameonet1950/Downsized WK44/?albumview=slideshow
Optional Challenge: None
ciane
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2227593
Link to media: http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f65/ciane/new/Strughlin/?albumview=slideshow
Optional Challenge: yes see media
Ciaracaff
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2231466
Link to media: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/60/173456.page#2285543
Optional Challenge: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2231724
CuddlesomeQtee
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2247591
Link to media: http://s802.photobucket.com/home/Cuddlesomeqtee/set/7721?view=slideshow
Optional Challenge: Yes – included in posted asset
golden_glow
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2224798
Link to media: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/189622.page
Optional Challenge: no
hazentw
Link to the posted asset: http://ca.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2249719
Link to media: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/0/191383.page#2305910
Optional Challenge: Yes. see media
Kiarane
Link to the posted asset:
Link to media: http://www.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=195990
Optional Challenge: No
LandaX
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2232916
Link to media: http://www.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=196614
Optional Challenge: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2232916
liam7695
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2249579
Link to media: http://www.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=198368
Optional Challenge: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2249642
LizJordanUK
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2226938
Link to media: http://s752.photobucket.com/albums/xx163/lizjordanuk/BnS 44 - Downsized/?albumview=slideshow
Optional Challenge: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2227282
misscbong
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2243391
Link to media: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/0/191025.page#2300751
Optional Challenge: no
MsMcNeely
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2246289
Link to media: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/0/191053.page#2301167
Optional Challenge: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2246288
NicWin0
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2222481
Link to media: http://www.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=195415
Optional Challenge: no
PyroDragn - DragN-Drop Designs
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2246572
Link to media: http://www.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=198032
Optional Challenge: No
Scoiattolo
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2232884
Link to media: http://www.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=197095
Optional Challenge: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2232886
Tamlyn
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2232995
Link to media: http://tamlynsims.livejournal.com/7468.html
Optional Challenge: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2232984#
Advanced
addict1220
Link to the posted asset:
Link to media: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/190667.page#2302070
Optional Challenge: no
EuphorialQueen Enterprises
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2234098
Link to media: http://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa19/LadyZelezza/BNS 44 Challenge - Downsized by EQ/?albumview=slideshow
Optional Challenge: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2226504 –
http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2234105 http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2226500
http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2234101
Freynas
Link to the posted asset: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2248798
Link to media: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/120/151691.page#2304701
Optional Challenge: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2248811
Beginner Judge: Anjubee http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/960/47204.page
1st place - Denisimms!
2nd place - xxmccxx!
3rd place - tigerlily75de and skeletaleffect! A tie since I couldn't decide.
Intermediate Judge: Tota http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/870/47204.page
1st place: liam7695
2nd place: AlexKnr
3rd place: PyroDragn
Advanced Judge: Kitkat7145 http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/870/47204.page
1st place: Addict
3 bedrooms, UNDER 20k? I actually might try this.. I've never built a starter!
Oh :? Is the link to the media the link to any CC or store items?
Link to the posted asset: is the link to your lot on the exchange
Link to media: is the link to the pictures you are using to show off your lot for judging.
The amount I got with the family is $20,500. If I leave the $500 left over at the end will this be OK?
So far any budget challenge I've tried has never worked but this time I'm going to get it done!
Hopefully I won't go away over budget this time.
----
Great Idea for a challenge though, Anju!
So, we aren't allowed to post the pictures of the house on our entry post?
If not, then do we post a link to the page where the full sized picture is, like this: http://tinypic.com/usermedia.php?uo=4AtXI6JI7G%2FwmOGO4wEu8oh4l5k2TGxc
Thanks! I'm sorry I asked so many questions, :?
BluebellFlora, don't think the size of the lot matters, but smaller saves money. Lol. Also the request is that she still has room for gardening too. So probably not too small.
Time to figure out cover pics on my new comp.
Addict