#and back to the urbz

[xx-j4nu5-c4t5-xx]

I've never seen anyone talk about this (mostly because nobody plays these games really) but do you guys remember Dudley Landgraab?

His wiki page says he appeared in two (possibly three) games throughout the early years of the franchise: The Sims (Console), The Sims: Bustin' Out (Console), and possibly the Urbz: Sims in the City (Console). He's the son of Malcom Landgraab, and usually appears alongside his sister, Mimi. But he's a genuinely interesting little freak???

I haven't played the original Sims, but according to the wiki, it seems like he's an early game NPC who's characterized as a slacker and a party animal. He's a member of the Landgraab family but doesn't seem to have much contact with them.

In Bustin' Out, he's the first house available to move into when you start the game (the other option being his sister's place). He seems to be a straight up criminal in this one, possibly working in the burglar career (you can't check in game so we don't know for sure, but the schedules seem to coincide according to the wiki). His ex-stepmother (your mom) hates him. It's referenced in his bio that his dad cut him off. He's living in a shitty bachelor pad trailer. Not crazy out of pocket considering the other places in that game.

In the Urbz, there's a much more interesting development, though. In Kicktail Park, the local hangout for a bunch of weird skaters, there's a guy named String Bean. Nothing particularly interesting about him on the surface, but in his profile on the Urbz website he seems to be incredibly secretive and weird about his past/identity. Under his dislikes, one of the things he hates is being called Dudley.

That means there's a decent chance that they're the same guy. He got tired of living in a trailer and being a family disappointment, so I guess he went off to the city to reinvent himself.

I love the weird tidbits of lore that you'd never know unless you scrolled through defunct websites and wiki pages made by people who are way too invested in these games.

Sources:

[simminglytimeladies]

Usual Movie Night

This one is an oldie as you can tell from the style but I wanna post it here. Might consider a rerender of this one at some point.

[padawansuggest]

Sometimes you are mentally required to break out the N-DS just so you can binge play a bunch of Sims gameboy games because nothing has, and nothing will, ever hit as hard as they did. Bring that shit back guys I need them all remastered for Switch.

[thesimquarter]

some more miniopolis builds!!

Second Looks Thrift Emporium - King Tower - Jail

+ bonus first draft for a miniopolis .s4c terrain!

[badgertrait]

Matzuiko Jackson

Outfits at every location of The Urbz

[simantopia]

from a very old GameSpy article and i feel this is something that has been forgotten about the sims series. the sims used to be satire. this was more evident by its cynical and/or crude humor. now the sims just kinda has a "cozy" & "wholesome" feel to it. it's like the series forgot that it wasn't just a simulator, but also a parody on life itself.

[asimplevampire]

#like#whyyy do they abandon the games when they put out a new one#whyyy is it like this it is so pointless#they would make more money if all the games existed at the same time for different audiences with different tastes imo#i feel like the person asking why we dont just print more money saying this#like im no business major but#whyyyy#ts2#ts3#ts4 (also from @naturally-dazed )

...So I can actually answer this question. I'm also not a business major and I've never been on the Sims team (lol hahaha can you imagine), but I've done some work in game dev, and, well... okay, here's the thing.

There's a lot of good reasons why you might move your team to working on a sequel rather than keeping two games in active development at the same time. Not having been on the Sims team in 2005, I can't tell you exactly which ones of these the devs had in mind, but I can guarantee they had at least one.

A lot of game development is iterative. You start with the thing you did last time- whether 'last time' is 'in the pre-alpha build' or 'in the last game in the series' or whatever- and you make a better, bolder, cooler version. To put it in the words of the Sims 2 team themselves, you wanna make a "More Bitchin' Lesbian Simulator". And that has a lot of parts. One big part is optimizing the game for modern PCs-- Sims 2 is optimized to run on a potato from 2004, and Sims 4 is optimized to run on a potato from 2014. These are very different system requirements, and keeping a game with older requirements functional on modern systems is a pain in the ass. Another of the biggest ones is updating and fixing the game's engine-- you can do things in Sims 3 that you just flat out cannot do in Sims 2, and will never be able to do, even if you're a fanmodder and can spend hours and hours of your own time on it. And speaking of which...

The most expensive thing in game development is labour. Especially when you're working at a triple-A scale where any game has hundreds of people working on it. You've got to pay hundreds of people's salaries and benefits at any given time. Because of this, it often does not make sense to keep a game in development any longer than it is making money, especially if you want to push the envelope and make something More Bitchin'. Any amount of time you spend on developing the old game is a whole lot of time, money, and energy that is not going to the More Bitchin' thing. And if you don't encourage people to stop playing the old game and pick up the More Bitchin' game, the effort -- and money-- you've put into the More Bitchin' game has gone to waste. Like, Sims 2 modders have spent a lot of time and energy and love making Sims 2 better. They've made it feel more open world, made it look like a modern game, and given it entire new mechanics. But if EA was to pay any of these modders for their time? Uhhhhhh, that's multiple years' salary right there, for a game that is actively competing with your new, More Bitchin' Game.

It often makes sense to move a lot of people from the team for the Old Game to the More Bitchin' Game, especially people like "engine programmers" and "game designers" who are doing a lot of work in the early stages of a project but not as much work in the later stages. Management/Corporate/the Suits (TM) often also shift their focus to the New Game, because they have to figure out how to sell it to people. You ever notice how midway through Sims 2 and Sims 3's lifespan, the DLC gets a bit... ehhhhhh? Like, a change of seasons or the Good Witch make your game hang for a full minute. Or Island Paradise makes the game unplayably laggy. Or how a lot of the game mechanics with things like "hobbies" in TS2 and "supernaturals" in TS3 are kinda... lackluster. Things like that? It's because the people who know the game best and are good at optimizing got moved on to the next project, and so you've got more junior members of the team doing all the coding and design. (Incidentally: you will notice that Sims 4 has bucked this trend. I'm guessing it's because The Suits have moved on to Project Rene and have stopped making Sims 4 worse for no reason.)

Speaking of competing. A lot of game studios are operating on a knife edge, wrt finances. Even ones you would think would be okay because they're making more money than god. Games are incredibly expensive to develop; unless you are literally Nintendo, you cannot afford to eat the cost of a failed game. This is especially true for studios published by EA. They're... notorious for shutting down studios that they don't think are doing good enough, even if those studios are universally beloved and making kickass games. If you are a game studio, the sales from your next game are make-or-break. It determines whether you can make anything in the future. And if you want to make another, More Bitchin' thing? You cannot afford to have competition that is better than your new product. Even if you're competing with yourself.

So, like. On the one hand? I agree with you that TS1, TS2, TS3, and TS4 are very different games that appeal to different audiences. I honestly think it's inexcusable that EA doesn't have TS1 or TS2 up for sale anywhere-- at the very least, it'd be a kindness to put them on GOG like they did with SimCity 4. But they're not gonna do that. (You notice, Maxis hasn't put out a SimCity game in years? They have a strong enough competitor that they've been pushed out of the citybuilder genre, probably for good. Releasing SimCity 4 isn't competing with SimCity 6, so they can afford to do that.)

TLDR: There are real good reasons why Maxis can't (and IMO shouldn't) keep Sims 1/2/3 in active development. It's hellaciously expensive to develop a game, and you want to put the majority of your studio's resources towards the newest thing you're working on. Any energy you spend on an old game siphons money away from your More Bitchin' new game-- and that's an expense a dev studio cannot afford to bear.

I played the sims 3 most of this month and the sims 2 a couple of months ago then now again for a week (+like…2007-2014 or ‘15) & the sims 4 since release and genuinely I just think they should have simply kept building on sims 2, make sims 3 a completely seperate life sim game - work on expanding both games instead of just one at a time

and the sims 4 should have just been for mobile or console players or smth

[zx-ta]

Missing Urbz part I

I'm back at it! 8 more to go and we're done!

Cash Monet & Pootie Fads from Diamond Heights

Scary Mary & Beelzebob Jones from Central Station

Lil Bit & Toot Sweet from Skyline Beach

Trang Hang & Rolanda Skye from Kicktail Park

[madeofcc]

2023 Top ♥

Tagged by @someone-elsa and @shesthespinstersimmer ♥ Thanks a lot !

I didn't remember doing all that this year !

Thanks a lot to everyone who's been following me through this journey. 2023 was one of the worst year of my life but also one of the best weirdly so let's hope 2024 will be better for everyone ♥

below the cut I'll put the link and explanations for each edit

1/ The Moonlight/Moonwood Tales concept : Based on the lore that came with the werewolves pack, I imagined a story that would explain everything between the werewolves, vampires and spellcasters. I actually prepared a plan for season 1 ... Maybe I'll post it next year ?

2/ The stories I planned for this year but so far, only Melodia is still going. DH3 will start next year sadly and Another Side has been cancelled because of lack of time and a bad computer.

3/ Aïssa in the city : a special photoshoot/lookbook with some items I love and also a small interview including infos about DH2 and 3. It's also a way for me to show more about Aïssa's modeling life. The title is also a reference to the upcoming spin-off about her ...

4/ The DH3 women and the DH3 gang because I want you to love them when the story will start !

5/ The EDGEWAVE fest organised by @aniraklova ♥ It surely was my favourite event this year ! What an awesome idea it was and a lot of people did amazing stuff during 2 weeks ! You saved our summer for sure ! I used Candy Bher as a reference to Another Side and MOON who's a character in DH3 ...

6/ Toxic Don ! A potential new Another Side story I've been thinking about years now ... It would be fun !

7/ The Ghostface DH3 edits : It's a reference to DH3 and Scream of course; the plot will be a tribute to Wes Craven actually !

8/ The Melodia musical video part : it actually was awesome and fun to create but it took me an entire month just for this little video. I decided to stick to a more boring regular way to post this story. I also don't have a lot of readers so far so I guess they will forgive me. I still see it as one of my biggest achievement here though so check it if you can ^^ I love how the episode turns into a musical movie

9/ @windbrook's Slashed Challenge : it was one of my favourite CAS challenge of all time ^^ I'm a huge slasher fan ! It was perfect for simblreen and people created awesome characters and stories !

10/ A makeover of the Three Sages that comes with Realm of Magic : Ana Mae is actually an original OCs, they all should appear in DH4 and 5 ... Morgyn should be very important in DH4 actually ...

11/ URBZ Mag DH3 edition ! Get the girls part here and the boys part there ♥ I love doing fake interviews and mag covers ! Sorry not sorry

12/ Valentines day ♥ My favourite is the one with the Destiny, Leïla and Aïssa because it's funny and feminist, what this trio is together ! They surely had a great night that day, it's also supposed to happen after Melodia so ...

13 / Franck and Madame Sophie : the first drag sims I create ! I wanted one for the Aïssa spin-off so I guess it will be them :)

14/ Recent edits I like : Maria Perron for @birdietrait's coven (I love her and I'd love to make a little story about her) / An other Another Side new idea focused on Venessa Jeong / Destiny's last portrait for the ocs associations

15/ My favourite gif coming from Another Side Episode 1 : I think it's the best ending for this episode as it shows all the plots and times together. Everytime I see it I want to get back to the story ...

Tagging @trippisimmies @badwoohoo @bobnewbie @uwutrait @frzr-bunny @windbrook @eslanes @budgie2budgie @nefarrilou @kashisun @birdietrait @castawavy @agena87 @fangs-trait @peonypyxels @barbieaiden @void-imp @ladybugsimblr @xldkx @nilonne @bakersimmer @whyhellosims @mangosimoothie @djservo @sea-cross @surely-sims @hufflepuff-sim @aniraklova @therichantsim @wolfavens @cinamun @alelelesimz @moontaart @pralinesims @cyberth0t @squea @helloavocadooo @cross-design @rebouks @crazy-lazy-elder-sims and anyone else who'd like to join ♥ feel free to tag me or ignore this as well ^^ (Also, check out these blogs, they're all great !)

[seafoan]

back in del sol on set for the urbz!

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[writeouswriter]

*swinging pocket watch back and forth* you want to play Urbz: sims in the city for GBA so badly, go play Urbz: sims in the city for GBA

[boolpropper]

omg ok so. i have been a little absent lately! have not had time to play sims bc of summer work 😭 i have a bunch of medieval stuff inthe drafts and lowkey i did full on start DRAWING a map of the kingdom and its surroundings... i'm about to be fully booked AGAIN with university so i hesitate to start anything new, BUT.... curious about what yall would suggest

[thesimquarter]

hello! sims 2 miniopolis update!

first of all, my current sims 2 urbz sims >:3 outside of the obvious change of a default skin, they don't look that different compared to my old versions of them. But! believe me they are better.as well, this time! there's the DS exclusive characters and a few sims intended to be townies. In order, Lloyd, Red Man, Daschell Swank, Chet R. Chase, Bucki Brock's sister, Joe from the Flea Market (yes, he does have a name), Ava Cadavra, and Gordie Puck. Indeed, they're very red.

And an update to the town in general! I've finished most of the easy lots now, mostly having harder lots to do now. Such as the Mausoleum, Circus, Brownstones + Slice O'Life (which I… attempted. can you believe that the map of this game doesn’t follow the laws of physics?), etc.

New lots include: - Junked Schoolbus (which IS connected to the Chopper Garage visually but they aren't the same lot) - Chopper Garage (which i am not going to put underneath the road/jail! it looks cool in-game, but possibly impossible to do in the sims 2 but it makes no sense spatially!! the other side of the garage would just be underground!!!) - Cemetery (Mostly just empty buildings for aesthetics. No graves… yet. and there probably won’t be until the final version of the hood.) - Miniopolis Chronicle (TINY) - Miniopolis Hospital + University (if this was ts3 i probably would have made them separately) - Club Xizzle (what is it supposed to look like on the outside + should there be two?) - Glasstown Megamall - Cinema d'Urbania (how do you make a cinema in this game? big TV?)

I redid King Tower as well, just to make it fill out a 3x3 lot instead of a 2x2 lot, and Café Multiplaya has a new outdoor seating area (to fill in space). The Coffee Shop, the Market, and Glasstown apartments were in my last post, just kinda in the background. The Market has a lot of creative liberties taken to it, as I just didn't like how it translated into the Sims (as in it's made to represent the real-life French Quarter Market more). The Glasstown Apartment has a few other units in it for some of the Urbz sims (more on that in a bit!)

I removed pretty much, all the elevation from the .s4c terrain. It's easy to put back butttt, the sims 2 just doesn't work in a way that's friendly to sloped lots (and simcity 4 for slopes that take <1 unit of distance, you can't make steep cliffs in these games. so, basically, due to the compactness of the city, there isn’t enough room to add in slopes without making it all janky). They may come back at the end if we can Wizard the slopes to work the lots, but for now...

Ignore the weird road off the Sim Quarter. I was experimenting with what could be done with the riverboat. I was thinking about putting it on a beach lot and making a joke about it being temporarily landlocked (read: i already did) and was trying to find a good, functional place to put it. There may be other ways to do a riverboat though… hmmm

Anyways onto housing for the Sims. So, the Glasstown Apartments has a few more units to fit in a few other characters (Lottie Cash (I did manage to squeeze a bowling alley in there), Lily Gates, and Darius) but other than that? Very little! (I did Ewan’s House. however, it’s just a box; i took modest pretty literally). I might make a post soon where I talk about where each Urb would probably live, just as an excuse to talk to myself for a little while.

[sasaofastora]

As I’ve been setting up for the past few weeks, I’ve created a new Legacy Challenge based on my childhood favourite- The Urbz. All the rules and details are under the cut!

For each generation, try to stick to the aesthetics of each district as much as possible- and for some added fun, I also recommend trying to name your sims with puns or references that fit the area. The Urbz wiki page has all the existing characters to give you some inspiration.  

Generation 1: Central Station

You are a new arrival in the city, with no place to call your own and no place to go. So you stop at the first place everyone in this city comes through, Central Station. It doesn’t take long to make friends with the punks who make the subway station home. They’re passionate and angry at the status-quo, just like you, and for maybe the first time, you begin to find your place. 

Rules:

- Start with $0 

- The Curator Aspiration

- Must have the Hot-Headed trait

- Politician Career, Charity Organizer Branch

- Get in a fight every day

- Have at least one child (your heir should have the Bro trait)

Generation 2: Kicktail Park

Your parents were always so angry and ready for a fight, it made you want to find a place to just chill out, dude. You find your way to Kicktail Park, where you find other skater bros like you who just want to take life as it comes. Because hey, you only get one life, so why not live it to the max, man? Gnarly. 

Rules:

- Extreme Sports Enthusiast Aspiration

- Must have the Bro trait

- No career, do odd jobs only

- Master the Fitness and Snowboarding skills

- Do graffiti at least once per week

- Have at least one child (your heir should have the Snob trait)

Generation 3: The Foundry

The graffiti covered walls of the Park inspired something in you from a young age- a passion for art that was simply never understood by your laid-back parents. So you made your way to The Foundry, where the people appreciate art the way you do and take life more seriously. Also, they’re pretty into robots around here... 

Rules:

- Painter Extraordinaire Aspiration

- Must have the Snob trait

- Work part-time as a Barista, then become a Freelance Artist

- Master the Painting and Robotics skills

- Build Servo 

- Have at least one child (your heir should have the Dance Machine trait)

Generation 4: Neon East

Stuffy. Uptight. BORING. That’s how you would describe your parents. Where’s the life, the excitement, the colour? And so you find yourself in Neon East where the techno-technicolour rave never ends! Here you know you’ll never be bored again. And don’t forget to try the sushi!

Rules:

- Party Animal Aspiration

- Must have the Dance Machine trait

- Work part-time as a Fast Food Employee

- Master the Cooking, Video Gaming, and Dancing skills

- Find all Food Stall recipes from City Living

- Have at least one child (your heir should have the Music Lover trait)

Generation 5: Cozmo Street

Although you could appreciate your parents party-hard lifestyle, you always felt that the vibes just weren’t right for you. You wanted something a little more grounded, and a little more focused on the best part of those parties- the music. On Cozmo Street, you find your people, where a late night round of drinks and an impromptu jam session are never too far away. 

Rules:

- Musical Genius Aspiration

- Must have the Music Lover trait

- Culinary Career, Mixologist Branch

- Master the Mixology and Singing skills

- Do karaoke at least once per week

- Have at least one child (your heir should have the Freegan trait)

Generation 6: Skyline Beach

You grew up surrounded by musicians, whose talent inspired you every day. However, you always knew your true passion was in the words - the lyrics, the poetry. You find exactly where you want to be with the rap loving crowd on Skyline Beach, where rhymes fly from the rooftops all day long. Plus, they’ve got some interesting pets around here...

Rules:

- Neighborhood Confidante Aspiration

- Must have the Freegan trait

- Work as a Freelance Writer

- Master the Writing and Charisma skills

- Have a pet raccoon (since there are unfortunately no ferrets in the Sims 4)

- Have at least one child (your heir should have the Maker trait)

Generation 7: Gasoline Row

It’s all well and good spitting poetry all day, but where’s the grit? The grime? You need somewhere you can get your hands dirty. You find your place to do that on Gasoline Row, where mechanics and speed demons rule the streets. Around here, it’s all about head-banging to classic rock in the garage, and maybe taking a break for some hot dogs once in a while. 

Rules:

- Nerd Brain Aspiration

- Must have the Maker trait

- Work as a Freelance Crafter

- Master the Handiness and Fabrication skills

- Eat only BBQ foods and snacks

- Have at least one child (your heir should have the Kleptomaniac trait)

Generation 8: South Side Bridge

The gritty garage your parents loved so much just never seemed to inspire anything in you. You longed for something with a little more class, and a little more... dangerous competition than their motorcycle races. South Side Bridge is where you find what you were looking for. Get ready to cozy up to the local family- they might have some work for you in their fireworks business. Just don’t look into it too much. 

Rules:

- Public Enemy Aspiration

- Must have the Kleptomaniac trait

- Criminal Career, Boss Branch

- Master the Mischief and Juice Fizzing skills

- Set off fireworks at least once per week

- Have at least one child (your heir should have the Self-Absorbed trait)

Generation 9: Diamond Heights

The criminal dealings of your parents gave you the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the most rich, famous, and glamourous of the city. And so of course, you wanted so badly to join them. You make your way to the celebrity studded and gold-covered runways of Diamond Heights, hoping that one day, you could be just as famous a fashion icon as some of them. Now vogue, darling. 

Rules:

- World-Famous Celebrity Aspiration

- Must have the Self-Absorbed trait

- Style Influencer Career, either branch

- Master the Photography skill

- Get involved in a Love Triangle

- Have at least one child (your heir should have the Overachiever trait)

Generation 10: Darius’ Penthouse

All the generations before you found one part of the city where they really belonged. You, however, never want to choose! You’d rather be a part of everywhere at once, and get to know as much about this wonderful city as you can. One day, you might even rule it all, looking down at the skyline from your penthouse apartment. Maybe you could even get a pet monkey? Or is that too ambitious...

Rules:

- City Native Aspiration

- Must have the Overachiever trait

- Any skills and careers you choose

- Live in a penthouse

I really hope you try out this legacy challenge, it was a lot of fun to put together! I don’t know yet if I’ll share my own gameplay of it or just keep it for myself, but I’d love to see what others do with it. Thanks for reading!! 

[mibibosartblog]

2021 sketchdump, part 2 - Dream stuff, Escapist Apocalypse, Selfinsert

Spellcaster sketch

Katia's hair and runestone from Lost Kingdoms

A bear cat, from a dream. He really hates bathroom doors and will kill again.

Kind of a sketch of a potential chapter cover? The text reads "Murder in Diamond Heights." Diamond Heights is an area in The Urbz: Sims in the City, known for extravagance and beauty. Xelotath's (Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem) artifact is visible on the back of a Fiona Belli (Haunting Ground/Demento) lookalike.

Unfinished sketch

Dream related, Ego has a mark on her forehead of a horn that's been removed

Dream related, toxin spewing monster. Human silhouette for scale.

Really liked how a picrew turned out and decided to draw it. Picrew can be found here!

[sim-simi]

🌟🎉 Guess who finally bit their lip and decided to launch a Simblr? This shy sim 🫣 just gained a shiny new trait - confidence! ✨ Move over, Mimi Landgraab; there's a new party girl 💃 in town. In case I forgot to introduce myself:

"Hi! My name is Simi and I play the Sims" ☺️

Introducing my legacy simself from my past save file – "Simi's Story." 📖 I'll spill the tea on how that saga unfolded while diving into my fresh Sims 4 Save file, #Y2KLegacy, a nostalgic save file sprinkled with Sims from classics like the Urbz. 🌐

Took a breather from Sims 4, got cozy with Sims 2, and now I'm back with a burst of inspiration and excitement! 🎮✨

When did you last feel the need to press pause on your sims' story🎬? Share below! 👇

Shout out to all the SIMBLRs that inspired me for years:

@softerhaze @windslar @quietwaters @aliennooboo @oshinsimblr