#gameplay: the life of a living doll

[sailorjojogames]

NEW CHALLENGE

THE SIMS 4: BARBIE Decades Challenge!

As an aspiring Barbie connoisseur, it gives me great JOY to present this challenge , HUGELY  inspired by @sim-himbo Barbie Legacy Challenge and @liyaahgee Urban Barbie Legacy

Barbie has been around since 1959 till now ( 7 generations ) , And adding decades and Barbie lore to the Sims 4 as a challenge would be fun!

Please let me know if you have any suggestions or questions . I would love to hear from fellow Barbie connoisseur ❤ Feel free to tag me @sailorjojogames and use #barbie decades challenge #BarbieDecadesChallenge, I want to see your gameplay ❀ Hope you enjoy this as much as I do x .

All heirs must be named Barbie - optional for generation seven  (non-heir children may have any name expect when classified )

You may use the freerealestatecheat for your first house, but try not to use money cheats after that!

You are allowed and encouraged to use lot traits and reward traits to boost skill gain, anything that’s in-game is fair game.

Must refer to Barbie dolls and history - Barbies By Year - Toy Sisters and dress up according to decade.

Must have a pet/pets in each generation.

You are encouraged to use mods - mods needed would be stated.

The race , colour, gender and pronouns of Barbie/Ken/siblings/cousin/friends - DOES NOT MATTER or have to be accurate to THE Barbie lore .

There are other generation ideas for ***generation 2, 4, 5 and 6  at the end, to pick and choose . Enjoy x.

Packs you will need:

EPs: Get To Work, Get Together , City Living, Cats & Dogs, Get Famous, Island Living, High School Years, University, Horse Ranch

GPs: Spa Day*, Parenthood

Optional packs:

Strangerville

*You only need Spa Day for the High Maintenance trait in one of the generations and nothing else, so it’s fine to skip out on it.

Useful tips, links and Barbie Lore and gameplay ideas in this

🎀 🌸google doc 🌸🎀

🎀🌸watch video🌸🎀

Based on the 60's - Classic barbie from 1959

Complete Successful Lineage aspiration

Max Parenting , Cooking and Baking skills

Must have Family-Oriented , Neat and Foodie traits

Must Have 5 children called Barbie Millicent Roberts, Skipper, Stacie, Chelsea/ Kelly and Krissy (if you have twins - called them Todd and Tutti)

***Based on the 70's - Superstar barbie and Malibu Barbie

Complete Master Actress aspiration

Max Acting , Dancing and Singing skills

Must have High Maintenance and Dance Machine traits

Max Actor Career

Must reach at least Proper Celebrity status

Must have a secret affair with a fellow Actor! 🌶

Have a Beach home in Sulani

Have only 2 children - Barbie and Skipper

Optional 

Complete the Party animal aspiration -to fit the disco vibes in the 70's

Based on the 80's - Day to night Barbie, Peaches 'n cream and Great shape barbie.

Complete Fabulously Wealthy aspiration

Max Charisma and Logic skills

Max Business career (Investor branch)

Must have Ambitious , Romantic and Non-committal traits

Must reach at least Proper Celebrity status

Have 3 children- Barbie, Skipper and Stacie (does not have to be from the same partner 🌶)

Optional

Be a serial lover (Serial Romantic aspiration) 🌶

Own a Business venue - Use @littlemssam LittleMsSam Mod buyable venues

***Based on the 90's - totally hair barbie, Hawaii fun, magical hair barbie and jewel hair mermaid barbie

Must live in Sulani

Complete Beach Life aspiration

Max Conservationist career (Marine Biologist branch)

Become a mermaid

Max Fitness skills

Must have Child of the Ocean trait

Have 4 children (non-mermaids)- Barbie, Skipper, Stacie and Kelly

Optional

Use The Expanded Mermaid mod by @sp-creates - Max Mermaid Ranks and XP

***Based on 00's - myscenes. Playing as a teen along with generation 4 or can move out as a teen.

Complete Admired Icon teen aspiration

Must graduate High school and have a Prom

Must have a big group of friends - 8-10 sims . Make a club and always hang out with these friend. 🌶 add drama by messing around with the cuties in the group

Must have Creative and Insider traits

Carry onto University...

get into university with the same friend group

Complete Leader of the Pack aspiration

Max Photography and Painting skills

Must complete an art related degree and live on campus

Max Style Influencer Career (Trendsetter Branch)

Get married to one of the friends in the group

Each member of the friend group must have a PET

***Based on the 2010s due to all the unhinged pets playsets that come out during that time and the Farm vet barbie and the Vet barbie .

Complete Friend of the Animals aspiration

Max Veterinarian skill

Run a 5-star vet clinic

Have at least 3 pets - a dog (Taffy) , a cat (Blissa) and a horse (Tawny) and be good friends with all of them

Must have either Cat Lover and Dog Lover trait or Animal Enthusiast trait ( or all of them )

Have a Farm with chickens, mini sheep , mini goats, llamas, cows and horses. (optional - collect all the fish, insects, frogs and axolotls)

Based on the 2020's - inspired by Kamala Harris , presidential candidate barbie and 2023 barbie the movie barbie president

Complete Mansion Baron aspiration

Max Politician career (Politician branch)

Max Charisma skill

Must have Cheerful , Good and Self-Assured traits

Optional 

Have a child called Ken

You can stop here , this is according to how long Barbie has existed… The next few generations are not compulsory . 

Inspired by 1992/1993 stars ‘n stripes army Barbie

Must live in Strangerville

Complete Strangerville Mystery aspiration

Max Logic and Charisma skills

Max Military career (Either branch)

Must have Erratic and Active traits

Year 3000 inspired by Astronaut barbie and space goddess

Complete Nerd Brain aspiration

Max Astronaut career (Either branch)

Max Robotics and Rocket Science skills

Go to SIXAM at least once and bring a souvenir

Must have Genius and Overachiever traits

Be abducted by Aliens at least once

Fall in love and Marry an Alien

Have a Servo as a family member / Butler

Make your dream Barbie. 

Complete at least 2 child aspirations

Complete at least 2 teen aspirations

Complete Renaissance Sim AND Academic aspirations

Max 10 skills

Have 12 or more traits

Graduate from college

Reach the top of any career

Have a house worth 1 Million Simoleons

***Other generation ideas to swap with…

Swap Generation two 70’s movie star barbie with this. Based on the 70's - Superstar barbie and Malibu Barbie

Complete World Famous Celebrity aspiration

Max Dancing and Singing skills

Max skill in at least 2 instruments

Max Entertainer career (Musician branch)

Must have Music Lover trait

Must reach at least Proper Celebrity status

Have a Beach home in Sulani

Have only 2 children - Barbie and Skipper

Optional 

Complete the Party animal aspiration -to fit the disco vibes in the 70's

Must have a secret affair with a fellow celebrity ! 🌶

Swap Generation 4 90's sea pearl barbie with this.

Inspired by western stampin' and all the horses that came out in the 90's

Complete Championship Rider aspiration

Max Riding skill

Must make all money from gardening, farming, wine making, etc. No day job!

Must own a horse and have it max every skill

Must have Animal Enthusiast and Rancher traits

Swap for generation five 00s my friends- inspired by Cali girl barbie, city style barbie and fashion fever barbie 

Complete Leader of the Pack aspiration

Max Photography and Painting skills

Max Style Influencer Career ( Trendsetter Branch )

Must have Creative and Insider traits

Must have a big group of friends - 8-10 -make a club and always hang out with these friends.

Name children -Barbie, Stacie Kelly and Krissy 

Optional 

Complete the Beach life aspiration 

Date or have an affair with a Prince 🌶

Can use the World famous stylist mod by kiarasims4mod or any model related mod

Swap Generation six 2010s pet vet barbie - Inspired by the show barbie dreamhouse adventurous and barbie vlogs 

Complete Friends of the World aspiration

Max Social Media career (Internet Personality branch)

Max Media production and Singing skills

Must reach at least Proper Celebrity status

Must have Cheerful and Outgoing traits

Optional Max social media star aspiration by kiarasims4mod

🎀🌸A huge thank you to @sim-himbo and @liyaahgee for the inspiration for this challenge! 🌸🎀

More Generations ideas and Barbie Challenges 

Barbie Legacy Challenge

Urban Barbie Legacy

@sea-cross Barbie CAS Challenge

🌳 // Tumblr // Tiktok // Instagram // Twitter // Twitch // Youtube 

Gallery @sailorjojosims 🌸🌸Barbie Month 🌸🌸

[thosegothsims]

RE: Not So Berry Legacy Challenge

howdy! so a long, long time ago in like 2019, i decided that i wanted to rewrite the not so berry challenge originally by @lilsimsie and @alwaysimming to fit in some more of the occults and other packs we’ve gotten over the years since their challenge was originally created. this was also partially inspired after seeing @sweetlysimss had created an updated version of the original NSB challenge as well around the same time, so credit where credit is due! check out both the original challenge and sweetlysimss’ updated version — without them i wouldn’t have been able to be confident in recreating the challenge to suit my own tastes and interests! ♡

the challenge still follows a similar structure to the original challenge, but i’ve adjusted many of the generations to fit storylines that i find more fun, adjusted the rules to things that i personally would like to explore, and make use of packs that i don’t find myself playing with to their full potential too often. i especially added a lot of occult gameplay, because i tend to just make occult sims and then don’t do much to play with their specific gameplay or with the aspirations that come with the pack they’re in.

if you’d like to see a full rundown of the entire legacy, click here to see the google doc i’ve made with all of the generations’ rules laid out for you. below the cut is the first generation’s rules so you can get an idea of what the full challenge will be like!

GENERATION ONE: MINT GREEN

You are an alien who doesn’t quite understand all of what earth has to offer. You and your minty self decide to take the best course of action and learn about the world around you—through science! With the power of two worlds (literally) in your hands, you go a little...crazy with the power at your fingertips, and strive to become the world’s first alien mad scientist.

> The Sim

Traits: Genius, Ambitious, Materialistic

Aspiration: Chief of Mischief

Career: Scientist

Species: Alien

> Rules

Skills, Career, and Aspiration

Master scientist career

Complete Chief of Mischief aspiration

Master mischief and logic skills

Personal Life

Marry human spouse

Have at least one enemy (optional: who has a voodoo doll attached for...purposes)

Use the Electroflux Wormhole Generator to visit your home planet of Sixam

Number of children this generation doesn’t matter, but heir must be human

Optional

Complete the elements collection — you have to know all about the elements on this planet!

Live in StrangerVille & solve the StrangerVille mystery with your spouse. Why does the flora around here seem so familiar?

[incandescentsims]

Magical Mythical Creatures Legacy Challenge

Play through all the sims 4 occult life states and develop your legacy across seven generations.

Feel free to change anything to fit your own gameplay/storytelling style and above all have fun!

Parts of this challenge were inspired by the Simblr Halloween Challenge created by @spacenez and @daddy-winter 

You can also find the full seven generation legacy challenge HERE (Google Doc).

Generation 1 - VAMPIRE

Aspiration: Master Vampire

Traits: Music Lover, Erratic, Gloomy

Career: Freelance Artist

Skills: reach maximum skill level for each.

Vampiric Lore

Pipe Organ and/or Violin

Cross-Stitch

Painting

Objectives:

Start as a vampire or be turned into a vampire.

Live in Forgotten Hollow.

level up to Rank 5 – Grand Master Vampire.

Grow at least one plasma fruit tree and Sixam mosquito trap.

Earn the Night Owl trait from the reward store.

Marry a vampire. (vampire spouse must be in the Criminal career)

Have an affair with a werewolf from Moonwood Mill.

Have three children, your decision who sired them (vampire or werewolf), but the heir must be sired by the werewolf.

Generations 2-7 are under the cut

Generation 2 - WEREWOLF

Aspiration: Pick one of the following - Emissary of the Collective, or Wildfang Renegade

Traits: Bookworm, Active, Loyal

Career: Vet Clinic

Skills: reach maximum skill level for each.

Wellness

Veterinarian

Fishing

Objectives:

Live in Moonwood Mill (move in with your werewolf parent as a teen).

Have at least one pet dog.

Level up to Rank 5 – Apex.

Join one of the wolf packs - Moonwood Collective or Wildfangs.

Explore the underground tunnels in Moonwood Mill.

Read werewolf literature and unlock the Lunar Epiphany ability.

Catch at least one luna fish and display in an aquarium or mounted on the wall.

Marry your fated mate.

Have as many children as you wish, but the heir must be a dormant werewolf.

Collections: optional - complete them all or pick n’ choose.

Collect all 12 Moonwood relics.

Collect all 12 feathers.

Complete the fish collection.

Generation 3 - GHOST

Aspiration: Soulmate

Traits: Foodie, Cat lover, Clumsy

Career: Freelance Paranormal Investigator

Skills: reach maximum skill level for each.

Medium

Cooking

Gourmet cooking and/or Baking

Objectives:

Move into a haunted house. (your choice of world)

Have at least one pet cat.

Grow at least one death flower plant.

Earn the Brave trait from the reward store. (purchase after they've lived seven days inside the haunted house)

Have a friendship with a ghost that turns to romance.

Make ambrosia and resurrect your ghost partner from the dead.

Have 5 children.

Collections: optional - complete them all or pick n’ choose.

Collect all 10 sugar skulls. The Sims 4: How to Complete the Sugar Skull Collection

Collect Paranormal Rewards.

3 specter buddy jars

6 bizzare totems

7 hello dahlia dolls

3 clay hands

3 specter sips

1 ectocake

4 strange overgrowth

12 soul pieces

10 candy jars

Generation 4 - SPELLCASTER

Aspiration: Pick one of the following - Purveyor of Potions or Spellcraft & Sorcery

Traits: Goofball, Adventurous, Romantic

Career: Social Media

Skills: reach maximum skill level for each.

Mischief

Charisma

Rock Climbing

Skiing and/or Snowboarding

Objectives:

Live in Glimmerbrook.

Become a spellcaster and level up to Rank 6 – Virtuoso.

Regularly duel with other Spellcasters.

Holiday in Mt. Komorebi every winter and reach the mountain peak.

Earn the Iceproof trait from the reward store. (purchase after their first holiday in Mt. Komorebi)

Have a new romantic partner each life stage from teen - elder.

Never marry.

Have 2 Children.

Collections: optional - complete them all or pick n’ choose.

Collect all 25 frogs.

Collect all 26 magical artefacts.

Collect all 12 simmies.

Collect all 5 spirit dolls

Generation 5 - PLANTSIM

Aspiration: Super Parent

Traits: Unflirty, Loner, Loves Outdoors

Career: Gardener

Skills: reach maximum skill level for each.

Gardening

Flower Arranging

Nectar Making and/or Juice Fizzing

Objectives:

Move into a Micro Home with a very large garden. Lot sizes must be 30x30 or bigger (your choice of world)

Collect all 7 Magic beans.

Enter the Mystical Magic Bean Portal Tree and obtain the Forbidden Fruit.

Regularly eat forbidden fruit to turn into a plantsim.

Grow at least one Forbidden Fruit Tree, Cowplant and Money Tree.

Earn the Super Green Thumb trait from the reward store.

Have no romantic or sexual relationships with any sims.

Have no legitimate children. Once they reach adulthood, either adopt or use the Whispering Wishing Well to wish for a child (this child will be the heir).

Collections: optional - complete them all or pick n’ choose.

Complete the gardening collection

Create all 13 nectar varieties

Create all 15 scented flower arrangements

**How do I turn my Sim into a PlantSim?

Have your Sim reach level 10 of the gardening skill. With level 10 unlocked, you can buy rare seed packets using the computer, or in Build Mode.

Each rare seed packet contains one magic bean. To plant this, buy the Magic PlantSim Stump in Build Mode.

When you have six magic beans, your Sim can plant them in the Magic PlantSim Stump.

After watering, the Mystical Magic Bean Portal Tree will grow from the Stump and your Sim can travel through the portal.

When your Sim returns with the Forbidden Fruit of the PlantSim (they don’t always return with this, it may take multiple tries) they can eat it and turn into a PlantSim.

Generation 6 - ALIEN

Aspiration: Nerd Brain (*Optional - StrangerVille Mystery)

Traits: Socially Awkward, Genius, Recycle disciple

Career: Engineer

Skills: reach maximum skill level for each.

Handiness

Robotics

Logic

Knitting

Objectives:

Live in Oasis Springs (*Optional - Live in StrangerVille and complete the StrangerVille Mystery).

Build all Utili-Bots and a Servo.

Build a rocket ship and travel to Sixam.

Be abducted by aliens at least once.

Marry an alien.

Have as many children as you wish.

Collections: optional - complete them all or pick n’ choose.

Collect all 20 metals.

Collect all 20 crystals.

Collect all 4 space rocks.

Generation 7 - MERMAID

Aspiration: Beach Life

Traits: Child of the Ocean, Green Fiend, Outgoing

Career: Conservationist

Skills: reach maximum skill level for each.

Singing

Photography

Fitness

Objectives:

Live in Brindleton Bay as a young adult with a mermaid roommate.

Get into a romantic relationship with your roommate only after you become best friends.

Move to Sulani after visiting for a holiday (*Optional - live off the grid).

Become a Mermaid by obtaining and eating Mermaidic Kelp (either from exploring the cave in Mua Pel'am or befriending a dolphin).

Earn the Heatproof trait from the reward store.

Marry a mermaid (can be their roommate or someone else)

Have as many children as you wish.

Collections: optional - complete them all or pick n’ choose.

Collect all 13 seashells..

Collect all 18 buried treasure.

Collect all 10 underwater photos.

[forgotten-elves]

Enduring Roots Legacy Challenge

A seven generation Sims 4 legacy challenge based on some of the plants found in the base game. Focus on gardening and some supernatural gameplay.

Required Packs: None

Optional Packs (for some alternate aspirations/traits & optional goals): Basically all of them. This challenge is meant to adapt to whatever packs you have, whether that be none or all.

Getting started: Aging can be set to whatever you prefer, including being turned off entirely. Gen 1 can be created alone, or with a spouse, sibling, parents, etc., and can be of any age. The listed aspiration does not have to be picked as the sim's first one; they just need to work on (and ideally complete) it at some point in their lives. This challenge is meant to be flexible and guide storytelling, not to be intentionally difficult, so feel free to make changes to the rules where you need to.

Currently play-testing. As I do, and as new packs release, I may make some changes. 

Generation 1: Orchard 

Always bright as a summer’s day, and beloved by everyone you’ve met, sometimes you’ve been told you’re too much of a good thing. And that some quirks are just not endearing. It’s not your fault you can see things others can’t, and you refuse to pass up the opportunity to make a friend, living or dead.

Traits: Cheerful, Erratic [or Cringe (for rent), Clumsy, or Macabre (life & death)], Outgoing [or Dog Lover (cats & dogs), Cat Lover (cats & dogs), Animal Enthusiast (cottage living), or Horse Lover (horse ranch)]

Aspiration: Friend of the World, Friend of the Animals (cats & dogs), Country Caretaker (cottage living), Emissary of the Collective (werewolves), or Ghost Historian (life & death).

Goals:

Reach level five of the comedy skill

Befriend 3 ghosts*

Have a penpal

Grow an orchard of at least three different types of fruit trees

Have a ghost join the household, or a current member die and rejoin the household as a ghost.*

Optional: Live in a haunted house residential (paranormal)

Optional: Have the island spirits lot trait (island living), and/or spooky lot challenge (city living)

Optional: Max the medium skill (paranormal), pet training skill (cats & dogs), and/or horse riding skill (horse ranch)

Optional: Complete any of the following collections: postcards, sugar skulls, spirit dolls (snowy escape), and/or tarot cards (life & death)

*Ghost pets (cats & dogs) and horses (horse ranch) qualify. Specters (paranormal) do not.

Generation 2: Wolfsbane 

A student of the earth and the night sky, you’ve always found the mysteries of the world more intriguing than any facet of contemporary human civilization. 

Traits: Loner [or Socially Awkward (high school years), Unflirty (city living), or Romantically Reserved (lovestruck)], Genius [or Bookworm], Loves Outdoors

Aspiration: The Curator, Archaeology Scholar (jungle adventure), Outdoor Enthusiast (outdoor retreat), Jungle Explorer (jungle adventure), Cure Seeker (werewolves), or Crystal Crafter (crystal creations).

Goals:

Grow an herb garden 

Grow wolfsbane flowers*

Have a telescope

Reach level 10 of the logic skill

Moonbathe at least once during each different lunar phase

Optional: Max the vampire lore skill (vampires), herbalism skill (outdoor retreat), and/or gemology skill (crystal creations).

Optional: Complete any of the following collections: microscope, space prints and/or fossils

*If you don’t have Vampires or Werewolves, then you may have to use debug to find the flower, as although it is a base game plant, I don’t know if there is any way to access it through base game gameplay. 

Generation 3: U.F.O Fruit

Your parent inspired in you an awe for the cosmos, but unlike them, who considered it distant and obscure, you’re determined to experience as much of the expanse as you can. All your dreams of adventure you will make reality, and your belief in true love may guide the way.

Traits: Good [or Generous (for rent)], Childish, Loyal [or Adventurous (snowy escape)]

Aspiration: Soulmate, Extreme Sports Enthusiast (snowy escape), Strangerville Mystery (strangerville), Paragon of Hope (journey to batuu), or Romantic Explorer (lovestruck)

Teen Aspiration (optional, would not replaces main aspiration): Live Fast (high school years) or Goal Oriented (high school years)

Goals: 

Have a Lin Z speaker

Marry either your high school or college sweetheart, or meet your future spouse on vacation (or while visiting Sixam (get to work)

Reach level five of the fitness skill

Have a rocket ship and reach level 10 of the rocket science skill

Find the U.F.O fruit and use it to start a garden

After having your first child, publish 3 children’s books

Optional: Grow all three Sixam plants in your garden (get to work)

Optional: Max the robotics skill (discover university)

Optional: Complete any of the following collections: aliens, space rocks, geodes (get to work), and/or snow globes (city living)

Generation 4: Dragonfruit

There’s something about you that’s striking, alluring; you can’t enter a room without everyone’s eyes on you. Admire, but don’t touch. You have a reputation for having a thorny veneer, and no matter what you do, you can’t help but hurt the ones you love the most. 

Traits: Mean [or Nosy (for rent)], Romantic [or Lovebug (lovestruck)], Self-Assured [or Self-Absorbed (get famous)]

Aspiration: Chief of Mischief, Serial Romantic, Villainous Valentine, Party Animal, Leader of the Pack (get together), World Famous Celebrity (get famous), or City Native (city living).

Teen Aspiration (optional, would not replace main aspiration): Drama Llama (high school years), Live Fast (high school years), or Admired Icon (high school years)

Goals: 

Have and use a voodoo doll

Reach level 10 charisma 

Grow dragonfruit 

Throw/attend a social event (or a festival) every weekend while a young adult

Earn gold on three dates

Become enemies with two sims that you were previously good friends with

Optional: Complete any of the following collections: crystals, MySims trophies, city posters (city living), and/or tassels (for rent)

Optional: Max the gemology skill (crystal creations) and/or romance skill (lovestruck).

Generation 5: Cowplant

Dull days and long nights under pulsating lights and darkened rooms. You’re an eccentric bartender constantly surrounded by the pungent vitality of your workplace, and you find it therapeutic. But as you truly begin to perfect your craft, you find yourself bored with drinks that only free the mind for a time, and become obsessed with creating the elixir of life. 

Traits: Evil, Perfectionist [or Overachiever (high school years)], Foodie [or Glutton]

Aspiration: Master Mixologist, Purveyor of Potions (realm of magic), or Expert Nectar Maker (horse ranch)

Teen Aspiration (optional, would not replace main aspiration): Drama Llama (high school years)

Goals: 

Enter the culinary career (regardless of aspiration) and reach level four (you can choose to leave after that).

Grow grapes

Grow a cowplant and routinely milk it for the essence of life (even if you no longer need it for yourself)

Have a good relationship with only one of your children (your heir)

Optional: Learn the Pufferfish Nigiri recipe (city living)

Optional: Have the On a Dark Ley Line lot trait (vampires)

Optional: Make beetle juice and serve it to a friend/significant-other/family-member three times in a row as a "prank" (eco lifestyle)

Optional: Max the juice-fizzing skill (eco lifestyle) and/or nectar-making skill (horse ranch)

Generation 6: Death Flower

You grew up surrounded by the constant shadow of death, and you, the only one your parent could never sacrifice, were the one to finally end their reign of terror. Now, you’re alone with your memories, not even the Grim Reaper to talk to. You spend your life writing haunting eulogies, driven by some sense of penance, both for the lives your parent took and for the one murder you committed to end the carnage. 

Traits: Gloomy, Loner [or Paranoid (strangerville), or Chased By Death (life & death)], Jealous [or High Maintenance (spa day)]

Aspiration: Musical Genius, Inner Peace (spa day) or Good Vampire (vampires)

Goals:

Reach level 10 of an instrument (violin, pipe organ (vampires), piano, or guitar)

Befriend the Grim Reaper during your childhood/teen years

Kill your parent during your teenage or young adult life stage

Only visit community lots at night

Grow orchids, pomegranates, and death flowers

Optional: Have the tragic clown painting

Optional: Have the Cursed (city living) and/or Spooky lot challenge (city living)

Optional: Ask for three wishes from the wishing well (romantic garden)

Optional: Max the wellness skill (spa day)

Generation 7: Forbidden Fruit of the Plant Sim

Your parent lived in eternal mourning, so any happiness or beauty were things you had to find yourself. You found all that and more, in the splendors of nature, and became obsessed with capturing it on canvas for everyone to see. As you tread deeper into nature’s embrace, you find secrets that transform the very essence of your being. 

Traits: Creative [or Art Lover], Cheerful, Loves Outdoors [or Green Fiend (eco lifestyle)]

Aspiration: Painter Extraordinare, Freelance Botanist, or Country Caretaker (cottage living)

Goals: 

Live off-the-grid

Reach level 10 gardening

Reach level 10 painting

Complete three masterpiece quality paintings

Find the forbidden fruit of the plant sim; plant it

Become a plant sim, or transform someone else into a plant sim

Optional: Have the Creepy Crawlies (jungle adventure), Simple Living (cottage living) and/or Reduce & Recycle lot challenge (eco lifestyle)

Optional: Max the flower arranging skill (seasons)

Optional: Complete any of the following collections: frogs and/or insects (outdoor retreat)

Optional: Become possessed by the Mother Plant and spread the infection (strangerville)

[mkaroy]

THE AFTON FAMILY

sorry for being dead. i will continue to be dead becuz this took 48 HOURS.

as a treat i’m gonna infodump about my headcanons for a bit (read if you DARE)

so mrs afton isn’t pictured here because she was smart and left william, but william got full custody cause as we know, the fnaf government is VERY stupid and they apparently just love william. cc and michael both like their mother better because she was more patient and emotionally intelligent with the young boys, but elizabeth always favoured her father so she wasn’t complaining.

If it isn’t obvious, i don’t think william is a good parent. no matter how good of intentions you have, he had to be some kind of deranged for his sons death to lead to him being a serial killer, that doesn’t just HAPPEN. he particularly takes out his anger on michael because a) he feels more sympathy with the other two kids and b) michael has always challenged his father, he’s not scared of talking back or standing his ground (even if he gets hurt in the process). however despite this, michael still has a lot of love and respect for his father. as he gets older and as the accidents become worse and worse, through williams manipulation, michael basically works for him, trying to make things right again because he’s fully convinced everything was his fault (ALSO THANKS TO WILLIAM LOL)after he gets scooped he kinda puts it together that maybe his father never had the best intentions for him, and full of rage he does his thing and burns his father to the ground.

outside of william just being the worst to michael, making him a full time babysitter and whatnot, he’s not the kindest to the younger children either. elizabeth is easily the favourite because she tries to serve him as much as possible, but william is simply FAR too busy to care about that, so she gets pushed aside and neglected a lot. she doesn’t know why he’s doing these things so she just tries to be even more perfect, she urns for that attention in other places, i think that’s why she dolls herself up so much, because she loves the compliments she gets from mothers saying that she’s “just the cutest thing”. when her father finally shows her some love by making his specialty, an animatronic based off of her, she can’t help but be filled with excitement. I think as baby, she’s a lot more angry than she was before. she doesn’t understand why her father would do this to her and her anger is bigger than he child brain can comprehend, which is why she’s just so insanely mean in pizza sim and sister location, lashing out to michael and henry because she shouldn’t be an animatronic right now, she should be living her life free of this family. god i love elizabeth.

and then obviously cc, i think it’s a silly headcanon to imagine that william just forgot his name but remembered his initials but that’s mostly cuz i refuse to give him a name (btw all of you guys who put charlie or charlotte into his name are GENIUSES but i’m not you). he was really young when his parents actually separated, so he didn’t have much memory of his mother unfortunately. and ALSO unfortunately he was born with a fear of the animatronics, like how some kids are born with like an irrational fear of mascots of smth, that’s him. I think he was also the first one to die so his nightmares weren’t based off of elizabeth’s death. i also think that the fnaf 4 gameplay wasn’t cc because of MANY reasons (seriously guys look at the room layout…). but his irrational fear of the animatronics makes him almost constantly in tears, which michael obviously mocked. all the afton men were raised with the idea that boys shouldn’t show “feminine” emotions, which is why michael hated cc so much, because it wasn’t fair that he got to cry all the time with little to no repercussions and cc just couldn’t help himself whenever he cried. oh also in my headcanon he’s autistic, same with like most of the aftons, but he’s selectively mute and easily gets sensory overload, which is why meltdowns in the pizzeria were so common.

guys i love the aftons so much fill my asks with them if you wish i will answer ALL OF THEM (until the hyperfixation dies LMAO)

[jasmine-tea-biscuits]

Dappling Gothic Horror AU

Because there are a surprising amount of people into EAH and the game Touchstarved, my brain started cooking up a gothic horror au based off the latter’s setting. And tbh, since that game is still just a demo, some inspiration might bleed in from stuff like Bloodborne. Although, I’ve only watched some gameplay and listened to video essays so it’d be very surface level inspo. Idk we’ll see where this goes after chapter one.

Here’s what I got so far:

The world of Ever After has fallen into chaos after a failed rebellion led by the Evil Queen

There was a destiny system in place, just without the school. It was meant to regulate the flow of magic after its discovery several centuries earlier.

Said system was created by a blood pact between the original fairytale protagonists. The villains were rounded up one by one and forced to join.

After the war with the Evil Queen, bloodthirsty creatures began to roam the land. They seem to come from a mysterious fog that emerged during the final battle.

The Evil Queen is blamed, but no one has seen her in years. Some say she was consumed by the fog alongside her family.

The various kingdoms are city states who maintain an admittedly tense alliance with one another. Each one has built itself massive walls and continues to strictly regulate magic.

Apple is the heir to the largest among them , but she’s mostly lived a sheltered life in the palace and its surrounding wealthy neighborhoods.

Attempting to get a better understanding of her kingdom, she sneaks out one day.

She accidentally ends up outside the city walls and is nearly killed by monsters when someone in armor saves her.

She thinks it’s the kingdom knights but she passes out before she can thank them.

Apple wakes up, healed of her wounds, but suspicious of her surroundings because she’s clearly not in a kingdom sanctioned hospital or clinic.

Raven walks in and introduces herself as the healer who helped her, and just as Apple is about to interrogate her, Darling comes in and reveals herself as the person who saved her.

Apple soon finds out that they’re part of a gang. She freaks out and runs off the next time she’s alone.

She contemplates telling the knights about what happened, but feels conflicted about the kindness shown to her by a pair that her mother would call criminals. She opts to stay quiet, but doesn’t stop thinking about Darling

Apple eventually decides to seek her out to propose an arrangement. A high paying position as one of her personal guards in exchange for Darling’s unfiltered knowledge of the kingdom.

That’s it for now. I have more outlined for Darling and Raven’s backstories, as well as Snow White’s role, but that’d spoil things. I’m also thinking about adding old letter fragments from the Evil Queen because I’m obsessed with her letter that was included with the SDCC Raven doll. Till then, I shall keep plotting and trying to write this first chapter!

[queenofzan]

So I'm watching a VOD of frapollo94 playing through Fear and Hunger: Termina and getting ending C, and he and his chat are theorizing at the end of the run, and...driving me fucking crazy. But this video is like a year old at this point so commenting feels a little silly.

First: becoming a New God /= ascension. I thought this was spelling out pretty clearly in Funger 1 tbh; New Godhood is a trap. I thought it was a trap laid out by the Old Gods, but certainly in Termina that doesn't seem to be the case. Honestly with how the Traces are in the dungeon, it seems unlikely; they don't give that much of a shit about humans. It would be like caring about the possibility of ants taking human form to participate in society. Like...what the fuck? That's just obviously not going to happen, why would I even think about that.

Ascension is something Alll-mer did, and we know even in Funger 1 that he is more on par with the Old Gods. Alll-mer is more powerful than the New Gods, objectively, and has been relevant and in power continuously for like 1500 years, which seems to be a great deal longer than New Gods manage.

The Girl, who becomes the God of Fear and Hunger, also ascends. This is implied to be possible because of a few things, although now at least one of them has been thrown into doubt by lore in Termina. A: her experiences have been as pure as any mortal's experiences could be, as she has only known always fear and hunger, trapped in the dungeons and caged like an animal. She seems able to understand language, but reluctant to speak. She does not have a name, or else does not share it. She is visibly touched by gestures as small as giving her (back?) a creepy doll, or letting her have a dagger. She is not living a typical childhood, even by the standards of the Fear and Hunger world; her life is hell and even the bright spots in it are some of the worst days of the other party members' lives.

B: she is born of a New God and a human. This demi-god status allows her the possibility of ascension through...fate? Having higher stats than a normal human child? Unclear. Made less clear in Termina by the conflicting lore we are introduced to about Alll-mer.

In Fear and Hunger 1, Alll-mer is said to be the child of a false god and a virgin mother. Being deep in the dungeons of fear and hunger in the "New Gods are a lie" gameplay loop, this is easily interpreted as him being the child of a New God and a human.

In Fear and Hunger: Termina, the skin bible of Alll-mer suggests an alternate origin story, where Alll-mer was created as some sort of ubermensch divine science experiment by Vitruvia, or possibly as the offspring of Sylvian and a prototype human. Which would make Alll-mer an even more traditional kind of demi-god...and also less human.

Someone in frapollo's chat suggested this was to poke fun at Christianity and the idea of Jesus being just some guy, which, I guess in a Doylist sense, that makes sense. But with the entire theme of Fear and Hunger 1 being "mortals cannot become gods outside of really super specific circumstances and that's just a trap for ambitious humans to fall into" I uhhhh think there may be more to it than that.

Whoever it is that has a vested interest in humans thinking they can become gods, but actually falling into the New God trap, would also have a vested interest in supporting the origin story of Alll-mer where he is "just" a human, but managed to ascend to greater power and intense relevance. I don't think this is the Old Gods, because again why would they give a shit, but I don't know how much evidence there is in-game to really support a good hypothesis. I will say, we see the Church is not above doing some freaky shit, committing heresies, and keeping secrets from the majority of people, in both games.

The Church in Fear and Hunger has dark priests, who specifically do also study/worship the Old Gods, as well as a history of literal human and blood sacrifice. By Termina, that has supposedly ceased, but we also see the Prehevil Church doing some hinky shit, including human and blood sacrifice that is supposedly out-dated, and potentially collaborating with Sulphur cultists or even outright subverting their own outwardly Alll-merian worship.

We also know from both games that there are sects or groups that disagree with Church doctrine, at least in details, and may openly or secretly subvert their control, such as the Yellow Mages following/worshipping Nas'hrah, and Father Domek keeping Marina's secret from his superiors.

I know, queer pagan saying "ooh, the fantasy church is bad!" but like. It is. We see that they practice hypocrisy, censorship, weird bloodline requirements, and potentially worship of the Anti-Christ. I don't know if it's that much of a stretch to blame them for, if not initiating, then certainly perpetuating the cycle of the New Gods trap, and reinforcing it with a story of Alll-mer's origins that, being 1500-1940 years in the past, is hard to definitively prove or disprove, but just so happens to align with keeping the false hope of New Godhood alive.

(This is complicated by the fact that by 1942 most people seem to not believe in or remember the New Gods very well; although we see New Gods in Termina, they are in specific ritual circles and effectively summoned with offerings, including Chambara, who we know likely had to be defeated in order for the worldstate to be what it is. Idk man, it doesn't seem that much of a stretch for the Church to keep working towards an outdated goal, but that isn't satisfying.)

I don't have a conclusion here, I'm just frustrated lmao

[voidedjuice]

Reasons you love whisperain

Her most characteristics trait people overlook from her

And favourite ships with her innit

-M

Hhmhmm,

When i first saw her it was sorta love at first sight, like, ohhh a gloomy looking cool jellyfish medic with an eyepatch!!! Then when i got to her lore it's so like, her weird form of immortality, her only barely remembered past life(?) connection to the seaborn, her past travels as a wandering medic/in her previous lives. It's really fun to think about what she could've been up to and who she could've met. Also she's so pretty and so cute and i love her reserved but extremely gentle personality.

As for her overlooked traits, i can't really blame people bc it is like, 1 (one) voiceline, but

This thing and its implications for her have been driving me insane ever since she dropped in global. What did she see????? Where has she been??? I barely see stuff exploring it from anyone else and it makes me a bit sad

My fave Whispy pairings lately have been her and Andreana's narratively neglected purple girls' club, and aside from that Weedyrain is always a classic (Weedy building an entire movietheater for Whisperain in her oprec for example is so romance)

I tend to um, whimsically pair her up with whomever I'm feeling at the time, for ex. in that church of the deep au/theory of mine i was thinking she'd go well in a tense yuri thing with Amaia :3. Also her voicelines and profile mention Warfarin a lot, so that's also a rarepair i enjoy (even if im the only one to do so waaah). Gameplay synergy wise she goes together so well with Blaze i cant help but also like them together :).

Then there's of course the pretty nice pairing with Dusk (girl who creates art to deal with the horrors vs girl who enjoys art to deal with the horrors, grumpy reserved girl vs kind reserved girl alliance, them both enjoying movies, Whisperain's past allowing her to have met whomever in a past life she doesn't remember and the implications for that with Dusk....)

Basically she never gets anything canon ever at all so in my despair I've taken to playing with her & anyone available like dolls. It's great fun, highly recommend (join me join me join me)

[flyingacealienfromspace]

15 Generation Barbie Doll Legacy Challenge

Disclaimer: this is absolutely in no way meant to copy or take away from sims-himbo's challenge, and if you want to do the original Barbie Legacy Challenge you should definitely go check it out: https://www.tumblr.com/sims-himbo/723748606033690624/the-sims-4-barbie-legacy-challenge

The following challenge is based on 15 Iconic Barbies and written for the Sims 4. Classics such as Solo in the Spotlight and Malibu Barbie are represented by aspirations, traits, careers, and skills from the Sims 4 (as of June 2024).

Each generation has a specific list of items to complete (max all levels), and should start their young adulthood with no more than $20,000 - anything the gen before earned can be donated to charity! (or cheated away.) You may use freerealestate on for buying or building your Barbie Dream Houses.

Skills not listed but required in-game for assigned careers and aspirations are necessary to complete. There are no rules about appearances, spouses, children, or pets, so be as imaginative and creative as you want! You can play strictly according to the guidelines, or add your own flare!

Needed for Gameplay - all Sims 4 Expansion Packs up to For Rent, Spa Day, Parenthood

Needed for optional gameplay: Outdoor Retreat, Bowling Night, Nifty Knitting, and Crystal Creations. 

#simsbarbiedollchallenge

1st Generation - Fashion Designer Barbie (1960)

Barbie is about to change the world of fashion forever!

Aspiration - Party Animal

Careers - Teen: Simfluencer; YA: Stylist

Required Traits - Childish, Materialistic, Party Animal (HSY)

Required Skills to Max - Entrepreneur, DJ Mixing, Horse Riding (Horse Ranch)

Recommended World - Chestnut Ridge

Recommended Gameplay - Try to make $1 million with Trendi! (HSY)

2nd Generation - Solo in the Spotlight (1960)

Barbie’s music will go down in history as time-honored classics.

Aspiration - Teen: Admired Icon; YA: Musical Genius

Career - Entertainment (Musician Track)

Required Traits - Creative, Snob, Squeamish

Required Skills to Max - Singing, Piano, Violin

Recommended World - Willow Creek

Recommended Gameplay - Perform in every bar or lounge you can and earn $1000 dollars!

3rd Generation - Career Girl Barbie (1963)

Barbie tries to find some work-life balance!

Aspiration - All Wellness Aspirations

Career - Business

Traits - Ambitious, Gloomy, Loyal

Required Skills to Max - Wellness, Juice Fizzing

Recommended World - Windenburg

Recommended Gameplay - Max out your zen and avoid a midlife crisis while running a few small side hustles!

4th Generation - Astronaut Barbie (1965)

One small step for Barbie, one giant leap for Barbie-Kind!

Aspiration - Nerd Brain

Career - Teen: Chess Club; YA: Astronaut

Required Traits - Genius, Self-Assured, Clumsy

Required Skills to Max - Handiness, Logic, Rocket Science

Recommended World - Oasis Springs

Recommended Gameplay - Go to Sixam and make a friend!

5th Generation - Malibu Barbie (Original 1971)

The OG Popular Barbie, inspiring the masses.

Aspiration - Soulmate 

Career - Teen: Lifeguard; YA: Conservationist (Marine Biologist Track)

Required Traits - Vegetarian, Good, Child of the Ocean

Required Skills to Max - Guitar, Fishing (hehe. yes I know this conflicts with Child of the Ocean)

Recommended World - Sulani

Recommended Gameplay - You want to save the beaches and sea creatures of Sulani, but find it hard to kick one of your favorite hobbies. Despite how bad it makes you feel, you know it's a great supplemental income! Earn $10,000 by selling what you catch!

6th Generation - Surgeon Barbie (1988) 

A (rotten) apple a day, keeps Barbie at play!

Aspiration - Teen: Live Fast; YA: Chief of Mischief

Career - Doctor

Required Traits - Goofball, Unflirty, Slob

Required Skills to Max - Mischief, Comedy

Recommended World - Tomarang

Recommended Gameplay - Find another mischievous sim and become partners in crime! Max the doctor career while performing at least 5 successful pranks at work!

7th Generation - Olympic Skier (1975) 

This Barbie’s going for gold! (and winning!)

Aspiration - Extreme Sports Enthusiast

Career - Teen: Cheerleader; YA: Athlete 

Required Traits - Active, Adventurous, Loves The Outdoors

Required Skills to Max - Skiing, Snowboarding, Rock Climbing

Recommended World - Mt. Komorebi

Recommended Gameplay - Unlock the Secret Lot on Mt. Komorebi without falling to your death!

8th Generation - Superstar Barbie (1977)

Barbie would like to thank The Academy, Mattel, and all the children in the world for making her dreams come true.

Aspiration - World Famous Celebrity

Career - Teen: Drama Club; YA: Actor

Required Traits - Self-absorbed, Perfectionist, High Maintenance (Spa Day)

Required Skills to Max - Cross-Stitch, Flower Arranging

Recommended World - Del Sol Valley

Recommended Gameplay - You are so talented that you have multiple hobbies on top of a full time career! Manage all your interests, and attend an award ceremony and win!

9th Generation - Veterinarian Barbie (1985)

Barbie is a dog/cat/horses’ best friend! (and yours too!)

Aspiration - Friend of the Animals

Career - Teen: Fast Food; YA: Own and run a successful vet’s clinic, and earn at least $100,000

Required Traits - Dog lover, Cat lover, Animal Enthusiast

Required Skills to Max - Veterinarian, Pet Training

Recommended World - Brindleton Bay

Recommended Gameplay - earn 5 Stars on your vet Clinic and max out the optional point purchases!

10th Generation - UNICEF Barbie (1989) 

When the world experiences darkness, Barbie is there to lend a hand.

Aspiration - Friend of the World

Career - Teen: Scout; YA: Politician (Charity Track)

Required Traits  - Generous (For Rent), Outgoing, Dance Machine

Required Skills to Max - Mixology, Dancing

Recommended World - San Sequoia

Recommended Gameplay - Have no enemies! (no sims with any red social bars)

11th Generation - Chef Barbie (1991) 

Move over Gardon Ramsey, there’s only room for one iconic blonde chef in this town. (Barbie is not required to be blonde)

Aspiration - Master Chef

Career - Teen: Barista; YA: Culinary (Chef Track)

Required Traits - Foodie, Glutton, Cheerful

Required Skills to Max - Gardening, Baking, Gourmet Cooking

Recommended World - Henford-on-Bagdley

Recommended Gameplay - Turn on the simple living lot trait and try to live off the land while also mastering the three cooking skills!

12th Generation - Art Teacher Barbie (1995)

After over 60 years of inspiring young people, Barbie wants to try a more hands-on approach.

Aspiration - Teen: Goal Oriented; YA: Renaissance Sim

Career - Professor

Required Traits - Bookworm, Art lover, Cringe

Required Skills to Max - Painting, Research & Debate

Optional Skill - Bowling (Bowling Night)

Recommended World - Britchester

Recommended Gameplay - Become a master painter and earn fame and fortune!

13th Generation - Secret Agent Barbie (2001)

Balancing saving the world with an everyday home life can be challenging - but Barbie’s got it down!

Aspiration - Super Parent (Parenthood)

Career - Teen: Babysitter; YA: Secret Agent

Required Traits - Family Oriented, Neat, Overachiever

Required Skills to Max - Parenting, Cooking

Optional Skill - Knitting (Nifty Knitting)

Recommended World - San Myshuno

Recommended Gameplay - Raise at least one child to have maximum good reputation, at least one maxed trait, and an A in both elementary and high school. (this sim does not have to be the heir)

14th Generation - Engineer Barbie (2010)

The digital age is here to stay, and so is Barbie!

Aspiration - Computer Whiz

Career - Teen: Computer Club; YA: Engineer (Mechanical Track)

Required Traits - Geek, Lazy, Socially Awkward

Required Skills to Max - Programming, Video Games, Robotics

Recommended World - Evergreen Harbor

Recommended Gameplay - Win 5 E-Sport Tournaments, and build a Servo!

15th Generation - Photojournalist Barbie (2019)

Barbie is after a sweet scoop - even if that means ruffling a few feathers!

Aspiration - Teen: Drama Llama; YA: Serial Romantic

Career - Writing (Journalist Track)

Required Traits - Romantic, Noncommittal, Nosy (For Rent)

Required Skills to Max - Photography, Writing, Media Production

Recommended World - Copperdale

Recommended Gameplay - Once you've finished the Serial Romantic Aspiration, pick a former significant other and repair your relationship! Then become best friends or romantic life-partners!

[pooklet]

Get to know you: Sims Style

I was tagged by @pockethamster and @furbyq-sims so here we goooo.

What’s your favorite Sims death?

In general: the satellite, cuz of the piano replacement that I have. It is also one of the most efficient ways to cull townies.

Specific deaths that have happened to my sims: Tiara dying in a toddler potty. No death in my game has ever/will ever be funnier.

Alpha CC Semi-realism or Maxis Match?

Semi-realism. Maybe it's cuz I started playing when that was the common style, but maxis match just looks very ... flat to me? Very papery. I've seen it done in a really fun, cartoon-y style by some creators, but that seems to be the minority and most of it seems to hew very neutral/natural toned and I am not about that lol. Even IRL, I like to surround myself with bright, colorful stuff.

Do you cheat your sims weight?

Like, keep them thin? lmao no. I let their personality determine whether they exercise, but that has nothing to do with them being fat, as far as I'm concerned. I use a lot of fat bodyshapes because I'm fat myself and I like to have a lot of variety in my game. I don't have any system for deciding whether I use the maxis default body or a custom shape, I just go with what looks right to me.

Do you move objects?

Are there people who don't?

Favorite Mod?

Hm, either ACR v2 or Walk Through Blocks. I like my sims to be able to make as many autonomous decisions as possible, and navigate the spaces that I cram full of clutter.

First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack?

In the Sims 1 the first expansion I got was Hot Date. I played TS2 from release, so my first expansion was University.

Do you pronounce live mode like aLIVE or LIVing?

Alive.

Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

I mean, it has to be Mawreen, right? If only for the chaos that she's sown.

Have you made a simself?

Yeah a few throughout the years, and I haven't played them in ages. Mostly I just use them for silly little pics with @skulldilocks's selfsim.

Which is your favorite EA hair color?

One of the custom ones, I guess! I don't remember, I have all the EA hairs hidden lol.

Favorite EA hair?

I don't have one, really. Maybe some of the natural black hairstyles converted from TS4 but I couldn't name specific meshes.

Favorite life stage?

Adult! I made a custom aging mod so I can go through the other stages relatively quickly. The way my game is set up, they unlock all their traits and wants once they're an adult, and I like to see who they are as a fully realized person, so that's the most fun for me.

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

Gameplay. I have a lot of fun making houses based on real floorplans that I find, but it's mostly just stage dressing for the little freaks that inhabit them.

Are you a CC creator?

Yeh.

Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad?

I mean, @skulldilocks obvs. People don't approach me much so there's only a few ppl that I talk to regularly like @furbyq-sims and @lilithpleasant. I am not really the "squad" type.

Do you have any sims merch?

This is a real thing?

Do you have a YouTube for sims?

Nope! I would never stream gameplay, the way I play isn't interesting. Lots of pausing and carefully adjusting angles to take pictures, getting distracted by other stuff, random crashes, etc. And editing that footage into something watachable would take ages. My play style lends itself better to picture entries, so I use Dreamwidth.

How has your “Sims style” changed throughout your years of playing?

More colors, more aliens, more [[JAM FACTORY]] lore.

Who’s your favorite CC creator?

@skulldilocks no question! I love watching her create anything for any game or craft. She's so talented. It doesn't matter if she's making sims cc or custom houses for Skyrim or doll clothes or anything else, she's my biggest inspiration.

How long have you had Simblr?

2010, babeyyyy.

How do you edit your pictures?

I have a tutorial here. I need to update it because I use different actions now, but most of the actual information there is still accurate.

What expansion/gamepack is your favorite?

I want to say pets because I love cats so very much, but in terms of actual content, probablyyyy FreeTime? I like anything that makes sims more unique and the hobby system is a lot of fun!

I tag: @skulldilocks, @lilithpleasant, @krabbysims, @monilisasims, @goatskickin and @simmer-until-tender

[thesimscurator]

Career World Horse Ranch update is now live!

It’s finally here! Sorry this update is so late; a minor but time-consuming home repair emergency stopped my work on it for about a month. But now my real-life house is fixed and the update is finally out! The Career World save file, Career Challenge Chart, and the list of study abroad opportunities have all been updated to incorporate horses and all their associated gameplay. And the delay meant I got to add in the new Home Chef Hustle features, as well, so it’s not all bad.

Just because I already teased it, I’ll start with...

Expansion of the Actor Career:

In addition to all the sound-stage filming that comes automatically with the actor career, and the live stage acting I had already added in the form of the Starlight Theatre venue, there are now three on-location filming spots: one for Westerns, one for costume dramas, and one for fantasy/medieval/pirate projects. Each on-location filming site is a residential lot which permanently houses several horses and three behind-the-camera crew members: a horse wrangler/stunt rider, a stylist, and a cinematographer. When cast in certain gigs, your actor should now immediately (but temporarily) move in with one of these households, in the following configuration:

If you are cast in...

Making Moosic

Last Town in the West

The Sheriff from Alpha Centauri

...move your actor sim in with the PBP Western Crew in Chestnut Ridge.

If you are cast in…

Dignity & Decorum

Of Tea & Treachery

...move in with the PBP Costume Drama Crew in Henford-on-Bagley.

And if you are cast in…

Salty Suds

Dead Sea Adventures

Tournament of Honor

Treasures of Aarbyville

...move in with the PBP Fantasy Crew in Windenburg. All other gigs you should just do as normal; they have no corresponding on-location filming site.

Once on location, you will find an area set up to house you, marked with a star door (on the Western set, this is a trailer; on the other two, a room within the massive building), as well as living areas for the other crew members, a dressing room / wardrobe area, a video editing space with the video station and lots of drones (plus still cameras for doing promo shots), and locations for filming acting scenes. In the case of Chestnut Ridge, the acting area is on a separate lot located right next door to the living area with the trailers.

Your job while you are here is to get footage, in costume, of your sim (and potentially their co-stars or the horse wrangler acting as a stunt double) acting out scenes on location and riding on horseback through the appropriate landscapes. (Mostly. The pirate stuff may not need to be too heavy on the horseback scenes, but there are plenty of places to shoot acting scenes on the battlements of the castle overlooking the sea, which is why I rolled those gigs in with the fantasy stuff. Plus even pirates get embroiled in problems on land sometimes, and have to make a quick escape on horseback. Everything you do on an actual ship is shot during sound-stage day.) I strongly suggest also taking some still photos as promotional material and keepsakes for both the crew household and your sim.

If your actor sim has no horseback riding skill to start with and looks ridiculous on the horse, you may have to spend some time riding around and skilling up in your regular street clothes before you get all dolled up and dive into filming—unless, of course, you want to get footage of your sim getting bucked off the horse for the movie, in which case get into costume immediately and fire up the drone right away; the cinematographer will edit out all the extra footage of you looking stupid while you wait to get bucked off.

At some point during your on-location filming adventure, you will be called back to Del Sol Valley for the set sound-stage filming day. Don’t worry about this; Plumbob Pictures is a wealthy studio, and can totally afford to send a chopper to whisk you back to Del Sol Valley for a day of filming on set before dropping you right back on location. Take your time and don’t rush it; you are welcome to remain on location as long as it takes to get all the footage you want to get. A word to the wise, however: you will only be able to call your director and co-stars to the on-location filming site BEFORE sound-stage filming day, so if you want to record any two-person scenes, sword fights, or all-cast promo shots with your co-stars, you’ll need to prioritize doing that first and getting your horseback riding shots later. Lucky for you if you’re filming Tournament of Honor, jousting scenes are done in full armor that completely conceals the sim, so horse wrangler Cheyenne Blackwolf is able to act as the stunt double for your co-stars for footage where you need two sims on horseback. Jim Chooli, the horse wrangler in Chestnut Ridge, is a semi-retired actor himself who frequently plays minor characters in the Westerns when a second sim is needed there. And the entire costume drama crew is happy to pop into powdered wigs and ballgowns when extra sims are needed to flesh out a ball or dinner scene.

Because you live with them in the same household during this time, you will be able to control not only the horse wrangler as a second horse-rider when need be, but also the stylist to costume both your own actor sims and your non-controllable co-stars during on-location filming. Likewise, you can direct the cinematographer to control the drones, take photographs, and even operate the non-functional camera equipment for maximum realism. The end goal of on-location filming is to have the cinematographer take all the drone footage you’ve captured, edit it together into a single reel, maximize the quality, and “send it off to the studio”—a.k.a. upload it via the video station. If you get the notification that the footage has been nominated for an award, you may want to remain with the crew household through the following Sunday and all go to the Starlight Accolades together—you could even get some red-carpet shots! If not, that’s a wrap! You’re welcome to move back to your regular residence in Del Sol Valley while you prepare for the next audition.

Chestnut Ridge Townies:

You’ll notice that with this pack, I’ve been a lot more liberal with adding townies who didn’t originally exist than I usually am. There are two reasons for this: 1) there are so many ways to make money in this pack that I didn’t think I could reasonably cover all the new career options it enabled me to add with only the original townies, and 2) Chestnut Ridge does not spawn its own locals like Sulani and Mt. Komorebi do, so if you don’t add more townies, there aren’t really enough western-dressed, horse-riding folks to flesh out the community lots—and I’m sorry, but Bella Goth just looks really stupid doing the cowpoke dance in that tight dress. So for the new townies, I used some gallery sims (credited in the Chestnut Ridge credits post, coming next), but I also used a lot of the “play with genetics” feature to expand the families of sims who shipped with the pack. Everybody gets a brother! Ok, well, not everybody, but a lot of people got brothers. So here’s what I did with townies:

In early testing, I learned to my disappointment that Sienna Grove works like the special townies from Cottage Living, not like the ones from High School Years—which is to say that the instant you start to play her, she is immediately and permanently replaced as horse trainer with a randomly generated townie. I wanted to retain her as horse trainer in this save file, so (like with Sarah Scott before her), I immediately kicked her out to the homeless bin so people wouldn’t try to play her and lose her the job. That said, for some reason this makes her un-inviteable to places just like Roberto Crinkletop, the mysterious rancher. To counteract this somewhat, I’ve had every household in town make her a keyholder, so she’ll occasionally drop by of her own accord. And of course, you can always come to her for a visit: she is outside the equestrian center from 7am to 7pm every single day, so she’s not hard to find. And pro tip: you can always invite her for a stayover, but for some reason only from the relationships panel, not the phone. The programming on this is weird, man.

Don and Duke Gooseman are now actual champions, as per their backstory. This means that Duke has the special “Champion Horse” trait that gives his foals better qualities, so if you’re going to get into horse breeding as a moneymaking enterprise, I suggest just getting a mare and having her breed with Duke. House rule, though: your sim has to gift Don a thousand simoleons for the privilege. There is now an actual stud service in town! And Don’s been doing a little studing of his own—I’ve made him aromantic since he’s such a loner, but as a sim who loves the outdoors, he constantly gets wants to woohoo in the bushes: so he is now woohoo partners with Roberto Crinkletop, with whom he has the occasional Brokeback-Mountain-style al fresco tryst. Plus I gave him a cat. Don just seems like a cat guy to me.

The Nectar Making Duo have opened a duo of businesses: a country nectary where they live, grow ingredients, and craft and age their nectars, and a small shop in town where they sell them. They’re in a fair amount of debt (used the university student loan system for this), so you can have fun digging them out and making the businesses profitable! They have three main ways to make money: holding ranch gatherings at the nectary (which are basically tasting events to bring in new clientele), using the sales table at the nectary to sell bottles direct-from-the-source, and manning the retail store in town. Some quirks to know about these things:

1) You can’t do a sale on the sales table at the same time you’re throwing a ranch gathering. I was hoping you could, but starting a sale immediately ends the gathering. Sucks, but that’s the way it is.

2) The front door of the nectary is the open-barn-doors arch to allow street sale customers into the nectary so they can buy from the sales table. If you swap these out for real, closed doors, the customers will just hang out nervously at the edge of the lot and then disappear, never buying anything. So if you want to use the sales table, you have to leave the arch. That said, an arch can’t be set as the front door for the purposes of other households coming to visit, so I have put a small, unusable wooden door off to the side of the barn doors and set that as the front door. If you’re visiting the nectary as another household, just knock on this door to make the building appear solid.

3) The nectars available for purchase at the retail store include a mix of qualities and levels of aging. There’s nothing there that is poor quality, and nothing that isn’t aged at all, but the bottles range from lightly aged to finely aged and some are normal rather than excellent. This is so that you can come to the store as a buyer while playing another household and have the option to either splurge on a high-quality bottle or not break the bank and go for something more modestly priced, according to your funds and storyline. Plus bonus: The Nectar Making Duo sub-contract with a few outside suppliers for specialty nectars they can’t brew themselves, so you can find occult nectars here, as well.

And on that note . . . to get Marissa Tracey in with the occult sims who brew the specialty nectars, and also because I think she looks a great deal like him, I have made Marissa—and her new twin brother, Chip—the products of a youthful indiscretion between Wolfgang Wilder and a human sim from Chestnut Ridge. They were both born as “dormant wolves” rather than full-blown werewolves and raised by their mother under her last name, but they know Wolfgang and are friends of the Moonwood Collective. Stocking the Collective’s moonpetal nectar got Marissa’s name circulating in the supernatural community, and now she contracts with the Straud Estate and the famed Madam Zoe herself, as well.

Aside from getting a dog, The Grove family have only gotten minor edits to careers and clothing; I put Umber in the musician career as per his backstory, stuck Juniper in the athlete career (under the new sub-category of show rider!) and let her hair down. It bothers me when the sims team gives two pre-made townies in the same world the exact same hairstyle in the exact same color, as it makes them too easy to confuse. So just like with Cottage Living, where I changed Rashida Watson’s hair to the blue-dyejob teen hair from Parenthood so she wouldn’t be confused with Cecelia Kang from behind, Juniper has now left the side braid to Sienna and adopted a more flowing-hair look that will accent those horse jumps. Oh, and Umber also started a band; he’s the leader of club of local musicians who play down at the saloon most nights—though if you feel like doing an afternoon gig on occasion, I also suggest meeting at the Hay Now! Festival Grounds sometimes.

Look, with the things in this pack, I just couldn’t resist making “Chip and Dale, Rescue Ranchers,” so I did. Chip Tracey (new brother of Marissa Tracey) and his husband, Dale Chooli (new brother of Juniper Grove) run a rescue ranch / petting zoo where children from all worlds can come to learn about animals of all types. The money they get from throwing “ranch animal day” events for kids is pretty modest to support two rescue horses, a cow, a llama, a bunch of mini goats and mini sheep, several chickens, a ton of stray dogs and cats, and some semi-wild rabbits, foxes, and birds, but it sure is cute! And they can always teach kids to ride and bring mini sheep to kids’ birthday parties on the side.

Juniper and Dale’s father, Jim Chooli, has also joined the save file as the horse wrangler for Plumbob Pictures’ on-site Western filming location. He lives in one of the many trailers on location in Galloping Gulch, alongside Barb Henderson (stylist, saloon singer, and local icon) and Giovanni Carrettino, a young cinematographer from Tartosa looking to make his own “penne Westerns.” Jim cares for and trains the studio’s three horses, Molasses, Gun, and Beauty, who play the roles of native American war horse, cowboy horse, and wild stallion, respectively.

Sienna Grove’s former lot is now home to an elderly horse trader named Tallulah Heiheiwuti, who has a bunch of family in Evergreen Harbor. One of them, her eldest granddaughter, has come to stay with her and learn the family business. The problem? She’s afraid of horses! I figured someone had to be, and that storyline just made sense. It also means there is a new family in Evergreen Harbor, which was pretty underpopulated before—Talullah’s son and his wife and kids are now fleshing out the community there and justifying the existence of the Coast Salish art swatch on the Horse Ranch wall hanging, while also giving you the new opportunity to play the botanist branch of the gardener career or the life of a pop-up cupcake baker.

Other things that have changed:

This save file has never featured Faiz Jaleel, the flower-seller from the My Wedding Stories pack, because neighborhood stories killed him off before I had quite figured out that feature and how to manage it. But now, thanks to Roberto Crinkletop’s secret family recipe, he has been resurrected and is in the save file as a living sim! I could not, unfortunately, figure out a way to reinstate him as the flower cart NPC, but he still has all the grapevine gossip interactions about owning it, so just pretend he’s hired extra help to man it sometimes when he’s busy. He has moved into his old childhood home in the big square in Tartosa with the other Piazza Dwellers, where he is trying to get a second business venture, a food stand, off the ground. He’s torn between the classic Tartosan cuisine of pizza and leaning further into the romantic atmosphere with heart-shaped waffles. Can you help him decide and make his new business a success?

Speaking of returning from the netherworld, the save file also never featured Felix Psyded, ghostly founder of the University of Britechester, because the game culled him before I discovered coolspear’s “Delay Ghost Culling Indefinitely” mod. Now that I have it, I have re-downloaded the original Felix from the gallery and made him the resident ghost of Lord Drake Men’s Dorm on the UBrite campus. How did I do this, you say? I’ve enrolled him in the History degree at UBrite in order to make him a proper resident of the dorm. You can keep him there practically indefinitely by having him enroll in only one class at a time while you play with other focus sims in this dorm—and if he runs out of classes and completes the degree, just start in on another degree. By my count, this should enable him to keep haunting this dorm for 156 in-game weeks—and that’s only if he never fails a single class! If you alternate having him fail and succeed so he does it slower but never gets kicked out, that’s 312 weeks, or basically eternity in sim years. He’s here forever! Also, in setting this up, I realized I had not included any woohoo locations in the UBrite dorms, which is completely unacceptable. Who’s ever heard of a dorm without a hookup spot?! I have now added closets to both the men’s and women’s dorms in order to fix this grave oversight. My deepest apologies.

I had previously not moved Wolfgang Wilder in with the other Moonwood Collective sims because I wanted him to remain the NPC librarian in Moonwood Mill, but in the process of making him related to his new children (Marissa and Chip Tracey), I discovered that somewhere along the way the game had already booted him out of that role for some reason. Just like with Faiz, I couldn’t figure out how to reinstate him, so now he has retired from librarianship, moved in with the rest of the Collective, and embraced his writing full-time—which means he still spends a lot of time at the library, since the Collective Cabin is off-the-grid and doesn’t have a computer.

On the subject of townies with NPC jobs, there’s news on the Scotts, the not-quite-playable family I booted to the homeless bin to prevent Sara Scott being supplanted as pub owner in Finchwick. You still can’t play her without losing her job, but her husband Simon is totally fair game, because he isn’t any kind of special villager NPC. So, with the introduction of a large estate needing filming crew for the long-running TV series “Dignity & Decorum,” I decided to rescue him from the homeless bin and make him the cinematographer on the Plumbob Pictures costume drama crew. This has actually allowed me to make the Scotts semi-playable, because even though Sara is still in the homeless bin, I was able to get Simon to ask her to be his NPC roommate, and that completely works! As long as she’s only a roommate and not technically part of the household, she can both be the pub owner and live in the swanky suite of rooms I’ve marked off for her and Simon within the manor house. Admittedly, she’s rarely there because pub hours are serious business, but still! That said, in my experience the game tends to get rid of roommates when you switch households, so you may need to reinstate her as roommate if you want to play with this arrangement down the line. Luckily, that’s very easy; just head down to the pub where she’ll be working and re-invite her under the “roommate…” menu.

Derek McMillan and Ian Moody, the stitchery shop owners in Henford-on-Bagley, are getting on in years and have been finding the crops and the chickens and the llamas and the store a lot to manage, so they’ve made a few strategic decisions to help themselves out. First and foremost, they have refocused on their mission to provide beautiful, high-quality colored wool to their customers by swapping out their chicken coop for a small sheepfold, which they have stocked with a multicolored array of mini sheep dyed every color of the rainbow (except for the colors already covered by their two llamas). They’ve also hired a ranch hand to assist with animal care and the garden, so they can focus their own energy on the shop and their sewing circle club, which is going better than ever now that it’s associated bug has been fixed!

The Watson family has moved off the hilltop to a smaller, flatter, and more organized farm with fewer camera problems down in the valley of Old New Henford. They have added a small flock of sheep to their livestock, and adopted an elderly Irish Draught horse named Dobber. Rashidah has already knitted him a set of leg warmers and a saddleblanket, and animal-lover Imran is learning to ride!

Lucha Harjo has started a side hustle selling popcorn down on the pier in Copperdale. It’s more a hobby than a career move right now, but oh, that satisfying crunch when those teens enjoy their popcorn to the tinny sounds of the ferris wheel music! Truly heartwarming.

Bob Pancakes randomly came home the other day with a tattoo of kitchen utensils on his forearm. Eliza thinks she smells a midlife crisis coming on . . .

Celebrity chef Clara Bjergsen decided that she wanted a whole new expanded kitchen, so she bought one. It’s not like she doesn’t have the money. Her current flavor obsession: reconnecting with her childhood and making heritage memories for her daughters through haute cuisine experimentation with traditional Nordic waffles.

On the opposite end of that career trajectory, aspiring chef Hugo Villareal has been hard at work spending his father’s ill-gotten gains on lots of new equipment to revive the old nectary the family moved into. With his new nectar press, oak barrels, bottle storage racks, pizza oven, stand mixer, and a block of parmigiana and a grater always at the ready, Hugo is all prepped to begin his journey into vineyard-to-table nectars perfectly paired with lovingly crafted Italian dishes. And he’s really leaning into it, too—he also bought himself a whole set of food-themed shirts, so he’s always repping his future career goals. If he could only graduate high school early and get started...

Refugio dei Pirati Resort in Tartosa discovered a long-forgotten Roman bath structure beneath its foundations and, deciding this was too good a find to ignore, tore down their entire building to excavate, restore, and construct an entrance to the thing. They subsequently rebuilt completely from the ground up, and now boast a whole new building with brand-new amenities like a private reception hall alongside refurbished old favorites like the couples’ spa. To celebrate their grand re-opening, they rebranded as the Amorosa Resort. If you’ve never vacationed in Tartosa, now might be the time to start—especially with all the new pizza ovens and functional nectar cellars popping up all over the place!

The shops on the Sulani Promenade have gotten in a whole new shipment of swimsuits thanks to the Poolside Splash Kit. They are now on display and for purchase from a series of colorful new mannequins. Whether you’re looking for tourist-y beach wear or wetsuits and snorkel gear, they’ve got you covered!

That's not the only new stock in this update: The Gnome’s Arms in Finchwick has stocked its behind-the-bar shelves with nectar. It’s not top-of-the-line stuff like you’ll find in Chestnut Ridge, but it does the trick!

SimCity Pizza, the oldest restaurant on The Waterfront in San Myshuno’s Spice Market, has finally, grudgingly, updated their equipment to include a modern pizza oven alongside their so-old-the-food-inspector-banned-them-from-using-it wood fired one. They’re having a “create your own flavor” special right now, where customers can make their own pizzas using off-menu flavors and ingredients. It’s really revitalized the place!

Llamante Llama Ranch in Selvadorada wants all animals to feel welcome, including those who are traveling with their humans. They have converted some previously unused space in the front into a small horse paddock, and added some items for cats and dogs, as well. If you’re looking to go horseback riding around Selvadorada (gorgeous, by the way!), this is the place to rent for your vacation. There are also a ton of juice barrels lined up behind the bar in town—you’re welcome to use a couple of them for horse training, if you want.

San Sequoia has a few more items in the open portions of worlds, including a newly functional lemonade stand alongside the makeshift one down on the docks! It’s a great place to sell ice cream, lemonade, or scout cookies (though you’ll need to make those yourself at home beforehand).

There are no new residents in Brindleton Bay. Nope, not a one. Not a single living soul. But the price has gone down on the old lightkeeper’s house on Deadgrass Isle. For some reason, you can now move in there completely for free…

* * *

Thanks for your patience, and for your votes on the expansion of the actor career! Head to the original Career World save file post to download the update and enjoy!

[titleknown]

Dear Master,

I would like to start this letter by apologizing. I'm sorry I couldn't save you. I'm sorry I couldn't stop them. I'm sorry I couldn't be her.

I'm not sure how to describe what it is, to exist without a purpose when you've failed at all the others you've been given. You never had that problem. That's probably why I could never measure up. But I had to try. That's what you made me to do. I don't think I could do anything else.

I send you this because I have found a way. Your masterwork, taken by those who would spite you, has something at it's center. I found it in my search for you, or something left of you. I'm going there to find it. I will take my vengance on those who took your life. 

For if I cannot be your love, I cannot be your soldier, I can be your revenge. I can be your gun.

It is time I head inward. I know it seems strange to send a letter to a dead man. But, as you told me yourself, if you went away, who else could love me but a dead man? 

I will make sure that you love me. Wherever you are.

Dearly Beloved,

MARcELlA

-----------------------

HAPPY PUBLIC DOMAIN DAY, HERE'S A NEW PD CHARACTER! AND YES IT IS FOR THAT CHALLENGE!

To give some context on her backstory, long story short, she was made by this megalomaniac creator (think Walt Disney but more 80s) to replace his dead wife, only to be rejected by him when he realized she could never be a replacement. 

He's long dead now, and the scenario I'm thinking of has her delving deep into said creator's abandoned monster-overrun mega mall, which has sort of a "Synthwave-Soulsborne" vibe with a heavy emphasis on the fantasy side of science-fantasy. 

She's more a homunculus or; well; a living doll than a robot, and her goal is to find some big mystery at the center to become "a real girl," the one he wanted her to be, tho it would become clear that's basically impossible. 

Whether or not you get the good ending actually determines whether she learns to realize that she deserves to live as herself, as what she is. 

As a game I'm imagining a mix of soulsborne and character action game dynamics, but with the big twist of there being big setpiece dungeons that're lightgun rail shooter segments, super elaborate ones too, shaped by the stuff that you do in the exploratory-y side of the game, where she literally turns into a disembodied self-operating gun to do the sort of cool spectacle-y setpieces that'd normally be QTEs in other games. 

The idea was actually from trying to come up with a bunch of concepts derived from trying to design a character based on one of the core design ideas of The Guardian Legend's protag, and picking the one that felt the most thematically solid. 

The idea being, a protagonist who's a pretty lady with the power to change forms for the sake of switching between two very different styles of gameplay. In this case Soulsborne/Character-Action-Game and House Of The Dead-type rail shooter. Most of the ideas followed from there! 

Everything in this post is 100% public domain under the CC0 Public Domain Dedication license, free to do with as you wish.

And god, she kinda sparked my interest in doing more with this setting, because god "Synthwave Soulsborne" is a deeply evocative concept, given the air of melancholy around 80s nostalgia in this shitshow of a time period...

[theromanticscrooge]

A Short Discussion About Classic Sims, The Nostalgic Living Dolls

Around 2004, the first iteration of The Sims was at the end of its life cycle as the biggest PC game on the market at the time and a juggernaut genre-starter (compared to the many different life sims and in-development options there are now).

'Dollhouse' was a very apt nickname for the early development days of the original Sims. The locked top-down perspective, the deliberate isometric environments with only so many perspectives a player can view their pixelated 'dolls' from, the blocky aesthetic of the 'dolls' themselves, as well as the limited interactions with the world and objects around them. These objects and environments were lovingly rendered and hold up decently well in the way a specific, careful stylization can.

Create a virtual pixel person and follow their journey through life to an (untimely) demise. The first Sims were immortal outside of tragic pool ladder accidents and getting bitten by unhappy guinea pigs among other various gruesome or hilariously cartoonish deaths.

Though, with the original Sims, the game was more about game-ifying the tight rope walk of work-life balance, if not an exercise as a vicarious 'American Dream.' The more expensive and higher-quality an item or the Sims' overall surroundings, the 'happier' they are according to how green their various needs bars are. While Sims slowly gained access to more quality of life additions beyond cushy objects, such as vacations, date venues, and furry friends, general life was such a grind that players cheated (through cheat codes, mods, or even in-game short cuts like getting their palm read) if they wanted to thoroughly explore and enjoy these new gameplay options vs just the needs balancing act. Even making and maintaining friendships was a grind. Outside NPC Sims are just as finicky as the playable ones. They just don't have as obviously visible needs indicators unless the situation is so desperate there's a flashing red thought bubble above their head.

While these Sims were engaging, whatever stories players assigned to them were woven together between the playful flavor text of in-game items or pop-up displays and the player's theater of the mind. Arguably, the more dynamic storytelling tools and mechanics so many players fell in love with started with Sims 2.

These next-generation Sims had a means of telling their god what they wanted through the slot-machine adjacent UI. For example, a fortune Sim happily reminds the player of their frivolous, extravagant shopping list with constant requests for luxury cars and the ever-more-expensive 'x' whether their current disposable income covered it or not. And don't forget the regular fourth wall breaks when a Sim looked up at that same god and complained, very vocally, about having to wash the dishes.

Also, Sims 2 has some of the most recognizable and iconic characters in the franchise. Pleasantview is especially notorious. The neighborhood Casanova Don Lothario is engaged to Cassandra Goth, the daughter of the richest man in town, Mortimer Goth. He's having an affair with Dina Caliente, a gold-digger, who is Mortimer Goth's young love interest and former sister-in-law. Not to mention, Don's also seeing Dina's twin sister Nina and neither one knows about him being involved with the other. That's just scratching the surface of the soap-operatic nonsense of Pleasantview's overall story.

Many Simmers have touched on the prompts that pop up when a player first enters the house of a pre-made Sim in one of the three playable neighborhoods from the Sims 2 base game: Pleasantview, Strangetown, or Veronaville. The prompts suggest the player invite the maid to hang out after her shift to kick off an extramarital affair or to use a gnarly-looking vacuum to suck up skill points from the nearby unwitting test subject. The prompts work in concert with whatever story this pre-made Sim or household has. It's a start to a sandbox choose-your-own adventure story as well as a unique means to introduce the player to what mechanics and chaos the game allows. Don Lothario's nonsense is a decent starting place for showcasing how many different romantic relationships a Sim could have as well as the consequences for cheating if they get caught.

There's so much attention to detail. Players glean further story details from poking around through a Sim's relationships panel, their memories, their family tree, the artfully crafted screenshots in their family's virtual scrapbook. In the classic "Bella was abducted by aliens" plotline, there's so much room for connecting the dots between the screenshot of Don and Bella on Don's condo rooftop, Don's memory of getting rejected for a make-out, the Caliente sisters having an extraterrestrial grandparent. There's enough of a story thread and parts to put together, it stirs the imagination. There's so many possibilities for what led to the game's present-day and so many different directions it could go from that present-day.

In a nutshell, the Sims 2 has the right mix of attention to detail and ambiguous, but engaging story threads that the characters and stories still captivate players 20 years later.

[lukasgivergalaxy]

Certainly! Here’s the game concept in English:

### **Story:**

- **Introduction:**

- The game begins with scenes showing the everyday life of the two children. They are happy, but then tragedy strikes: the girl is crushed by a plane on the beach, and the boy is hit by a bus. These scenes are presented in a striking manner, focusing on the emotional impact and the shock of these moments.

- **Awakening in Purgatory:**

- The children wake up confused in a toy house inside a large, terrifying mansion. They realize they are not in their world and discover that the house is inhabited by demons that patrol the dark areas.

### **Gameplay Mechanics:**

- **Exploration:**

- Players must explore the toy house and eventually the haunted mansion to collect tools. The mansion has different rooms, each with its own environment and challenges, such as rooms that transform, illusions, or areas where time flows differently.

- **Stealth and Spirit Form:**

- To avoid demons, the children can temporarily become spirits, allowing them to pass through walls and doors. However, while in spirit form, they must move silently and avoid making noise, as demons may detect and capture or destroy them.

- **Puzzles and Crosswords:**

- Each level of the game includes a challenge or puzzle that must be solved to advance. The final crossword is a key element, composed of words found throughout their adventure, connecting them with clues about their death and the nature of purgatory.

### **Character Development:**

- **Relationship Between the Children:**

- As they progress, the children develop a deeper relationship. They start as strangers but, throughout the game, they support each other and share their fears, memories, and hopes.

### **Environments and Levels:**

- **The Haunted Mansion:**

- The mansion has multiple levels, each with its own theme and dangers. Some levels could include:

- **The Dark Basement:** Filled with shadows and echoes of lamentations, where demons are more active.

- **The Forgotten Garden:** A place shrouded in fog where the plants are alive and twisted.

- **The Toy Room:** Filled with broken toys and dolls that seem to move when not observed.

- **The Spiritual Lake:**

- The final level is a mystical lake within the mansion. Here, the children must complete the final crossword under the pressure of a large guardian demon’s presence. This is the climax of the game.

### **Ending:**

- **Escape or Redemption:**

- If they complete the crossword correctly, the children return to their lives. However, they are now aware that they were in purgatory, which profoundly marks them. The ending could leave room for reflection on life, death, and destiny.

This outline can serve as a foundation. If you’d like, we can delve deeper into any part, or add more details about characters, settings, or gameplay mechanics. What do you think?Certainly! Here’s the concept in English:

### **Reactive Audio Mechanics:**

- **Microphone Interaction:**

- The game uses the player's microphone to listen to real-world sounds. When the player speaks or there is noise around, these sounds trigger events in the game, such as whispering voices, knocks, or moving objects in the kitchen or other parts of the house.

- **Demon Response:**

- Demons within the game become more aggressive or move closer when they detect noise. This forces the player to play in silence or employ strategies to avoid making noise in their real environment.

### **Random Events:**

- **Paranormal Activity in the Kitchen:**

- At key moments, sounds or voices generated by the player can trigger events like flickering lights, falling knives, or the brief appearance of shadows in the kitchen. This not only heightens the tension but also makes the player feel vulnerable and watched at all times.

### **Gameplay Effects:**

- **Difficulty Adjustment:**

- If the player talks too much or makes excessive noise, the game could increase in difficulty, with more demons patrolling or puzzles becoming more complex. This reactive audio component could be crucial for enhancing immersion and fear.

This feature makes the experience unique and much more terrifying, as the player has to be aware of their surroundings both in the game and in real life. Would you like to explore this idea further or add any other elements?Certainly! Here’s the concept in English:

### **Shelter Mechanics:**

- **Returning to the Toy House:**

- When players hear disturbing noises, such as voices or knocks coming from the kitchen (or any other part of the haunted house), they must quickly return to the toy house. This toy house acts as a temporary refuge where demons cannot enter.

- **Closing the Doors:**

- Once inside the toy house, players must manually close the doors. This not only keeps them safe but also gives them time to plan their next move. Closing the doors is not automatic, adding tension, especially if demons are nearby.

### **Risk and Reward:**

- **Waiting Time:**

- After closing the doors, players need to wait to ensure that the demons have passed by. However, staying in the toy house for too long could have consequences, such as objects disappearing from the main house or demons becoming more perceptive.

- **Quick Decision-Making:**

- If players take too long to return to the refuge when they hear noises, demons might find them outside the toy house, which could result in losing progress or even a "game over." This mechanic creates constant tension, forcing players to evaluate when it is safe to continue exploring and when it is better to seek refuge.

### **Paranormal Events:**

- **Changes in the Toy House:**

- As the game progresses, the toy house might change, reflecting the influence of the demons. For example, players might notice walls cracking, lights flickering, or strange objects appearing within the refuge.

This combination of strategic and horror elements ensures that players are always on edge, with the constant feeling that danger is lurking. What do you think of this development? Is there any other aspect you’d like to explore or add?

[wifelinkmtg]

Cruel Angel’s Thesis intensifies

Technically, it’s “Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty” and not “Neon Dynasty Kamigawa” but only the latter facilitates “get in the robot, Shinji” jokes when you tap your pilot token to crew your Thundersteel Colossus, so. Anyway, none of the mecha cards are relevant to this project - it would have been too much to hope for a POWER DoLLS situation - so really, the moral of the story is that I should have saved the Samurai Jack title joke for this edition.

TODAY ON WIFELINK: GUSHING ABOUT CYBERPUNK FANTASY JAPAN

NDK was a great set, you have to understand. Do you remember how one of the few unequivocally good things about Legend of Korra was this project of imagining a 1920s industrial setting derived from (mostly) East Asian art and architecture? Yeah, similar story here. Just one example: the Imperial mecha look like someone did origami to sheet metal, which is super cool and lends their faction a distinct visual identity. The art in this set is gorgeous - soaring architecture, grungy neon alleyways, sick cyborgs, spirits (in the original Kamigawa block, spirits had some of the weirdest creature designs Magic had ever had, and this continues that legacy) - sagas! saga art is in-universe visual representation of a story that’s important to the people of the world, and NDK sagas are told on ornamental fans, wall scrolls, porcelain jugs, the carved hilt of a katana, a silk dress, in a leaf carving and vector graphics AND, the best saga art ever, on the back of a biker rat’s leather jacket. (I would be remiss at this point not to recommend Rhystic Studies’ extremely good video on sagas.)

And the mechanics! Sagas turn into creatures when the story is over, sort of living memories. Ninjutsu made a triumphant return, the channel mechanic multiplied interesting choices, and so did the reconfigure mechanic, which let you either use a mechanical centipede as a whip attached to one of your creatures, or let it operate autonomously as a creature in its own right (which led to one of the best type lines in MtG: “Legendary Artifact Creature - Equipment Jellyfish.”)

The draft environment - and I know I’m way off-topic here, but I’m about to say some mildly unkind things about this set and I need to preface it - the draft environment was the best I’ve ever encountered. There were so many different viable archetypes, so many different cool choices you could make during drafts and gameplay. The blue-black ninjas deck, fast red-black artifact sacrifice, recursive green-white enchantments - all felt powerful and fun. The whole set was flavorful and compelling, and there are not that many good wifelink hits, I’m sorry to say.

THE QUALITY OF A MAGIC THE GATHERING SET IN TERMS OF THIS PROJECT IS NOT AN IMPORTANT INDICATOR OF OVERALL SET QUALITY

Heiko Yamazaki, the General (art by Magali Villeneuve)

Heiko makes it where her cousin Norika (also by Villeneuve) doesn’t for two reasons: one is that I find Heiko’s broody expression indicative of a rich and stormy internal life, which always hits me like the smoky scent of a fine scotch or a cup of lapsang souchong. A woman with inner turmoil draws me like a moth to a bug-zapper, which I suppose is why I keep getting into trouble with older women in troubled relationships. “If I simply provide enough unpaid therapy, she’ll leave her abusive husband back in [REDACTED FORMER SOVIET REPUBLIC] & also the closet she’s been in for forty-five years & stay in the United States with me!” Yeah, that’ll happen, idiot.

The other reason is that Norika is a cop.

Tamiyo, Compleated Sage (art by Chris Rahn)

There are a lot of planeswalkers I don’t care about, personally, and I’m not only talking about the male ones. If I’m being honest, my engagement with Magic story has always been kind of shallow on account of Magic story is frequently (but not always!) bad. Like, pursuant to the previous entry, I did enjoy the apparently-uncredited story about the Yamazakis Wizards published back in February. It’s compelling! There’s juice to that relationship. We will never get anything else about these characters.

See, it turns out that the incentives of creating a collectible card game are not terribly aligned with those of creating rich long-form fantasy stories. Novelty sells cards. We hop around. Those few characters who do enjoy a prolonged spotlight often wilt under the attention as we all collectively get sick to death of the fucking Gatewatch or whoever else. Magic the Gathering is still compelling media, or else why would I be doing this, but to me it’s a kaleidoscopic whirl of mostly detached ideas, characters, settings, and vibes.

ALL OF WHICH IS TO SAY that I never knew much or cared to about Tamiyo. She was some nerd from Kamigawa who didn’t save Avacyn, whatever. Then the Phyrexians got her and turned her into an ichor-weeping cyborg brainwashed into working toward the universal expansion of New Phyrexia, a biomechanical plane of horror, corruption, and ego death, so now she’s hot!

Go-Shintai of Hidden Cruelty (art by Johannes Voss)

I don’t think I can explain this one, to be honest. Sometimes you just wanna get fucked up by a magical bone machine.

I KNOW THIS ONE HAS BEEN REALLY TALKY ALREADY BUT I GOT SOME BEHIND-THE-SCENES STUFF TO SAY AND A SET WITH ONLY THREE HITS SEEMS AS GOOD A PLACE AS ANY

Well, only three hits that I can find high-quality images of for. I suppose I could be using card rips of Tia Masic’s Moon-Circuit Hacker (reminiscent of my introduction to cyberpunk via Shadowrun, a bad setting paired with a bad system which nevertheless compelled me to consume more cyberpunk, most of it also bad) or Wisnu Tan’s Spring-Leaf Avenger (a delightful vaguely-orchid-mantis bug ninja) but that would look like

and

...oh wait that actually looks fine, at least to me on desktop. Okay, then, I’ll incorporate those into my strategy as an acceptable last resort going forward. Actually, while I’m at it:

Junji, the Midnight Sky (art by Chase Stone)

The dragon’s hot, man, I don’t know what to tell you.

THE OTHER THING IS ABOUT WHAT WE WILL GENEROUSLY CALL AN “UPDATE SCHEDULE”

Phyrexia: All Will Be One releases the second week in February and I am goddamn well going to review that as soon as it’s out, because I played Cyberqueen at the young and impressionable age of twenty-two and now “quasi-omnipotent dominatrix corrupts you into a biomechanical horror ecstatically enslaved to her will” is the hottest thing I will ever get out of Magic: the Gathering unless Ashiok decides to start force-femming planeswalkers, so I am going to be tearing through one set a week for the next three weeks.

Next time is New Capenna, the Art Deco Metropolis of organized crime, bad draft experiences, and well-muscled arms, followed by a return to Dominaria where my excitement for more Phyrexians will be tempered by the fact that my favorite characters from the last Dominaria set are not quite so hot this time round.

[eggysimblr]

Sims Tag

I was tagged by my awesome friend @deathpoke1qa, Thanks!

1. What’s your favourite sims death?

Hard to say, removing pool ladder is a classic everyone loves, but I really loved Mummy Curse Death from TS3 World Adventures, as it has to be one of the most forboding and ominous.

2. Alpha CC or Maxis Match?

I go with a mix of both, don't really care.

3. Do you cheat when your sims gain weight?

My sims rarely gain weight.

4. Do you use move objects?

Of course I do, everybody does!

5. Favorite mod?

Deaderpool's MC Command Center is a must. I'm also a big fan of Coolspear's and Sacrificial's work, and lately I fell in love with new custom skills by JaneSimsten.

6. First expansion/game/stuff pack you got?

That's gotta be Hot Date for Sims 1. Yeah, I'm that old.

7. Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing?

Since English isn't my native language, I tend to alternate between those, but I usually go with Live, as in LIVing.

8. Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

Oh, that has to be Lord Professor Ebenezer Vincent Ignatius Laurence von Charlatain III, the gentleman you see in my avatar.

9. Have you made a simself?

Yes, it was for a contest at Sims of History Discord, where you had to make a sim of yourself in historical setting. So, I made myself into an early 18th century Mercenary:

10. What sim traits do you give yourself?

Genius, Lazy, Geek.

11. Which is your favorite EA hair color?

It has to be the brown and gray one, I just love the contrast.

12. Favorite EA hair?

The wavy long hair from Cats and Dogs EP.

13. Favorite life stage?

Yound Adults to Elders.

14. Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

I mostly spend time in CaS. But I also like building.

15. Are you a CC creator?

Kinda? More like cc Editor, but if you're interested I've got some stuff for download at my Simblr.

16. Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad?

Everyone from Sims of History, especially @javitrulovesims, @simstomaggie, @simverses.

17. What’s your favorite game? (1, 2, 3, or 4)

Let's see: Sims 1 was awesome, but now is really dated, and build mode is limited and obnoxious to use. Sims 2 is a fantastic game but it's so buggy and prone to save corruption. Sims 3 Would be the best, due to the open world and so many fun lifestates, if you didn't had to wait an eternity and a half for it to load. Also, Twilight sparkly vampires. Ew. I kinda like Sims 4 the best, not only it has the best versions of lifestates (maybe except the furry-ass werewolves), but also the Best QoL improvements to CAS and Build mode. Give it some time, and I think it will be the best sims game ever.

18. Do you have any sims merch?

Sadly, no.

19. Do you have a YouTube for sims?

Nope.

20. How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing?

It really didn't change much, except I rarely now deliberately kill my sims, as I get attached to my pixel dolls. Back in my TS1 days I would torture my sims in the most fun ways.

21. What’s your Origin ID?

Sir_Eggyslav

22. Who’s your favorite CC creator?

So many good cc creators, my all time favourites are @natalia-auditore, and my good friend @strangestorytellersims but I also really miss @acanthus-sims.

23. How long have you had a simblr?

I can't honestly remember, and too lazy to check, but about 2016?

24. How do you edit your pictures?

I don't. I don't have the skills and I'm too lazy to learn.

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next?

Any pack that would bring back Cars, Genie lamps and Pool tables.

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far?

Vampires, Jungle Adventures and University.

I'm tagging anyone who would like to join he fun.