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earthlynnlp · 4 years ago

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Mods List: How It SHOULD Work

A list of mods that I use in my game. Mods that change various elements of the game to work in ways they really should have all along.

Updated for the July 2023 🐴 Patch!

Things marked with a ⭐ you need to download an update to be compatible.

Things marked with a ⚡�� are possibly broken and are not currently compatible according to Better Exceptions.

Things marked with a ✨ are new to the list since the last patch.

Base Game

⭐ Age Up Add Preferences - Automatically adds preferences to Sims upon aging up.

Privacy Tweak - Close friends and relatives can share a bathroom without issue.

⭐ Call and Visit Tweak - Complete overhaul for visits and phone calls. No more stalker Easter Bunny or Santa, cuts down on a lot of bizarre invitations and has invites match better with Sims preferences, relationship with the Sim and current mood.

Socialization and Sentiment Tweak - Chances to have positive sentiments are higher and negative ones lower if you have a high relationship or are family.

Know Your Coworkers/Classmates + Friendly Coworkers and Classmates

Molding Clay Builds Creativity

Has To Pee Walk Animation For Children Only

More Children At Parks - I use version 3, which only uses existing toddlers and only has toddlers spawn on parks with the Child’s Play lot trait.

Call to Meal Tweak - No longer have to cancel eating a meal, or finish eating a meal to call others to grab a bite to eat.

No Empty Venues When Arriving

Reworked Career Offerings - When you are offered a random job opportunity, the offering makes sense depending on what degree and skill set your Sims has.

Stop Eating When Fed

Disliked Things Are Boring - I don’t get stressed when doing something I don’t like necessarily, it’s just boring.

React to Collapsed Sims - Sims are not that cold, come on now.

Plan Outfits Costs Money

Proposing Costs Money

Pay To Travel From Phone

No Standing Up To Greet - No need to get up and hug someone like you haven’t seen them in months that you live with everyday. Be sure to grab the one in the comments created by LittleMsSam!

Toddlers Can Listen to Group Stories

Swimwear Shower on Pools - Sims wear their swimsuits when showering on lots with a pool lot trait.

Bye Bye Eye Ring (Better CAS Randomization)

Smarter Self-Care

Inborn Personality Mod

Thank You Interactions - Now your Sim can say thank you after receiving a gift.

Kids Can Paint With Easel

Renamed Emotions - Instead of saying Very this or Very that the emotions are more specifically named.

Collectibles Always Ready

More Welcome - Some things aren’t seen as inappropriate when visiting family or close friends.

Neighborhood Stories Viewer

Realistic Kids Mods

Bring Food To Sims - Unlocked for everyone regardless of age and unlocked for kids that can cook with mods or toy stoves so they can force people to eat their concoctions too!

Kids Keep Skills

Generic Lots: Empty No More!

Ear Buds Build Skills - Listen to Podcasts and Audiobooks to build skills while doing other things.

Increased Blackmail Payouts Based on Career and Celebrity Status

Get To Work

Patients sit in the waiting room at the hospital

Clinic Outfit Overhaul

Get Together

More Food At Cafes

Harvest is Not a Group Interaction - Garden Clubs won’t harvest as a group interaction when you have them garden.

City Living

Sell more self made Woodwork at the Flea Market + More Woodworking Furniture

DJ Booth and Music Station Give Both Skills

Watch Speech Tweak - Sims will actually stop to sit and watch people giving Speeches downtown. Watching Sims give a Speech will gain your Sim Charisma.

Style Influencer Tweaks

Flea Market Refresh - Adds a lot more things for sale at the flea market.

Cats & Dogs

Less Rude Towards Pets - Sims that don’t love dogs will no longer just yell at them for existing. Mean Sims will still live their truth though.

Kids Can Walk Dogs

Go For A Walk With Dogs Will Fill Needs

Cat And Dog Sanity - Pets won’t be sick just because you rotated households, on lot load their motives will be randomized and pets will be more likely to interact with each other.

Pet to Pet Try For Baby Fix - Can now try for baby with pets from other households.

Sim to Pet Sentiments - Pets can now have sentiments towards Sims and vice versa.

Go For a Walk With More Pets

Seasons

Weather Affects Mood More

More Grand Meals

Mistletoe Kiss in Winter Only

More Dynamic Ball Fights - Less idle time when having water balloon, snowball, and mud fights.

Real Ice Cream at Seasons Market Stalls - In the Summer your Sims can now buy an ice cream cone from the market stall.

Storm Moodlet Tweak - Kids that are going through a loud phase won’t mind the loud thunderstorm. Some adults won’t be scared of it either, depends on their weather preference.

Get Wax From Beebox

Get Famous

Social Networking Crossover - You can now social network on your phone instead of just on the computer.

Island Living

Island Living Bartender Fix

More Children At The Beach

Toddlers Can Use Beach Towels - Now they have a place to nap when the family goes to the beach!

Sulani Events Calendar and Flyer Notifications

Camping and Picnic Things - Click on ground to spawn a campfire or bonfire anywhere.

Discover University

Less Auto Bike - Instead of getting out bikes to travel all the time, including inside, they will now only get out of the bike when they are traveling in excess of 3,000 meters.

Eco Lifestyle

NAP Overhaul + Civic Policy Overhaul - I have deleted the ones from NAP Overhaul that are covered in Civic Policy to prevent conflicts.

Snowy Escape

Hiking Motive Tweak

More Indoor Slippers

Modest Snowboot Colors

Take Off Shoes With Animation

Outdoorsy and Indoorsy Lifestyles Tweak - Just being indoors and outdoors can count for the lifestyle now as well.

Lifestyle Tweak - A huge set of tweaks for all of the lifestyles so that not all Sims end up with the same lifestyles, with some harder than others to achieve.

No Shoes While Swimming

Take Shoes Off While Napping/Sleeping

Hike While Carrying Toddlers

Kids can learn Snowboarding / Skiing - They weren’t even gaining motor before, now they’ll get a head start.

Dine Out

No Restaurant Bill When You are Invited Out

Restaurant Guest Overhaul - Less celebrities, more families, including parents with grown children, and groups of teen friends out together.

Cook Experimental Food without a Chef Station

Outdoor Retreat

Nature Walks For Everyone

Spa Day

Spa Staff Lights Incense

Improved Spa Day Tablet

Parenthood

⭐ Sibling Care Tweaks - Caring for younger siblings can build character values.

Cool Kitchen Stuff

Ice Cream Deco - Ice Cream will be garnished by default so your restaurant dessert looks like restaurant dessert.

Luxury Party Stuff

Banquet Table Tuning - Adds different food options including Brunch, Gourmet, Spooky and Vegetarian

Romantic Garden Stuff

Naked Foot Fountain - Sims will take off shoes before splashing in the fountain.

Bowling Night Stuff

Bowling with Less Delay Each Turn - Games no longer take forever to play.

Toddler Stuff

Upgradeable Toddler Beds

Laundry Day

⭐ Small Laundry Overhaul

Paranormal Stuff

Scared Mood Tweak - Fire makes Sims Scared instead of Stressed. Scared is now active for toddlers.

Cottage Living

Functional Phone Booth + Functional Finchwick Buildings

High School Years

High School Years Tweaks

Expanded Trendi Outfit Selection

More Variety Career Day

Growing Together

Family Reunion Tweak - Invite relatives for all members of household not just the person planning the event.

Best Hug Ever - Unlocked for everyone teen and up with a high enough relationship with the child.

Horse Ranch

Nectar Available in Restaurants

Horse Breeding Tweaks

Horse Competition Gives Fame

<- Back to Main List of Mods

#sims 4 cc #sims 4 mods #how sims 4 should work

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maxismatchccworld · 5 years ago

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Hey you lovely Simmers! It is time for our new Spotlight of the Month. Please give a warm welcome to LittleMsSam aka @littlemssam 😊 I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t play the game without her mods and am so grateful for all of them!

Aloha everyone!

First of all thank you Kerstin for the Opportunity to introduce myself here.

My name is LittleMsSam and I am a Sims 4 Modder since January 2017. I used to play Sims 3 a long time ago and loved it. Not only because of the Game itself but because of the fact that it is a Game which supports modding. I love Games that gives Players the opportunity to mod it and make it more individual. Back then I was fascinated what modders could do with the Game but unfortunately I lost interest in Sims 3 because of lags and the long loading screens.

When Sims 4 came out I immediately loved the new Style. But of course in the beginning not much was to do since it was only Base Game. So I lost interest again for a while until I got back into the Game in the end of 2016.

I was on a Mod Hunt again but there was one thing I simply could not find. The Game was too easy for me so i was searching for a certain Mod to make it a little bit harder. But the only Mods I could find did the opposite: Mods that were making Painting & Writing faster. This was the reason i started to dig into modding myself and the beginning of a Modding Journey that quickly „escalated“.

I learned the Basics of Modding via Scarlet’s Tutorials on Sims 4 VIP. Which Tools do i need, how do i update my Mods and so on. From then on it was and still is a lot of trying by doing, failing and succeeding, laughing and crying.

My first Mod was…

now you can guess…

A slower Painting & Writing Mod. Tadaa!

I was so proud of myself back then and it is still one of my personal favorites that i use in my Game.

After that another Mod followed and another after and more and even more and now i am at a number of 164 Mods, 60 more Mods in a Random Small Mod Collection and a few Bug Fixes.

The main time I spent into modding now is to actually keep all those mods updated and to tweak them here and there. Especially after new Expansions Pack Patches it takes me sometimes up to 10 hours to check & update all of those Mods. Unfortunately for me I still use 95% of them myself so there is no way i would abandon them as long as i play this Game. And by playing I mean I load up the Game, play ten minutes, close the Game and tweak some Mods or make new ones to tweak the Game.

My Mods are various Mods from small tweaking Mods to bigger new Gameplay Mods.

Some of my favorite smaller Mods are the Slower Painting & Writing Mods like mentioned above. The Choose who you Call to Meal Mod which lets you choose who you want to call to Meal and if you want to eat too or not. The Auto Employees | Custom Lot Trait Mod which let’s Barista, Bartender and more auto spawn on Community Lots. The Automatic Thermostat & the Automatic Stereo System Mods which let’s you “upgrade” your Thermostat/Stereos to be automatic. The Cookbooks Cultural, Experimental, Seafood & Jungle Mod which adds new buy-able Cookbooks into your Game. The Sell via Simbay Mod which is a new unique Selling Service where you can submit all your crafted Items and Artifacts. The … annddd I should stop here or else this List will be endless. I use almost all of my Mods myself so yeah they are all kind of my favorites.

Those „smaller Mods“ are usually done in a few hours. Testing them though takes more time then doing them.

There are also some bigger Mods that add new Gameplay and/or took much more time do them and to test them. Those usually take a few days to do and even more days to test.

My first really big Mod was the More Buyable Venues and new Venue Types Mod which let’s you buy more Venues and adds new Venue Types to the Game. It was the first Mod where i had to dig deeper into the Game to figure out how I could buy Bars, Clubs and Co. just like I could with the Retail Lot. But in the end I got it to work and my first big new Gameplay Mod was finished.

My personal favorite bigger/new Gameplay Mods are:

The More Servings Options & Better Meal Time Menus Mod which adds new Servings Options via the cooking and gourmet cooking Menus of stoves & fridges (2, 3, 5, 6 & 7 Sizes). It does not sound big but it took me a hell lot of time to make all those recipes ;)

The Social Activities (Visit Friends, Family and more) Mod which adds Social Activities for your Sims to go to. You can go visit Friends, Family & more or go on Vacation & Honeymoon. Or you can visit a Music Concert or a Cooking Competition and have a chance to win a prize. You can also send your Toddlers to the Daycare or your Pets to the Pet sitter or Dog Trainer.

The Ultrasound Scan Mod which let’s you visit a Gynecologist to do a Ultrasound Examination. This Mod was only possible thanks to Turbodriver who helped me with the script part of this Mod. I really love this one i have to say!

The Live in Business Mod which let’s you run Businesses at Home like a Bar, a Club, a Daycare, a Vet Clinic, a Shop and many more.

And last but not least (before I get carried away again…) the Foster Family Mod where you can become a part of the LMS Foster Family Network and take care of Toddler, Children, Teens or Pets who are in need of a Foster Family. This Mod was only possible with the help of NisaK who helped me with the script part of this Mod. I use this one all the time to foster a bunch of Pets and find them a new Home in the Sims 4 Worlds.

There are also some Mods I personally don’t even use but I was up for a challenge to do them anyway. The biggest one is the “SimDa” Dating App Mod which can help you find your true love, have adventurous Blind Dates or hot One Night Stands.

Now enough of me, my Mods and my shameless self advertising.

I want to say that even if it can be pretty exhausting to support those Mods, I am really grateful I found my way into Modding and that I could meet some amazing people out there. Turbodriver, Basemental, Deaderpool, NisaK, RoBurky, Icemunmun, Scarlet and many more who are all amazing modders and personalities. Scumbumbo who was an inspiring, helpful, kind and amazing person who will be greatly missed. The MCC Discord Team who help the community each day as much as they can with Game Issues. EA & everyone involved for making a great Game that I really enjoy playing.

And of course everyone who uses and enjoys my Mods which is a huge motivation to keep going.

Everyone who did not know about me or my Mods feel free to come over and check my tumblr out.

Thank you all!

#s4cc #s4mm #ts4cc #ts4mm #maxis match #thesims4 #s4 spotlight #littlemssam

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moistwithgender · 6 years ago

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Monthly Media Roundup (May 2019)

The march of time inexorably proceeds beyond my grasp and so I must write another post. I’ve been a bit burned out, just focusing on one diversion (it was Zelda, you know it was Zelda), but after finishing it I recovered enough energy to get a few more things done in the last half of the month. I didn’t watch any anime or read any manga in May, though I did read some 70s Marvel, which I liveblog in my “curry reads comics” tag. Last time I did an actual capital-P Post about my Marvel reading was a year ago after marathoning a full(ish) decade. If people are interested in more of that I could work at making posts for each year of issues I read, recapping the developments and my thoughts on them (which will become more relevant as Events become more common, I imagine). I’ve just got a few games to talk about this month, but I imagine I have a lot to say about at least one of them.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch): 2 years ago I did something I extremely rarely do: stood in line at a Best Buy at midnight for the release of the Switch so that I could buy it with BotW. BotW was also out on Wii U, which I had, but the promotional material for BotW had struck such a chord in me that it justified making the jump for the new console (this would eventually become troublesome when the first model of joycons failed, but, well). I got home, put some ten odd hours into it, and then put it down for two years. I’ve always had a problem where, struck with the intuition that I will end up forming a deep relationship with a work, I will put it off for years. I put off Persona 3 for five years after buying it at launch, and it eventually became the most personal game experience I would have, even seven years onward. I think the two factors that pushed me to finally play through BotW was wanting to watch a friend stream it (but also not wanting it spoiled for me), and needing a distraction for when I was taking care of my cat.

It’s been about two months now since he passed away, and I finally finished the game at 215+ hours about half a month ago. So, I was playing this game as a coping method while preparing for loss, and in dealing with loss. It’s appropriate that the game is effectively both a fantasy about reclaiming at least part of what you have lost, and a colossal exercise in coping. The game is as much about getting distracted from your responsibilities and fucking off to snowboard in the mountains as it is about being aware of the world around you. The Zelda games have frequently used themes of Shintoism to portray harmony in nature and in civilization. I’m currently replaying Ocarina of Time and the cosmogony myth (is it a myth if a talking tree explains it to you?) specifically words the goddesses as “[giving] the spirit of law to the world” and “[producing] all life forms who would uphold the law.” When I was younger (see: early 20s) I didn’t scrutinize the text much but now I figure it’s reasonable to read “law” as “natural order”. It should be noted that for an N64 game, OoT has remarkably good prose. BotW, in transitioning the series in what may be its third main genre (as opposed to the genres of Zelda 1 and OoT), has taken that Shintoist aesthetic and incorporated it into the entire philosophy of the game’s design. More than just being a game whose narrative concerns an imbalanced world, BotW embraces the trends of open worlds and immersive sims to create an immense, varied space where the coded laws of physics are always impacting the experience. Thunderstorms make metal equipment a liability, while rain covers the sounds of footsteps. Wind can sweep away items, fire and high temperatures affect flammable objects (including yourself), and aforementioned metallic items can conduct electricity, which can be used to solve puzzles in unintended ways. Weather changes regularly based on the region and changes the world in tandem. Rain doesn’t just fall, it actively collects, and ponds become bigger, and surfaces become slicker. Each systemic element (pun not intended) that was incorporated affected everything else in the world, and in interviews there were mentions that changing the volume of wind in one area had a butterfly effect on another, causing pots to fly off of patios in a village. It’s no wonder the game took five years to make, considering how rarely glitches occur in the game (and most that I know of have to be deliberately recreated for exploitation). You’re engaging with enemies as much as you are with the environment, and at times even with your own body, creating and consuming food and drink for the purpose of staving off sunstroke or frostbite. As a result, BotW’s Hyrule is immensely palpable, and easy to lose oneself in from how livable it feels.

When I first started playing at release, I was a bit disappointed to discover that villages existed in-game, as early promotional material and the state of the Great Plateau you start on painted a picture of a lonely world. In the end, the soundtrack and vast amount of uncolonized land does give an understated sense of melancholy that defines the game, though the fact that every five steps you’ll find a Korok micropuzzle waiting to YA HA HA and fanfare at you betrays that a bit (I still love those Koroks and their puzzles, don’t @ me). The NPCs in this are numerous, though, from the occupants of the villages to wandering traders, and their personalities are all distinct and charming, and probably the best I’ve ever seen in a game, or at least in a long time. If this game wasn’t railroading the Link/Zelda relationship so hard, I would have liked a Dragon’s Dogma-style “date any NPC (within reason)” mechanic. I’m just going to have to start a “NPCs you should marry” side-tumblr.

Another defining aspect of the gameplay, and easily what makes the game surpass arguably every other Zelda, is how Nintendo heard the decade or so of complaints about the linear Zelda lock-and-key formula being reiterated to the point of stagnation, and, after great success with A Link Between Worlds’ item rental subversion, just decided to make everything optional. You do the tutorial on the Great Plateau, and, if you feel especially gutsy, you can beeline it straight to Ganon. He’s in horse-riding distance, or running distance, if you’re tenacious. Will you make it to him, survive the hordes of enemies, and take him down? If it’s your first time playing the game and you haven’t learned the systems, probably not. Is it possible? Absolutely. Much like how the monthly cycle of a Persona game is a proverbial Rocky training montage of preparing for The Big Fight, everything you do in BotW is in preparation. A lot of open world games can feel dissonant in that you’re incentivized to be distracted as a player and make your own fun, meanwhile the protagonist keeps saying “I’m gonna get bloody revenge on the mafia boss!” during bowling matches. There is still, unavoidably, a sense of urgency played up for narrative sake in BotW, since Impa insists Zelda is waiting and can’t hold Ganon back forever, but it’s all much more narratively justifiable, if you want that. You know, because Zelda is for hardcore roleplaying.

I couldn’t resist a second playthrough, even after logging 215+ hours, so I went ahead and started a separate file on Master Mode, Nintendo’s weird in-house, in-franchise rebranding of, uh, a hard mode. Previously it was called Hero Mode. Why do you--well, okay, I know why they do it. They’re likely trying to distinguish it from a “we just tweaked the numbers” hard mode, and also want to make it feel less threatening than something labeled hard mode. If they’re going to go to the trouble to make it a distinct form of play, they want to try and appeal to everyone. And it is fairly distinct. All enemies are bumped up one rank, so a red bokoblin is blue, and a blue bokoblin is black, and so on. There is a new strongest rank of enemy, though in my run I did not seek them out. There are enemies (and treasure chests!) perched on flying rafts, which can be one-shot with proper bow aiming, but also carry dangerous elemental arrows, and can alert all other enemies in the area. Stealth is much more difficult, and pointless early in. All enemies regenerate up to a third of their health, including bosses! Though, that can be temporarily interrupted by inflicting any amount of damage on them, so it behooves you to be on the offense. Less autosave slots! This wasn’t a problem for me. Guardians randomly delay the firing of their beams! This was absolutely a problem for me and I avoided them entirely in my run. In the beginning when tools and resources are scare, particularly on the Great Plateau, Master Mode is at its hardest, and its most thrilling. Rather than aimlessly exploring, I was pressured to decide where I knew things were, and beeline it to them. Sometime in-between two of the four main optional dungeons, I had amassed enough valuable resources that the game had settled back into the same kind of difficulty as normal mode. Bosses were a little harder due to regen and my resources being somewhat scarcer, but they were manageable. Competently performing flurry attacks (upon successfully dodging attacks at the last second) was extremely valuable to me, but I imagine with enough food in my inventory, I could have brute forced my way through a lot of the fights (though, uh, obviously thou wouldst like to live deliciously (please hate me for this phrasing)). I chose to forego the Master Sword for the sake of challenge, and beat Master Mode with only seven hearts, in around 25 hours. You should play Master Mode, it’s fun.

Here’s a little gameplay SPOILER:

Something I haven’t done, but would like to eventually do, is avoid the main dungeons and just head straight to Ganon. When I played Master Mode, I wasn’t totally confident, and did the dungeons for the resources. After watching some speedruns I learned that if you skip the dungeons, and therefore the main bosses, you have to fight them all at once immediately before the fight with Ganon, without breaks.

That. Sounds. Great.

Wandersong (PC/Steam): Have you heard about Homestuck?

Okay, wait. Wait. Come back, wait. Stop leaving. PLEASE.

Okay, I got the most inflammatory sentence out of the way. Now that we’re eased into that: Wandersong is unignorably influenced by Homestuck. Homestuck conjured a lot of baggage, from having a really difficult, pretentious, arrogant author (I should know, I gave him the benefit of the doubt for way too long), to having some unfortunate narrative turns, to being a billion words long. Wandersong invokes the vaster-than-God scope, the minute and personal perspective of the heroes, and its inclinations toward emotional intelligence (it still surprises me Homestuck had these moments given the author’s deeply unsympathetic sense of humor), and… condenses it! It also makes it a light puzzle-platformer and is about performing music (note: not rhythm, you don’t have to have ANY rhythm), and looks like a Paper Mario game. It is very charming, very funny, very optimistic, and most surprisingly, uncompromising at times. Wandersong says that you, despite your role, are capable of great things, especially self growth and change, as long as you commit to it. If, faced with the consequences of your bad decisions, you choose to double down and keep at it, you will reap what you sow. This is distinctly different from Undertale’s brand of pacifism route optimism, where “no one has to die!” This brand of optimism is a measured but enthusiastic “you can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved, but you can save the rest” and I think that’s a uniquely valuable message.

I was a little confused about the resolution of the communist uprising chapter, but I recall the game bringing my cynicism into question, and the most important thing a work can do is make you question yourself.

(Also, if any of my mutuals are low on funds but interested, I do have a drm-free version I can share.)

Minit (PC/Steam): I don’t think I actually have a lot to say about Minit! It’s very fun and curious and short. You play a little… duck… thing, and you pick up a cursed sword which kills you in one minute. Then you wake up the next day, and die in a minute. Then you wake up the next day. Having only sixty seconds of vitality, you have to optimize your exploration. There’s a slow-speaking old man who you will die listening to, but the hint he gives at the end of his sentence will lead you to something valuable. There’s a guy in a bar angry about the lack of music. If you change the music, he will probably dislike it. If you keep changing the music, you might live to see him like it. There’s a boat ride to a tropical island you have to grit your teeth and wait through. Not all of the events are slow, some are quick bouts of hurried exploration. Most of it is, given the time limit. I’d say more, but given the overall length (it took me about an hour to finish), I’d risk spoiling a sizable fraction of the experience. It’s about $10, though I got mine in a Humble Bundle Monthly subscription. The spec requirements are very low, so your laptop can likely run it.

A Hat in Time (PC/Steam): Heads up, I’m gonna get into a lot of spoilers for this game, including endgame spoilers, but also heads up, the story isn’t really the point in this game. This is a game about tone and platforming. That said, I’m gonna be talking exclusively about the weird ideas in this game, and if you want those weird ideas to be a surprise, then just skip ahead until I put up big letters.

I’m somewhat hesitant to be critical of A Hat in Time because despite a number of weird Things about it, I recognize that it’s quite popular with a lot of people, and that always makes me pause and want to figure out what it is that makes it pass the bar for others. My guess at this point is that it invokes nostalgia through its unmitigated imitation of games that came before. The games it chooses to ape are all your childhood’s Greatest Hits, Wind Waker (which it most resembled in its earliest development), Super Mario Sunshine/Galaxy (which it most resembles now), Banjo-Kazooie, Psychonauts, etc. It never really surpasses those games, for me, and at times cribs from them to the degree that it obscures the game’s own identity. After all, what you enjoy may help define you, but you wouldn’t say it’s your personality. Well. Unless you kin the Gamecube. I guess. There are bonus levels to the game’s different “worlds” (I thought they were different planets, since your hub area is a spaceship, and you access them via different telescopes, but it turns out it’s just one planet?), and you can collect photographs, which sequentially tell a story about the residents of that “world”. Psychonauts did this because each level took place in the mind of a character, and the photos together told a story about the character that fundamentally changed the way you thought about them, and made the whole game feel richer as a result. I collected the photos for all but the DLC levels in AHiT (those are Really Hard), and of those five or so worlds, none of those bonus photos told me anything that changed how I thought about the characters. There’s a dock town run by a mafia (s-sorta) led by a chef, but did you know they all used to work at a processing factory before going there? There are two manipulative bird directors who are fighting over the same studio to produce their own film and win an award, but did you know they… wanted to be directors since they were kids? There’s a devil analogue who steals people’s souls if they wander into his forest, but did you know he was a prince, and the princess was mad he talked to another girl (it was a flower girl, he was getting flowers for the princess), and imprisoned him until they both the prince and princess turned into evil ghosts? That’s the only one that comes close to being an “oh” moment, but I don’t think it does for the reasons the writer was hoping for. In general, these are prologues without substance.

Speaking of substance, the game has a bit of an issue with theming. At least, it does at first. The first town is the previously mentioned dock town, run by a mafia. By “mafia”, I mean a bunch of meatheads who talk about how they like punching people, and refer to themselves individually, in the third person, as Mafia. Mafia loves to punch the poor and the birds. Mafia is a one-dimensional character copy-pasted across 20% of the game. Mafia laughs. They’re run by a chef, but also they can’t cook, so there’s a cat chef in hiding who routinely swaps out their food with his so no one has to eat bad food. I don’t know why, when the town has maybe three non-Mafia character. He does eventually leave and board your ship, so maybe he’s just looking for something to do. The leader of the mafia also boards your ship, for a joke and to sell you an upgrade. The mafia are also afraid of mud monsters, or aliens, or something. There’s a girl with a moustache named Moustache Girl who wants to use your Time Macguffins to overthrow organized crime, and Hat Girl decides that’s a no-go. There are giant faucets around the town that replace all the water with lava. You might be noticing these things have little to no connection. You might be suspecting this level was made first when the dev was inexperienced. I might be suspecting this. It’s fine.

Later worlds do a much better job of theming. There’s the movie studio split between two birds. One of them a penguin, who prefers science fiction, the other a…

...hmmm. I suspect this guy, The Conductor, is an OC the director has had for a while, maybe since childhood, that they just decided Is A Bird, and carried it into the game, since the game occasionally is like... bird?? Alternatively, it’s some sort of corruption of Woodstock from Peanuts. Possibly both. Anyway, this guy just wants to make movies that take place on wild western trains. He has a strong fake Scottish accent, and the penguin, named DJ Grooves, is some sort of disco Elvis. They’ve both hired owls as actors, and some crows have snuck onto the train set (the crows are so obviously the G-Men from Psychonauts’ Milkman level it bothers me a bit). This is already a little busy, but it’s okay! Birds, movies, two distinct genres, and you trapped in-between them, just trying to collect your macguffins. It works. You take part in both of their movies, and your performance in both determines the winner, when suddenly… CORRUPTION WAS AFOOT, and you have to explore the depths of the studio and engage in a showdown.

Another world is a spooky forest where your access is restricted by completing certain contracts for the devilish character. Sometimes it’s murder (reasonable), exploring a haunted mansion in survival horror format (ooh!), fixing the plumbing in a well (wait, what), and doing mail delivery (back up back up). Half of that works. The finale of the forest makes up for it, though. This game insists on most of its bosses having like 4-5 phases and breaks for dialogue and the gall required to get away with that honestly earned my respect. They’re pretty fun times.

The best level to play is, unsurprisingly, the first DLC. I say unsurprising because it’s clear the dev is learning as they go, and the level design improves as they go along. Aside from bonus levels, the first DLC takes place on a massive cruise liner titled the SS Literally Can’t Sink. Ha ha. It’s split into three parts. The first part has you exploring the many interconnected rooms of the ship to find broken shards of a macguffin, the second part has you taking that mental map and using it to frantically complete multiple timed fetch quests at once, and the third part, now that you understand the ship pretty intimately, capsizes the ship, requiring you to traverse frigid waters and overturned scenery to retrieve babies and the ship’s incompetent but adorable baby seal crew (the seals speak in hewwo talk, the game is unforgivably loaded with memes but let me have this). This progression is my favorite in the game, and while I haven’t bought the Nyakuza Metro DLC, I’m looking forward to it.

The ending level had me a bit bewildered at first because in the beginning when Hat Kid refuses to use time powers to stop organized crime, I saw it as a hamfisted way to create tension between Hat Kid and Moustache Girl. Apparently it was working up towards the moral of the story. In the final level, Moustache Girl has stolen all the macguffins, and possessing ultimate power, becomes corrupted ultimately, and summons everyone in the world to her Bowser castle to be judged and die. On first glance, I thought “well, sure, that’s sensible,” but when Hat Kid finds the support of all the villains in the game, I was a little confused. The villains sacrifice themselves to give you infinite health, explicitly stating that they’ll just come back through time magic if you win so who cares (cool stakes), and you overcome authoritarianism with the support of corrupt hollywood, organized crime, and the literal devil. This would be fine if at some point Hat Kid, you know, took them on a Zuko Quest to face turn all of them, but that doesn’t happen. They just all decide “hey yeah, fuck this girl! Also we don’t have time for the nuance this might require!” After all is said and done and you collect all your macguffins, you’re given the choice of leaving the defeated Moustache Girl a single macguffin so she can defeat the mafia (whose side are we on) or just saying nahhh. Neither appears to make a difference, but maybe in a year or two we’ll get a DLC that makes you regret your words and deeds. You try to fly your ship to your home planet, and the villains all grab on to your ship, which is in space, begging you not to leave. I seriously suspect they intended to incorporate face-turn scenes and just couldn’t find the time, because nothing but physical proximity implies these guys would have any emotional attachment to Hat Kid, and that’s a bit of a stretch. Anyway, Hat Kid brooms them off the ship to plummet down to earth and flies away. Sheds a tear about the whole thing. In the end, the moral was that Order good, but too much Order bad, except if you are Hat Kid, in which case Chaos good. Or maybe…

After finishing the game I decided to look into any left over secrets, since my completion score was in the 80s of percents. Turns out that if you use the camera badge to finagle the free look feature into a marginally open armoire somewhere on your spaceship, you can find a shrine to Hat Kid with a couple skulls, a bunch of blurry photos, and some strange symbols. If you doing this while wearing the mask that lets you see the secrets of the dead (for platforming and puzzle purposes, of course), there’s a bunch of alien text you can decode. And then there’s some youtube channels. And a twitter account. All sharing more of those decodable ciphers, all talking about vague dreamy apocalyptic histories and dark betrayals. Or something. That’s right, this game’s got a fucking ARG. I cut things off there. If the developer Gears for Breakfast is gonna make an occultist grimdark sequel to A Hat in Time, they can put up a trailer for it.

OKAY I’M DONE TALKING ABOUT A HAT IN TIME, the short of it is that I had a lot of mixed feelings but had fun.

How did I end up talking more about A Hat in Time than Breath of the Wild? What are my priorities?

Well, that’s everything I finished in May! Will I get back to anime and manga in June? Guess we’ll see! Again, let me know if you want me to do year-recap Marvel posts, since my liveblogging is mostly just shitposts, and the occasional attempt at thoughtfulness among those posts feels kind of out of place. Honestly, I’m probably gonna do that anyway, but it’s nice to see interest. If you read all this, thanks a lot! Go play Breath of the Wild and Wandersong.

#curry plays games

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less-than-hash · 6 years ago

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Holes in the Firmament

Every dev I know has at least one dream game - stuff that they'd love to be able to make some day. The more ambitious these get - the more complex or long - the less likely they are to get made. And in a collaborative medium like games, the more people (and the more money!) involved in a project, the less control any given individual has over it.

This isn't intrinsically bad. (It can also be wildly valuable to a project and rewarding personally.)

But we devs still dream of those games we'd make if we had, say, the resources of a two hundred person studio, the backing of a major publisher, and absolute freedom.

Three of mine are behind the cut.

As a note, none of these reflect upcoming Obsidian projects. Nor are they projects Obsidian would likely ever make. They don't fit the studio's brand. Which is why I'm dreaming about them here, and not pitching them internally.

So, first up!

A Squad-Based 1st-Person Firefighting Game with a Robust Relationship System and a Branching Narrative

I don't understand why there aren't more games about firefighting - though if I had to guess it's largely because making fire look good in-game is extraordinarily difficult. As is making an environment decay over time (though I suspect there are probably some pretty good, easy solutions for this using dev sleight-of-hand).

There are actually a Iot of interactive sim games about firefighting for training purposes. Much like war and flight, firefighting is something best trained without risking real life and limb.

Firefighting appeals to me as a gameplay space because it's actively protective - it's about limiting destruction and saving lives. But it can very easily be modeled with similar gameplay loops to shooters - ultimately both are about emptying rooms of danger - here it's just with water instead of bullets.

I could be water!

In short, firefighters engage in almost unequivocal good. They're heroic. They’re human. They’re flawed. And they brave dangers every day. But our industry basically ignores them.

Firefighting would give us the opportunity to set games in the modern world with people who, during their off hours, experience much more relatable struggles than your average freedom fighter, super spy, or elite soldier - relationship difficulties, debt, children, and the like.

So what would this game actually look and play like? It would likely be mission-based (calls come in of their own accord, after all), make use of movement and environmental hazards (not unlike a cover-based shooter), and have simple companion-direction mechanics similar to the Mass Effect trilogy or Spec Ops: The Line.

(Alternatively, the action could be dialed down a bit to focus on positioning a la Valkyria Chronicles.)

The gameplay would be focused on keeping your squad alive while saving as many people as possible.

Between missions you hang out at the station, or the bar, or at home - or try to balance all three, a la Catherine. You build relationships, helping your squad perform better together. You never recruit anyone, but your companions, your fellow firefighters, can die in missions, altering the narrative in both tone and content.

tl;dr: Mass Effect 2 meets Rescue Me with some dashes of Catherine

Next!

Narrative-Focused Urban Fantasy RPG/Immersive Sim

How does this not exist yet? Where's our Dresden Files or Hellblazer inspired RPGs? Or even The Magicians or Harry Potter, for that matter?

Where my Chilling Adventures of Sabrina RPG?

There's Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, which, while fantastic, is 13 years old.

While I'm looking forward to Necrobarista, that seems like a pretty tight, focused experience.

We've plenty of games with magicians in fantasy realms or in space - AKA BioWare's entire oeuvre - but few in the AAA space set in the modern world.

Unless you count superhero magicians.

Wait. Did Dr. Strange even get a game? Google suggests no. What’s going on here, videogame industry? Why won’t you suffer a witch to live?!

Honestly, I get to an extent why this is. There's a reason there've been Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse games, but no Mage games, either for Ascension or Awakening. Magic is broad, and often (especially in games) wildly destructive, which can be at odds with a modern setting (or rather what makes a modern setting interesting).

Art by Jason Chan, from Reign of the Exarchs by White Wolf.

But it doesn't have to be.

The flexibility of magic actually allows for a lot of different gameplay styles. You can do straight up first-person action like The Darkness or stealth survival like Last of Us. If I were to adapt Phonogram, a comic I love deeply, you can bet your ass there'd be beatmatch spellcasting.

A lot of gameplay mechanics we take for granted are actually damned-near magical.

Maps that point you where to go and tell you where your enemies are?

Dropping from a second story window without difficulty?

Regenerating health?

Items that make you smarter, stronger, or more likable?

Bullet time?

Rewinding to an earlier point in time to avoid death or a bad decision?

So that's another question a developer has to answer: if magic comes in so many shades, what color is yours? What are you hoping to accomplish?

For me, the presence of magic in the modern world demands a layer of secrecy that implies other layers of secrets. A modern world in which magic functions immediately deepens. What else lurks out there? Where are the other magicians? How are they using their abilities?

Additionally, magic is surreal. Bend and twist reality, and you're forced to look at it from new angles. If you can tweak people's emotional responses to you, how do you know the relationships around you are real?

And that's before you realize your dreams literally might come true - especially the nightmares. Is the face in the mirror a reflection, or something sinister and jealous? Is the ghost haunting you your literal past reaching out to reclaim you?

My dream modern magician game is an open-world immersive sim in an urban setting. Drop Prey, Dishonored, or BioShock style gameplay into a sprawling city filled with physics objects ripe for transmutation and NPCs waiting to be enchanted. Add an otherworld accessed by stepping through mirrors (the entire map within is reversed).

It's about what power can accomplish, what justifies its use, and what its limits are.

Populate the world with a few powerful magician NPCs with their own agendas; dozens of NPCs to chat up, learn more about, seduce, and manipulate; and a threat that could consume reality's very soul if someone doesn't step up to deal with it. Shake. Serve.

tl;dr: Dishonored meets Vampyr by way of Hellblazer and Hellboy

And finally!

Friendship Simulator 2019

My favorite parts of the Persona games and Catherine are the things outside of the core gameplay loops. The bits where you're hanging out with your friends, chatting with them, finding out more about them, and guiding and supporting them (or tearing them down).

Or hiding in the toilet to text your significant other.

One of the things I love about Persona 5: Dancing Star Night in Starlight is that the narrative is almost solely in this mode. It's entirely about learning more about your fellow Phantom Thieves.

Lest you think I uncritically and unabashedly love it, P5D has some major narrative problems - it entirely fails to pay off its initial premise, for example, and there's no persistence to the player choices or (player-driven) reactivity within the narrative.

Nor does the way the player "progresses" the narrative make a tremendous amount of sense within the fiction of the world.

Sorry I got distracted.

Point is, from a narrative perspective it's a game about getting to know people better - literally exploring their lives - and then supporting (or undermining, if you're terrible) them.

Similarly, nothing the player says in Persona (or, for the most part, Catherine) has any impact on the game. The player might progress a Social Link more slowly by being an ass to the protagonists' friends, but they'll still increase that Link over time, provided they put time into it.

And I don't want to be dismissive here. Time management is one of the major ways in which the player engages with the Persona games. Outside of combat and maybe monster-training, it's probably the most important mechanic at play. Taking longer to max out a Social Link means you're missing other content and missing opportunities to increase your stats. Or maybe the Social Link doesn't get completed at all. (Sorry, Haru.) Or maybe you’re not powerful enough to overcome the next Shadow in time and your game ends. Those are non-trivial consequences.

But the story of the Social Link, or the story of the game, will never change based on (the vast majority of) the player's interactions with their buddies.

Despite that, the games give the player a lot of freedom as to when (or whether!) they approach those relationships.

On the other end of the spectrum, Life is Strange (and Before the Storm) does a fantastic job of letting the player get to know the characters around Max (and Chloe) and responding logically to the player's choices.

The kid who has a crush on Max (Warren, I think?) remembers what the player promises him and then responds to whether or not the player follows through on it.

If Chloe plays A Game That Absolutely Involves Neither Dungeons Nor Dragons with her friends, they'll refer to it excitedly later and ask her to join in another round.

The TellTale games are also pretty good at this, especially Wolf Among Us, but that'll take me a bit far afield.

What Life is Strange does not provide the player is any control at all over the flow of the narrative. When the player completes a narrative beat within a scene, they're rushed along to the next scene, which is never one of their choosing. There's plenty of flexibility within the relationships (and within many of the smaller subplots), but little within the game's larger structure.

Ultimately, Persona provides little variability, while Life is Strange provides little narrative control.

I want to make a game that grabs the strong aspects of both of these while jettisoning their weaknesses.

(Far, far easier written than done!)

Basically, I want to make a game focused on the exploration of relationships. Where the personalities are the mysteries to unravel, and the interpersonal relationships between characters the dungeons to be navigated. Where the inner demons are the beasts in need of slaying - not through mystically entering the subconscious and doing battle with the Shadow, but through conversation.

I want a game about building a community, a family, and helping it come to support itself.

I think that one essential change that would make this significantly more doable is discarding the larger threats to the characters, especially those supernatural in nature. The relationships among the cast of Persona 4 are propping for the story of the Midnight Channel Murders. Arcadia Bay's pending apocalypse distracts from the relationships that seem to be the actual core story of Life is Strange.

(I find Before the Storm a stronger narrative than the original Life is Strange in large part because it's not being torn in multiple directions.)

Which isn't to say that there can't be threats, obstacles, and dangers. The world presents all manner of difficulties. Most of them requiring far more challenging and interesting solutions than "stick a sword in it."

That's a lot of abstraction, so what would this game actually look and play like?

Well, as I mentioned above, I think the Persona games, esp. Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 already do a fantastic job of providing the player the framework for exploring a space and approaching relationships at their own pace.

Add into this characters that the player can engage with in order to learn more about them (not unlike Vampyr), help with their problems, and build (or break!) relationships with them or others, and you have something of an open-world interpersonal relationship game.

The narrative of these relationships would change based on the player's actions (both in regard to how they interact with the character and how they deal with (or fail to deal with) the character's problems). So would the player's reputation, which impacts their interactions with other characters.

(The reputation system is actually one of my favorite ideas in Pillars, but I think we sometimes fail to use it to its full potential. I certainly know I do.)

Side note: in this dream game, the relationships I'm describing are not expressed in a systemic way. They're not ranked like Social Links, and they don't have reputation bars like in Dragon Age or Tyranny. It's much more akin to Life is Strange here, with each character containing their own narrative(s) to be navigated.

Over time, you bring some of these characters closer to your protagonist, recruiting a tight-knit circle that helps you face the game's primary conflict. These relationships bounce off of one another. You can never make everyone happy, after all, and some people will never get along. Late game play requires that the player balance these relationships and help forge friendships or avoid catastrophic fallings out.

Yeah, but what is that primary conflict?

Potentially anything the world could throw at a person. A lot of television shows have provided us a framework we can borrow from. Veronica Mars comes immediately to mind. (Or one of my favorite films, Brick.) Then there's Lost, which is overtly about building communities and relationships in order to survive. The Wire is another possibility. (Imagine playing as a Stringer Bell type trying to build a crew while maintaining relationships with rival crews.)

My point being that we already know what these kinds of stories look like. We just have to be brave enough to make a game that's focused around understanding other people rather than shooting them.

tl;dr: Life is Strange meets Persona, minus the strange and the personas

And that’s three glimpses into my brain. Into my dreams.

You may have noticed a few through lines. I'm pretty clearly interested in making games:

Set in the modern day

That tackle modern, realistic (and I use that term extremely loosely) concerns

That are largely non-violent

With non-linear narratives

That involve exploring the lives and feelings of non-player characters

And give those interpersonal relationships systemic narrative bite

Obviously, the projects I've been involved in recently don't check off every one of those boxes on my wishlist. That's generally how it is, if you're making games with other people.

But if you're very, very lucky, you get the opportunity to work on projects that scratch at least one or two of those itches.

I've been very, very lucky.

Cheers, <3 <3 <#

#gamedev #game design #narrative #relationships #persona #catherine #mass effect #life is strange #prey #dishonored #vampyr #necrobarista

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lumionblog-blog · 6 years ago

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From a Spinal Injury to an Independent Design Professional with Lumion

Despite tetraplegia, and use of only one arm, Lumion user Manakit Thawlom is making strides in the professional design world with his renders of modern Thai structures.

While the architecture profession has progressed to be more inclusive and diverse, there are still many barriers to standard CAD software that limit professional opportunities for some people with disabilities.

With the rise of new computer technologies and intuitive 3D architecture software like Lumion, designer Manakit Thawlom is breaking through and helping change that narrative.

One of Manakit’s favorite projects was the stylish DeChiang in Chiang Mai. Rendered in Lumion 8.

Born in Thailand to a family of four, Manakit (also known online as Eakira) was in a car accident in 1996 and suffered a C4 spinal cord injury where he lost the ability to move three of his four limbs. With the love and support of his family and friends, as well as years of physical therapy, Manakit is now producing rendered images and videos with SketchUp and Lumion, showcasing the beauty of modern Thai design while getting a little creative with his personal projects.

“Lumion is really great for disabled users,” said Manakit. “For instance, people with tetraplegia cannot use the mouse like a normal user, and we can’t press multiple buttons simultaneously. [Lumion’s] user interface is easy to use, especially when using a pen mouse and head mouse (I often use the head mouse).”

In this blog post, we sit down with Manakit to discuss his story and how he’s overcoming the obstacles presented by his injury while creating spectacular renders in Lumion.

Overcoming injury through architecture and design

When a car accident in 1996 severely injured his C4 spine and spinal cord, Manakit found himself paralyzed and unable to use both his legs and an arm. Bedridden and faced with a new, very different life, his family gave him the love and support he needed and he was motivated to learn new skills and adapt to the challenges he faced.

Manakit, middle, with his mother and little sister.

Over this period, his passion for learning new things never waned. With a donated computer and a Windows 3.1 operating system, he dived into various software such as MS Word, Adobe Photoshop 5.0, Vegas Pro 9 and Joomla. As he continued building up his skills, Manakit started to work by editing pre-wedding photos.

Later, he would get involved in magazine work as well as architectural 3D compositing and rendering.

“My world was opened again,” he said. “With the income, my little sister and I have built a home for our parents. The house is specially designed for the physically disabled, and I designed it myself.”

You can watch his full story here:

youtube

“I’m proud and happy to be able to support my family and help people around me. ‘We can be disabled but there’s always great things in return.’”

Navigating the 3D architectural design profession

For some of his early 3D architecture projects, Manakit mentioned using “The Sims” to help him flush out design ideas. This program, he said, was refreshingly user-friendly for a person with his injury.

It was around three years ago, however, that Manakit was asked to create a 3D landscape with pictures and video. At this time, he was using SketchUp to realize the project. A year later, Manakit was rendering images using Lumion 5.

“My first impression was ‘Wow!’ It was so easy to use, easy to insert a model and easy to edit. Nevertheless, the lighting and color in Lumion 5 weren’t impressing clients. Fast forward to Lumion 8, I was hired by Lanna Asset and they were impressed by Lumion 8’s performance so they bought a license and a PC for me to work on. That was how I really got to start using Lumion. It’s way more convenient and faster than any other program for both image and video rendering. I can render an image and then a video without reconfiguring many parameters.”

youtube

One of Manakit’s favorite projects was the ‘DeChiang’ project, a housing project in Chiang Mai that serves as a prime example of modern Thai design.

Front view of the DeChiang Housing Project

The parking lot and landscaping

Birds-eye-view of the housing project

Home interior design

Detail of interior

“My workflow usually goes like this. The team I work with will design the building and create a SketchUp model. Next, I edit the materials and group the colors, and use LiveSync for SketchUp to import the model into Lumion. I position the model, composite the trees and landscape, configure the materials and set up the scene and lighting. The last step is to render images and videos (if requested).”

His most challenging project was Paradise Hills, which was a resort located on a hilly slope and surrounded by forests. “The difficulty here was recreating the forest and the landscape to resemble the actual location.”

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Paradise Hills

Manakit’s favorite features in Lumion are ‘LiveSync for SketchUp’ and the ‘Soften Hard Edges,’ while his favorite effects are ‘Sky Light’, ‘Reflections’ and ‘Styles’.

Thai Loft. Project by Tm_Design.

How Lumion Can Empower Designers With Disabilities

Most rendering software is notorious for being out of reach for architects, leaving them with little choice but to outsource or hire a visualization specialist. Lumion, on the other hand, underscores fast rendering with intelligent controls so that every architect can pick it up and start creating beautiful results immediately.

According to Manakit, “I usually talk about Lumion with my disabled friends and my friends that work in the field, and I mention that Lumion is user-friendly, easy to configure and straightforward when arranging models and materials — just like playing The Sims. It’s even more fun when playing around with the lighting and the lighting effects by simply dragging the mouse. It takes only a couple of minutes to edit the lights.”

Manakit with his dual-monitor setup

When it comes to being a designer with tetraplegia, Manakit enjoys how Lumion has shortcuts for many commands. “People with tetraplegia cannot use a mouse like a normal user and cannot press multiple buttons simultaneously,” Manakit said. “The interface is really easy if you are using a pen mouse or a head mouse (I’m using the head mouse). It’s great for disabled users.”

Fast Workflows, Beautiful Results

The idea behind Lumion is this — architects and designers of any background can throw in their 3D model, quickly add materials and context, and tweak a few effects before rendering engaging, beautiful images and videos with jaw-dropping speeds.

While these qualities can help architects and designers to render incredible results themselves, Lumion’s design and intuitive controls also make it the ideal 3D rendering tool for people with disabilities. To learn more about Lumion, visit our What’s New page.

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tiredtoothache · 7 years ago

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Six Month Anniversary!

So today is my six month anniversary on Simblr and I almost forgot about it...how typical...

Wow...I can’t believe I’ve dedicated six months of my life to...well anything...let alone this blog! The fact that I’ve been able to keep up with a schedule and create content (almost) every day for six months is crazy and I’m actually quite proud of myself lol, I tend to just get disinterested by things and move on, but because of the incredible people I’ve met on here, and all the support I get daily, I held on, and here we are!

I know I tell this story time and time again but let’s here it for a fifth (?) time shall we? The full story of how I started this blog...

May 22nd, 2017: I had been watching @lilsimsie‘s videos for a good few months now and I kept hearing her mention the fact that she had a Tumblr where she posted unedited screenshots of her Current Household, so I looked it up, and I was really interested by what I saw. I discovered an entire world of online creators, each so talented in their own right, and decided right then and there that I’d create one.

Now, I had had the blog ‘TiredToothAche’ since maybe sometime in 2016, I’m not sure, but I never used it, and I debated creating another blog with a Sims themed name, but in the end I liked TiredToothAche too much to get rid of it. So I went onto the gallery, downloaded Kayla’s sim Dylan Vanderbilt, tweaked her to my then sim style, created a current household using the ‘new’ Dylan Benson and started uploading unedited pictures of her and her dramatic life.

I took awful screenshots and didn’t know how to edit, and for god's sake I didn’t even use my own sim! But I was enjoying myself...until it got boring. I was sick of my version of Dylan and her now boring life and wanted to create another household.

It was around this time I remember following @femmesim. I was completely in awe of her writing skills, as well as her editing and the sims she created, and I adored the fact that she used the sims to convey a realistic story, it was such an interesting concept to me as I hadn’t seen it been done before then.

So low and behold, I again went onto the Gallery and found two sims, a typical teenage girl and a guy called John Styles. (Around this time I was also interested in starting the NSB challenge and I had made my founder. Realising I couldn’t play it until I got City Living, I made her mum and aunt, and I became so interested in their story and relationship I changed them into toddlers and created their parents, the original John and Kennedy). I tweaked these sims and as it was JFK’s birthday the day I ‘created’ them I incorporated him into the sims names, thus they became known as John and Kennedy Fitzpatrick. I decided I would start a story about the two, and I named it “Love to Death”, stupid ik. I got carried away, and instead of the story starting when they were teenagers, it properly began when they were children, and so started these six months of chaos.

Over time I came out of my shell, started chatting with people here and there and I developed a small amount of editing skills. I learned basic code and after many days eventually changed my theme to one I liked. This is when one of my favourite people in this world @littlemissnellie messaged me. Honestly, it’s one of the best things to ever happen to me. She asked me if she could use the theme I used, and we each helped each other with the coding (bc goddamn it's hard) and that was the beginning of a wonderful friendship. I’m so lucky to call her my friend and I’m so grateful for all she’s done for me in the past couple months I’ve known her. Eleanor is so kind and thoughtful and I can always go to her to obsess over musicals and rant about future plotlines etc...Thanks for being such a wonderful person El, ily ♥

Through her I met Elysia (@whiite-tea) and Molly (@surreysimmer), again, two of the most wonderful people I’ve ever had the pleasure to talk to. We’ve all become so close in such a short amount of time, it’s creepy really, and I know we were just meant to meet each other.

Elysia is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met, she never fails to make me smile or to brighten my day, and even if we don’t talk as much as we’d like to (stupid timezones) I know I can always count on her. Ily Elysia ♥

Molly is generally just incredible. She’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met and she always brightens my day, no matter how shit it has previously been. She gives great advice and I know she’ll always be there when I need to rant or complain. Ily Mols ♥

Amber (@panda-plumbobs) is such a lovely, friendly person. I’m not actually sure how we began talking but I’m so glad we did. She’s always there to lift others spirits and to cheer people up when they're upset, and she always has a witty comment too, which is appreciated lol. She is so funny and just such a kind person. Ily Amber ♥

All my friends are such hard working, diligent, amazing people and I’m so lucky to have them in my life. They’re constantly inspiring me, encouraging me and supporting me and I really appreciate it. You guys are the best, thank you!

I’m going to end this here because it’s a massive post and I bet very few people actually care, but I just want to thank everyone who has followed me, supported me, befriended me, and inspired me over the past six months. I have so many people I want to mention that this post would probably double in size, and so I won’t mention them now, but seriously guys, thank you all so much.

#nonsims #savirohide #six month anniversary #this was a long ass rant wasn't it #sorry don't feel like you have to read it all #its just me gushing over my friends lol whats new #littlemissnellie #femmesim #surreysimmer #whiite-tea #panda-plumbobs #lilsimsie

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12raben · 8 years ago

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Medieval Charter Challenge - Rule Tweak Set for Jobs

First things first:

I want to thank vllygrl for the Medieval Charter Challenge! It is a huge inspiration to me and influenced my gameplay immensely!

Ok, now we can go on.

I read some variations of the BACC and thought: “This makes an aweful lot of sense.” In the MCC careers are unlocked as soon as your community reaches a certain level. In the BACC there are some requirements, the sim and/or the community have to achieve before the sim can join a specific career. Not many sims in my game actually follow a career, so a few more rules are okay with me. ;) I use a set huge pile of mods to make my game as “historical” as posible. If you are interested in the way, I want to incorporate some of them into the rules just read under the cut. :)

(A warning: This post got way longer, than I expected XD )

The mods, I use, which are touched by my additional rules:

Almighty Hat’s G-rated Religion

a cheaty-cheat-object to enter careers whenever you like e.g. simblender or the job notice board

Moghughson’s Postal System for the Sims

Chaavik’s Paint Faster

Cyjon’s Job Stopinator and Edukashun Iz Gud

Simlogical’s Prisoner Set

An item to transfer money e.g. Christanlov’s Wallet Token Controller

Bethgael’s and Morganna’s Defaults for the following Careers:

Criminal

Culinary

Slacker

Athletic

Business

Law Enforcement

Medicine

Military

Politics

Science

Architecture

Dance

Entertainment

Intelligence

Oceanography

Education

Gamer

Law

Music

Natural Science

Paranormal

Showbiz

Custom Careers

Domestic Service by Child_of_Air

Medieval Midwife by pykkadilly

Morganna’s Jacoban Career

Since Morganna’s defaults change some of the careers purposes (e.g. Athletic becomes Knighthood) I made some changes to the MCC-requirements.

My sims usually don’t have to look through newspapers to get a job. I use eighter the sim blender or the job notice board.

Oh, and I have all EPs, so there are some specific requirements, which are only possible with the corresponding EPs.

Ok. Let’s start: Careers, which are unlocked in a

Settlement

The Military

This career is a little special. In the MCC the career is only available for gentry and above. At first this is also the case for my sims.

There are some community requirements too. In order to start a military career, your sim needs a weapon. So there has to be a smith in your community. (It doesn’t matter, whether he is a blacksmith or a goldsmith or specializes in another kind of metal manufacture.)

Life in the military is hard and sometimes dangerous. Soldiers live in Barracks. Spouses and children of soldiers have to live in an own seperate household. The soldier has to send money to their family. Only sims at level 6 of the career or higher live in their own home. A sim, who is level 8 and above needs a fort of any kind. (e.g. a castle, a camp or a watch tower) Only sims in gentry can enter the higher levels of the career (Level 6 and up). I use annual ROS. One of them is resembling war. Once this event has been rolled, all sims can join the military.

There also has to be a “theatre of war”. It can be residential or community lot. I use a residential lot, where my soldiers move, whenever I have a war as a ROS. The soldiers on that lot get a prisoner token, so they are unavailable. The graves of the brave soldiers, who died during the war stay on the lot. Their inventory items may be transferred to their family members. Just royal and the High Constable’s body may be returned to the actual community and rest on the graveyard.

This are the career steps:

Scout

Sentry

Pike(wo)man

Archer

Engineer

Sergeant-at-Arms

(Wo)Man-at-Arms

Castellan

Lieutenant General

High Constable

For every military brass, there have to be a few lower ones to boss around:

Sergeants: 5 soldiers at level 1-5.

Castellan: 2 Sergants

Lieutenant General: 2 Castellans

High Constable: 3 Lieutenant Generals There can only be one High Constable at the time.

I think, that’s it. There are still some more careers available in a settlement.

Careers for Peasants: Level 1-3 and Yeomen: Level 3-10

Cookery (Culinary)

A sim, who wants to work in this career, has to own a tavern, inn or restaurant. (Basically a lot, where sims can eat.) The lot does not have to reach a particular rank, but has to be played at least once a season.

Domestic Service (Cleaning/Service)

If there is a household, which needs a maid (or anything similar) I use Christianlov’s NPC-Controller. You can select an option to pay the NPC. I use this and the career. Sims can only hire sims, who are two ranks below them, but not more than three.

Assuming we have the social status Royal (highest), Noble, Gentry, Merchant, Yeomen and Peasant (lowest), a noble family can hire a maid from the merchant class, but not from peasantry.

Unless the peasant is friends with the patriarch and/or his spouse.

Artist

The sim, who wants to make art for a living, has to sell 10 masterpieces. (I use a mod, which makes sims paint faster, that’s why there are so many.) Or he has to own a shop, where he sells his paintings. Also the sim has to paint a picture of a high ranking sim (gentry or above) and sell this picture to his new patron (give gift interaction, the artist can be payed, but don’t have to be).

Midwife

There had to be at least 2 babys born ingame. Any sim, who attended a birth (as a witness or gave birth him/herself) and has 5 cleaning points, can enter this career.

Careers for Gentry: Level 1-6 and Nobles: 7-10

Knighthood (once custom knight-career, but now default replacement of the athletic-career)

A knight has many qualities. But every sim, who wants to enter this career path has to have 15 skill points. It doesn’t matter which, but they have to add up to 15. Also, they need a sports-outfit, which resembles an armour.

Hamlet

Church (once Science) Another “special” career. To reach level 2 in the MCC (the hamlet) you have to build a church. It makes sense, there is an open spot for one sim, who cares for that church. This is is for the time beeing, the only open spot in the career. The sim has to be a member of the gentry-class (or higher). Every other sim, who enters this career, has to live in a cloistre/monastery. And those are added at MCC-level 3 (Village). His faith and seal level have to be at level 90 or higher. Once they entered the career, their faith/seal don’t matter anymore. (Though it would make sense to keep it high.) The social status is irrelevant in the church. Everyone can climb to the top of that career. Sims in this career may not marry or have any romantic relationships. (If you’re playing with ACR, don’t forget to change the nun’s/monk’s tokens.) They don’t have any personal belongings and can’t be heirs. (And if there is a war, they don’t have to serve at arms.) But at level 6 or higher, there are some more things needed. Every cellarer needs (obviously) a cellar, meaning if your cloistre dosen’t have one, there can’t be a cellarer. All levels above (7 - 10) have one open position per “church-lot”. In the MCC, there are 4 (church, cloistre, monastry and cathedral) meaning there are 16 open slots at the end of the MCC. And there can be as many Novices, Brothers and Sisters as you like. :)

for Peasants and Yeomen: Level 1-6 and Yeomen: Level 1-10

Criminal I think, a sim, who becomes a criminal, is a bit desperate. If you want your sim to get into this career his funds have to be below 100 simoleans for two days. Also his religion either allows theft or his faith and/or seal drops below 40.

Law Enforcement This career is open, when there have been 3 burglaries (regardless of outcome) and a prison has been built. The first sim, who enters this career, has to run the prison. The family of this sim may live on the same lot. When the sim, who runs the prison dies, eighter his heir continues the “business” or a new prison guard moves in.

Artificer (once Gamer) This default changes the the whole purpose of the career. Instead of a sim, who plays games for money, you get one, who is a skilled craftsman. To enter this career, the sim has to own a shop with rank 5 or higher. He also has to max his tinkering-enthusiasm. In his shop has to be a object, where he can draw plans (e.g. easel or drafting board)

Careers for Gentry: Level 1-6 and Nobles: 7-10

Adventure Most of the adventure career matches a historical game... Well at least the job titles. The space pirate (top of the career) might just be a legendary hero (like Sinbad or Hercules) To make provit of adventures, he has to own a shop, where he can sell his loot. (Can be a home business, but has to be played once a season.) And the sim has to have at least a little experience. He either visited a vacation destination and stayed there at least 4 days or has earned 8 vacation memories. (There are some, which can be earned at objects like the tea table and axe throwing taget.) Also the sim has to make a vacation once a year.

Clandestine (once Intelligence) This career opens, when another sim reaches the top of the criminal, law enforcement or military career. When a king is crowned, the career also opens. The spy has to have 5 logic- and 5 charisma-points too.

Education Another special one. The MCC states:

Peasant and Yeoman children may not attend school. Use Simlogical’s Flexi School or other hack to avoid the Maxis school.

Merchant and Gentry children and teens may attend a convent or monastery school, set this up in your community using Simlogical’s School Hacks or use the Maxis school.

Nobility and Royalty children and teens will be tutored at home and may attend college.

[...]

Only Gentry and Nobility teens may attend Colleges, and their parents must pay $40,000 tuition.

In my game education is expensive. Only sims with a certain amount can attend a school and university. (It also restricts the number of children in one household, because some families will have enough money for their heir, but the 5th son, might leave the house uneducated.) All students have to pay a fee to the owner of the school. The college tuition stays the same.

Merchant: 200 simoleans

Gentry: 300 simoleans

Noblility: 500 simoleans

Parents pay the fees, so their children get the best education possible... or at least worth their money. Diffrent fees mean diffrent schools.

Running three schools would require too many sims in the education career for my taste. That’s why I’m planning “just” two. Of course you could have more or less, if you like. One for the blue-blooded (gentry and noblility) and one for the merchants. I set up schools on community lots. A detailed tutorial on how to do that, you can find here. (Thank you, silivrin!) Who can set up a school? The merchant school can be run by anyone, who is merchant or above. The principal of the school for gentry and/or noblility has to be gentry or above. Other than that anyone with the money, which is needed to own a community lot school can enter the education career. The school doesn’t have to be played regularly, but it is nice to see the little ones struggling with their homework <3 (Visiting the school with sims, who are not students, is of course not allowed. Unless they are their parents or something similar.)

The levels of the career are restricted. Teaching merchant children opens level 1 - 5. If you want to teach gentry and above, your sim will also have to have the skills for level 6 of the career. This sim can climb only 1 level.

Level 8 - 10 are only available, when there is a university in your hood. It is open for all sims of the gentry class and above, who also have a diploma.

There can be only one sim with Level 10 (Rector of the University) per university.

I might add some things to this career, because I don’t have a university yet. I need to do some playtesting...

Village

Journalism or Carrier Just do, as I do, ignore the default job descriptions... In my game this career is for town criers and carriers. One sim in your neighborhood has to own a shop, where you can buy books or magazins or anything decorative like paper, scrolls and feathers... (or Moghughson’s Greetings Cards). The sim, who owns the shop, can also join this career. A sim, who spreads news, needs something to report. If there were 5 fires, 3 burglaries or 7 sim-deaths during 1 season, the career is open for everyone. (But I think, nobles won’t be attracted by it...)

Free Mason (Architecture) Again a default changes the career quite a lot. An art degree to be a Treadmill Walker is a little exaggerated, right? All levels are open for peasantry and yeomanry. But gentry and above wouldn’t work at the lower levels of this career. They can be Master Designer (level 8) and above, if they have the neccessary skills. There can be only one “Surveyor of the King's/Queen's Works” (top of career), if there is a king/queen. There can be only one Surveyor at the time.

Business I restrict this career to merchants. Since they are the the class, who is takin’ care of business, it’s their domain. Once the merchant owns a community lot, he can enter the career, but he has to visit his shop at least once a season. Only sims with a level 10 business can become a Merchant Prince(ss) (Top of the career)

for Peasants and Yeomen: Level 1-6 and Yeomen: Level 1-10

Slacker The sim can become a slacker, when there are 3 community-lots for entertainment. They don’t have to be owned by a sim. Also this work-seeking sim doesn’t really want to work. (He is a Slacker, remember?) So, you either take up the newspaper/switch on the computer take a look in the magical book stand and search for a job vanilla style. If you are lucky there is an open spot. Or you use a dice to randomize the success of their job research. (I use the second method for illiterate sims. D(10) if the dice shows a 1 they get the job.)

Wizardry (Paranormal) This default is just perfect :) I love playing witches and warlocks. This career is exclusive. No “normal” sim can enter this career. Other paranormal sims like werewolves and plantsims need to be witches too. But wait there is more: the witch/warlock has to be friends with one of the head witches and visited them on their lot at least once. (This reminds me, I’ll have to makeover the secret lots. EA, why you make so ugly lots??)

Scientia (Natural Science) The default changes this career in a way, which makes me think of alchemy. So, if the sim wants to enter this career, he has to max cooking-hobby-enthusiasm. He also needs a “lab”. It can be a small room or shed in the sim’s home. Decorate it with furniture and sculptures according to a theme worth 2500 simoleans (or more).

Ministrel (Music) The career is open for any sim, who successfully earned money at a community lot, while playing a music instrument. By “successfully” I mean the “happy animation” (where the sim shakes the jar and giggles). He has to do that every day for one season.

Medical A sim, who wants to be a physician, needs a “doctor's office”. It has to be a shop, where sims can purchase anything, which is beneficial for their health. (e.g. they sell potions or comfort soup, offer massages or both or anything, you can think of) The shop has to reach level 5 before entering the career and has to be played at least once a season after.

Careers for Gentry: Level 1-6 and Nobles: 7-10

Politics A town hall is needed to open this career. (Can be owned by a sim, but doesn’t have to.) If there are some sims, who want to rule and make their house the greatest of them all, this career opens. Meaning: You have to have three or more families, who are gentry or above.

Law Nepheris described it perfectly:

“Wherever more than two Sims are gathered, there are bound to be conflicts. Your Sim has a special talent for negotiating conflict and finding their way in the complex jungle of legal matter, and has offered their services to help keep the peace in town. Requirements: [...] To enter the career this way, a Sim needs to have studied Couples Counselling. The career is unlocked for everyone with a University degree [...]”

Town

Courtier (Show Business) At first I thought: “Hm, considering the default description, this career should be for nobles only.” But wouldn’t it be interesting to see a peasant infiltrate the court? A sim, who wants to enter this career, has to be friends with eighter the king/queen, or with 3 members of the noble class. Level 7 and above however, are limited to gentry/nobility/royalty. But(!) to reach the top of the career (King's Companion/Queen's Confidante) you have to be BFFs with the ruler of your kingdom. If the friendship ends (e.g. the monarch died) you have to demote the sim to Level 9.

Maritime (Oceanography) Another “complicated” one... In order to complete the MCC, you have to build a Harbor & Docks for Trade Ships. This is needed to unlock this career. All sims, even those poor as dirt, may climb up to level 6 (Navigator). But then, they need more. What is a captain without a ship? Have your sim buy an “imaginary” ship for 8.000 simoleans. (e.g. neighborhood decoration). (Maybe, just maybe, I’m going to have one of my captains actually live on a ship. (He/She won’t have to pay the 8.000.) This would be the sim, who takes my sims to vacation areas. Or this job will do a placeholder-sim, even though I don’t really like to have more, than I really need. I’m going to figure that out...) Level 8 and up are only for gentry and above.

for Peasants and Yeomen: Level 1-6 and Yeomen: Level 1-10

Dance In order to reach the town-level, you have to build a music venue. That will do. But your sim has to build his enthusiasms for dancing until the sim can teach dancing to others. The sim also has to have 5 body skill points.

Careers for Gentry: Level 1-6 and Nobles: 7-10

Jacoban Career In my game the religion of the watcher is the most popular. Morganna’s custom career fits this spot perfectly. Once you built your cathedral, this career is open, but has some of the restrictions of the church career. They have to live in a cloistre/monastery. The faith and seal level have to be at level 90 or higher. And this career is only for gentry and above. True jacobanians (is that the word?) don’t marry or have romantic relationships. (Don’t forget ACR ;) ) They can have personal belongings and can be heirs and also can serve at arms, if it’s needed. e.g. the original heir died (I plan on building a apartment-lot for these sims.) When they become heirs, they have to appoint an heir, since they won’t have children of their own. (I think, I makes sense to choose the sim with the closest social status and highest relationship.) The Proxy is the top of the career. There can be only one.

This took waaaaay longer, than I thought. Please note: It’s a wip. As I’m playing the game, I’m always discover things, I want to do or change or... it is a big bunch of ideas, let’s phrase it like this XD

Thank you for your attention and your patience, while reading this block of text.

:D Happy Simming!

#sims #sims 2 #sims 2 medieval #mcc

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potentiality-26 · 8 years ago

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What I’m Writing

Do Dis: List all the things you’re currently working on in as much or little detail as you’d like, then tag some friends to see what they’re working on. This can be writing, art, vids, gifsets, whatever.

I was tagged by @zombiisheep! I’ve had to tweak the formula somewhat to fit my particular process.

Tagging: I feel like most people have either already done this or been just tagged, but if you’re reading this and you want to do it, do it and tag me so I can see! I will tag @futuredescending, though, mainly for expressing an interest in some of the fics that I list here.

(I put it under a read more because wow, it got long. All the fics are for Kingsman, most are Hartwin but some not)

Fics I’m Actually Writing Editing/Reworking Now

- The Hartwin fic I previewed in my latest Sunday Six. As you could probably tell from that, it involves Eggsy waking up in the hospital wing with Harry at his side and thinking he must be hallucinating, but I think I’ve done a fun twist on it. Both amnesia and possible time travel are involved. It’s already jossed by the trailer, but such is life. Posted!

- A short(ish) fic also jossed by the trailer. I wondered what (if anything) Merlin and/or Roxy might have done to keep the other Kingsman agents from doing what Harry did when Valentine turned the SIM cards on. I came up with the idea of Amelia being assigned to get as many of them as possible somewhere safe, and discovering that Harry isn’t dead in the process. It’s mainly focused on the interactions between her and Harry (and the other Kingsman), but there’s Amelia/Roxy (Roxelia?) and Hartwin in the background. Posted!

- A companion to the above that picks up in Eggsy’s POV where the previous fic left off. Mainly Hartwin with a side-order of Eggsy + Roxy friendship. It’s shorter than I want it to be right now, so further shippy stuff might happen. Maybe a little Merlin/Tilde? Who knows. Posted! (Also two more originally unplanned sequels here and here, one from Harry’s POV and the other from Roxy’s.)

Fics That I’m Returning To Soon Making Slow But Sure Progress On

Note: if anyone reading this sees a fic (or two or five) that they would desperately like to see ASAP, please feel free to say so and I’ll try to put on a little more steam!

- A superpowers AU. Pretty much every character has powers and appears in this fic, but the core group all live in a mansion together and work as private investigators. It’s Merlin’s POV, but he’s a telepath with boundary issues so there’s quite a bit of Hartwin, Roxelle, and Percilot going on in the background. Some Jamal/Ryan/Tilde also seems to be happening?

- A Merhartwin(ish) fic. In it Merlin is aro and he and Harry have a friends with benefits thing going on that really works for them. The fic is mainly about the three of them figuring how Eggsy now fits into it. It’s been tricky to make sure it isn’t too Hartwin + 1, but I really relate to Merlin in this fic so I think I can do him justice.

- A Hartwin Angel Eggsy/Demon Harry AU that I actually started work on before Hope and Good Intentions, but it got stalled. Hopefully I’ll figure out where I’m going with it soon.

- A Hartwin fic where Harry is the writer of a successful series of spy novels and he’s receiving threats. Eggsy gets hired as his bodyguard and would you believe it they fall in love. There’s a twist here but I don’t want to spoil it (how I will tag the story without spoiling it I do not currently know).

- A Hartwin (+ Roxlin) regency AU. Harry is a gentleman and war hero who takes Eggsy and his mother and sister under his wing. It’s not based on any specific story from that period but the vibe is there, lots of slow burn and misunderstandings. Also gay marriage is totes a thing in this universe because what is the genre without overwrought marriage proposals?

- A Hartwin fic based on the Star Trek: Voyager episode Shattered. Different parts of Kingsman HQ are locked in different time periods. Eggsy has to find a way to fix it, and he teams up with a version of Harry who is roughly his age and also another Galahad from the future.

- A young Merlahad fic where Merlin is a scientist working for a potentially evil organization. Harry is hired as his new muscle, but there’s more to him than meets the eye.

- A Harry/Roxy (Harroxy?) marriage of convenience fic. Harry needs a wife for Reasons. He and Roxy get hitched and find it works for them. Posted!

- An A/B/O AU with Harry/Eggsy/Merlin/Roxy (I know right?). It’s alpha!Roxy’s POV because I always see people talking about the cool potential of lady alphas in this trope but I’ve never actually read a fic about one. There’s lots of everyone figuring out their individual relationships and also how they work together as a group.

- A Merwin-to-Merhartwin fic. This is really just me trying to work through my hangups about Merwin in fic form, and though they’re both really crazy about Harry the story is largely about them figuring things out together while Harry’s busy being... like... Catholic (it makes sense in the fic).

Fics That I Keep Putting Off

Note: some of these are actually closer to finished than the ones above, but I’m just not feeling the mojo for whatever reason so they’re stalled. Do feel free to poke me about any one of them too though.

- A 5 + 1 style Hartwin fic about the many times Harry and Eggsy get mistaken for a couple before they actually are. I ended up putting a ton of my dog test angst and like all the PTSD in it, so it’s way less fluffy than that summary makes it sound. There’s also some D/s. IDEK.

- A Hartwin magical realism AU where everyone has a fairy godparent who gives them a “gift” at some point in their lives. That background is really just window dressing in a fic that’s mainly about Harry being a virgin. Don’t ask me why that happened.

- An established Merlahad fic about Merlin coming to terms with losing Harry and then finding him again. It’s also jossed by the trailer but maybe it doesn’t have to be? I don’t know. I’ve mainly been putting off finishing it because I have some scenes written for a Merhartwin sequel to it, and in a perfect world I’d like to know where I was going with that before I took this one any further.

- A Harroxy fic about Harry and Roxy being regular mission partners and eventually more than that. It’s planned as part of a larger Harry/Eggsy/Roxy OT3 series, and therefore slow going.

- A Hartwin Cinderella AU set in the Jupiter Ascending universe. That makes sense in my head. I also have a Gazelde The Little Mermaid sequel in mind, a Sleeping Beauty one with Eggsy and Gazelle being BFFs and saving their respective spouses, and a Beauty and the Beast one maybe with Roxlin.

- A Hartwin soulmate AU? Actually I’ve got three different Hartwin soulmate AUs. One of them is like my soulmate magnum opus that starts before the first movie and then goes through it and changes the events quite a bit. I’m thinking I’ll save it until after TGC because a) it’ll probably take that long to finish it anyway and b) since the plot of TSS is tweaked by it anyway, I could carry that through to the second movie and use it as a fix-it if necessary. The other two are shorter, one set in the same universe as my James Bond fic Heartlines, and the other featuring amnesiac Harry posted here.

- Even more amnesiac Harry and/or time travel Hartwin fics. I’m going to try to focus on just one or two of each, but I really can’t decide which. I won’t go into detail about every single one since this is already so long, but feel free to ask for more info if you’re curious. I’m always happy to cry about all my WIPs.

- Two D/s AU fics, one Hartwin and one Merhartwin. The first is classic dom Harry/sub Eggsy and largely mission related. The other has switch Merlin, sub Harry, and dom Eggsy; it has quite a bit of pining Merlin, but in the end it’s very smutty. I’m going to try to focus my energy on just one, but I haven’t decided which.

I’ve also got a ton of shorter stories in the works, some sequels, and even more long WIPs, but these are the big ones I’m mainly hoping to get done with before we’re all old.

#my fic #writing #meme #kingsman #hartwin #roxelle #merhartwin #harroxy #merlahad #some other pairs too!

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plufim · 8 years ago

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E3 2017 predictions

E3 predictions

In general these come from my thoughts, but also include ideas I’ve heard floated around the web which I completely agree with. Avoiding the already announced/leaked stuff, since that’s not fun!

I’ve sort predictions for all main presentations into 3 different categories based on likelihood (“Lock it in, Reggie” (very confident), “50/50” and “swinging for the fences” (super unlikely but I gotta go all in)). Also, because I’m Connell, this skews Nintendo, but I do have thoughts on everyone! And almost entirely positive ones!

These are in order of the presentation times, hence Nintendo being last. Oh, and a shadow drop is an unannounced game or feature being available for download immediately.

General Predictions/Trends:

- One final push for remastered collections.

- The PC gaming show will be a shit-show again.

- After “Seven Nation Army” did so well for the Battlefield 1 trailer, at LEAST 3 other trailers will use a contemporary song for a game set in another time.

EA:

Lock it in, Reggie:

- Need for Speed will have a Cops vs Racers mode. Because it is always the best thing. Shutting down fools for daring to turn MY roads into a race track is always the best.

- FIFA presentation will not mention the Switch version at all. Info will only be turned up at the show floor, with 2-3 units available. There will be a very simple token minigame so they can justify it as being “built for switch”, but it is 99% the PS3/360 version.

50/50:

- Mass Effect 1-3 Remastered collection, for PS4 and Xbox one. Designed to win back trust from gamers who were burned hard by Andromeda, which really damaged the brand. This leads to my further prediction (not for this though) that ME5 then connects both stories together, where the Andromeda crew find a device that allows them to send a message with information back in time to Shephards brain and bam, you’re playing with the character’s people liked again.

- Sim City. It’s been long enough since the last Sim City, which was disastrous. Time for EA to show they learned from their mistakes and can take on city: skylines

Singing for the fences:

- Mass Effect Trilogy also for the Switch. Despite the only support being a terrible FIFA game thus far, the actual sales of the system will be seen as an opportunity… to sell old games again with very little extra work. Perhaps some token amiibo functionality in the character creator.

Microsoft:

Obviously, this will be all about Scorpio. Every game will make a point to include something about how the Scorpio version is enhanced. Also apologies, don’t really have much

Lock it in, Reggie:

- Forza 5.

- Scorpio will have VR featured heavily

50/50:

- Scorpio’s final name will be: Xbox Scorpio. Microsoft is done with numbers.

50/50:

- It will be revealed that Scorpio, unlike PS4Pro, will have games exclusive to it.

Swinging for the fences:

- Crackdown demo shadow drop

- Exclusive John Wick videogame for scorpio

- BATTLETOADS

Bethesda:

Lock it in, Reggie:

- Wolfenstein Titan(?) official reveal.

- Prey DLC chapters.

50/50:

- Switch Skyrim has Zelda content in it. Because why else would someone pay $60 US for this game for a third time?

- Elder Scrolls VI revealed. Will feature at least 2 of the regions. Possibly Elsweyr and Valenwood

Swinging for the fences:

- Elder Scrolls finally bring back the Dwemer, either by reviving them or setting it in the distant past.

Ubisoft:

So… most of this conference is already leaked, but still…. Uh… hm. Well here’s a few somethings.

Lock it in, Reggie:

- Rabbids/Mario will have a CG teaser. Gameplay saved for Nintendo.

50/50:

- On stage reveal for Farcry will include not only making fun of the people who got so angry that the villians are a white Christian cult, but there will be an embarrassing on-stage play where people pretend to be storming the stage to protest the treatment of horrible people.

Swinging for the fences:

- A switch exclusive Assassin’s Creed side-story, much like they did for Vita around Assassin’s Creed 3.

- Rabbids/Mario features a cover of “All Star”, covered by Rabbids themselves, because this game will be drowning in memes. And I will hate this while secretly loving this.

Sony:

Lock it in, Reggie:

- Sony saves IO interactive, Hitman 2 will be PS4 exclusive. Microsoft SHOULD do this, but… this feels more like a Sony move.

- MASSIVE Spiderman blowout, including a lot of show floor stuff. Playable demo. No tie in to the movie, but instead a new story with Goblin and the sinister 6 as the villians. And there’ll be some shitty day 1 pre-order crap, probably involving a Black Cat side story. F4 will cameo, but play no major roles – however Insomniac will be building a shared games universe. Yes, even with the Squaresoft stuff.

- Bloodborne 2. It will happen.

50/50:

- A real, honest to god Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer, with worlds revealed, including Moana and Frozen.

- Shenmue 1+2 Remastered announced. With Shenmue 3 delayed (and that having been inevitable for some time), this would be a smart move to capitalise on the clear demand for more Ryo.

- Another Last of Us Part 2 teaser, but no gameplay yet.

- English Dragon Quest XI release date, mid 2018.

- Red Dead 2 trailer, first with actual gameplay. I also think this will reveal that Zelda-like free climbing is being implemented.

Swinging for the fences:

- The vita returns as a phone. The switch has shown portable games are still viable, vita has some life in Asian territories, and Sony want to keep the remote play train going. Destined to still fail? Probably! But let’s not let reality kill HYPE.

- Last of Us Part 2 prelude chapter available now, for free. One hour of set up, basically a demo. But that’s what they do to get the kids excited.

- Spyro Trilogy remastered. Activision gotta do something with the guy.

- Red Dead 2 trailer showcases a train heist. I LOVE train heists.

Nintendo:

In general, there won’t be much or any 3DS. They’re getting a lot of that out of the way this week already.

Lock it in, Reggie:

- Xenoblade 2 is not delayed, December 2018. Playable on show floor.

- Mario Odyssey for October 2017. Massive show floor presence.

- Mario Kart DLC, same format as for WiiU – 2 packs of tracks, but this time it’s 8 racing and 2 battle tracks, as well as 3 characters and karts each. A shadow drop of the ability to buy the

- Zelda DLC part 1 shadow drop. Teaser for the rest of the DLC.

- Picross Switch, available now. Not Picross 3D though, they’ll hold off on that.

- Rabbids/Mario gameplay demo

- Dragon Quest XI for Switch officially announced

- Everyone on stage will wear goofy hats because of Mario Odyssey, because hats is a big thing in that game. Hats will grant abilities.

- Splatoon 2 test fire round 2 will be announced to begin the next weekend, with significant tweaks.

- New ARMs content announced, with new ARMs avaialable immediately and

50/50:

- Massive update to switch UI, shadow dropped. Includes multiple UI styles, with Badge arcade built in for further customisation, folders, linking to old Nintendo friends lists, musical themes. Further themes will be on eshop going forward, like 3DS. And finally, this also includes the new online system, hence the new details revealed about it last week.

- Animal Crossing Switch. Early 2018, with much improved social features. Massive amiibo functionality, much like New Leaf now has. It’ll have a new hook, not sure what though. My guess is some Sim City style mayoral stuff like setting up and supplying utilities.

- Warioware Switch, holiday 2017. It’s been a while for the Rhythm Heaven/Warioware team. I NEED THIS ONE NINTENDO.

- Smash Brothers 4 Switch, Q2 2018, rereleased with the best levels from the WiiU and 3DS levels, plus an expanded single player mode. It’s just too crowded for this game yet, but they don’t need to hold off for too long, because it’ll be an evergreen. There will be a teaser though, starring Inklings, Ice Climbers and Spring Man.

- Mario Maker Switch for Q1 2018. It can’t release this year, it needs space away from Mario Odyssey. The game will include a new “switch” block which when hit in game alternates the game style. There will also be playable Mario, Luigi, Peach and Toad for each game type, each with different styles, and a different switch block or pipe that changes your character mid-level.

- Skyward Sword HD for switch, with optional non-motion controls for boring people. Q2 2018.

- Partnership with Activision to make an Amiibo action game. You might think this is a swing for the fence, but: Toys for Bob is out of a gig right now. And this would sell better than any recent Skylanders game. Activision would release special versions of select characters, so they can get their cut from the toy sales.

- Donkey Kong Country Returns 3, Q1 2018, by Monster Games. They’ve been quiet for a while, they ported Returns to 3DS, they assisted Retro on Tropical Freeze, this is what they’ve been working towards.

- Dead Cells announced for Switch.

- Layton Collection announced… for phone. Lady Layton western release date.

- Retro’s game. And it’s NOT Metroid, but a sci-fi Western RPG.

- This is a long shot, but T2 is relatively impressed by the switch, so: GTA5 for Switch. With a chunk of the DLC included.

- Switch Sports, holiday 2017. The return of the king. All the games as released for WiiU, plus a few from Wii Sports resort (airplane), with additional modes for each sport. I do have a “swinging for the fence” on this though…

Swinging for the fences:

- …Wuhu World. Remember Pilotwings 64? Where Little USA was a huge island with different activities, sights to see, and so on? Well, take Wuhu Island, scoot up the detail and resolution, include the small surrounding golf islands, and add a few other themed islands the same size as Wuhu (snow island, city island, etc). It’s a free game where you get the islands and one activity per island, and can walk/drive around each island. Dotted around each is various locations that count as home bases for various sports/vehicles from Wii Sports, Pilotwings and some new items. Each of these is paid, and comes with various different modes and missions. This could be further expanded over time, and allows Nintendo to make money from series that could no longer be sold alone.

- Mario Kart DLC includes mission mode, which is available day 1 with missions on existing courses and expands with the DLC.

- New 2D Metroid by a small team from within Retro. There is a 3D game teased to be in the works also, but not from Retro.

- Splatoon 2 Octoling content and Amiibo, including Octoling mascots. I need this, Nintendo.

- EXCITE. TRUCK. 2.

- Nintendo Pinball. Remember Pokemon Pinball? And Metroid Prime Pinball? That but across multiple Nintendo series.

- Sonic and Mario All Stars Racing Transformed. Sumo has to have been making something aside from Snake Pass, and Sonic Racing 2 sold extremely well on the switch.

- Assault Android Cactus Deluxe for Switch. I believe in you Tim! Even if you aren’t even attempting this!

#oh my god can i sleep now

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barbosaasouza · 4 years ago

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Review: PGA Tour 2K21 (Nintendo Switch)

If you’re looking to hit the virtual links, PGA Tour 2K21 mostly delivers. Despite some unfortunate bugs, this title still offers addictive fun.

While the Nintendo Switch is home to some great arcade and non-traditional golf games, PGA Tour 2K21 is the rare simulation on the hybrid console. I’ve been a series fan since PGA Tour 96 (on 3DO), even if my golf experiences on the last few Nintendo systems have been via Wii Sports or with Mario teeing off. Thankfully, this latest PGA entry takes me back while still moving forward.

True, it’s missing some of the features I remember, like practicing any hole and gimmes. The course fly-bys too, although those may be a relic of mid-’90s TV-style presentations. But it also has some of my favorite courses like TPC River Highlands in Connecticut, and TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas. The former has beautiful views overlooking the CT River and a famously tough final hole with a narrow fairway flanked by bunkers. The latter, a stadium course with great mountain views, has the desert looking better than ever.

All told, you can choose from 15 available (and quite diverse) courses. The 11 Pros are slightly lower than I would have expected, but it’s the course count that will keep you busy. You can even tweak settings for the time of day and weather in local matches, though competing against pros is TOUR play only.

Want an even higher course count? You can design your own, which is both an overwhelming and exciting thought. I’ve only dabbled in this, so I can’t comment much beyond my intrigue. But I appreciate how the options are separated by layout, terrain, and theme to start. I may never fully dive into land sculpting, but it’s there should I ever choose to give the game extra legs. PGA 2K21 is for those who’ve always wanted to consult on course transformations.

I’m getting ahead of myself anyway because there are features that will attract your attention early. MYPLAYER might be a grammatically challenged mode, but its customization options are deep. Some may be for naught though, as a pair of shades hide my crow’s feet. Nonetheless, I appreciate the feature as I’ve taken digital Trev into the Career Mode.

Advancing past pros may seem intimidating to less seasoned players, but helpful tutorials teach how to start and improve play. I admit the user interface could be faster and friendlier – it’s a bit overly complicated trying to fine-tune with precision – but practice makes perfect. The opening tutorial will get you ready to start your career, as you aim to become the FedExCup Champion. As you grow as a golfer throughout the season, you’ll attract rivals and contract sponsors.

In between, why not check out the online community? None of my friends own this game, so I was unable to set up a private match. Which is a shame, as playing with strangers essentially means going against existing leaderboard scores as I couldn’t find anyone online for head to head. It’s not a quick process, and I haven’t been able to find a way of learning the difficulty setting before joining. So I doubt I’ll be going online much. All the same, I’m creating a casual online society, Purely Trev’s Club, with no membership fee, so Pure Nintendo amateur golfers, look me up.

As you gain experience, you’ll appreciate how you can adjust the skill level. There’s a fair amount of choice in how you can do this. For instance, as someone used to the classic 3-click swing meter, some of these modern alterations – flicking the Joy-Con sticks – aren’t superior. But, even tweaking them to more forgiving settings, I’ve still ensured a good challenge by upping CPU difficulty, boosting wind, disabling Pro Vision settings, etc. These nuances help make learning each course oh so satisfying, while also raising XP for bragging rights. They also keep the continual temptation of the risk-reward element (trying to reach a Par 5 green in two, for instance) tempered by the desire for pinpoint accuracy.

Now it’s time to talk about the presentation, which is a mixed bag. The audio side is mostly well done, with ambient effects, occasional music, and commentary that grows on you. Only the voice of John McCarthy suffers, often being too soft to hear against the play-by-play and analyst commentators. He does fare better during local matches.

Visually, PGA Tour 2K21 can look quite lovely at times. But there are inconsistencies with lighting, and shadows move like time-lapse photography. Cutscenes have some stutter. Sometimes golfers will appear completely black like Shadow Link. Such variances remind me I’m playing on Switch, usually in handheld mode.

The biggest audio-visual blunder in my mind is the lack of crowds. You’ll see the clubhouse, gallery seats, cars, etc. But it’s all empty; there isn’t even any crowd audio to add insult to injury. I can grant a pass to the lack of visual crowds as a Switch sacrifice, but the lack of audio too? Unacceptable when I was spoiled by it 25 years ago. I must rightly call out such a choice as a triple bogey move.

Most other complaints are less significant. The number of legalese pages gives a poor first impression, but you won’t see them after the first day. While an actual game can be slow to start, once you’re ready to tee off, the game moves at a good pace. Seeing Ian Poulter more than Justin Thomas (the cover star) is odd, but more of a comical curiosity than anything. Not being able to record footage is a bummer, but you can save replays. Occasionally, replays freeze on a character’s face, so the shot isn’t viewable, but repeat viewings let you decide the angles. Spending up to $49.99 to buy in-game currency is eye-rolling, but easily ignored. Not having a physical version on day one is a mistake, but it’s arriving (better late than never) in September.

One complaint that’s not the least bit minor is the game closing “because an error occurred.” If it only happened once, I could chalk it up to the odd instance, but it’s not a solo situation by any means. So be warned, the bugs in PGA Tour 2K21 aren’t limited to aesthetics alone.

All the same, PGA Tour 2K21 presents many rewarding moments: having a rough start, only to rally on the backside for victory; learning I won a count-back to break my first-place tie; changing from Stoke to Match play so that a crummy couple holes that (under other conditions) would end my game let me remain competitive. And many more that space won’t allow me to mention.

As someone unlikely to play most of these courses in real-life, I relish the chance to visit them in video-game form. From driving off the tee, reading the green, and everything in between, this title offers a lot in spite of itself. If you’re someone who enjoys golf sims, please don’t let some careless glitches prevent you from checking out PGA Tour 2K21 on the Nintendo Switch. With practice, even a real-life duffer like myself can rack up his share of eagles

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