#u can like the game ofc but INNOVATIVE GAMEPLAY ????

[lanaevyssmoved]

steam users are you Okay

[nocturnalazure]

heyy i think studying the trend of ts4 stories editing style will really help you improve your visuals. I know that picking an aesthetic is a choice & i honestly think you should stick to what you like instead of following the mainstream but popular stories are popular for a reason & you might engage more readers by following their storytelling formats (ex: using captions instead of text bubble, using different reshade/gshade based on the mood of the scene, show your sims moodlets, etc.) but ofc popularity isn’t everything and you have loyal readers already so i’m just gonna root for you & wish u good luck❤️

Hi anon, and thank you for your message and recommendation!

I hear you and you're surely right about what is popular, but I see how most TS4 players do their storytelling, and I personally find those visuals rather standard and uninspiring. I believe the word that you used is key: it is a trend. Which means, for one, that it can be a temporary thing, but above all, that it isn't necessarily an improvement.

Typically, captions. There is a reason why speech bubbles or their equivalents are widely used in comics and graphic novels: they are easy to understand at a glance for the reader, and versatile enough for the author to convey the proper tone. Captions hamper creativity and readability, imho.

I do like the effect of Reshade or Gshade or other -shades. I tried installing it, wasted a whole day, failed, was disappointed, uninstalled it and never touched it again. And then I thought: I spend a lot of time selecting my decor and background. I want them to be visible, not blurred. I want the details to be seen in their entirety. It's true that blurry backgrounds and dreamy filters make for pretty, atmospheric pictures. But do I want my story to be atmospheric? No, that's not my purpose. I want my story to be emotional, gripping, interesting. I'd like the reader to focus on the dialogues, the characters' face, the actual content of the story, not the feel of it. To me, visuals enhance a story when they explain by themselves who the character is and what they think. They don't need to be sophisticated to do that.

(Not to mention that Reshade is capable of putting a strain on my computer and I don't want it to overheat. The game already crashes enough as it is.)

I know it's just an idea among others, but showing moodlets is not something I will ever do because I don't do gameplay. I just tell a story using the Sims 3 as a medium. Many of those popular trends do not apply to my style, in fact.

If anything, I'd like my story to be read like a manga, not watched like a Netflix series. My stubborn use of speech bubbles and detailed backgrounds is what makes me different, and maybe that doesn't coincide with popular.

Because in the end, "popular" is just that: defined by prevalence but bearing no guarantee as to quality or innovation.

I thank you for rooting for me and thank you again for taking the time to send me a message, because somehow my head is clearer now about what I want and do not want for my story. I have no idea whether or not my visuals are globally appealing to other people, but *I* like them as they are. I'm willing improve technically, if I believe it will bring something essential to my work as a whole, something I'm missing for it to make sense. I get that my aesthetic may seem outdated to some, and it is unfortunate that so few people are ready to give my story a chance, but just like you said, I have a bunch of loyal readers and that is priceless!