#why is sims 3 gameplay so cinematic

[lazysunjade]

F I R S T L O V E |

our first date was on the pier. you wore a white dress.

[plumbobpaparazzi]

Peek into my Mods folder...

This is dedicated to @alltimefail-sims or anyone who needs a little help with lag!

I have several mods I refer to as "efficiency mods" that are little quality-of-life tweaks that make the game smoother for me, either by reducing lag or reducing immersion-breaking hiccups. As always, your mileage may vary, but hopefully this is helpful to someone. :) List of mods under cut to keep your dash clean.

No Intro - Whether you are trying to 50/50 your mods, testing new CC, or just need to shave time off your game loading... get rid of the cinematic intro.

Free Will Delay - Do your sims curbstomp their queue and proceed to fuck off to something unrelated? Yeah, me too, until I got this mod. From the mod description: "[E]very time you tell your sim to do something, they will be forced to listen! …For 5 minutes. Then they get free will back again. This is probably why controlling Sims in Sims 4 feels so bad! Because you lose control the second they start doing what they're told. Even if you queue up actions, the total time is STILL five minutes- because it goes from the last direction you give your sim. So you can tell them to do 3 hours worth of stuff while paused…and they'll get control back after 5 minutes. This mod changes this timeframe to an option of your choosing, to make controlling your sims feel more rigid."

Simulation Unclogger - This is an oldie-but-goodie mod from Turbodriver that helps interrupt when Sims get stuck in an endless action loop.

Evolve/Fertilize All Plants - Kind of weird how we can Harvest All but you can't Evolve or Fertilize All, right?

No Empty Venues When Arriving - Helps with the issue of going to a community lot and waiting around for Sims to show up. May cause increased lag if you are bottlenecked by RAM.

Food Autonomy Overhaul - Stops your stupid Sims from eating ingredients, AND allows Sims who hate cooking to autonomously grab quick meals. Didn't know they wouldn't do that? Yeah. That's a thing.

Don't Do That! Version 1 and Version 2 - Removes autonomy on annoying actions that can't be affected by MCCC tuner, like reactions and some trait idle animations.

Less Obsession - Lowers autonomy for certain things without disabling entirely. I still want my Sims to paint, but I don't want them to start a new figure painting any time they are left unsupervised.

Smarter Self-Care - Makes Sims prioritize their needs better before they are uncomfortable. I only use the packages for NPCs and Pets.

NPC Relationship Autonomy Fix - Stops random Sims from breaking into your house to ask to be your BFF (and tunes the requirements so they actually have to be your friend first.)

Buy More Upgrade Parts - Allows you to buy a package of 50 upgrade parts for when you are grinding out handiness or robotics.

The following mods are all by Bienchen and don't have a direct page for each package. You can search by name pretty easily on their website. I recommend flipping through and grabbing anything you find useful - I have a total of 368 of their mods installed. Here are some highlights:

novisibleecoeffects - The aurora will nuke your framerate. I know it's pretty, but oh my god.

noautonomousbakewhitecake - Does what it says on the tin, keeps your house from being overrun by cakes.

harvestnogroupinteraction - Stops club members from autonomously harvesting plants. Those are MY death flowers!

lessemotionidles - Reduces unnecessary idle animations from emotions, great for preventing your Sims from looking flirty at inappropriate times...

lesspreferenceidles - Stops your sims from thinking about how much they like fishing/fitness/etc. when they should be doing things.

happytoddleridledisabled - Stops the idling from the Happy Toddler trait. SUPER useful for family gameplay.

laundry_buffsandsoloidlesfix - Stops or reduces idles related to laundry. It's just clothes, bro

eldertweak - Reduces elder animation idles.

hastopeewalkstyleforchildonly - Helps get your Sims to the toilet in a reasonable amount of time.

tinyhousebuffhider - I know I'm in a Tiny Home, I don't need a moodlet.

lottraiteffectshider - Hides the little floating lightbulbs around Sims heads from lot traits.

notraitnotifications - I know my geek likes video games, I don't need the pop-up every time I play.

noholidayoutcomenotification - Please don't rub my nose in the fact I forgot to celebrate.

nofestivalnotifications and nofestivalnotificationsound - Helpful when a pack is new, but years later... no thanks.

noenrollmentandscholarshipinfo - No more info screen about the two universities. I think most of us know it all by now.

nouprootplant - Never cry because of a misclick again

simschangeoutfitwhenhotorcold - Should have already been autonomous, but alas.

novisualpoliteintroeffects - I don't know if I am the only one, but the glowing really bothers me.

restaurantsittweak - Sit down and eat your dang food! No more wandering Sims.

longerprom - Takes 6 hours instead of 4 so you can actually do something.

I probably have other QoL mods that could be helpful, but these are my recommendations to start with. Love to all the modders that keep this game playable <3

[l-1-z-a]

Interview With The Sims 2 Producer, Tim LeTourneau [11 February 2004]

The most successful PC game franchise of all time is Maxis's The Sims. Will Wright's acclaimed people sim extention of his Sim City ideas has sold countless millions of copies in both full, deluxe and many expansion packs. Now the developer is working hard on the full fledged sequel, The Sims 2, and HomeLAN got a chance to chat with Maxis producer Tim LeTourneau to get more info on the sequel.

HomeLAN - First, how much pressure does the development team have to make a game that is as successful as its predecessor?

Tim LeTourneau - The Sims franchise has had huge success and we definitely have set the bar high for The Sims 2. I wouldn’t call it pressure, but rather, our development team has the desire and drive to make The Sims 2 the first next-generation people simulator.

HomeLAN - Maxis could have continued to create expansion packs to the original Sims. Why was the decision made to create a full blown sequel?

Tim LeTourneau - Our goal was to expand The Sims to a whole new level with The Sims 2 and allow you to immerse yourself in the Sims’ world like never before. We now have more realistic Sims, lifetime gameplay, unstoppable customization, and a whole new 3-D world. These are just a few of the endless features in The Sims 2.

HomeLAN - What were the development team’s main goals in making The Sims 2?

Tim LeTourneau - There are several goals set for our development team, but the main goal is to have our players immerse themselves fully into this next-generation simulation. We’ve created dynamic environments and dynamic Sims, so players will continually be drawn back in to experience something new. The game and gameplay can mean different things to different players, so we want to surprise and entice current Sims players and attract new players as well. These are just a few examples of what we are striving for with The Sims 2 development.

HomeLAN - How much team does Will Wright give to the development of the sequel?

Tim LeTourneau - Will Wright is present in everything that we work on at Maxis. Each of our games are built on concepts and mechanisms that Will has created and imagined. We are fortunate to have him share his ideas in each development process and we enjoy working with him.

HomeLAN - Much has been made of The Sims 2’s storytelling features. What can you tell us at this time about this feature?

Tim LeTourneau - Storytelling has always been one of the coolest aspects of The Sims games. With The Sims 2, we definitely have big plans that expand upon this popular feature. In the new storytelling mode, you can capture pictures during your gameplay experience, create and edit a photo album, add captions, and share the albums with other players via The Sims Exchange on www.thesims2.

Another new mode dubbed camera mode, provides you with the opportunity to travel all over the game environment as if you were a Sim. You will be able to see the expressions and emotions of the Sims who are the stars of your stories. We are also introducing the new movie maker feature which puts you in the director's chair by letting you create your very own Sim videos. The movie maker comes complete with custom settings so you can create the best footage with your computer. Combined with the new camera abilities, movie maker will let you produce stories that are more dramatic, cinematic and entertaining than ever before. There are extraordinary stories out there that no one but the storytellers can possible imagine and we can’t wait to hear them!

HomeLAN - How much more customization will The Sims 2 have in terms of creating the actual Sims?

Tim LeTourneau - We have focused a great deal on the customization capabilities in The Sims 2 and are looking forward to see what you create. Create a Sim is incredible and amazingly detailed, all the way down to the Sims’ DNA, their nose size and shape, width of their mouth, and the eye color selection. You have complete control over how your Sims look as well as how they will act. You can set their personalities, aspirations, and relationships. You may even spend hours just creating your Sim!

We also wanted to give you more control over how your Sims’ neighborhood develops, offer more architectural options when building a house, and provide the option to create community lots that all Sims from the neighborhood can visit.

HomeLAN - What sorts of new situations and environments will be seen in the sequel that was not possible to put into the original?

Tim LeTourneau - The fact that there are now six age ranges for your Sims and they have awareness of their familial relationships, gives way for more dynamic and dysfunctional behavior. Imagine the family chaos that could result when Dad comes back after an alien abduction.

HomeLAN - How has the AI been improved for the sequel?

Tim LeTourneau - The Sims are more intelligent, aware, and responsive to other Sims and their environment. With new facial expressions, body animations, and the ability to pass on genetic traits from generation to generation, the Sims have really come to life. They understand their relationships and act accordingly. Your Sims will have memories, so their past experiences can influence their future behavior. For example, if a Sim witnesses another Sim experiencing a critical life moment, they can respond to that, as well as gossip about it to others. This alone creates a much richer set of relationships than previously seen in the original Sims game.

HomeLAN - What other gameplay features in The Sims 2 do you think are important?

Tim LeTourneau - Something really cool we’ve done for The Sims 2 is revamp the build and buy modes. This is one of the features where you can spend a tremendous amount of game time and use your creativity. You can also get lost in creativity with design mode where you can build in 3D, create decks and foundations, manipulate lighting, and decorate objects on the fly.

HomeLAN - What can you tell us about the graphics engine for the sequel and how it compares to the original?

Tim LeTourneau - The Sims 2 has had a complete graphical overhaul featuring a fully 3D environment that is more lifelike and dynamic. We are now allowing you to view and play the game from any angle and zoom in close to see every last detail from the expression on your Sims’ face to food on the table. Instead of feeling like you are looking down from a bird’s eye view, it now feels like you are in the room with the Sims.

We’ve also given the Sims a more complex skeleton that permits a new level of realistic motion. The old paddle-hands have been replaced with articulated fingers, and the rigidity of their faces have been replaced with animated and communicative expressions. Your Sims’ hair and clothing can also move so it gives a subtle feeling of life that is really fun to see.

HomeLAN - How much support will Maxis give to people who want to create mods for the game?

Tim LeTourneau - Player made content creation and easy access to content made my others is a core feature of The Sims 2. There will be various tools available to allow the community to customize virtually every element in the game, from clothing to hairstyles to the furniture in the homes. We have put in a great deal of effort to make this a more seamless aspect of the game as well. You will be able to drop new content into the game and use it immediately, rather than pour thru directory structures to do achieve this same goal.

HomeLAN - Will there be a demo of The Sims 2 released before the game is sent to stores?

Tim LeTourneau - There are no current plans for this at this time, but we will keep you posted!

HomeLAN - What is the current status of the game’s progress and when will it be sent to stores?

Tim LeTourneau - The game is coming along great and you can expect it to be release in the second half of 2004.

HomeLAN - Is it safe to say that expansion packs for the game are in the works?

Tim LeTourneau - There are no current plans for this at this time.

HomeLAN - Finally, is there anything else you wish to say about The Sims 2 at this time?

Tim LeTourneau - We are really looking forward to getting the game into the player’s hands!

Links:

The official Sims 2 web site

[abcdosaka]

The past two weeks since I graduated

- watched a season of riverdale. It’s so entertaining but I’ve stopped at s2e3 may continue sooner or later but I’m already feeling it start to fall off. Idk normally I can’t stand how stupid cw shows are but this one just has me tbh. I thought it was all memes but no it’s like why am I taking this drama seriously

- played the sims 3 and started a simblr. I’m trying to do a 10 Gen legacy challenge and my 3rd Gen are kids rn. The 2nd Gen girl was a bit of a thot she had two kids by a man and a woman using woohooer but tbh the canon explanation could be anything. I think she was born a cis girl since she was the one pregnant for both but the first Gen founder was also fruity and got Holly alto pregnant so we’re gonna say either she’s trans or there was an ivf situation. Since the baby shared their genetics though I feel like it’s mostly likely she’s trans we love that. Really hoping I don’t get bored or the save corrupts bc im kind of invested in getting as much progress on this as I can

I’m trying to update the simblr on my iPad but the iPad keyboard is genuinely so annoying like it actually hurts my hand to type and also the tumblr app is a bit shitty bc why is the poll option in the middle of the bottom bar when you make a post. And when you add a poll you can’t remove it from the post without remaking it, at least on mobile. It’s actually annoying to do this but I’ve always wanted to so we move

Generally been watching a lot of plumbella too like the sims has me ina chokehold rn. I was playing 2 a bit earlier this week but ngl while I love the interactions in 2 (the romance and cinematics especially are peak) I prefer the gameplay of 3 and the open world. Only a few things abt it annoy me like routing which is a problem in every sim game so doesn’t count and the fucking incessant phone calls. I don’t wanna turn off opportunities I just want to reduce the amount. Even the paparazzi I’ve adjusted to but the phone calls are just 😑

Finally started watching hill house again. Forgot I was watching this tbh but it’s so good. Just watched the ep where they all gather round Nell’s casket pls don’t tell me Theo and Kevin were a secret thing like Theo was supposed to be chaotic neutral lesbian representation so why tf does a man have his hands on her

[caraelora]

A Sentimental Game

When I think of gaming, my mind typically jumps back to my mainly Nintendo days, wanting to tear my eyes out at The Simpsons: Road Rage on the GameCube, or becoming addicted to, then neglecting my poor Nintendogs (RIP) on the Nintendo DS. Aside from Nintendo… Well I don’t think there’s any need for me to reveal how many hours I spent enjoying (wasting?) playing the Sims… Sims 2: Seasons, to be specific. 

I also think of the hours I spent sat on the floor of my big brother’s bedroom, watching his gaming tastes evolve from those such as Mortal Kombat, to Sonic DX, to eventually more ‘grown up’ games like the Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty franchises: the latter of which i would eventually join him in playing. I still can’t handle the stress of fighting off the zombies. 

Out of all the games I watched my brother play, there was one in particular that completely drew me in. Not because of the action, or the graphics, and not even for the open-world exploring… it was the story itself. In 2010 game developer, 2K Czech released the third person shooter game, Mafia 2 which follows protagonist, Vito Scaletta as he navigates a brief stint in the army, a lengthy prison sentence, and the criminal underworld of the fictional Empire Bay, from the 1940s into the 1950s. There’s so much I could unpack from Mafia 2 to explain why it’s such an entertaining and engaging experience. It’s a complicated and ambitious exploration of the Mafia world; but this post would never end if i tried to explain it all here. Above all however, what made this game stand out to me are the characterisation and cinematic cutscenes with a well-paced and suspenseful narrative that keeps the gamer (or the thirteen-year-old viewer in my case) completely invested in the story.

My response and appreciation for these elements, along with the 8.5 score on IMDb, shows 2K Czech was successful in what they set out to do: create a game that focuses on story equally, if not even more so, than the gameplay. Vito Scaletta is by no means a ‘hero,’ he’s a complicated and flawed individual the player quickly becomes invested in, watching him murder in cold-blood, and cry at the loss of his mother. The player also sees how the strong and life-long bond between Vito and his friend Joe unfolds, until the climactic cliffhanger ending with their relationship at the centre: one that is effective in ‘[invoking] the most emotional response from the player,’ as stated by the game’s director of creative production, Jack Scalici. Although i’ve never actually played the game myself (don’t @ me), I’ll always remember Mafia 2 as the game that truly opened my eyes to the possibilities of storytelling. 

P.S… My brother and I spent six years anticipating the release of the follow up, Mafia 3 and well, maybe i’ll leave THAT for another post.

https://www.ausgamers.com/features/read/2937065

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mquIPtoIuU

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1181833/

[therobotmonster]

It took me 30 years, but I finally beat Battletech: The Crescent Hawks Inception for MSDos.

Was it worth it? On a qualitative level? No. But in terms of nostaliga and as a reminder of what CRPGs used to be? Yes.

Note: Kiddos are encouraged to read this post as a “uphill both ways” rambling old man yarn about “back in my day”

Battletech: The Crescent Hawk’s Inception was an RPG for MSDos and a bunch of other ancient computers. It’s old enough that 3-color CGA is a startup option.

This is CGA, for the kids out there:

And yes, that is a Pre-Lawsuit Pheonix Hawk on the title screen, or, as everyone else knows it, the Valkyrie/Veritech from Macross/Robotech. Also, the Crescent Hawks are a group, so it should be “Crescent Hawks’ Inception’. Get it together Infocom from 1988!

Hilariously, the stolen Valk design pops up throughout the game, from its start screen above to the animated mini-cinemas you get in combat...

To, in a beautiful stroke of irony, the copy protection quiz you take each time you do a training mission.

A copy protection scheme that may have been the easiest to guess in history. For example, the part highlighted in the above screen? That’s the “Foot Unit”

The one place the Pheonix Hawk doesn't appear is as a playable mech or enemy. You find one at the end of the game, and you don't get to use it, as its a sequel-tease. I forgot to take a screenshot, and ts behind a massive door puzzle I didn't save after... so, not gonna.

The game plot is pretty basic. You start off as a cadet training to be a Mechwarrior, the planet gets invaded by a rival house looking for a cache of lost tech on the planet put there by your missing-presumed-dead-father, and you have to gather up his old Mechwarrior buddies the now-defunct Crescent Hawks, and find the cache and get it off world before the baddies get it. 

You do this by wandering around a lot fighting random encounters until you hit a couple of story triggers that lead you into a massive locked door puzzle in an underground complex that’s nothing like the res tof the game. 

It was a pioneer in making very little gameplay seem huge by throwing a giant map of nothing at you, a tradition that continues to this day. Though the map might have been a form of copy protection, as without the in-box map you'd find stuff by luck alone. In fact, the game is fascinating just in how it weaves the illusion of a lot from very little.

The sprites are charming, at least. All three of them. Yes. There are exactly three character sprites. One human, recolored 3 times, and 2 battlemechs, recolored 0 times apiece.

The Battlemech sprites are charmingly vague, one for the Locust/Jenner non-humanoid mechs, one for everything else. The red mech doesn’t just walk, it STRUTS, and when you get multiple mechs in your squad, they walk in unision, amplifying the effect.  As for humans, they had to be to scale (roughly) with the mechs, and at 320x200....

Meet Jason (our hero) and all other humans. Your other party members are red, all other NPCs are gray. This is one of the things I love about this game. He's so delightfully vague in his chubby little... environment suit. When I was 11, this guy was the perfect neutral mask, a bumbly tic-tac man upon whom I could project myself.

That little blue tic-tac man is probably why all ASCII-based games I tried to make in BASIC used the omega symbol as the main character.  

For reference, this is Jason from the cinematics, in his EGA red-pink glory. Sadly, he is not a barrel-shaped blue cyclops w' a yellow eye.

The map is, as previously stated, irresponsibly large, as the only random encounters are combat with various combinations of mechs and humans on foot. Humans that will attempt to charge a 30 foot tall war robot with a crossbow. But there's a lot to love in the game: 

While deeply exploitable with the save feature, you could invest your money in stocks at the bank, so that while you wander from town to town you make some scratch. 

There's a play mechanic where recruits are randomly double-agents that you find out by watching them with the scan option in combat. 

The dozen or so mini-cinematics are charming and evocative. 

What seems like a pre-programmed loss at the end of the tutorial area can be escaped with some clever piloting, netting you an early Battlemech. 

And while it won't dump you into a loss state like tons of games of its time, screwing up by getting your mechs destroyed can make the game substantially harder by forcing you to play the game on foot.

Moreover, it doesn't really have an experience system, you raise in skills with training and use.

You max your pilot skills early and thus you aren't incentivized to fight for XP. Fighting nets salvage, but the parts can only repair your mechs up to normal health, and the scrap-metal monetary rewards are minor. So if you don't need cash you can dodge combat with no reprocussion, and unless you greatly overpower the enemy combat is a matter of attrition. As you're on the run and are being hunted, this makes sense, even if the "mechanic" is probably accidental. 

Conclusion:

The game is one of those in-between games, when gaming was moving from early 8-bit pure-play-mechanic style games and inscrutible text adventures to the NES/Shareware era reinessance. Impressive in an era when games came on individual floppy disks, and elaborate pack-ins/manuals  mainly existed to make up for hardware limitations. 

With some polish, it could have been a great game. If there were more sprites and more mechs (there’s only a handful), more varied random encounters and a lot more stuff to find in the world it would probably have been a landmark game, but it was hamstrung by hardware limitations and overshadowed by the flashier Mechawarrior game, a first person combat sim that featured primitive 3d graphics.

Still it was a game where you piloted a giant robot that came out when I was 11, so the magic was going to be there. 

You can play it online for free, here.

[eljackinton]

Jack's 2019 Video Games in Review

Once again it's the time of year for me to do a quick, off-the-cuff run through of the games I played this year. As ever most, and nearly all, were not actually released in 2019 and some date a while back, but who cares, I play what I like.

Prey and Prey: Mooncrash

I had a thoroughly enjoyable time with Prey. It's a tight and very atmospheric world that's intriguing to be in and fun to mess around with, however, I just couldn't get the game to stick with me. I think it's because in the end it's far too reminiscent of System Shock 2, of which it is inspired by, and I can't help but feel that the loops, and the tone of the plot was too similar for it to really grow out on it's own.

It's a good thing, then, that it was followed up by Mooncrash. It's genuinely interesting premise, of a persistent world where you play several 'runs' as different characters with different abilities, was a fresh take on the familiar Deus Ex/Thief style emergent sim, and made the whole Prey experience worth it. Can't wait to see how Arkane evolves the concept with Deathloop.

Halo Wars

It's been over a decade but I finally got around to playing the first Halo Wars game. Not a lot to say really. It's attempt at a console-only RTS is interesting to experience and is not very well executed and it's plot is just identical to the first Halo game but not as surprising. Unmemorable.

Battletech: Flashpoint, Urban Warfare and Heavy Metal

The Battletech DLC released this year all contributed heavily to improving my opinion of a game I already loved. Each one added new ideas and concepts and I'm hoping we'll see them develop over a sequel. The mini-campagins were all well written and genuinely funny at times. If I have one criticism it's that they waited until the last DLC to add a tonne of new mechs and weapons and equipment and I never go to use most of them because I'd already experienced the vast majority of the missions. Good for new players, not so much for me, but if you haven't played it yet getting it with all the DLC is a hell of a recommendation.

Hyper Light Drifter

I loved the tone and the aesthetic of this abstract sci-fi tale, but gameplay wise, it just wasn't my jam. Unforgiving and more for players in it for the challenge. Give me a more chill game in this setting please.

Ladykiller in a Bind

One of the few games that have genuinely handled the push and pull of personal morals vs personal gain I've ever seen. Despite being billed as an erotic comedy, the game is much more about thrills and tension than all that. There are some valid criticism of how the game handles sexuality (look it up if you're concerned), but in terms of games telling stories of manipulation I don't think I've ever seen a game quite like it.

Hitman (Season One)

Hitman realising that it actually works better as an episodic black-dramady was one of best moments for the world of gaming. A pitch perfect representation of a bald asexual assassin jet setting around the world to sexy locals and giving terrible people ironic deaths. A classic and I'm only partway through Hitman 2, but they certainly didn't drop the ball with the sequel either.

The Witcher, The Witcher 2, The Witcher 3 with Hears of Stone and Blood and Wine

Playing all these games back to back game me whiplash. The Witcher is one of the worst games I have ever played. It's poorly designed, badly written and has a visual aesthetic that is washed out and grim. I felt my mental health getting worse just playing it.

Witcher 2 is a vast improvement. A vibrant colourful world, solid gameplay and a well written, multi-layered plot of politics and vengeance. Only brought down slightly by it's tendency to take the tone in the edgiest direction possible. I cringed a lot, at story moments in this game.

Witcher 3 is one of the greatest games ever written. Gone is the jank of the first game, gone is the try hard edge of the second. Witcher 3 cares about it's characters as much as it does about giving you a massive world to lose yourself 2. It's the perfect marriage of cinematic storytelling and a go anywhere, do anything open world. Things get even better with Hearts of Stone, and even even better with Blood and Wine.

Wolfenstien: Youngblood

Most people had nothing but bad things to say about Youngblood, but I had nothing but a great time with it. The gameplay was a blast, the world was fun to explore, the characters were a joy to hang around with and the story, while nothing special, was still interesting enough to see how it unfolds. I don't get why people reacted so negatively.

Baba is You

The block puzzler's ultimate form. I don't see how you make a game of this genre any better after this. Just play the dang thing.

Fugue in Void

A super short (20 minutes) environmental experience. Leaves you things to think about. Not for the kind of person who can't spend two minutes in a modern art gallery.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Varnhold’s Lot

It would take all day for me to talk about my complicated feelings for Kingmaker, so I'll put it this way. Great story, great characters, great gameplay all brought down by an ill-fitting mash up with an otherwise well designed kingdom management sim and some head-bashingly obnoxious moments where massive story elements are tied to seemingly unrelated decisions you made twenty hours ago.

Damn I wanted to like this game, but as the credits rolled I just felt I'd been cheated.

Minit

A quick once-and-done that's dedicated to one particular concept that it pushes as far as it can go. What can you get done with 60 seconds per life before you respawn and how does the world react around you. Really interesting.

The Signal from Tolva

Another game that's dedicated to it's singular concept. Explore a mysterious alien world in a post-human universe. Unusual, weird and inspiring. It's free DLC has an unreasonably large difficulty spike, however.

Potatoman Seeks the Troof

A funny visual design but too difficult for me to finish.

Hand of Fate

A really interesting concept, combining a deck building game with a dungeon crawler. Tightly designed, the vast majority of your early runs will be sharp and surprising. Long outstays it's welcome however as the clunky combat controls do the more difficult encounters no favours, and you find you're only still playing to try and grind out the last few tokens you need to unlock. I have high hopes for when I eventually get round to the sequel.

Warhammer: Vermintide 2: Winds of Magic

The arrival of the beastmen is another well executed addition to the overall Vermintide 2 experience, but I wish I could say the same thing about the new Winds of Magic campaign mode. Short, sharp 'challenge maps' that require you complete them before you unlock the next, can be almost impossibly difficult at times, made all the worse that you can't play with bots and managing to catch a party playing the specific map you're on is just as impossible. Fatshark's first failed experiment with the game.

The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion: The Shivering Isles (sort of)

I've only been jumping back in to Oblivion on and off this year, so I still haven't finished it's final DLC. Maybe I haven't got into it far enough yet but I don't feel it distinguishes itself enough from vanilla Oblivion like a lot of people claim it does, and a lot of the 'people as concepts' ideas don't work for me. We'll see if I go on to finish it in 2020.

Normally I do a top 5 of games released in that year, but I don’t think I played more than three, so we’ll uhhh, say Baba is You is my game of the year.

[lemonicedtease]

How do you get such good in game screenshots of your sims? I feel like in game mine never look as good or as quality as they do in cas. Any tips?

omg this is such a lovely question to recieve!!!💖💖 ((I kind of ended up going into too much detail lol so i hope some of this waffle is useful))

~ graphics settings ~

if you’re like me and your laptop is semi-trash and pretty darn old, running your game on ultra can be PAINFUL. these are the settings I use!

because i am constantly taking screenshots (i literally have tens of thousands before i decided to clean them out last week oops) i like to focus my higher settings on sims, lighting, and view distance - and if my computer could hack it i’d boost edge smoothing too. these are the key things i like to stand out in my screenies and i think they make all the difference!

~ tab mode ~

i’m sure you are already, but make sure you’re p handy using the camera controls in TAB mode. really play with angles and distances, and take a bunch of screenshots of the same thing playing around with these aspects! 

my HOT TIP is to make sure you’re zooming in (+ key) while in this mode. idk WHY bc im not a camera/techy type person but this makes such a difference, i think it affects the depth of field?? lol who knows - but honestly you can be taking the same shot, be it from far away or a close up, and zooming in and then repositioning your camera really turns your screenshots from just looking like you’ve pressed print screen in the middle of gameplay to making them feel more … real I guess? more cinematic? more dynamic?? here’s a COMPARISON

you see how it just helps w framing so much? and your sims look more life-like?? i know it’s subtle but i feel like it’s IMPORTANT (also make sure you are playing w the Q + E keys and figure out what kind of angles tell what kind of story!!)

~ editing ~

i don’t actually massively edit my screenshots lol and i also don’t use reshade !! i should probably start resizing my screenies bc of tumblr quality lol (see how them pics above are blurry?? im mad about it) but for the moment i dont rip

what I DO is mainly 4 things (all on photoshop): smart sharpen, levels, curves, and i often will slightly blur the background. i cba to cut out my sims so i often just use a large soft brush and hope for the best!! if u are new to photoshop there are great basic tutorials on youtube for how to do these things better than i do lol

if i’m feelin’ fancy i also will adjust the hue/temperature and add warmth in one way or another, mostly through colour balance!

again i hope some of this is useful in some way!! i’m defos not the best at screenshots but i do really enjoy taking them and it’s how i spend most of my time ingame tbh lol, and pls dont take any of this as stuff u have to do bc i do NOT have the authority to say what’s good and what isn’t!!! i just hope these tips will help u get screenies u r more happy with

[pressxtoalex]

My Top 12 Most Anticipated Games of 2018

2017 was an absolute monster of a year for video games, and it’s starting to appear that January is going to be the only time where we aren’t going to be inundated with new releases to play, and inevitably miss out on. However, there are already more than a few games coming out in 2018 that have my attention and think they should have yours, too. Now bear in mind: This is a pretty PS4 heavy list, for obvious reasons, but if you do some Googling, you’ll find a lot of these are multi-platform releases. The other thing to consider, is while I consider myself a great optimist, I have to be real with myself, so no matter what the developers and publishers tell us, you aren’t going to find games like Death Stranding, Kingdom Hearts III, or The Last of Us Part II on this list, because, let’s face it, they aren’t coming out in 2018. Perhaps, the most frightening part of this list, is most of these games have been confirmed for at least the first half of the year, leaving June through December pretty wide open for us as gamers to have a crowded schedule.

12) The Longest Five Minutes

Coming out of NIS America, The Longest Five Minutes takes a twist on the traditional RPG and starts out at the end, facing off against the game’s final boss, however, your character has lost every memory of their adventure, including their name, abilities, and even why he’s in this battle. Throughout the battle, comments made by his allies, and taunts by the Demon King will trigger flashbacks to help fill in the heroes memory gaps. It comes out in just a few weeks on both Vita and Nintendo Switch and the premise alone put this on my radar.

11) Days Gone

We finally saw what Sony’s Bend Studio has been working on at E3 2016, and while it felt more like a “Lookee how many things we can have on the screen at once” they expounded on the stealth aspects of the game at PSX, showing the game to potentially being somewhere between The Last of Us and Horizon Zero Dawn. It sits so low on my list, partly because it’s Bend’s first release since Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and their first console release since Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow, and partly because I’m not 100% sold on this coming out in 2018, but, if I’m over here spoutin’ off Last of Us Part 2 is coming in 2019, then Day’s Gone needs to be hitting shelves in 2018 as to not be cannibalized by a much more established IP. I love the idea of an open world motorcycle game, though, and hopefully, it’s something akin to much under-appreciated Mad Max.

10) The Walking Dead: A Telltale Series The Final Season

It’s pretty firmly established that I love adventure games, and I love Telltale. They hit a home run in 2012 with the first season of The Walking Dead, but while they continue to swing for the fences on various other licensed and popular properties, they haven’t quite fully captured the magic that made The Walking Dead’s first season so special. Sure, Season Two and Season Three had their high points, and Telltale has shown some of the magic in their other games like Tales from the Borderlands, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Batman, but this is their chance to give Clementine, a character we’ve spent six years growing up with, a proper send-off and story, after spending Season Three side-stepping her.

9) God of War

Yo. Real talk, I’m not a God of War guy. I don’t need that much screamy chain man in my life, and frankly, Kratos has just been a dude, to me, that has zero redeeming qualities. Yea, he’s angry because of his tragic backstory, but, like...can you not? Here’s the thing though, Sony Santa Monica has created a tamer, humbled Kratos that seems to have far more to lose. While I think we’re starting to teeter on seeing too much of the game, game director Cory Barlog keeps saying the right things about this installment that has more-than-piqued my interest. And me being interested in a God of War game speaks volumes. 

8) Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion

Adventure Time is the one franchise that has been itching for a quality game under its banner. We’ve had a handful of various dungeon crawler games, top-down Zelda clones, and adventure games, but they’ve either missed on the art style or totally whiffed on the gameplay. Pirates of the Enchiridion may possibly be the Adventure Time game that the series fans have been clamoring for. It’s an open-world game set in the Land of Ooo, with an original story, multiple playable characters, full-cast voiceover, and sailing. The series is wrapping up soon, and this may be one of the last Adventure Time games we see, so here’s hoping this is the one they get right.

7) Church in the Darkness

I’ve had my eye on Paranoid Productions’ Church in the Darkness for a couple of years now. It’s a top-down, procedurally-generated action/infiltration game set in the 1970s where you’re an ex-law enforcement officer tasked with checking in on your nephew, who has recently joined the Collective Justice Mission cult. Each playthrough promises to be different, down to the characters’ personalities and reactions to you being in the camp. If you want to go full-stealth Metal Gear with it, you can, or if you want to go full guns-blazing, go right ahead. The idea of uncovering more of the story based on your investigating, and the varying degree in which characters respond to you each time you play, leave a lot of opportunities for the game to have mass amounts of replay value.

6) Jurassic World Evolution

Hi. I would like to build my own Jurassic World, please. That’s at least what developer Frontier is promising. While I had no idea Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis even existed until it became too rare to justify purchasing, I did spend a lot of my summer in 2012 tapping away at Jurassic Park Builder on my iPhone. Jurassic World Evolution looks to bring that Jurassic Park-meets-Sim City hybrid back to home consoles. Hopefully “Life finds a way” and this game will be exactly what Jurassic-verse fans have been looking for this summer. Just, please, don’t Animal Crossing this and make me have to play every day or risk being infested with weeds and whatnot. That’ll be the quickest way for me to nope out of this.

5) Crossing Souls

Somewhere between the Burger King Kids Club and Stranger Things lies Fourattic’s Crossing Souls. Set in 1986 in California, Crossing Souls is an action-adventure RPG where five kids make a mysterious discovery that thrusts them into navigating two planes of life and death and begin uncovering a government conspiracy. With five playable characters, each with their own style of combat, puzzles, and 80’s arcade references, Crossing Souls is right up my alley in the indie-game realm.

4) Detroit Become Human

Heavy Rain is one of my all-time favorite games. Hell, it’s tangentially linked to where my YouTube namesake came from. While Beyond: Two Souls wasn’t entirely the follow-up a lot of fans were looking for, I have no problem putting all of Quantic Dreams eggs into the Detroit Become Human basket. Between its Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick-style of story, stunning visuals, and varying degrees of story direction, this seems to be the Quantic Dream getting back on the right track. The big question is what side of their spectrum the story is going to fall on.

3) Dreams

If you listen closely, you can hear the hype-train leaving the station for Dreams. Media Molecule has been a voice in the gaming industry that needs to be heard again. Their style and creativity has been sorely missed, but a few questions remain: Is there a major market for a curation-based platformer, will the customization be as flawlessly executed as we’ve been lead to believe, and will this even hit 2018 despite the developer’s best efforts? It’s hard for me to temper my excitement for a game that has a far more expansive Super Mario Maker feel to it. The in-game campaign may not be the reason to buy the game, so it’s going to be on those that pick up Dreams to keep it alive.

2) Red Dead Redemption 2

I totally missed on Red Dead Redemption. It was at a time where working in gaming retail and feeling that need to play everything, the last thing I wanted to do was play a massive open-world game. Red Dead Redemption 2 feels like my opportunity to atone for this mistake. I loved what I played of Grand Theft Auto V and am dying to see what Rockstar Games has learned from then to now with Red Dead being their first proper current-gen game release. Rockstar has carte-blanche with the gaming industry, so if they came out tomorrow and said, “This is delayed again, and will be delayed a third time” almost everyone would understand. They’re still Scrooge McDucking in their money from GTA-Five, so they don’t need to rush a Red Dead sequel out the door, but they are looking to be the heaviest hitter in 2018 and every developer and publisher has to be waiting for a release date so they know to stay away.

1) Marvel’s Spider-Man

I am absolutely salivating for Insomniac’s Spider-Man to just get a release date. I don’t even need it in my hands yet, I just want to know when I can have it in my hands, and based on recent tweets from the game’s dev-team, we may know sooner rather than later. Not only is this my most anticipated game of 2018, if you were to put a gun to my head and tell me I can only pick one game from this year, I would not even flinch when answering “Marvel’s Spider-Man.” Between the combat, the cinematic uses of QTE’s, to the open environments, I am absolutely sold on this game. The most exciting thing about this release is that, despite what we’ve already seen, I don’t even think we’ve seen a lot of it. Through tweets, and various interviews, I think we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg with this game. Outside of a certain popular character’s appearance in the E3 2017 trailer, we already know they play a larger role than just a cameo, leaving me to wonder if we’re getting a Sons of Liberty situation where the what we’ve seen could be a misdirection to what we’re getting. Regardless, Insomniac Games and Spider-Man are an incredible pairing and I cannot wait to get my hands on this.

So there you have it! My most anticipated games of 2018. I’m sure most of the titles didn’t surprise you, but I absolutely hope I was able to turn your gaze toward some upcoming releases you may not have previously known about. Feel free to drop by and let me know what you’re most looking forward to!

[imadeletingmysocials]

My scores for E3, because apparently now i’m a dumb 4channer who thinks this /v/ meme shit matters, like it’s not gonna affect sales or anything it’s pointless as all hell [this is lenghy, but hear me out ok]

EA: 

4/10 - people will probably play the games regardless of how shitty this presentation was but... It felt pretty insulting. 

Battlefield V is probably gonna make a lot of money regardless cuz people like war games and it seems pretty well done, the more footage they have shown seemed better than their weird advertizement that made world war 2 seem very wacky, which honestly regardless if you’re a sexist neckbeard or not, seemed like a poor advertizement move. 

TinyBuild:

No one watched this lol and it was just 1 GAME and a fun cute musical that made people who aren’t strong enough to musicals die, 6/10 because it made nerds die and their song is catchy, i dont really care about their 1 game.

Microsoft:

 9/10 - I'm giving this much of a high score because I would play practically almost all of these games showcased (they’ll probably be available on PC which I’m biased for cuz I have a gaming PC), no kidding, I pretty much liked everything I saw and it was fairly straight to the point. Many gamers don’t appreciate the finer details of each game and think they’re generic but that’s just fanboys who haven’t played a single game outside of their favorites. 

Also my cousin uses those Xbox One netflix rip offs that gives you games so i’m happy for him. The presentation had a lot of diamonds in the rough games that will I will probably appreciate more over time (they might even become cult classics like Metro or Dying Light) than any of other games at other e3s. As for the stuff I won’t be playing: It’s mostly harmless so eh.

There was an abundance of trailers! It was like one after the other, pure goodness, it seems as if they left out all of the Sports games to EA to present and the only thing they showed that might not be anyone’s cup of tea was “Forza”, but honestly? I appreciate it, it seems like a good racing game even if I’m not one to buy racing games.... But the more you think about the number of good games presented, the less you’ll think about that, I mean they showed DEVIL MAY CRY 5!!! 

...The Funko Pop game made me scream though.

Bethesda: 

8.5/10  I cannot deny that these are games I will want to play regardless if they’re good or not. Sad to see nerds not enjoy the opportunity to meet ANDREW W.K. but I’m glad all of the divisions they own are making sequels to stuff I already like, so pretty much Bethesda played it safe.

Devolver Digital:

 8/10 It’s like that one b-movie film your college students made and you had a laugh with creating.

Square Enix: 

5/10 seriously, 30 minues of just trailers? Most of which we saw?? I guess it could be worse but who uses E3 screentime for mostly MMORPG deals! The new stuff was too vague to be excited about too.

Ubisoft: 

7/10 - I liked it when they made funny quirky things and their games are probably gonna be okay like usual, Ubisoft has dedicated fans that like their collectathon games they release every year, and it’s usually that one game you play when you’re bored and got nothing else, it’s okay. 

Gamers hate fun and dancing and all that stuff but I kind of find stuff like that exciting, while nerds who never went outside and who are sensitive as all hell to any representation of fun find it “cringey”. A panda dabbed, and that settles it, Ubisoft was the only E3 Brave enough to dab this year. 

PC Game Conference (it was fairly long):

I know none of you watch this one cuz y’all fake as hell but listen... Fuck you LOL, these are the type of games people actually play over 400 hours and really get people’s money. Like these are games built to last that might be on the best-selling Steam front page for MONTHS, like how Frostpunk was comfirmed last year during this conference, PC Gaming has been known for sleeper hits that nobody knows about (because the attention goes to cinematic experiences on consoles most of the time) but suddently everyone’s playing it. 

PC gaming has always been an alternative lifestyle and seeing as many people didn’t watch this one, that just proves the point that it still relatively alternative. Maybe it’s because everyone sounds dumb as fuck when saying “PC GAMER MASTER RACE” and acting like an elitist. 

The PC Gaming conference is always more of a talk show than a regular E3 which is why I respect it every year, fuck the hyperactive gamers that just wanna see flashy trailers, this one’s more SOPHISTICATED!! It feels a lot more human and less artificial. Either way, lot’s of what you might’ve expected: Simulators and Survival games you’ll probably spend 3 years playing until they make a better minecraft clone. 

Gamers like to act as if they’re tired of Battle Royale (already? It’s a new fad it still is here to stay for a little more) but the numbers and success of it doesn’t lie that it isn’t a fad that proves itself to be highly tempting to try out for developers. Go cry to valve that they didn’t release Half-Life 3 cuz you haven’t played any other FPS game without even researching that Valve pretty much fired all of it’s developers and you’re just being annoying.

I feel as if I need to comment what I saw at this e3 cuz nobody watched, they made a mod I liked from skyrim into a fully-ass game, they’re rebooting Star Control which not a single gamer today knows of, the HP Lovecraft open world detective game also seems very good. YAKUZA IS COMING TO PC!!!!!!!!! Killing Floor 2 stuff, Road Redemption stuff, SHARK RPG, cute indie games, Jeff Goldblum was there, Wall-E with a gun in VR which seems to have promissing good vr design by Insomiac games (yes the spyro people), 2 games about Taxi driving... Like sure I think it’s a good format for story telling but.

A cell-shaded art game, star citizen is still being made, and it’s gone to the point nobody really wants it anymore even if it’s... Still being made you know? So most guys are wrong that it was gonna be canceled. After that was the technical graphic card stuff which gamers don’t have enough capability to understand, stuff like 9k laptops that SELL a lot mind you. Rich people love that technical stuff. 

A space defense sim game, Don’t Starve Sequel, Just Cause 4 detailed explanation of the engine, Overkill’s The Walking Dead gameplay which has been in development hell for years now now has a release date, I discovered Clementine’s voice actor is white... Go figure, a literal pixelated roguelike (not what you think it is, it’s Noita), 

Theme Hospital REBOOT!!!! YES!!!!!!!!! And the doctors were cute. Probably one of the funniest games presented... Followed by REALM ROYALE HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That harvest moon clone with a cute art style is still being made: Ooblets, no release date sadly. Anno is still going, cyanide and happiness still exists? and they’re making a battle royale? lol okay. How was Hitman 2 not announced during Square Enix?? Anyways it’s here at the end, the trailer was amazing and it’s coming out this year. 

I don’t have that much strong feelings because it’s just a normal conference and not a special one you know? But I’ll give it a 8/10 or 7/10 im not sure cuz I seem to like most games and I found Frankie cute.

Sony: 

Yo usually Sony makes like a huuuuuuuge thing about their conferences (like this year they didn’t even showcase indie games) but this year they started from a church for the sake of immersion?? It reminded me a little of their first E3s during the 90s, and it almost felt like a indie gathering for musicians, I swear to god, Sony is borderline experimental trying to balance out their E3 across stages. Jeb played the banjo and people just ACCEPTED it... AND THEN someone played some JAPANESE FLUTE? aRT. It might come off as a bit arrogant for some tho.

Nerds hated it and thought it was bizzare, which is why it means it’s good. HAPPY PRIDE MONTH BITCHES. Anyways could have been a little more fast-paced... But then again when it was fast-paced it was just like: Huh? What was that? I’m a big Resident Evil Fangirl, RE2 was my childhood but ignoring that for a sec: finally, Death Stranding gameplay, remins me of shadow of the colossus but post-apocalpytic, survival horrorish and abstract sci-fi.

 Kind of feels more Metal Gear than MGSV did already Cuz Norman Reedus sounds like snake a lot more than the 24 hours guy, and because from what I’ve seen in the footage, someone acts like Otacon to “Sam”. I think most now can figure out the plotpoints of this game with what has been established. I might be a bit sad at the fact that this will be a PS4 exclusive just like Metal Gear Solid 4, which I still haven’t played fully because it’s PS3 exclusive and I only have a gaming PC. 

Also this E3 was surprisingly entirely SINGLE PLAYER, I sorta don’t believe in the “single player doesn’t exist” myth honestly, especially now. I’m not sure if that makes Sony’s E3 better or worse, maybe it needed more variation, like I’ve commented, usually they have an indie showcase which this year did not. There were few games shown but for what it was worth, it’s still interesting... But yeah just 5 games? No Spyro? (easy picking), nothing extra? I can understand why many people felt this E3 was upsetting.

8/10.

Nintendo

Here it is, the most overhyped developer of all of E3, the source of “Nintendo wins E3 by doing nothing” memes because Nintendo fans really don’t care about anything except Nintendo and then act surprised when they only care about Nintendo when they try to be a little more open-minded (and fail) even if other E3s probably make more games built to last in comparisson, cuz we gay people only care about NINTENDO YOU KNOW? Shade asside... 

I was pleasantly surprised this E3, it wasn’t just a series of okay at best releases, a strong 9/10. 

tHAT WAS WHAT I WROTE IN PREPRATION....

BUT THEN???? IT WAS JUST THAT??? NO PRIME 4 NO ANYTHING LIKE JUST 3 GAMES BASICALLY? (maybe there was 5 games but eh) I mean smash is good.. It’s pretty much just an update of the last smash, every character is REALLY FUCKING GOOD BUT.... JUST THAT? jeez.. Like, the only stuff I wanted from it was Mario Party and Smash... Okay maybe that 1 Mecha game. Also I guess fornite is now on Switch but I can play that anywhere else really.

I guess a 7/10 is all I can give to just Smash, if there was a little more I’d give it a 9/10 for sure but... ehh Just Smash? jeez, fuck... i MEAN I kind of get it, Nintendo doesn’t do “e3″ normally, they usually do 1 big game at E3 and then wait a couple of months to do that little seasonal announcement thing they do across the year, ugh.. Okay. Yeah I guess i shouldn’t have expected much. Still isn’t it weird that Miyamoto was in Ubisoft’s E3 but not this one??? what!

Anyways

[something-wicked-sims]

Dear Jade, I am writing this to ask a few questions I've had regarding writing in the sims form. How would someone start one of these sims stories? And how would someone keep it from becoming flat, and continue writing it past writers block? Some tips on developing a character inside the story would also be fantastic. Coming from someone who has only written novels and poetry, any advice on writing short pieces to go with photos is greatly appreciated! Sincerely, Mel. PS: This is 100% Real

Wow Mel, hit me with the heavy questions why don’t you Q_Q But you know, as someone who also made the switch from novel writing to sim story format, I kind of know where you’re coming from. Hence we begin…

Jade’s Mega-Fantastic Tips For Adapting to Sim Story Format 

#DearJade to block, as this is an extremely LONG post. 

Disclaimer: These tips don’t apply to everyone. The general rule of simblr is to have fun and DO WHAT YOU WANT. This advice is only really aimed at people who are serious about the craft and want to improve on their writing and how to present it in this medium. Not everyone takes it this seriously, and not everyone needs to. But for those of you who are looking for more direction with your writing, this is my personal, and humble advice. The fact that I titled this “mega-fantastic” was 100% sardonic. I’m just a chick on tumblr. I have a B.A. in English with a focus on creative writing, and nearly 6 months of simblr experience. These are my only qualifications. So, with that being said, don’t listen to anything I say from this point onward. 

How to Begin:Everyone’s writing processes are different. Some people like to map things out, while others tend to go with the flow. If your goal is to write some sort of cohesive linear storyline, and not just sporadic bouts of gameplay, then it’s good to have at least an idea of where you want to end up. Some point to make within your story, or some goal for your main character to accomplish. That way, all the things you do between point A and point B will have a similar thread, and you’re less likely to get lost on random tangents. 

General writing tips: Start with something interesting! Introduce your new characters in an exciting way. If you’ve never heard the phrase “in media res”, now’s a good time to learn it. Start in the middle, at the beginning. It’s nice to already have something going on at the beginning of your story, and don’t put too much time into explaining who all your characters are, what they do, what they like… right up front. It will engage people with your story more if you start off with action instead of description. 

Presentation: Since you’re writing a sims story, you have to think double time. Here, writing is only half of the work. Which is why simblr writers really don’t get enough credit! Think about how you want your scene to reflect in photos. The first sims story I did, I made the mistake of writing it in it’s entirety as a novel, and then having to take “necessary photographs” to go with each scene. I ended up with a great deal of pictures of people walking around aimlessly, or standing in the same room talking, or sitting on a chair talking, or on a couch talking… You get the point. You can still write as a novel and adapt it (which is still what I do), but I would recommend writing your scenes with your blog in mind. Think  “This scene could happen in their kitchen, but what if I moved it to a park instead?”, better scenery, probably more angles/more things to look at. Try to be creative with your screenies. Experiment with different angles. Think about your favorite movies, and the ways they are filmed. Try to incorporate those elements into your pictures. Sims stories have a certain cinematic quality to them, so write with that in mind, because how interesting your photos are will draw more people in to read your writing. Trust me. 

Character Development:Understand that the vast majority of sim stories and legacies unfold over enormous amounts of real life time. If you’re afraid of longterm writing commitments, you should probably run away screaming! No, I’m kidding (kind of), but they are huge commitments. I know people who have been writing their legacies for years. My first sims story took four months to complete and was around 75,000 words in its extracted tumblr form. My point is, it’s going to take a lot of time. Which is great! Because character development takes time. My advice for adapting character development to sims stories is to make sure every scene has a point. If you want to make a post just for fun, that’s great too! But when it comes to scenes that move your plot forward, answer the question “What does this accomplish?”, “Why is this particular scene necessary?”, “Would the story be the same if this didn’t happen?”. 

Simblr writers can spend hours putting together a post. I would think that is a pretty accurate statistic. From the writing, to building the set, clothing your sims, downloading CC, posing them, taking photos, and then editing the photos, each 3-4 pictures you take for a particular scene probably consumed precious long minutes of your life. So make sure that it’s an important scene that you’re spending all this time on. And, of course, just like most anime fans will tell you, FILLER EPISODES SUCK Q_Q (Not always. But sometimes). Anyways, sim story format sometimes forces you to consider what is vital to a story and a character, as we usually make posts to highlight specific moments in our sim-babies lives. I think development is really inherent to this medium, so I wouldn’t worry too much about if your character is developing or not.

General writing tips:

Dialogue is important!

How your character reacts to things is important!

Formatting:There are many different ways to format your sim story, and none of them are wrong. Do what you are comfortable with. If you’re coming from writing novels or short stories, then paragraph format is a great way to go. You can do caption writing, which is writing your text (typically dialogue and similar to playwriting in effect) directly onto your screenshots. You can do textual playwriting, which would be to have short exposition to setup a scene followed by tagged dialogue:

Maria: I went to the store yesterday.Bob: Really? What did you need to get there?Mari: Oh, I just had to pick up a few things for the party Saturday. 

These are the three most highly used formats I have seen used on simblr. I think they all work great, and you can even mix them. Just do what you are comfortable with and what you prefer. Don’t try to stretch yourself to change the style of your writing just to match what other people are doing. 

General writing tips:

One thing I will say is to be wary of your Point of View (or PoV). If you are using multiple PoV’s (as in you swap them between posts) then you should label whose PoV it is for your readers (I do so in my tags), if you use captions, usually changing font color to depict two or more players is the way to go. If you would like to switch PoV within the same post, I recommend using third person point of view e.g. “Bob walked here. Maria said this.”

And how would someone keep it from becoming flat… As I mentioned above, the best thing you can do here is just to make sure your scenes are vital to the plotline, or character development in some way. Don’t bog down your stuff with useless scenes, if your goal is to write a cohesive story. There is a #ts4 gameplay tag for a reason. It is not the same tag as #ts4 story, and people who follow one tag, may not necessarily want to follow the other. As a reader, I’m interested in the storyline. Is your character involved in some shady business? Are they going to find out that their loser husband is cheating on them? I don’t really want to see three different posts devoted to your sim cooking eggs for breakfast. SORRY. #justiceforeggs

General simblr tips:

@medleymisty has recently incorporated the usage of #simnovel for longer text posts. I think this is an excellent step forward for hobby sim story writing. So you can use this tag if you thing it applies to your work!

….and continue writing it past writers block? I can’t answer this! I am not a magician, unfortunately. Sometimes inspiration comes and sometimes inspiration goes. Writers block is a legit thing, and if I had a super-fix for it, I would hand it out lovingly to the world’s writers. But since I don’t, I will say that you shouldn’t pressure yourself ahead of time. Don’t think you need to post regularly. Go at your own pace. If you need a break? Take one. Just bounce right on out the door. I hear there’s a new Mass Effect game out. Go play it! Tumblr will still be here where you come back. 

Remember, this isn’t your job, it’s a hobby. As for how to get inspired or stay inspired, I really feel motivated to work on my sim stories when I am having fun, either playing the game, or putting together some scenes. So just have fun with it. Make Pinterest boards. Dudes, Pinterest is so great for writers, utilize it as a tool! Make character boards and pin things that you remind you of your babies and go look at the beautiful pictures when you’re feeling stuck. Share your boards, too! Lots of simblr’s have pinterests and you can follow them, they’ll follow you back, it’s great. Fantastic. But yeah, just have funnnn and do your thing and when you’re not feeling it, don’t try to force it, because you’ll just regret it and start to resent your stuff, and it’s just a bad time. 

This concludes my massive wall of pretentious text.

[neeksleep]

Day 17: Shenmue(-ish)

              I am late starting today’s post and have some other things to do, but I am committed to at least posting something today, even if it’s not a typical review.

               So, here’s the truth about me and Shenmue. I only played parts of it, but I watched the game played by my brother. When the game was released, we had rented the game and needed to beat it over the weekend (with an extended rental for 5 days instead of 3). Knowing full well that this game was going to be some massive, movie like experience, my brother and I prepped ourselves for the experience. For the most part, my brother had full control of the game. We’d be sitting for hours playing it, probably making instant noodles for sustenance.

               Now, when I say I played parts of it, what I mean is that I would play for any moment I could get when my brother wasn’t around. I would sneak in a few minutes of gameplay just so I could experience this “cinematic” experience myself. I would quickly run to the arcade to play one of the games, or slowly progress the story. I would avoid saving though because I didn’t want to get a sibling beatdown, and if I figured something out before my brother got there, I would act like I didn’t know what to do for a few minutes and then make “suggestions”. Yes, I did that.

               None of this says anything about Shenmue though. But if I’m being honest, Shenmue is just a product of it’s time and I don’t think it would hold up all that well today. Looking back, I completely understand why it was a big deal though. It had this living, breathing world that other games didn’t at the time. NPCs had schedules that they stuck to through the game-day, you could waste days not progressing the story, you had to get a job. On the face of it, it is a boring life-sim with a story there somewhere.

               For me though, it was like watching a movie or TV show that exuded a feeling of a sleepy town in dreary winter months. It was odd that I felt a part of setting and probably had something to do with the realistic nature of the game. I could see myself being the Ryo who would just walk around town, spending money on little figurines or going to a store to kill time. That is an odd feeling for a 9-year-old to have.

               I think it is generally agreed upon that fighting in Shenmue is not the highlight of the game. And I don’t really remember seeing the fight sequences as a kid. I remember the QTEs and being quite good at them (it was my claim to fame when I got the high score on the QTE arcade game and demolished my brothers score). I do remember being so interested in the town though. I wanted to inspect every detail in the town, zoom in on every low-res texture design on the wall that barely resembled a flyer. I was interested in exploring the town in the same way I would explore the real world.

In Conclusion…?

               These days, Shenmue is more fun to watch a playthrough of than to play. The voice acting is mostly terrible but hilarious at best, the signposting is terrible and it’s easy to get lost, and the QTE/Combat stuff is kind of half-baked. But I must commend it for trying to do so much despite the hardware limitations of the time. Looking at it now, you can see the rough edges, but it did a good enough job at the time to really make me believe that what I was seeing was believable. I don’t have a preference on game worlds, a game doesn’t need to be set in a real-world setting for me to be interested in it. But I think that Shenmue was one of the last times I was immersed in a world that I felt was so real. That illusion was essentially broken for games that I experienced afterwards. No matter how good-looking game worlds got, how good the AI was, or how many jobs your character had to take on, I would never be able to picture a game world as “real” as Shenmue.  

[cloudy-tech]

This week, take a historical tour of the world by visiting the beautiful sights of Egypt in Assassin’s Creed Origins, the series’ new instalment on PlayStation 4, or go on an American road trip with a twist in an alternate timeline America with Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus.

Elsewhere, soar through mysterious ruins in AER: Memories of Old, compete to master the oval ball in Rugby 18 or dodge bullets as fast as you can in Raiden V…

1. Assassin’s Creed Origins

In the new instalment of Ubisoft’s long-running franchise, Assassin’s Creed transports you to Ancient Egypt to explore the birthplace of the Assassin’s Brotherhood. Sail down the Nile, explore lost tombs and pyramids alike, and discover the secrets of the last pharaohs. Travel back to the origins of the Creed and fight for the people of Egypt in the coming war.

Why you should play it: With its historical setting, immersive world and engaging combat, Assassin’s Creed Origins promises a return to the epic adventures that defined the franchise.

More info: How Assassin’s Creed Origins returns to the roots of the franchise to define its future

Releases: 27th October

2. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

Get pumped for an action fuelled adventure into the heart the American homeland with Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. Nazis have taken over America and turned Manhattan into a wasteland. It’s your job to rally the Resistance and ignite a revolution. Do what you must!

Why you should play it:With its refined combat, humour and cinematic story, MachineGames’ sequel to their critically acclaimed shooter promises an action-fuelled blockbuster.

Releases: 27th October

3. AER – Memories of Old

AER: Memories of Old is a vibrant and atmospheric exploration game filled with puzzles and mysteries to unravel. As one of the last shapeshifters, you have the unique ability of transforming into a bird. Soar over the floating islands and ancient ruins of the Land of Gods and explore temples to uncover their secrets.

Why you should play it: AER’s unique art style and score will leave you in awe in this mystical exploration adventure.

Releases: 25th October

4. Rugby 18

Rugby fans unite! Fight for every inch of the pitch in one of the most immersive rugby games ever created. Master the oval ball in Career or Seasons modes, compete online or build your own team in the newly introduced My Squad mode with the official players from the best teams of the season.

Why you should play it: Rugby 18 delivers the latest Rugby experience complete with individual player statistics and tactical choices.

Releases: 27th October

5. Raiden V

The original bullet hell is back! Just in time for its 25th anniversary, the fifth instalment in the Raiden series brings all the arcade shoot ’em up fun back with upgraded graphics, new levels and new gameplay!

Why you should play it: Raiden V director’s cut includes a brand new local co-op mode, so bring a friend and try to dodge the bullets together in a host of new levels!

Releases: 27th October

Out this week

Deer Hunter: Reloaded 24th October

Rapala Fishing: Pro Series 24th October

We Sing Pop 24th October

  Persona 5: Ultimate Edition 24th October

The Mummy Demastered 24th October

Butter & Friends: Babysitter Sim (Not in Middle East, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey) 24th October

  The Evil Within 2 (Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman and UAE) 25th October

AER – Memories of Old (Not in Middle East) 25th October

Numantia (Not in Australia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malta, New Zealand, Oman, Qatar, Russia) 25th October

  Nightmare Boy 25th October

The Ministry of Time VR: Save the time (Not in Middle East, Ukraine) 25th October

Stunt Kite Masters VR 25th October

  Fort Defense North Menace 25th October

Mahjong Royal Towers 25th October

ATV Drift & Tricks 26th October

  Just Dance 2018 (UK releasing 27/10) 26th October

Assassin’s Creed Origins (Not In Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi, UAE) 27th October

Assassin’s Creed Origins – DELUXE EDITION (Not In Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi, UAE) 27th October

  Assassin’s Creed Origins – GOLD EDITION (Not In Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi, UAE) 27th October

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus 27th October

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus Digital Deluxe Edition 27th October

  Raiden V: Director’s Cut 27th October

RUGBY 18 Day One Edition 27th October

Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon with Bonus (Not in Russia) 27th October

  Yomawari: Midnight Shadows (Not in AUS / NZ) 27th October

Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online 27th October

anywhereVR (Not in Middle East, Belgium, Czech, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine) 27th October

  Persona 5: Ultimate Edition 24th October

Just Dance 2018 (UK releasing 27/10) 26th October

  Yomawari: Midnight Shadows (Not in AUS / NZ) 27th October

PS4 DLC

24th October

South Park: The Fractured but Whole  

Towelie (Not in Middle East)

25th October

Fort Defense North Menace  

50 barrels

150 barrels +15

300 barrels + 35

500 barrels + 75

1000 barrels +200

Episode 1 content

Mahjong Royal Towers  

5 crowns

17 crowns

30 crowns

Warframe  

PS4 Renown Pack XII

26th October

LEGO Worlds  

Monsters Pack

Infinite Mini Golf  

Hangar 37

27th October

Assassin’s Creed Origins  

Season Pass (Not In Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi, UAE)

DELUXE PACK (Not In Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi, UAE)

HELIX CREDITS BASE PACK (Not In Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi, UAE)

HELIX CREDITS SMALL PACK (Not In Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi, UAE)

HELIX CREDITS MEDIUM PACK (Not In Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi, UAE)

HELIX CREDITS LARGE PACK (Not In Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi, UAE)

HELIX CREDITS EXTRA LARGE PACK (Not In Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi, UAE)

Wolfenstein II  

The Freedom Chronicles Season Pass

Minecraft  

Strangers Things

Marvel Heroes Omega  

Gladiator Thor Pack

PS3 DLC

27th October

Minecraft  

Stranger Things Skin Pack

PS Vita DLC

27th October

Minecraft  

Stranger Things Skin Pack

Enjoy!

Remember, if you’ve not got access to your PS4, PS3 or PS Vita then you can also buy through our online store.

The post 5 big new PlayStation Store releases you need to check out this week appeared first on PlayStation.Blog.Europe.

from PlayStation.Blog.Europe http://ift.tt/2zJiUT1