TS2 Rewind: Simmerville in Concert

Back in my old TS2 game, there was a popular hangout called Lake Ellie's Cultural Retreat. When instruments and jamming was introduced, this location had the only stage in town. So, I brought many of the best known families to stage, for jam sessions that was recorded. It's now available on Simmerville's Youtube channel.

You might recognize VIP reporter Lisa Snakespear, webmistress Bimbo NL and baby expert Ursull Swims, just to name a few. Duration 4:26.

The Ugly Wickerwood - Chapter 22

Myrhna's mother, Anna Eastwall, surprised them all by marrying her friend, Jonas. The newly wed elderly couple resides the master bedroom, and over the past years Anna acted as if she owned Albert's house.

- It certainly feels like ugly business, Albert said. He and Myrhna was sitting in the livingroom to talk. Kids were in bed, and Anna and Jonas were in their room.
- She doesn't mean to be ugly, Myrhna said.
- Argh, of course not, I am the ugly one, Albert shrugged. - And you know, our kids are perfectly ugly, too!

TS2 Rewind: Bubo by Bu Buh

Hello! I'm back from vacation, and had time to look through a few old TS2 films I made back in 2004-2006. Hey, that's pretty old stuff, more than 10 years!

Anyway, want to share one of my findings, the mysterious story about how my clairvoyant sim Molly MacAstral got her blue skinned alien son, Bubo. Molly existed even in my TS1 game, and she was one of a kind!

This movie (duration 4:18) is a bit, uhm, primitive, I didn't even bother to hide the plumbob. It still has something going :) I'll post more old findings to my Youtube channel shortly!

How I build a Sim's personallity

While waiting for this season's last Wickerwood chapter (it's in the works, but needs a few days more), I want to tell you how I deal with my sims' personality. Not saying this is a needed way, or even a good way, but at least it helps me keeping a focus for sims that figures in my stories.

Their personality is mainly set by the game, but I like to add to that. This helps me knowing how they will live, what their preferences are, how they react and some times how they communicate etc. Life want and traits make the foundation, but I often add my string of "additional DNA" as well as preferred styles. To keep all these details easily accessable, even if game is not running while I write my stories, I often make a personality card for the main characters. In the past I kept notes in a spread sheet, but I figured that creating a card gives me much more inspiration and ideas, it feels like I geet closer to the sim's true personality :)

This card shows Cathrina H. Wooblershield, you might recognize her from "Seagull Cottage Bed & Breakfast" - a story that takes place in my town of Galucca, and that had a long break but will return to this blog this Fall. Her card gives all essentials regarding her person, including pictures of her as well as the house she resides - Seagull Cottage.

Name is given, not much to add there, except that I always add the maiden name initial when a sim marries and takes anorther sim's lastname. Cathrina's maaiden name is Horgan. She is married to Alexander Wooblershield.

On top you see that her lifetime want is Heartbreaker. This I think of as a long term goal, not something that necessarily affects her everyday choices. She has 5 traits, and I choose to focus on 3 of them as main traits and the last 2 as additional flairs. Her main traits are Friendly, Slob and Ambitious. The weaker traits are Computer Whiz and Flirty, which might affect how those first 3 come into play. So what can we get out of that combo? She obviously is a social sim, network builder and often in a flirting way without necessarily wanting to cheat on her spouse. Being a slob might not only mean that she hates cleaning, but maybe her social relations becomes a mess, to? A few misunderstandings, a few conflicts - all caused by her not keeping her relsations clean and spotless? The Computer Whiz addiitional flair might mean that she tend to think technically abut others, forgetting that they have feelings and questions. She sure is an interesting character for running her late Great Aunt Gloria Moonster's old bed & breakfast, and we know she already did quite a few attempts to bringing the weird neighbors back to the open hood nights at the cottage.

There is also a number top right, number 4. It gives Cathrina's "success status" on a scale from 1 to 6. A 4 is pretty decent, she will probably just about succeed with her business, but not without working real hard. In all my games this factor is present, in some towns there is even regions where the most successful resides (5-6), and poor quarters where less fortunate families live (1-2). A child from a 6 family would never marry someone from a family with success factor 1 or 2. If a 4-sim marries a 5-sim, the household will count as a 4.5 household (the average). The couple's kids will normally inhherit 4.5 but a DNA factor might either rase it to 5.5 or lower iit to 3.5. This way kids will succeed differently, and some parents find it easier to pick the main heir. I often play my towns through generations, so this affects the long term developments of a community.

Cathrina being a Virgo means she will be interested in details, she might like science and she is not afraid to work hard to reach her goals.

The DNA string "Gg-hH-ff-bB-MF-Ii-Ss" is not existing in the game, but I invented it in order to deside a sim's looks and behavior. It might look complicated, but is easy to use once you get to it. I've also used this in my TS4 game.

Each set contain one from dad and one from mom. I use a dice to pass on the DNA, normally once a child is born.
"Gg" = average, no effect. "GG" would mean need of glasses. "gg" would mean no need of glasses.
"hH" = average, no effect. "HH" would mean lots of hair. "hh" would mean little hair. "HH"-men will have body hair, while "hh"-men will never have body hair. Cathrina will not have a very long or volumous hairstyle, neither will she have a very flat/short style.
"ff" = no freckles. "FF" would mean lots of freckles. The average "Ff" or "fF" would normally give no freckles, or just a few.
"bB" = average, no effect. "BB" would mean beautyspot. "bb" would mean no beautyspot.
"MF" = masculine/feminine. This gets more complex, but basicaly one f each will be neutral, while any form of "Ff", "fF", "ff" or "FF" will tend to more feminine. Bigger letters gives a bolder effect. In my games "MM"-women and "FF"-men are gay, but some might still live a normal family life. Masculine women will rarely were skirts/dresses, and feminine men might more often wear red/orange/pink/pastels.
"Ii" = neutral, no effect. "II would mean bright intellect (smart), while "ii" would mean dumb - but not necessarily unhappy. Cathrina is neutral, knowledge might not come easy, but she won't make many mistakes either.
"Ss" = neutral, no effect. "SS" would mean successful regarding social status, and 1 is added to the sim's success factor. "ss" would mean less successful and success factor is reduced by 1.

From the DNA I will know that Cathrina has no need for glasses before she turns elderly, she has average hair growth, no talent for freckles, no beautyspot (but can still pass on the "B" to her children). She is masculine/feminine balanced, but with both big letters, she might be very masculine and very feminine as required - like not being afraid of doing heavy body work, and enjoying to dress up very feminine with no need of doing so every single day. I also know that Cathrina's intellect is average, and her social success is average, too.

With a little experience, I can quickly see my sims' qualities from looking at their personality card. A tad complicated, but do feel free to adapt any ideas if you like.

The Ugly Wickerwood - Chapter 21

Life looks better at the ugly Wickerwood residence. At least it does for the elderly couple, Mrs Anna Eastwall and her boyfriend Jonas Pascal. They spend an amazing amount of time in the master bedroom...

While the real house owners, Albert and Myrhna Wickerwood sleeps upstairs in the less impressive section that was built for Myrhna's mom, Anna.

Hope Terra - will be back on after Summer!

When my computer crashed half a year ago, the story that lost most progress was Hope Terra. Three of Hope Merez' four children had married, and two of them had moved out to live in new builds on small rocks in the ocean. All that was lost, and because of a busy RL, I had no chance to redo everything until recently.

Now the builds and moving outs are safe again, and this time with a back-up, even :)  Expect season 2 to catch up in September! There are now three households, all being pregnant:

Aquid Merez, Hope's oldest son, inherited the main property at Hope Terra. His wife, Clammensa, pictured playing with a squirrel on the beach, already gave birth to their son, Almus. What colors will his Mer scales be? And, Clammensa is pregnant again!

Hope is still worried for the Mudder group. What is going on down there in the waters?

Davitor married to Ocira Tushell and built a small home on the southern rock. They are expecting their first child any day now! Davitor loves painting, and with this view to the never ending ocean, he try again and again to capture the perfect motive. Ocira thinks all his paintings look the same, will he ever succeed? And what is the point in painting, when there is no community to buy your work?

Finally, Animere, the daughter with human legs, married Abrovin Scalor and built a tiny shed on the western rock. They are expecting a baby too, and - well, it's exciting to see if the child will get Mer People's scales, or human legs. Abrovin is into fishing, and there is plenty fish right outside their shed. Maybe they can trade fish for vegetables with the other two households?

Please check back in September! And if you are new to Hope Terra, get ready by reading season 1! :)

The Ugly Wickerwood - Chapter 20

It's getting quite annoying how elderly Anna Eastwood and her lover, Jonas, claim the better part of the house, while Albert and Myrhna brings in all the money. They both work, and when they get back home they find that the elderly couple didn't do any house chores, and totally neglected the kids, too!

Myrhna was often exhausted. Still she had this dream to become a famous musician, and the only way achieving her goal was to work hard in the local theater.

The Ugly Wickerwood - Chapter 19

It's been a few days since the old man moved in with granny Anna Eastwall. She still claims the house to be hers, and she didn't need to ask old Jonas twice. He had been around for some time already, but Hui could still not get used to granny behaving like a teenager.

- Argh, granny, stop kissing!
- Shut up and do your homework, Hui! I promised your parents to babysit you.
- I'm no baby! Ush!

The Ugly Wickerwood - Chapter 18

Albert and Myrhna lived a few happy days now that they had access to their two kids, Hui and Edna. Albert had time to concentrate on his Law Enforcement career, and Myrhna found more time to practice on her guitar.

Neighbors never got a grip on Myrhna, why would anyone prefer to practice their guitar in the snow, wearing nothing but their underwear? Well, Myrhna Wickerwood obviously preferred it that way...

The Ugly Wickerwood - Chapter 17

So, Albert and Myrhna slept upstairs, while Myrhna's mother, Anna Eastwood, got their room downstairs. It felt a bit unfair as their master bedroom was much nicer equipped.

- You need to talk to her, Albert said. - She is your mother!
- It won't change anything, trust me!

The Ugly Wickerwood - Chapter 16

The drama at the Wickerwood residence must come to an end! Myrhna's mom has locked herself in the nursery with her two grandchildren for several days, and everybody are worried for the kids, toddler Hui and baby Edna.

Albert Wickerwood saw no other way to end his mother-in-law's strike, but expanding the house as the old woman demanded! Unfortunately they can't change much about the nursery plan, but a second story was added. Upstairs there is now a nice living room/bedroom with its own bathroom - all meant for Myrhna's mom, Anna Eastwood.

Downstairs they switched the kitchen and living room sections, and built a new wall to separate them.

The Ugly Wickerwood - Chapter 15

It's been several days since Myrhna's mother Anna Eastwall locked herself inside the nursery. Myrhna is getting desperate - how are the kids doing in dere? Toddler Hui and baby Edna - dirty diapers, empty small stomaches?

- They are all starving! They must be starving, maybe they are already dead!
- Relax, wife!
- But we need to do something, Albert!