I was thinking of how to add interesting households to the empty Cake Island when I eventually move my McFluff story to Cake Island. There are already a pair of Fawns living there - they have Custom Content skin, hooves and horns to make them appear to be some sort of hairy creature known as a fawn.
Then I came up with the idea of a household of mermaids. I won't want to play them, at least not often, but it would be nice to see them around town occasionally. In order to prepare them for their addition to Cake Island, and so I can get to know them, I've made them and added them to a house in Isla Paradiso - because there are dive lots there.
I got some video of them and have decided to show some short videos of their progress as we learn about each other.
Here is the first video. It goes for about 10 minutes and shows their first introduction to water and to diving at Pearls Deep.
The first mermaid video is now up on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/hRs-GRu2NQA
It is their first swim and goes for about 10 minutes.
The second Colourful Mermaids video is now available on YouTube.
It is just under 9 minutes.
The mermaids are still swimming around at Pearl's Deep. I now know them a little better and can tell you their names. I take Julia into CAS to try to remove her sunglasses as I don't like mermaids swimming around under water wearing sun glasses.
George finds a hidden island, Diver's Den Island. This is because mermaids start out with level 10 diving skill. That's why, on their first dive they are able to dive at Pearl's Deep dive lot. Being able to find Diver's Den island requires a sim to have level 10 diving skill.
https://youtu.be/_fKNXl8nfNY
That's Julia on the left and Estelle on the right. They are both based on my old sim, Ella. I think Ella must have sunglasses on when in her swimming outfit and now this pair have sunglasses on when diving. I'm trying to fix that. They share a yellow tail as I want them to be alike to indicate they are from the same original 2009 sim.
I am highly likely to continue to change the appearance, especially tail colours of any of the mermaids as this is my first game that's all about mermaids.
I'm working on the third video in this series. It will be a tiny bit longer - because I would have had to chop a recording in half and show it in two different episodes. It won't be posted for a few days though as I've got to do the next episode of the McFluffs first.
Anyone watching this series on the mermaids might be interested in the McFluffs because that's the story these mermaids are destined for. They will be townies in the McFluffs eventually.
Here is a feature on one of the mermaids. It is Belinda Bombay. I often give the family name of Bombay to my sims who are witches. Belinda was made originally for me to get a badge relating to multiple witches. I didn't get it due to lack of interest and commitment. But, since I'm now making that Caroline and Friends series of videos it is possible Belinda may make an appearance in it, as her original self which is just a witch and not a mermaid.
Belinda's traits are: Flirty, Great Kisser, Hopeless Romantic, Charismatic, Schmoozer.
Her Lifetime Wish is: Zombie Master.
Now, I gave her those traits so she'd be able to get me the badges she was designed for. I think it might have been the badge for '15 Magical Consorts'. As a boy get a witch partner 15 times and break and break up with 14 of them.
I have a feeling, and I'll have to check this by finding the save, but I think Belinda may have been one of 3 witches I used in the save that finally got me the badge for a sim to have 15 babies. I used a male sim and kept him in one house and then had three female sims in three different houses. They each had 5 babies with him and the badge finally triggered after years of trying to do it with a female sim.
The thing I was doing wrong with my female sim was getting her to move house whenever the house filled up and leaving her babies from that house with their father. The first Sim I tried getting this badge with was Patience and her 15 babies are the 'original 15' I used for the game that eventually became my Big Game where I use NRAAS Traveller mod to have sims living in multiple worlds.
Now, Oscar and Louise is another version of this badge. It is the first time I've managed to have the same two sims have 15 babies together and stay together in one house. I needed mods of course to allow for an overstuffed household.
I have a video series of Oscar and Louise and so far it is just showing their background but once they do get together they will start making babies and I really want to see those babies grow up and have their own babies. That's why I decided to make that series of videos.
The Big Game that started originally with the 15 babies of Patience will soon wend it's way into The Isla Paradiso Bunch video series as I merge that household into the Big Game.
So that's a bit of a background on one of the mermaids - plus a bit more explaining how all of these stories relate.
I just finally decided to change Sukie's scales colour. I will need to see her swimming to see her tail and if I want to keep this particular colour combination.
This is the original colour the game gave her when she became a mermaid. It is the same as Mia Azul has.
https://s5.postimg.cc/ibjes2l4n/Suki001.jpg
Since that tail colour didn't seem to go too well with her shorts I decided to try for a rainbow look. There are only four colours available in the tail so, I have to either create a rainbow pattern, or just stick with 4 colours for her scales.
https://s5.postimg.cc/ef62w37uv/Suki002.jpg
It's night time in game now, so will have to wait a while to see what she looks like in the water.
Some more mermaid pics. I took them diving so I could see Sukie's tail. I'm not happy with it yet so will do some more tweaks. They met up with Maya Ocean this dive.
I worked on the mermaid home that'll they'll live in when the McFluff story moves to Cake Island.
Here's a few progress shots. I think it'll take quite a while to do.
I used a spoiler so this thread doesn't get to take ages to scroll down later on. Too many pictures can be annoying when you just want to get down to the bottom of the thread.
The bloke in the hat is a paparazzi https://s5.postimg.cc/6nzxb3upj/CI_Paparazzi001.jpg
I think I'll put some greenery around that screaming sculpture - it is CC from luna. I've seen the original once on TV and it's a sculpture in a park somewhere in Europe. Forget what it's called. It looked good in the park so I think this one in my game needs greenery around it. https://s5.postimg.cc/6nzxax7if/CI_Mermaids004.jpg
They brought a miner and a climatron from the Skylight House in Isla Paradiso. I wanted them stored outside but didn't want locals running off with them. I built a platform and put the Climatron on top. Then I put the digger underneath. Added the steps from the Store and then needed to provide some sort of security. First I looked at the Barrier to Entry system but that was going to be too clunky. I wanted something a bit more ethereal. Then I though of the fence. I think it comes with Late Night. I used it to define the Butlers Quarters in the Skylight House and I like it. It is the same height as a wall and fits in well. I used the Showtime clear bubbly columns. They also provide some light. When the lights are on I made them all different colours but they all seem to have gone white again. I'm having problems with colours in a few places it seems. The gate is locked. I forget where it came from. Possibly Late Night or Showtime. I have a burglar alarm at the front of the lot so I hope it detects burglars. No one else, other than the repo man, can get through that gate unless they are part of the household. https://s5.postimg.cc/8fsw5vw13/CI_Mermaids002.jpg
In the version of Cake Island that I've set up for the McFluffs most of those lots behind them in this pic are full of stuff. There's the military base, a fun park with roller coaster, Grim's Ghastly Manor (the graveyard) a cake shaped café from the Katy Perry Sweet Treats pack. And the McFluff home lot that is a 64x64 lot. The mermaid lot is only 60x60.
George lost his mermaid occult state and I had to use Master Controller to put it back again. Then I had to use the mirror to fix his scales. So I had to buy them a mirror - not all mirrors work apparently. I came across the Magic Mirror and added it to the household just for fun. It wasn't any good for fixing mermaid scales but it did give him a magic makeover - so that's why he's in that suit. Didn't keep it unfortunately.
Originally, as just a fairy, George has bright coloured reddish wings. When he gets given scales his wings change shape and they go pure white. So that means he has to take a trip into CAS to fix his wings. When I give him brighter coloured wings his scales go pale. At least his tail isn't affected. https://s5.postimg.cc/u27wmwmvr/CI_Magic_Makeover001.jpg
After emerging from his treatments in CAS and wherever it is they go to get their scales fixed. He walked around in his tail for a while. It looked like he had a long skirt on that went down all around his feet. I wondered if he'd trip on it. I got him into the pool as fast as possible in the hope that'd fix the problem and it did. https://s5.postimg.cc/oqt025y87/CI_After_Fixing_Scales001.jpg
Practicing magic. She still can't do a Restoration Ritual and she needs to be able to do that to clean up the house - except I just remembered, Harry Genie is in the household too and genies don't need to develop any skills - they can just do things such as make the house all clean and sparkly. Might try that next time they mess it up. At least the genies don't backfire. But the restoration ritual, when it works, also fixes broken things. When it backfires it breaks everything in the house and makes a mess everywhere. https://s5.postimg.cc/kufo69d9j/CI_Magic002.jpg
https://s5.postimg.cc/dr7sqpsfb/CI_Magic001.jpg
Some of the fantasy type plants are cc by souris https://s5.postimg.cc/rkw5ftaqv/CI_CCPlants001.jpg
I think I've tracked down all of the plants by souris that I have installed. It always takes me hours over a series of days to find them all as they are scattered all over the buy catalog. But they are pretty if you're after a fantasy type theme and some of them glow in the dark.
There is a large yucca plant with flower missing from this p icture. It keeps sinking into the basement. I've finally got rid of it. Will put something else there later. I found a lot of wonderful plants that are in build mode when I was looking for food décor. They were in an archive of stuff from Repulsively Desirous. https://s5.postimg.org/w6s9o5guf/CIMissing_Yucca_Plant001.jpg
Where the big yucca plant was. I filled it with plants - most of them are new to me. I found them recently when I found a link that was said to go to a place with lots of wonderful food décor. It turned out to have a LOT more great stuff and I spent a few days following mysterious links I found in text files. Some of the links took me to places that I had to get out of quickly and never return - fortunately I have good virus software to assist with that - but most of the places had marvellous stuff and I have now installed it all. It was an archive of Repulsively Desirous stuff and it had links to lots of other stuff made by some wonderful CC makers. I don't know who exactly made these plants but they will get a lot of use in my McFluff game. They are all together in Build Mode. https://s5.postimg.cc/rjm7lz12v/Ground_Level004.jpg
I've started adding all-in-one bathrooms around the lot. They are proving very popular. This was a bit of overkill but they looked better when I filled up the entire wall with them. https://s5.postimg.cc/dpxuwxvmv/Ground_Level003.jpg
This is the top basement. I have a feeling the stair wells I've made will turn into overcrowded sim traps so I'm adding more stairs to give the sims better access between basement levels. At least they are doing their work - one of the sims in the picture is a paparazzi and he can go no further into their home. The doors are locked. The rest of the sims in the picture belong to the household. https://s5.postimg.cc/ibtz5krjb/Top_Basement009.jpg
All of those little rooms in the background are bedrooms and bathrooms. It turns out the bathrooms don't really work too well with mermaids. The all-in-one bathrooms are better if you want them to stay hydrated and not lose their mermaid occult state. https://s5.postimg.cc/o1a7ppaif/Top_Basement002.jpg
The second top basement there is still a lot of work to be done everywhere. This is just an update on where I am now. Will be working on this on and off over the coming weeks/months. Depends on how long it takes to get to Generation 5 in the McFluff story. https://s5.postimg.cc/ft8a52t07/Second_Top_Basement007.jpg
This is the window that I've use in the pool - the one with the bubbles. I'm not sure if this stencil is generally available, or if it was unlocked by one of my numerous stencil unlocking mods. It is not a CC window. https://s5.postimg.org/9uugugrxj/Second_Top_Basement003.jpg
I grabbed a lot of stuff out of the Skylight House and put it in the household inventory - grabbed the gnomes too but haven't seen much of them around this lot so far. https://s5.postimg.cc/yybjetzyf/Second_Bottom_Basement006.jpg
It looks like I'll need to add more all-in-one bathrooms. They are queueing up to use them and there's a lot of foot stomping and hand waving going on. And they stay there and wait their turn and all of them eventually do get in and use the bathrooms. It does wonders for their hydration. https://s5.postimg.cc/l4n6prznb/Second_Bottom_Basement005.jpg
Here is the underground pool. I was going to light it, but then decided I prefer it to be dark and mysterious. I'll still do more with the lights around the edges though - and I'll probably add coral and stuff somewhere there. Will need to use MoveObjects On Cheat to do that though.
I found a little bluebird in my cc collection. I don't know where I got it from but it's pretty. You can see it fluttering above the plants to the left of the newspaper delivery girl. https://s5.postimg.cc/bkv4devhj/Delivering_Newspapers001.jpg
Finally, I'm getting to use my starfish. I think I had to pay extra to get them, or do something extra. They were probably related to the release of Isla Paradiso. I've had them for years and finally get to do something interesting with them. They are in the rocks section of build mode. I do have a single CC starfish too, but it is very tiny and hardly visible. I've placed it near the bottom basement pool.
Many things may change in this build as I'm making it up as I go along.
Today I'm working on the McFluff story to get the next episode up. That is the main story the mermaids will appear in eventually. I need to give them a pretty and whimsical home to move into while there too. I'm thinking of breaking them up and having them live in different households. The eight I originally made will keep this big house and I'll add smaller homes for the four I got from Isla Paradiso. And the humans will need to have a home of their own too. But for now I'm concentrating on this house. The houses for the others won't be as elaborate or as big.
I think I'll also add dive lots to Cake Island. I'll probably have to build them myself and the ocean there isn't very big. But the mermaids need to be able to dive.
Well, I made a very quick attempt at a dive lot. I didn't fail completely but I did forget my method of stopping them from jumping as they cross the boundary of the dive lot. Mermaids swim in the sky for a few paces as they enter and leave the lot. Will try to work out how I did it. It may involve a cheat but that'll take a lot of time to work out and I have other things I have to do now.
Here's a few pics.
https://s5.postimg.cc/6hn5alr47/CIDL001.jpg
https://s5.postimg.cc/fcnzl40h3/CIDL002.jpg
https://s5.postimg.cc/xs8gijow7/CIDL003.jpg
https://s5.postimg.cc/4pu6fpfh3/CIDL004.jpg
https://s5.postimg.cc/msn96xqrb/CIDL005.jpg
https://s5.postimg.cc/z7a179ajr/CIDL006.jpg
https://s5.postimg.cc/c5tg1hnqv/CIDL007.jpg
https://s5.postimg.cc/w0fhnlniv/CIDL008.jpg
The DL is too deep - that was me using terrain tool to make it deep. It's really hard to get down there to see the mermaids.
Can't understand why there are so many sharks. Particularly since on the surface I placed 1 surface shark spawner and there were at least 7 surface sharks.
Next time I'll take more time over it and hopefully it'll turn out better. At least they have a place to dive in Cake Island now.
Episode 3 of the Colourful Mermaids is now available on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/6gVQrqsyIbc
See through a part of the Skylight House in Isla Paradiso. Also watch the mermaids as they go swimming in a dive lot, meet Salty Seaworth and catch some undersea life.
