Build your Next Life
Welcome to my “Build your next life” gameplay commentary! Build your next life is a randomizer that gives you four elements to weave into a sim: https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/10088...
Forum Discussion
“When the bar closed, I returned to Spice Market beneath Ambassador Bridge. With no official place of residence, this place was as good as any other. But I admit it was already special to me. Maybe because it had been the first place I had spent significant time at after coming to Detroit? Anyway, living under a bridge is iconic for city life, especially when you’re a starving artist! Let’s give it a shot, so that we can later say we did it!”
The next morning Carrow walked on shaky legs to the nextbest food vendor. There he grabbed a serving of burrito – the whole menus was full of burritos: cheese & beans, spinach, tomato and chicken and Carrow intended to sample them all. His spirits were lifting a little, enough to pull the police officer sitting at the same table into a conversation:
https://abload.de/img/29.05.23_03-17-34p3c12.png
Carrow: “’morning, officer. Busy night, yes?”
Alexander: “No, calm night, actually. What makes you think differently? Did something happen to you?”
Carrow: “Uh-uh. I was just woken up by your siren, is all.”
Alexander: “Strange. None of our teams was active in this district tonight. I don’t think anybody even passed through Spice Market, least of all with an active siren.”
Carrow: “Then what did I hear?”
Yes, what? Or – whom!
♪♫ Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard ♪♫
♪♫ Their shadows searching in the night ♪♫
Carrow spent the day playing for tips and looking (without success) for affordable housing. When he returned to Spice Market, the warehouse ruin once again sported a strange light. This time it was blue… and vaguely human shaped.
https://abload.de/img/29.05.23_03-39-17v9i4w.png
I had two ghosts in this save, but deleted them both to ensure that the game would grab the one I custom made for Carrow. Meet Godfather Burnstein (Insider/Maker/Foodie/Aspiration Leader of the Pack)!
Carrow: “Oh, wow, a hologram! I mean, you’re just a sophisticated ad, but still pretty cool. – Hello! Can you talk?”
Burns: “Hello... Call me Burns… Are you the new landlord? I saw you snoop around the warehouse last night. What’s left of it, anyway. It’s such a shame!”
Carrow: “Why’s it a shame?”
Burns: “Ah, right. I always forget how much time has passed. This place may look like nothing, and didn’t in the days of its glory, at least not on the outside. But on the inside? Ha! It was the fanciest speakeasy during the prohibition. People came to the Old Saltwater House to make merry, and, believe it or not, roughly half of them came for the atmosphere and the music, not interested in drinking or gambling. It was a place outside time, where people from all walks of life met.
Until the razzia, of course. Lt. Barrett made more arrests that one night than in his whole career before and after. Can’t even fault the man, we all hustle to the best of our abilities, right? But then Barrett had the “bright” idea of kicking the distillery. Somehow that caused a chain reaction and by the time the sun came up, it found only a burnt out ruin. That was the end of Old Saltwater House.”
Carrow: “Did you say “Barrett”? I… Oh, shoot…”
Burns: “No, he didn’t shoot anybody. You need to learn to listen better, boy, if you want to go places! This one burnt down, though. Oh, the glory… but that’s in the past…”
With a final moan, “Burns” dissipated, leaving Carrow to ponder the twist of fate that had brought him here. Or was it… destiny?
A place outside time where people from all walks of life met… listening to music… That sounded like a worthy goal. The ruin was looming over Carrow, almost an entity of its own.
Are you up to the task, kid?
Will you be the one to return Old Saltwater House to the world and its old glory?
Well, will you?
…blood of LT. BARRET?
Spoiler
https://abload.de/img/29.05.23_03-12-02bxd55.png
Carrow rolled out his sleeping bag in the ruin of a warehouse. He had chosen it for the glaring absence of graffiti or rats – for the standards of abandoned ruins, that had to count as “cozy”.
Sheltered from the harsh weather by three and a half walls Carrow wouldn’t be too comfortable, but not in danger of freezing to death either. He snuggled down, closed his eyes…
https://abload.de/img/29.05.23_03-13-15t2i7b.png
…only get woken up by the sound of a police siren.
However, when Carrow jumped out of his bedroll, there was no patrol car in sight. The square lay silent, peaceful. Only a green light was gently bobbing up and down just outside the ruin. Carrow approached it.
https://abload.de/img/29.05.23_03-13-588pccg.png
“What the… is this?”
The blob looked like industrial goo dripping down from the upper floor, but was clearly detached from the building’s wall. In fact, it swooshed once around a wall and then right through it! Carrow felt his innards tense up. That wasn’t normal! Not even for Detroit could that be called normal!!!
https://abload.de/img/29.05.23_03-14-290ofxd.png
After a while the good vanished. It left behind a grimy trail on the wall, leading Carrow to believe that had been all there had been to this encounter. Surely in his half-asleep condition he had only imagined the floating ball.
"Back to bed!"
♪♫ Streetlight people, living just to find emotion ♪♫
“No, strange noises, I don’t hear you!”
♪♫ Hiding, somewhere in the night ♪♫
“Good night!!!”
https://abload.de/img/29.05.23_03-12-02bxd55.png
Carrow rolled out his sleeping bag in the ruin of a warehouse. He had chosen it for the glaring absence of graffiti or rats – for the standards of abandoned ruins, that had to count as “cozy”.
Sheltered from the harsh weather by three and a half walls Carrow wouldn’t be too comfortable, but not in danger of freezing to death either. He snuggled down, closed his eyes…
https://abload.de/img/29.05.23_03-13-15t2i7b.png
…only get woken up by the sound of a police siren.
However, when Carrow jumped out of his bedroll, there was no patrol car in sight. The square lay silent, peaceful. Only a green light was gently bobbing up and down just outside the ruin. Carrow approached it.
https://abload.de/img/29.05.23_03-13-588pccg.png
“What the… is this?”
The blob looked like industrial goo dripping down from the upper floor, but was clearly detached from the building’s wall. In fact, it swooshed once around a wall and then right through it! Carrow felt his innards tense up. That wasn’t normal! Not even for Detroit could that be called normal!!!
https://abload.de/img/29.05.23_03-14-290ofxd.png
After a while the good vanished. It left behind a grimy trail on the wall, leading Carrow to believe that had been all there had been to this encounter. Surely in his half-asleep condition he had only imagined the floating ball.
"Back to bed!"
♪♫ Streetlight people, living just to find emotion ♪♫
“No, strange noises, I don’t hear you!”
♪♫ Hiding, somewhere in the night ♪♫
“Good night!!!”
The next morning Carrow walked on shaky legs to the nextbest food vendor. There he grabbed a serving of burrito – the whole menus was full of burritos: cheese & beans, spinach, tomato and chicken and Carrow intended to sample them all. His spirits were lifting a little, enough to pull the police officer sitting at the same table into a conversation:
https://abload.de/img/29.05.23_03-17-34p3c12.png
Carrow: “’morning, officer. Busy night, yes?”
Alexander: “No, calm night, actually. What makes you think differently? Did something happen to you?”
Carrow: “Uh-uh. I was just woken up by your siren, is all.”
Alexander: “Strange. None of our teams was active in this district tonight. I don’t think anybody even passed through Spice Market, least of all with an active siren.”
Carrow: “Then what did I hear?”
Yes, what? Or – whom!
♪♫ Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard ♪♫
♪♫ Their shadows searching in the night ♪♫
Carrow spent the day playing for tips and looking (without success) for affordable housing. When he returned to Spice Market, the warehouse ruin once again sported a strange light. This time it was blue… and vaguely human shaped.
https://abload.de/img/29.05.23_03-39-17v9i4w.png
I had two ghosts in this save, but deleted them both to ensure that the game would grab the one I custom made for Carrow. Meet Godfather Burnstein (Insider/Maker/Foodie/Aspiration Leader of the Pack)!
Carrow: “Oh, wow, a hologram! I mean, you’re just a sophisticated ad, but still pretty cool. – Hello! Can you talk?”
Burns: “Hello... Call me Burns… Are you the new landlord? I saw you snoop around the warehouse last night. What’s left of it, anyway. It’s such a shame!”
Carrow: “Why’s it a shame?”
Burns: “Ah, right. I always forget how much time has passed. This place may look like nothing, and didn’t in the days of its glory, at least not on the outside. But on the inside? Ha! It was the fanciest speakeasy during the prohibition. People came to the Old Saltwater House to make merry, and, believe it or not, roughly half of them came for the atmosphere and the music, not interested in drinking or gambling. It was a place outside time, where people from all walks of life met.
Until the razzia, of course. Lt. Barrett made more arrests that one night than in his whole career before and after. Can’t even fault the man, we all hustle to the best of our abilities, right? But then Barrett had the “bright” idea of kicking the distillery. Somehow that caused a chain reaction and by the time the sun came up, it found only a burnt out ruin. That was the end of Old Saltwater House.”
Carrow: “Did you say “Barrett”? I… Oh, shoot…”
Burns: “No, he didn’t shoot anybody. You need to learn to listen better, boy, if you want to go places! This one burnt down, though. Oh, the glory… but that’s in the past…”
With a final moan, “Burns” dissipated, leaving Carrow to ponder the twist of fate that had brought him here. Or was it… destiny?
A place outside time where people from all walks of life met… listening to music… That sounded like a worthy goal. The ruin was looming over Carrow, almost an entity of its own.
Are you up to the task, kid?
Will you be the one to return Old Saltwater House to the world and its old glory?
Well, will you?
…blood of LT. BARRET?
Spoiler
https://abload.de/img/29.05.23_03-41-56fgeib.png
Surprisingly the journey from realizing that ghosts were real to taking active steps to manage your haunted home was short. After asking around a little, Carrow was the proud owner of a séance table (what put quite the dent into his saving up for a woodworking bench) and started on getting a feel of Old Saltwater House in the ether.
By then the news of a violinist from the countryside making his home in the ruin had made the round at Spice Market and a local couple even organized a “Welcome to neighborhood” party for Carrow. Since it was a spontaneous gathering, the Millers didn’t have time to bake the real thing, and resorted to bring a store bought fruitcake.
Carrow placed it on the séance table, the only available surface. The fruitcake being a gift, he couldn’t throw it away, but there was no way he was going to eat that!
https://abload.de/img/29.05.23_03-43-59zccm9.png
The evil fruitcake came through the next night already, when a blue spectre disturbed Carrow’s sleep. A true scion of Lt. Barrett, even though the family didn’t even remember this particular ancestor anymore, Carrow offered the spectre a simple deal: “Get off my lawn or taste my fruitcake!”
At first the spectre just pulsated, amused by the mortal, but one hit with a tossed slice of fruitcake later it squeeked pathetically.
“Take that! Ha! Begone!”
The spectre vanished, but not before leaving behind enough spirit wax to form into three protective candles. Not bad for a fledgling Medium!
(Gameplay note: Fruitcake counts as handmade offering for purpose of placating spectres.)
https://abload.de/img/30returntobedroompufjw.png
A gameplay picture, showing Carrow being miserable. With the walls up the ruin looks atmospheric, with walls down it’s just a sad sight.
My goals are to level Violin, Woodworking and Medium, craft a violin and rebuild Old Saltwater House. Not sure if I can manage that last one on normal lifespan. Some gardening abuse might be required.
https://abload.de/img/29.05.23_03-41-56fgeib.png
Surprisingly the journey from realizing that ghosts were real to taking active steps to manage your haunted home was short. After asking around a little, Carrow was the proud owner of a séance table (what put quite the dent into his saving up for a woodworking bench) and started on getting a feel of Old Saltwater House in the ether.
By then the news of a violinist from the countryside making his home in the ruin had made the round at Spice Market and a local couple even organized a “Welcome to neighborhood” party for Carrow. Since it was a spontaneous gathering, the Millers didn’t have time to bake the real thing, and resorted to bring a store bought fruitcake.
Carrow placed it on the séance table, the only available surface. The fruitcake being a gift, he couldn’t throw it away, but there was no way he was going to eat that!
https://abload.de/img/29.05.23_03-43-59zccm9.png
The evil fruitcake came through the next night already, when a blue spectre disturbed Carrow’s sleep. A true scion of Lt. Barrett, even though the family didn’t even remember this particular ancestor anymore, Carrow offered the spectre a simple deal: “Get off my lawn or taste my fruitcake!”
At first the spectre just pulsated, amused by the mortal, but one hit with a tossed slice of fruitcake later it squeeked pathetically.
“Take that! Ha! Begone!”
The spectre vanished, but not before leaving behind enough spirit wax to form into three protective candles. Not bad for a fledgling Medium!
(Gameplay note: Fruitcake counts as handmade offering for purpose of placating spectres.)
https://abload.de/img/30returntobedroompufjw.png
A gameplay picture, showing Carrow being miserable. With the walls up the ruin looks atmospheric, with walls down it’s just a sad sight.
My goals are to level Violin, Woodworking and Medium, craft a violin and rebuild Old Saltwater House. Not sure if I can manage that last one on normal lifespan. Some gardening abuse might be required.
Community Highlights
- SimGuruKuxiku5 years ago
EA Staff (Retired)
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