Create A World - How it could work
It's no secret that there's a huge demand for more space, and more customisation of worlds in TS4, but how exactly would a Create A World tool work in this game? Well let's think it out.
The worlds in TS4 by their very nature are far too stylised and 'hand-crafted' to be fully customised or built from scratch like you could in previous games, but that doesn't mean it's impossible for some kind of Create A World tool to exist.
We players shouldn't be limited to have to wait for official EA worlds to be released, especially when said worlds only contain a small portion of lots and too much empty space. No, we should have access to a tool that allows us to create our own environments to play in and act out the stories we want to, and also be able to share them to the Gallery with other players.
The following is a step-by-step concept of how I can see a Create A World tool functioning in this game.
Step 1 - Creating the world:
One of the problems with the Create A World tool in TS3 was that it was too long-winded to create a world that looked good and functioned correctly (There were a LOT of issues with Sim routing) and not everyone had the time or motivation to construct a world from scratch. There was also too much skill involved to make it a widespread tool that just anyone could pick up off the bat.
So, to make this tool more accessible to all players, it needs to be straightforward and easy to use. Therefore, I think instead of starting with a flat empty world, there would be a selection of maybe 10-20 pre-set worlds each with the terrain already sculpted, roads already placed, and routable areas already marked out. Straight away this would ease the construction process for a lot of people and it means you'd have more time for decorating (which imo is the fun part of making a world!)
The pre-set worlds would come in various different themes, all with predefined background decor (the cardboard cutouts) that corresponds with that theme, eg. Hills, Forest, Urban, Desert, Beach, Mountains.
https://68.media.tumblr.com/73424d9c2f0c0254c4fb494339e4f74e/tumblr_okcg5fzI6K1tj6sf3o2_540.png
In the Sims 3 you started out with a blank flat world, but in the Sims 4 you'd start with a predefined area to decorate.
From here the customising process would be pretty standard, each world would have plenty of flat space for lot placement and a road to place them on, so you can decide how many of how few lots you want, the ground textures could be changed with terrain paints, as well as being able to decorate the public spaces in between with plants, rocks, furniture, collectable spawners/fishing spots etc. all of this customisation would still allow for some really unique worlds to be built, even with the limitation of having predefined terrain.
But a big concern I've seen mentioned a lot here on the forums is that the towns in this game are divided up into separate neighbourhoods which each act as a small 'world', and that if a Create A World tool were to exist, the players would have to build multiple 'worlds' for each town or settle for just a single 'world' (neighbourhood). I think a way to address this would be to allow for the addition of 2-3 extra neighbourhoods (on top of the base neighbourhood that you'd start with) for each custom world, they'd be chosen from the list of pre-set worlds so you can mix and match different terrains, and they could be edited, added or removed at any time during the world-building process. However if you only wanted a single neighbourhood like Magnolia Promenade or Forgotten Hollow, then that would be an option as well.
Step 2 - The Map Screen:
Once the world has been decorated and is to the player's liking, it's time to create the map screen, and that's when things get a little more tricky.
As I understand it, the way the map screen works is that all of the lots in each neighbourhood are rendered onto a flat plain and then the background map is drawn by the artists to fit around the lots. This is a little undesirable for a community tool, when not everyone has access to a drawing programme like Illustrator or Photoshop, but there is a way around it. The first option would be a selection of pre-drawn maps that correspond to the theme and layout of the pre-set worlds, and then the player would adjust the positioning of the rendered lots to fit the map.
https://68.media.tumblr.com/b1a82422116dc4e59ca5daec0656e0c9/tumblr_okcg5fzI6K1tj6sf3o3_1280.png
The first picture shows one of the predrawn map screens, but as you can see the rendered lots don't fit with the layout. The second picture shows the rendered lots on a flat plain that can be rotated and readjusted. The third picture shows the lots now fitting with the layout of the map screen. The fourth picture shows an alternative blank map screen.
The alternative is that the map screen would be blank and appear as just the rendered lots on a coloured gradient background. Doing the latter could mean that players are able to use a 3rd-party drawing programme like Photoshop to drawn their own map screens if they dislike the blank default background. Obviously not everyone would be able to make their own map screens, but I've got a project in the works at the moment where we're creating our own maps, so if this was an option then I'm sure there are plenty of creative Simmers in the community that would help out other players by drawing them custom map screens for their worlds.
Step 3 - The World Icon:
The final hurdle is that all worlds have their own distinct animated icon, which are not easy to create (trust me, I've tried!) so clearly it wouldn't be an option for everyone to create their own icons. So again, there are a few ways around this, the first is that there would be a selection of pre-made animated icons to choose from (similarly to how there could be pre-drawn maps) that would each correspond to the theme and layout of each of the pre-set worlds, and the player could select the icon that best matched their finished world.
Another option is that there would be a single generic 'Custom World' icon that would be default for all player made worlds, with an option to replace it with a screenshot of the world.
https://68.media.tumblr.com/101aaf1f5a82cb93f869d5ad4a725c39/tumblr_okcg5fzI6K1tj6sf3o1_250.png
A possible custom world icon that could be used as the default for all player made worlds.
Other things that I think would be awesome to have in a Create A World tool:
Finally, the world would be named and then uploaded to the Gallery so that everyone has a large selection of worlds to choose from and no one is short on space to build or play!
So that's it, that's my vision of a TS4 Create A World tool! Let me know if I missed something that you think should make it in, and whether or not you agree with how I picture it to be. :)
The worlds in TS4 by their very nature are far too stylised and 'hand-crafted' to be fully customised or built from scratch like you could in previous games, but that doesn't mean it's impossible for some kind of Create A World tool to exist.
We players shouldn't be limited to have to wait for official EA worlds to be released, especially when said worlds only contain a small portion of lots and too much empty space. No, we should have access to a tool that allows us to create our own environments to play in and act out the stories we want to, and also be able to share them to the Gallery with other players.
The following is a step-by-step concept of how I can see a Create A World tool functioning in this game.
Step 1 - Creating the world:
One of the problems with the Create A World tool in TS3 was that it was too long-winded to create a world that looked good and functioned correctly (There were a LOT of issues with Sim routing) and not everyone had the time or motivation to construct a world from scratch. There was also too much skill involved to make it a widespread tool that just anyone could pick up off the bat.
So, to make this tool more accessible to all players, it needs to be straightforward and easy to use. Therefore, I think instead of starting with a flat empty world, there would be a selection of maybe 10-20 pre-set worlds each with the terrain already sculpted, roads already placed, and routable areas already marked out. Straight away this would ease the construction process for a lot of people and it means you'd have more time for decorating (which imo is the fun part of making a world!)
The pre-set worlds would come in various different themes, all with predefined background decor (the cardboard cutouts) that corresponds with that theme, eg. Hills, Forest, Urban, Desert, Beach, Mountains.
https://68.media.tumblr.com/73424d9c2f0c0254c4fb494339e4f74e/tumblr_okcg5fzI6K1tj6sf3o2_540.png
In the Sims 3 you started out with a blank flat world, but in the Sims 4 you'd start with a predefined area to decorate.
From here the customising process would be pretty standard, each world would have plenty of flat space for lot placement and a road to place them on, so you can decide how many of how few lots you want, the ground textures could be changed with terrain paints, as well as being able to decorate the public spaces in between with plants, rocks, furniture, collectable spawners/fishing spots etc. all of this customisation would still allow for some really unique worlds to be built, even with the limitation of having predefined terrain.
But a big concern I've seen mentioned a lot here on the forums is that the towns in this game are divided up into separate neighbourhoods which each act as a small 'world', and that if a Create A World tool were to exist, the players would have to build multiple 'worlds' for each town or settle for just a single 'world' (neighbourhood). I think a way to address this would be to allow for the addition of 2-3 extra neighbourhoods (on top of the base neighbourhood that you'd start with) for each custom world, they'd be chosen from the list of pre-set worlds so you can mix and match different terrains, and they could be edited, added or removed at any time during the world-building process. However if you only wanted a single neighbourhood like Magnolia Promenade or Forgotten Hollow, then that would be an option as well.
Step 2 - The Map Screen:
Once the world has been decorated and is to the player's liking, it's time to create the map screen, and that's when things get a little more tricky.
As I understand it, the way the map screen works is that all of the lots in each neighbourhood are rendered onto a flat plain and then the background map is drawn by the artists to fit around the lots. This is a little undesirable for a community tool, when not everyone has access to a drawing programme like Illustrator or Photoshop, but there is a way around it. The first option would be a selection of pre-drawn maps that correspond to the theme and layout of the pre-set worlds, and then the player would adjust the positioning of the rendered lots to fit the map.
https://68.media.tumblr.com/b1a82422116dc4e59ca5daec0656e0c9/tumblr_okcg5fzI6K1tj6sf3o3_1280.png
The first picture shows one of the predrawn map screens, but as you can see the rendered lots don't fit with the layout. The second picture shows the rendered lots on a flat plain that can be rotated and readjusted. The third picture shows the lots now fitting with the layout of the map screen. The fourth picture shows an alternative blank map screen.
The alternative is that the map screen would be blank and appear as just the rendered lots on a coloured gradient background. Doing the latter could mean that players are able to use a 3rd-party drawing programme like Photoshop to drawn their own map screens if they dislike the blank default background. Obviously not everyone would be able to make their own map screens, but I've got a project in the works at the moment where we're creating our own maps, so if this was an option then I'm sure there are plenty of creative Simmers in the community that would help out other players by drawing them custom map screens for their worlds.
Step 3 - The World Icon:
The final hurdle is that all worlds have their own distinct animated icon, which are not easy to create (trust me, I've tried!) so clearly it wouldn't be an option for everyone to create their own icons. So again, there are a few ways around this, the first is that there would be a selection of pre-made animated icons to choose from (similarly to how there could be pre-drawn maps) that would each correspond to the theme and layout of each of the pre-set worlds, and the player could select the icon that best matched their finished world.
Another option is that there would be a single generic 'Custom World' icon that would be default for all player made worlds, with an option to replace it with a screenshot of the world.
https://68.media.tumblr.com/101aaf1f5a82cb93f869d5ad4a725c39/tumblr_okcg5fzI6K1tj6sf3o1_250.png
A possible custom world icon that could be used as the default for all player made worlds.
Other things that I think would be awesome to have in a Create A World tool:
- The ability to create a destination world like Granite Falls, this would be amazing because we only have 1 world to vacation in at the moment and it'd be great to be able to make as many as we want!
- The ability to set the colour of the sky and the water, this would be good for those who like to create other planets or fantasy worlds, I can imagine someone creating a remake of Midnight Hollow with it'd blood red sky!
- The ability to change the hours of the day/night cycle, so you can have a world with longer days or with longer nights like Forgotten Hollow.
- An option for light pollution, so you can choose whether you can see the stars or not. This is already a thing in some TS4 worlds, notably San Myshuno and some areas of Newcrest where you can't even see the stars, it's just a haze of greeny yellow. Or completely remove light pollution like in Windenburg and Granite Falls where you can see the stars perfectly!
Finally, the world would be named and then uploaded to the Gallery so that everyone has a large selection of worlds to choose from and no one is short on space to build or play!
So that's it, that's my vision of a TS4 Create A World tool! Let me know if I missed something that you think should make it in, and whether or not you agree with how I picture it to be. :)
