"What should we call this?"...the making of a Sims story
Sul sul, Simmers. It's the holiday season, and it seems like as good a time as any to share my humble attempt at Sims storytelling with all of you. My twelve-year-old daughter, Z, is my Sims bud...
This post contains some of the "behind the scenes" things that I didn't want to add to a post that was already very long. I'll put the rest behind a spoiler tag, so you won't miss the story if you sail on by without reading.
The McGuire family was created by @SweetieWright_84. I don't think they were included in her populated save file, so we must have spotted them on the Gallery.
Z has always loved classifying things, sorting them, organizing them, those kinds of things. One evening, she made a spreadsheet that organizes all the families in our Gallery, sorting them by the number of Sims they contain and describing what kinds of Sims make up the household. Now, when we're placing families in houses, we can use her chart to find a perfect fit. (Z got this trait from my wife. I thought I was organized until I met her, and my illusion has been further cleared away by the child we created together.) :) A family like the McGuires is listed with other six-person families, with a note reminding us that they contain a boy and girl Teen and a boy and girl Child.
The house at 496 Sable Square has bedroom space for a family that size, so we used a random number generator to choose the family we would place there. The McGuires won the Lottery, as we've come to call it. Z adores the Lottery.
The Petersens, on the other hand, are our own creations. The family started with Willow, who has hung out in our Gallery for a while. She is the result of the makeover of a Dormie from one of the Universities. We used the power of CAS genetics to give Willow a family of origin. The Petersens ended up with four daughters because we needed some Teen girls in our world. Z got the idea to name them all for trees.
The Nash family also came to be when a walk-by Townie spawned with a hilarious, hideous look. We had to save her from the wicked wardrobe choices CAS made, and while we were at it, Z gave her a makeover. You haven't met Mom yet, but you've seen Sloane, and Cooper is a cute kid, too. They are the results of Mom's genetics.
Anthony Cannon has been the main Sim in one of my saves, but he's more often cast as a rock-solid wingman. This time Anthony's a married man, linked with a Sim we created to live in a San Myshuno apartment and provide someone fun to run across at festivals. I realize we have two Sims named Holly in this story. It's the holiday season, so let's roll with it. :) You'll see the Cannons in photos as the story goes on.
