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MoonlightGraham's avatar
MoonlightGraham
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago

"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 buddy. This summer, we discovered how much we enjoy creating Simworlds and bringing them to life together. We have fun browsing the Gallery for houses and households we like. We especially enjoy creating characters in CAS and saving them to the Library, where they live until we summon them to the stage.

I tried my hand at Simlit twice before. One attempt lasted a single post; the premise behind the story didn't work as well as I'd hoped. The other began with much more promise, with main characters who seemed to have enough chemistry to sustain a good, old-fashioned love story. Then, just like that, the chemistry fizzled quicker than a cheap Spice Festival firework. So did my story.

This time, I'm taking a different approach. I've tried to type the sentence in which I describe this approach at least seven times, and I've backspaced over every single one. Let's just call it "The Making of a Sims Story." I suppose it's as much of a journal as anything else. I envision myself sharing with you some of the experiences my daughter and I have playing The Sims together as well as the events that unfold in our game. You'll meet some of the characters we've created, several of which have been with us since our first TS4 save. Some of them are based on real people; some have been inspired by characters we've found in other stories; some are our very own.

We have no idea whether our game will generate a story worth telling or not. I hope it will, because we'll have much more fun if that's the case. We might all decide it's not much fun to see exactly how the sausage is made. My use of that figure of speech elicited an "ewwwww" from Z, who is seated beside me on the sofa, wrapped up in a holiday plaid blanket.

I'm taking this step because Z and I have experienced an uncommon amount of kindness on this forum. So many virtual spaces are toxic. This one could not be more different. Simply put, it's a fun place to hang out and spend time, and a place where I'd like to settle in and do some writing.

In my next post, I'll set the stage for you. I'll introduce you to our main character, and tell you a bit about the world in which the story will take place. I hope we'll all enjoy it.

The last thing I added to this post was the title. Neither Z nor I could come up with anything to put in the Discussion Title box, and I couldn't proceed without filling it in. It turned out that when Z asked me what we should call it, she answered her own question better than I could.
stories

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  • MoonlightGraham's avatar
    MoonlightGraham
    Seasoned Ace
    4 years ago
    I write on a Google Doc, and I had much of this post written by the time I posted the preceding one. Z thought I should go ahead and post it now, even though I updated just a little over an hour ago. She deserves major credit for the Willow Creek lore that follows.

    6. Carpe noctem, carpe diem

    Guided by The List, Cameron approached the next few days with a renewed sense of purpose. He had already decided to go back to San Myshuno for the Spice Festival. He had always had fun there as a kid, sneaking samples of dishes that seemed wonderfully exotic to a boy from Willow Creek.

    He returned with a Curry Champion T-shirt. Carpe noctem.

    Activities that had seemed to lose their appeal seemed more fun when Cameron turned them into challenges of their own. Instead of going to the gym, finding an exercise machine, and pounding out his workout in silence, Cam began to converse with the other gym–goers. If he didn’t know them, he’d introduce himself. He met Duncan Edwards and Kaleb DeLong that way.
    https://i.imgur.com/OosKGn4.jpg

    Left to right: Cameron, Duncan, and Kaleb

    He discovered he got along really well with Randall Nelson, one of the trainers who worked there. Randall was a former professional athlete who had moved to Brindleton Bay with his wife and teenaged son.
    https://i.imgur.com/SsC0yeT.jpg

    "Don't you DARE let up! Three more. There you GO!"


    Cameron got another boost on Sunday, when his supervisor told him he’d earned a raise. Ten more Simoleons per hour took his wage to §58. But the major part of his income came from the offspring of those Birds of Paradise he’d picked one night at the Romance Festival. The four plants were producing flowers each day, and each plant generated about the same amount of Simoleons as a full shift at work!

    That day was Skills Day, and Cam had already decided how he would celebrate. He suited up in his Curry Champion shirt, and then…
    https://i.imgur.com/nmRTjhf.jpg

    He sounded terrible. He was glad Grandma Martha couldn’t hear him, but he did have fun. Carpe diem.

    There's no place like home
    The Willow Creek district contained four residential neighborhoods.

    The Rosses lived in Courtyard Lane, a comfortable area that had been built in the triangle formed where two smaller streams flowed into Willow Creek. The Creek separated Courtyard Lane from Pendula View, an older neighborhood with four sprawling houses. Inside the loop of a winding stream to the south was Foundry Cove. The Georgian homes of this neighborhood had mostly been converted into townhouses, affordable options for roommates and young couples. Foundry Cove’s population was, therefore, more transient than those of the other neighborhoods.

    Sage Estates had once been the Sage estate, the property of a single family. Theophilus Sage had made a fortune in the iron and steel industry in the late nineteenth century. His grandson, Samuel, sold part of the land—it was whispered that he had a mountain of gambling debts to cover—and a second large home was built there in the style of the Sage home itself.

    The topic of neighborhood changes came up one evening while Cameron was having dinner at his family’s house. Dan had an evening meeting on campus, so Cameron had manned the grill. He produced a rather delicious batch of Hamburgers for the family to enjoy.
    https://i.imgur.com/RjW0QQs.jpg
    "Not bad..."

    “Have you been down to Foundry Cove lately?” Courtenay asked her older son.
    “Not for a while,” Cameron replied.
    “There are a bunch of new people living down there now. Well, some of them are new. Quite a few of the kids you grew up with are still there, or back there. But I’m meeting more new people around town than ever.”
    “I saw Tommy Geiger at the gym the other day,” Patrick added. Tommy was Cameron’s age, and Patrick had always looked up to him. “He’s moved back to town.”
    “I hope Rosalind moved with him,” said Cameron. Tommy and Rosalind had been teenage sweethearts. All the Rosses had been at their wedding.
    “Of course she did.” Halle rolled her eyes at her brother. “I saw her at the Café with two of her friends. I didn’t recognize them, though."
    “I ought to give Tommy a call,” Cameron said.
    “Just go knock on his door. You know Willow Creek people don’t mind that.”

    Courtenay was right. That easy interaction was one of the things that made their home district feel like home.
  • SweetieWright_84's avatar
    SweetieWright_84
    Seasoned Ace
    4 years ago
    "MoonlightGraham;c-18026531" wrote:
    Sage Estates had once been the Sage estate, the property of a single family. Theophilus Sage had made a fortune in the iron and steel industry in the late nineteenth century. His grandson, Samuel, sold part of the land—it was whispered that he had a mountain of gambling debts to cover—and a second large home was built there in the style of the Sage home itself.


    I love the lore and explanation of Sage Estates. It fits so well. It's perfect *chef's kiss*.
  • MoonlightGraham's avatar
    MoonlightGraham
    Seasoned Ace
    4 years ago
    "SweetieWright_84;c-18026648" wrote:
    "MoonlightGraham;c-18026531" wrote:
    Sage Estates had once been the Sage estate, the property of a single family. Theophilus Sage had made a fortune in the iron and steel industry in the late nineteenth century. His grandson, Samuel, sold part of the land—it was whispered that he had a mountain of gambling debts to cover—and a second large home was built there in the style of the Sage home itself.


    I love the lore and explanation of Sage Estates. It fits so well. It's perfect *chef's kiss*.


    @SweetieWright_84 Thank you so much! It means a lot to us to get the seal of approval from the neighborhood's creator. We hesitated before we introduced it into the story, because while it's our game, it takes place in your Simiverse. We would never presume to know what stories might have existed in your mind while you built it.

    There's another look behind the scenes behind the spoiler tag. Short version: what happens when we play with MCCC (briefly) and add Realm of Magic to our collection.

    Spoiler
    We had heard so much about MCCC and all the features it can add to our game. When we discovered it would pull Sims from our Gallery to fill NPC roles, such as baristas, vendors, and retail employees, we were sold. We downloaded it and installed it. We then set ourselves to the task of customizing its settings. There are so many aspects of game play we can tweak with MCCC. That's what is amazing about it but, at the same time, that's why if you're not very careful, you can make changes you weren't going for.

    We *thought* we had worked systematically enough to make sure we had things just the way we wanted them. We are careful enough to create copies of our story save so we can experiment with things, and that's what we did with MCCC. It seemed to work perfectly! Naturally we were excited about returning to our story save, which was now even more our own.

    That's where the trouble started. We were too excited, and we missed a setting we wanted to adjust.

    I believe it took two game days for the changes to occur, and we wouldn't have noticed them for a while had Z not been "nosy" and wondered where some of our Sims had gone on a beautiful late Spring day. She set Cameron up to Travel, and clicked on the house of his neighbors, the Petersens. You may remember a bit about them; they're a married couple with four daughters, named for trees. Well, the story progression feature of MCCC worked exactly as it is designed to work. It saw fit to break up the Petersens. Dad and one of the younger daughters were no longer in the household!

    Z was alarmed. "What the heck?? They're DEAD! It KILLED them!"

    "Honey, we have aging off. Nobody dies unless we say so." I had checked to make sure nothing I had done changed this feature of our world.

    "Then WHERE DID THEY GO??" Z is very protective of her creations.

    We opened up Manage Households and searched for the missing Steve and Rowan Petersen. We found them...as part of a new household! Steve and Bonnie had apparently divorced and, in the blink of an eye, Steve married a random Townie we had never seen before! She was a sight, a fashion disaster with a ghastly combination of physical features that made Rohan Rosenthal look absolutely conventional.

    "Oh NO, you DON'T!" Z snarled. This threat was undoubtedly directed at MCCC. "We better check to make sure this didn't happen to anyone else."

    We checked, and sure enough, the previous two days had been disastrous for Sims marriages.

    Summer Holiday has always amused us, so we had decided to add her to our game. Z decided that in this version of her life, Summer still lived with her parents, Brooks and Leanna, and her Teen brother, Trent. The Holidays lived in a house in Pendula View, next to the Hortons and their housemates.

    Correction. Not all the Holidays lived there. According to MCCC, Brooks apparently stole a page from Steve Petersen's playbook. His new wife was easily identifiable as a human Sim, which was an improvement. Still, we didn't want this kind of story progression, at least not yet.

    We were able to turn back the hands of time and change that which MCCC had wrought. We deleted the Petersens and Holidays--all of them--and restored them, in their original states, to their homes.

    There are Breakup Settings in MCCC that we had neglected to adjust to zero. MCCC worked precisely as it was created to work. The errors were ours, not Deaderpool's.

    We also discovered there had been havoc in Henford-on-Bagley. In a massive upheaval of the heretofore peaceful village's human infrastructure, the Mayor, the Creature Keeper, and the shop owners all lost their positions. In their places were new Sims, clad in the customary uniforms of their trades. Only Sara Scott retained her place, behind the bar at the Gnome's Arms.

    Fortunately, at least some of the ousted HoBsters were already starting to pick up the pieces of their lives. Kim Goldbloom moved to Willow Creek, where she was teaching yoga at the local fitness center. Agatha Crumplebottom found work as a barista. Michael Bell was spotted browsing at the Newcrest Shopping Center as he contemplated the next step in his life.

    We're not sure what happened in Henford-on-Bagley. Nor are we sure what to do about it, if anything. However, we did decide that, for now, we're uninstalling MCCC to protect our game from ourselves. :)

    Compared to that adventure, adding Realm of Magic to our game was a snap. We discovered that we needed to download a new copy of @SweetieWright_84's save file, save her Glimmerbrook lots to our Gallery, go into Build mode, and place them in our world. We evicted the game's premades, so when we're ready, we can add new Sims to the Glimmerbrook houses.
  • SweetieWright_84's avatar
    SweetieWright_84
    Seasoned Ace
    4 years ago
    "MoonlightGraham;c-18026959" wrote:
    SweetieWright_84 Thank you so much! It means a lot to us to get the seal of approval from the neighborhood's creator. We hesitated before we introduced it into the story, because while it's our game, it takes place in your Simiverse. We would never presume to know what stories might have existed in your mind while you built it.


    You're doing exactly what I intended everyone to do. I only provided the canvas, you paint the picture. It will not offend me in anyway. Who knows, maybe something you write about will inspire me to add something to the save (with credit of course).

    I really enjoy reading the story, and I can't wait to read more. I like your writing style and the characters. I want Cameron to succeed and to be happy in his new home. I'm rooting for him as much as I would my own sims.
  • MoonlightGraham's avatar
    MoonlightGraham
    Seasoned Ace
    4 years ago
    Here's a closer look at one of our characters. How will she fit into our story...?
    I apologize for the lack of screenshots. You'll see Kelley when she makes her first appearance.

    Kelley Nash had pressed "reset" too many times. She hoped she'd never have to do that again.

    She grew up in a big house in Newcrest, with everything she wanted and more. She got things she didn't want, too, such as pressure from parents who insisted on perfection: in the classroom, on the soccer pitch, at the easel. As soon as she could, Kelley made it very clear that she was going to make her own way. Instead of continuing on to university, as scripted, she moved to an apartment in San Myshuno. Reset number one.

    She sold a few paintings and worked at one job or another...as long as they didn't get in the way of her partying. One night, she met a man named Caden Fulton. His life seemed to have little more direction than Kelley's. He thought he would try to make it big as a musician; he had the look, but the sound was still a work in progress.

    Kelley called what followed a relationship. Caden wasn't so sure. At any rate, Kelley was left with a baby girl when Caden hit the road. Kelley named her Sloane. One look at her was all it took for Kelley to realize it was time to grow up. Reset number two.

    Odd jobs wouldn't cut it any longer, not with a baby girl to care for. Kelley's father helped her get a job as a writer. She was good at it, and she could work from home while she raised Sloane. She continued to paint on the side. The time and energy she'd devoted to partying was shifted to fitness. Life had taken a turn for the better, and Kelley was happy. She moved out of her apartment into a small house in Brindleton Bay, and that made her happier still.

    Then Kelley met Aaron Curtis. He was handsome, smart, and successful, and he was smitten with Kelley as quickly as she with him. He swept her off her feet, and it wasn't hard to do. He seemed perfect; just the kind of man Kelley's parents envisioned her marrying one day. One night at the Romance Festival, Aaron proposed. They planned a wedding at the Brindleton Barn.

    Kelley hoped Aaron would be as delighted as she was when she learned she was expecting their baby. Aaron was far from delighted. He also proceeded to reveal how far from perfect he really was.

    When Aaron had a problem, his solution was invariably to throw money at it. He hadn't been thrilled about the fact Kelley had a daughter. He didn't like kids, but he had convinced himself to accept Sloane as part of the bargain if it meant he'd have Kelley. But the idea of having TWO children was more than he could handle. He wrote Kelley a letter, stuck a big check inside, and hit the road.

    Kelley's growing household needed a bigger home, so she took the money her slimeball of an ex-fiancé left her and bought a beautiful home on Sable Square. Several months later, her son Cooper was born. Reset number three.

    Somewhere along the line, Caden Fulton had repackaged himself as Rob Wylde. His name was always found high on the list of "one-hit wonders," the result of recording a song called "Hotter Than Sin." It played on the radio from time to time and when Sloane Nash heard it, she invariably rolled her eyes. When Kelley Nash was unfortunate enough to hear someone perform their version on a karaoke machine, she invariably smiled and told the singer, "You're MUCH better than the original."

    The recipient of this compliment, such as it was, invariably believed Kelley was flirting with them. That was, in fact, quite often the case. Kelley was a shameless flirt and always had been. Twice, she'd connected with the wrong man, and while those connections had given her the blessings of her beloved children, they had also forced her to press "reset" twice.

    Kelley was tired of "resets." She would rather remain single if it meant she could take her finger off that button.
  • MoonlightGraham's avatar
    MoonlightGraham
    Seasoned Ace
    4 years ago
    "SweetieWright_84;c-18026980" wrote:
    "MoonlightGraham;c-18026959" wrote:
    SweetieWright_84 Thank you so much! It means a lot to us to get the seal of approval from the neighborhood's creator. We hesitated before we introduced it into the story, because while it's our game, it takes place in your Simiverse. We would never presume to know what stories might have existed in your mind while you built it.


    You're doing exactly what I intended everyone to do. I only provided the canvas, you paint the picture. It will not offend me in anyway. Who knows, maybe something you write about will inspire me to add something to the save (with credit of course).

    I really enjoy reading the story, and I can't wait to read more. I like your writing style and the characters. I want Cameron to succeed and to be happy in his new home. I'm rooting for him as much as I would my own sims.


    @SweetieWright_84 I love to write, and Z and I are having an unbelievably good time creating our characters and their story. Realizing it's bringing other people enjoyment makes it even more fun for us. We hoped Cameron would be a character people will root for. We see him as a bit of a throwback, a Frank Capra-style protagonist Sim. Z and I are glad you're pulling for him.

    Thank you for your kind words, and thank you again for creating the setting for our tale!
  • MoonlightGraham's avatar
    MoonlightGraham
    Seasoned Ace
    4 years ago
    7. Sibling banter

    The fact that Cameron was making progress toward his goal of becoming a competent cook didn’t make him enjoy Courtenay’s cooking any less. Mrs. Ross had told her older son that if he wanted to join the family for dinner, all he had to do was send a quick text, so she would be sure to make enough food for five (including two young men who ate more than one Sim’s share).

    One Spring evening, Cam had sent such a text. Courtenay, delighted to have a full house to cook for, treated the family to Vegetable Chili, one of their favorites. They chatted as they ate.

    “You’ll never guess who is back in town, Cameron,” Courtenay said.
    “The Flower Bunny.”
    “No, silly. Angie Reynolds.”

    While the mention of the Flower Bunny didn’t make Halle snicker, Angie Reynolds’ name did. Angie was a classmate of Cameron’s, all through school. Halle had no reason to believe Angie ever had a crush on her brother, but when Halle felt like pestering him, she teased him about this possibility. She chose Angie because, of all the older girls Halle knew, Angie was the one she figured Cam would like the least.

    Courtenay put her fork down and scowled at her daughter, giving her a withering “Mom does not approve” look. “That’s not kind, Halle.”
    “Yeah, Halle. That’s not kind,” Cameron repeated. “Didn’t Angie want to be a doctor?”
    Courtenay nodded. “She did, and she is. She’s joined the T. Pose Medical practice.”
    “I’m impressed,” Dan added. “That’s where my dad got his start, too.”
    Cameron nodded. “I’m not surprised. Angie is smart as plum.”

    Cameron was right. Angie Reynolds had always been at the top of their class, a position for which nobody ever challenged her seriously. Cameron came the closest, but he was still a long way from Angie’s level. And while Angie was naturally intelligent, she worked to maximize her talents harder than Cam ever did. When Angie wasn’t bent over her homework tablet, she had her nose buried in a book.

    Mean kids told her to keep her face there, so they wouldn’t have to look at it. Even as a Teen, Angie was completely unconcerned with her appearance. She wore her mousy brown hair pulled back so tightly it seemed to stretch her facial features out of place. Her outfits weren’t outfits, as much as they were combinations of bland garments she pulled from her dresser. She was as thin as a stick, and any figure she had was constantly concealed by her shapeless clothing. Angie was, in short, exactly the kind of girl a younger sister would “choose” for her big brother when she felt like being a Grade A brat.

    Halle wanted to take one more shot at Cameron before the topic changed. “You ought to go look her up,” she teased. She added an exaggerated wink for effect.

    Courtenay responded before Cam could. “Based on the picture her mom showed me, Cameron wouldn’t recognize her.” Then she smiled, very sweetly, at her son.
  • Waxintegral's avatar
    Waxintegral
    Seasoned Ace
    4 years ago
    Good to see you having another go...I will catch up on the story over the next few days but for now I want to ask where Halle's hair is from as it's a good style? Is it CC or from a pack?
  • MoonlightGraham's avatar
    MoonlightGraham
    Seasoned Ace
    4 years ago
    "Kellogg_J_Kellogg;c-18027231" wrote:
    Good to see you having another go...I will catch up on the story over the next few days but for now I want to ask where Halle's hair is from as it's a good style? Is it CC or from a pack?


    Thanks, @Kellogg_J_Kellogg . We're enjoying this story so much. The pace has been rapid while we're on holiday; Z attends the school where her mom and I teach, so we fortunately have our breaks together. I have a feeling we'll miss WSWCT once school is back in session and we have less time to play.

    Halle's hair is CC. We try not to use much CC in our Sims, but you're right, her hair is really cute.
    I'm almost positive it's a variation of Quirky Introvert's Yaara hair. The variations simply affect where her hair lays on her shoulders.
    Here's the link: Halle's hair

    I hope you'll enjoy following the story!

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