Careful planning or go with the flow?

I usually don't do a whole lot of planning, though I do come up with more fleshed out personalities for my sims beyond the three traits. It's crazy to me that you even plan out the children, as I usually just randomize the names until I find something good enough or come up with something that I like, whichever comes first. Usually I don't even remember what I named them.
I usually do a vague backstory, but it kind of changes and gets more detailed as I go.
The one I'm doing right now has more of a story element to it than I usually have. A couple, Cannon and Stone, are surviving in an apocalypse type scenario, where the world has basically started over. There's no electricity, and they keep to themselves because the few survivors that they see are untrustworthy. It's dangerous to go too far from their main shelter, and they have to live entirely off the land. Despite this, they're eager to start a new family. So far they've given birth to Gunner, though they plan on having more. They'll do anything it takes to protect their children from the harsh new world. Anything.
I think it makes it more fun to have a story element, that way it's sort of like you're writing your own book or movie, but because it's The Sims, there are elements that you can't plan for, which makes it more interesting. I guess The Sims is the same as playing with dolls, but it's for adults :blush:

I have a family of four in my save. Two toddler girls and their parents. I wanted them to woohoo, but I actually made them try for baby because in real life you never know what could be around the corner. She end up pregnant with baby number three now.

I have an Idea for the theme of the next sim like a double agent or a mad scientist for example. However I learned the hard way that even careful planning can still go wrong. Last Week I had both the Dad and Mom of my household DIE almost simultaneously. I was then left with luckily a teen all by himself :s :s :# or it would have been game-over for my long running household :o

I generally have some kind of back story for my characters but then I see where it goes. I have some idea of what their personalities are like and how they each approach decision-making but then I let things happen as I go along. There are many ways to play though and I think that detailed back stories like yours are great.

I'm just somewhat far into a rotation where I'm basically playing most of the characters in the town with all of these different story lines. I do think of ideas for new characters who interact with the others and then seeing how things develop. Right now, for example, I have a new generation in a few households that are growing up. I'm thinking about bringing in a few wealthy young descendants of older generations. The Landgraabs died off as townies in my game but I'm considering bringing back a young descendant of theirs depending on where I put him as a kind of wealthy bad boy who is new in town. I'm also considering bringing in an heir to the Von Haunt/Windenburg estate and making that a really aristocratic residence for a handsome young stranger who is new in town. The Von Haunt guy would be kind of the opposite of the Landgraab guy so I would see what develops, such as if they fight over the same woman/women or how they are otherwise rivals.

I'm not very good at having characters really sustain lasting animosity towards each other so in reality, they would probably both get roped into their lives. I also already have quite a few wealthy characters, though I guess that they could all be friends. I try to make sure to play various socioeconomic brackets. I'll admit that my sims are generally all "good" on some level. I can think of one or two exceptions that I play more for fun rather than actually liking them, because their deviousness is funny. Most of my sims are all very decent, even Max Villareal who is my primary vampire. He is just an aristocratic loner living a life of leisure with a lot of time ... and plasma-drinking.

The most planning I tend to do is deciding early on what kind of career/personality a Sim will have by the time they're a child, or even a toddler in some cases. I'll roll a dice to see what their childhood aspiration is and go from there; for instance, if their aspiration is motor skills, then they'll likely be an athlete of some sort. This isn't always my method, but it helps me shape a personality/story for them in my head.

I think I’d disappoint myself more if something happened that wasn’t according to plan.

I just go with the flow :)

I only have two game play saves at the moment. One is the family I created for the mini-series below. So, yes, in many ways their back story has already been created. What I couldn't cover in the confines of the series, I like to play out in my game.

The other family is my Ancestral game play save. In doing my family research, I have fallen in love with my sixth great-grandparents and their branches to either side, not just them and their children. It makes for a rather interesting rotation save. My sixth great-grandfather became a bit of a somebody, so his timeline is known. While I can't recreate all that they lived through (French and Indian War, Pontiac's War, the Siege of Fort Watauga 1766, and a significant battle in the Revolutionary War. Battle of Kings Mountain, SC), I can simulate the relationships.

In that respect, yes, it's pre-planned.

I usually have a background. Sometimes they go with the flow but I have them do interactions that are in accordance with their previous experiences/traits.

I'm flexible. Sometimes I have a definite background in mind first, other times I make it up as I go along. I do use traits to decide if two sims would get along, like the neat sim who wants a family but doesn't want to date a lazy sim because they'd clash over cleanliness. I decided at the beginning that Myles Peters, the founder of one of my legacies, was an orphan who inherited land from his last foster parents.

"mmt3363;d-941649" wrote:
I was inspired recently to do another total game makeover, creating new sims and remodeling/building all new lots until I’ve laid hands on everything. I have all the family’s names and ages outlined, and have a list of 104 clubs that I want to create and utilize when I get to the actual gameplay part of the recreation. As I’m placing the families and building their houses, their stories become a little more fleshed out.

Like the family holding onto their farm land in Willow Creek; Arthur Fellows inherited the farmhouse that’s been in his family for nearly 100 years, but he hardly works the land there. That usually falls to his busy wife Mona who is simultaneously running a bakery, keeping up with the meals and cleaning for the household, and wrangling 4 children, 17 year old Fox, 15 year old Sparrow, 9 year old Poppy, and 3 year old Ash. Arthur is more focused on pursuing his dream of becoming a world renouned artist, which is great and all, but Mona sure wishes he’d help out more.

Or the family I’m currently working on: Jonah Lennox, a chef working as a programmer on the side to save up for the restaurant he wants to buy, his mommy blogger and aspiring parenting guru wife, Christina, and their two little ones, 7 year old Lucy and 2 year old Jude. (The young couple met at a Beatles tribute concert, hence their childen’s names.)

But all this got me wondering if other simmers neurotically plan out their games like I do. I always like to have an idea going in about the family’s backstory, their individual goals, who they would be friends with, who they wouldn’t get along with, and so on. I feel like it helps me create a world that feels interesting and complex.

Do you find that you do a lot of preplanning, or do you like to just go with the flow and live out your sim’s lives on a whim?

What family have you done the most planning for, or what family has been most exciting for you to play in the fly?

I come up with a basic scenario for the households I create remake premades and townies when I start a new game. I build and create many clubs. However I also go with the flow.

For example My sim Damian I create married Max Villareal which was not something I was trying to do. I was playing Victoria Van Helsing's household when he married Max. I didn't have a romantic interest between the two of them when I switched over to Victoria. She's been slumming with the mortals and I have been trying to get over her relationship phobia she has because she saw her beloved murdered by her family centuries ago and has branded her a traitor by them all because she fell in love with a vampire. She is my infamous ex-hunter She has issues but she is one of my favourite households I have created. I have her looking like a female Baron Semedi because of the things she has gone through in her past. She has a sort of "blood" debt to pay to The Vatores. While I was playing The Sinclair twins who are Templars Max and Damian had twins. Again I didn't try for a baby with them but it is something I didn't plan for.

I have a lot of autonomy in my gameplay to add flavour and roll with what happens as a result of that autonomy, It might be an alien invasion it might be the rise of the vampires sims getting married and having kids. Sometimes it can be something crazy since I allow teens to marry and become pregnant in game. The reason behind this was I was thinking wouldn't it be entertaining if... Cassandra Goth came home pregnant and being even more depressed than usual. Wolfgang Munch being the father and being the jerk he is making Cassandra go through it all alone while her refusing to tell her parents who the father of her child is wondering if she should confide in her brother Alexander the whole time or Malcolm Landgraab and Luna Villareal having their families force them to marry each other after she finds out she is pregnant with his child. We all know Geffory wants grandkids one day even though he might want to wait a However, MCCC gave the game other ideas. It adds to some interesting twists.