How Much Planning Goes Into Your Gameplay?

Lots of planning, but even more improvisation.

I have a pretty complete picture of each of my sims in my head. Everyone also has an agenda or goal that they work towards, preferably one that clashes with at least one other sim. Then there's rules for the world, for example small crimes that I fine (guitar playing is fun, but please not in the museum/library/study spot). As a result of my roleplaying I often must not choose the most efficient solutions (like painting clubs or buying potions) because it would not fit the character or the world they live in. And that in turn means the game can actually be difficult for me.

Recently one of my police sims, an owned android, made his university homework at work when a higher ranking co-worker walked into the room and chatted him up. In a storyless Sims 4 that would have been inconsequential. But with the backstory of the robot's owners not approving of him attending uni, he was now set up for trouble. Plus, technically what he was doing was slacking at work, because policework isn't just about filling a progress meter. So there were consequences. (Sadly he still aced the first semester with all A+, because his skills were so high, even though he missed several lectures and one final. So much for my sweet, sweet drama :( )

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There is a "skeleton" in my mind and as I play I add those muscles. If you know what I mean. I don't know how to explain it. I have a story in mind. Though it is shallow, blurred, just a thin thread. Nothing in depth really. I let myself be carried away with whims etc etc.

I always love giving my Sims, or founders a background story of why they're a founder, or why they're doing a specific challenge. I don't necessarily write out a full story for my saves anymore (I did back in Sims 2, because the story album was so convenient and actually a lot of fun to create your own stories and then share them on the Exchange.) An example of this is with my last 100 baby challenge.. I gave a background story of her meeting the love of her life... or so she thought and they were going to explore the different worlds together and instead of going off to college right away, she was going to travel with him. But instead... he left her a note, took all her Simoleans, and fled to his next adventure. So, she vowed to never let someone get close to her again, instead they would fall in love with her, she had the Klepto trait, so she would give birth, swipe something from their place, and then "call it off" and tell them that she just wanted to be friends. Then she'd move onto the next person, until she found the one that took everything from her. :x

This would allow me to still play out things in the game that are available to the Sims involved. But if it were like a legacy Challenge, I'd still want a small background story, but I'd also want in any save that I play to kind of give little scenarios to Sims that I'm really enjoying playing so that I could play them out in game. Another example is with that same 100 Baby Challenge, she ended up having twins (without any fertility treatments, or lot traits), and one was a girl and the other a boy. Once they were teens, I noticed that the male really enjoyed music and would play on the instruments a lot, and so I made some "extra" Sims for him to have some friends to make a band. While we do not actually have a band system in the game, we did have instruments that they could just play and practice around with. So.. super cliche, but also, I had the sister learn the singing skill so she could join the band, too. Lol

I just like to plan things in my saves. Even if it is just making extra Sims for my main Sims to get to know and form "best friends" relationships with, or to have Sims get into romantic relationships and start their own families. I like to plan out get together's, BBQ's, holidays, and little things like that and that's why I love the calendar feature so much because I can now do that in game instead of on google documents, or some other app thing. :)

A great topic, by the way.

Interesting question. Since I play the entire world I set up, I guess I plan it out a lot. Who sims are, who their friends are, what they are doing, who they are going to be with. Etc.

My world is my own little Sim City. Oft-times I create background characters for support of characters I am playing, or intend to play and that help fill out their "story" in my mind.

That way, when I play a household, there are sims already there for them to interact with, or involve themselves and immerse in their own unique part of the overall world.

It totally depends on the sim and the direction I might see for them over the long haul. What, who, they might need....so that I immerse myself more in their life when I play them.

lol, did that make sense?

"fullspiral;c-17388773" wrote:


lol, did that make sense?

Absolutely.

Gosh I probably spend more time plotting stories and setting up scenes than actually playing the game. ???? i use to get frustrated because I felt like I never actually got a chance to play that day, it was all planning. Now I've accepted the setup as part of the play lol
I swear it's been months I was "planning"this meeting for my couple that still hasn't happened ??
I probably do like 80% imagination and story telling. When I'm not cc shopping. ?

I plan a lot! Usually something else happens in game what makes me go to plan B, then plan C, then.. oh well, lets forget that plan already.. :)

I play at full autonomy, plus some mods like auto first kiss and auto proposal (NOT auto marriage as I want to plan the ceremony.. or try to) , so pretty much sims tell me what they are planning :) In both TS2 and TS4 (ACR and MCCC).

I plan a lot ahead of time but also a lot of it happens organically.

I make plans but my stories are usually not very detailed beforehand. For example I had this kidnap story and some of the scenes planned, but let most of the events and even the end result evolve as I played. My plans can also be more time oriented, such as "this sim will start university at the end of summer, in two weeks". Then I just figure out what happens before that.