Style or function, how do you build?

I rarely use cheats when building... I'll occasionally use 'MoveObjects On', but it's only when I absolutely need to (like placing flowerbeds next to foundations). I won't use cheats if it looks like the area won't be functionable at all.

Also, I like to share many of my lots to the gallery, so I wanna make sure they're as user friendly as possible!

My building is somewhere between functional and style. I picked functional because I don’t use moo. Though I will download houses with it. If the houses have a lot of excessive clutter moo, many times I will delete the clutter, or just use the shell, and decorate the house myself. Besides my sims can barely keep up with their bills sometimes…. Lol, so may not be able to afford stuff except for a few rich families I have. I will say I love the new wall units in DHD, and I might get a bit excessive with them as many of my sims collect some things. But, I feel good when I think the house has some kind of style to it.

I try to make my builds aesthetic, but with most of the objects being functional, and I tend to not saturate with decorations to not occupy much lot memory or lag the game
But sometimes I do buildings that are meant to be played, so they include functional objects. And sometimes I make other builds that are not meant to be played, but to be used to make stories or take photos, or just to make an interesting build

"haneul;c-17903027" wrote:

"GreenTurtle;c-17902993" wrote:

"SailorCeti;c-17902961" wrote:
Needs a “A balance of both” option. I couldn’t vote.

If you don't mind the occasional visual glitch, like counters clipping or floating objects because a shelve disappeared upon turning the camera, you can pick 'style'. Also, if you're not very particular about an item being unusable by your sims (because they can't reach it, or it's part of a decoration), you can also pick 'style'. If those things bother you, you can pick 'function'.

For comparison, I would consider lilsimsie a functional builder, and Kate Emerald a builder who's more focused on style.

Functional lots can be pretty and stylish lots can be functional. I'm just wondering which way everyone leans. :)

@GreenTurtle Hmm... That's interesting. This is hard. I consider myself to absolutely be a 99.9% functional builder because I mind glitches and floating objects and I like gameplay and want to play the game. I rarely build anything, but ... if someone were to look at my builds, they might say that I'm not a functional builder at all. Even though it may not look like it, I optimize my builds so that they're easy and relatively quick for sims to navigate.

For example, here's part of a child's bedroom.

Spoiler

https://i.imgur.com/TMDdZsO.jpg
In this house (this is the back)
https://i.imgur.com/Y56Pypk.jpg

What a cute bedroom, is that freezer bunny custom content?

"SheriSim57;c-17904323" wrote:

"haneul;c-17903027" wrote:

"GreenTurtle;c-17902993" wrote:

"SailorCeti;c-17902961" wrote:
Needs a “A balance of both” option. I couldn’t vote.

If you don't mind the occasional visual glitch, like counters clipping or floating objects because a shelve disappeared upon turning the camera, you can pick 'style'. Also, if you're not very particular about an item being unusable by your sims (because they can't reach it, or it's part of a decoration), you can also pick 'style'. If those things bother you, you can pick 'function'.

For comparison, I would consider lilsimsie a functional builder, and Kate Emerald a builder who's more focused on style.

Functional lots can be pretty and stylish lots can be functional. I'm just wondering which way everyone leans. :)

@GreenTurtle Hmm... That's interesting. This is hard. I consider myself to absolutely be a 99.9% functional builder because I mind glitches and floating objects and I like gameplay and want to play the game. I rarely build anything, but ... if someone were to look at my builds, they might say that I'm not a functional builder at all. Even though it may not look like it, I optimize my builds so that they're easy and relatively quick for sims to navigate.

For example, here's part of a child's bedroom.

Spoiler

https://i.imgur.com/TMDdZsO.jpg
In this house (this is the back)
https://i.imgur.com/Y56Pypk.jpg

What a cute bedroom, is that freezer bunny custom content?

@SheriSim57 Thank you. <3 It is. It's decor (I think) and part of the "Tiny Twavellers" set: https://www.houseofharlix.com/tinytwavellers

Function on the outside, style on the inside. My exteriors frequently end up a little wonky because of window placements in my rooms, but I love the interior look enough to sacrifice a bit of the exterior style.

I like nice looking and usable houses. I usually start my sims on a tight budget with just the basics. As time goes on I add more things for them to do and more decorations. I don't mind using building cheats for decorations but if they block functional objects, they have to go. I generally build with MOO turned off and only activate it for a specific decoration and then deactivate it immediately afterwards. I also enjoy a bit of clutter but not all over the place.

I think some of the builds out there are look stunning and people can do amazing things with the building cheats. But generally if a building was built as a piece of art, it is not usable in game and I won't put it in my save.

Happy to be the first Extreme Style vote :p, I mainly play the Sims to design, have never really touched CAS or actual gameplay in the 4 (I played a lot more in 3)

Kind of tricky to answer because I feel like neither the description given for "style" nor the description given for "function" fit. I'm somewhere in between.

I do use the "move objects" cheat frequently to make things look more natural and not so artificially spaced out. But since I mostly only build for my own use, it's very quickly apparent to me if something is having a routing issue and I fix it. I like having a lot of detail, and the style/story/atmosphere of a room or lot is super important to me, but it all has to be functional too. I try to avoid having things blocking my view since I take a lot of screen shots (but I'm also really good at maneuvering the camera into angles that might seem hard to get into), and I absolutely can't stand any glitching or flickering in play mode.

I do occasionally participate in build challenges, and in those cases I try not to use "move objects" at all except for the decorative plants outdoors. I play test every interactive object on the lot to make sure everything is rout-able before uploading because I know that anyone who downloads the lot will not want to spend time fixing my routing issues. I also go very sparing on the non-interactive decor, especially on surfaces like shelves or counters, so that players will have room to place their own treasures. However, these occasional build challenge entries are the only time I put my builds on the gallery. For my own use I take more risks and clutter more because, well, it's my problem if it doesn't work.

The only times I have used "move objects" in a really unusual or creative way, such as combining objects to make something else, has been for SimLit screenshots when I couldn't find cc that resembled what I wanted. In those cases, it's not intended to be something sims will interact with, its just something I need in the background for the shot.

@Kuris, lol then I'm the second one.

I love decor and I use MOO to create new stuff a lot of times. I couldn't do what I need to do without it.

I love clutter, I need a lot of it so I have a good selection. I hate OVER clutter, just looks too messy for me. With that being said, I usually build to suit the sim I'm building for. I love to experiment with different decor, but one thing has to be correct, I can't tolerate sims not being able to move around without the infernal arm waving.

I am a true believer that function and form have to balance.