The Art of Sims Storytelling

"CathyTea;14339774" wrote:
Re. Elder Sims--one of my favorites is Exra D'amore in Seraphaeli's "What are you even doing?"

Also, of course I love Bill Racket in @InfraGreen 's Eight Cicadas.

Both Bill and Exra seem to grow increasingly romantic--and Bill matures in a way that allows him to be a true partner--as they grow older.

@CathyTea: Aww yeah, a new story to read. :-D

Bill is a satisfying character to write, especially because the way he is right now (as of Chapters 37-38 or so) was the result of me needing to develop him. And him needing to develop for his own sake. He can talk about the wonders of being apathetic all he wants, but he has a lot of love for a few people close to him. Quite a leap from him getting bored with his wife the moment a baby came into the picture.

It's something to contrast with Harwood, who was one of the rare elderly characters who starts out that way. But he doesn't have much time alive in the story, and stays more-or-less the same. His eventual end is only jarring to anyone who didn't pick up on him seeming rather uneasy from his introduction. Instead, I find him interesting because of the person he might have been in the past.

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"AdamsEve1231;14340024" wrote:


To everyone: Out of curiosity, do you use a lot of mods, poses, and/or cc in your stories (i.e. a combination, only 1, or none)? How do they affect your stories and your gameplay? Is it important to your storytelling, or could you tell your stories without them? Why do you use it?

@AdamsEve1231: Lots of all of that. ;)

So, I'm a relative newbie to Pose Player, as I started using it only last year. But the possibilities for what I could show in images opened up big-time. For the story that's the misshapen ancestor to my current one, introducing Pose Player meant that I could try and take my story into darker territory. Showing characters getting arrested and interrogated, showing fist fights, etc. Adding Custom Content broadened the sort of things I could portray even further. From blood splatter on the floors, to having more clothing so everyone could have a wide, rotating wardrobe (lest they be filthy animals who wear the same outfit every day).

And since we were talking about elders, I feel a lot more free writing them as more major characters, after finding custom clothing for them! They can look as stylish as their younger co-stars! I will say, TS4 greatly improved that aspect on its own, since clothing isn't limited by age by default.

Mods help in giving me more god-like control over the game. Not much more to say.

If I was to try and write Eight Cicadas without any modifications, the story would largely be text-based because there's a lot that the game doesn't have the capability to portray on its own. And boy do I like writing with visuals.