Hey, all! Just wanted to let you know I’m still alive and Simming. I took a long break from the game, but I’ve started up again recently and am working on an actual STORY! I still have weird graphics issues, but hopefully they won’t detract too much from the pictures.
Here’s a little sneak preview pic:
I’m also working on a new web site which will be completely Fran-oriented. All of her stories on Mt. Geneva will be copied over to it, and she will be having some new adventures. Stay tuned.
Hey guys, just wanted to let you know for any who are interested that the SimScribes forum is back up and running! I have upgraded it to phpBB 3.0 and deleted all of the nasty spam. My apologies if I deleted some legitimate posts or users during the process…but I tried to be careful. Also, it has a new address, though the old URL will redirect to the new one for the time being.
Hope to see you there!
So. You probably knew this was coming. I have decided to go in a completely different direction with Gnomesby. Again.
Yeah, yeah. I know. I can never make up my mind. But, after months of struggle, I think I’ve finally figured put my problem. What I’ve been trying to do, rather unsuccessfully, is build a ‘hood like Jade’s. I mean, come on, who wouldn’t want their own version of Thyme? Not an exact copy, mind you, but something just as creative and cool and immersive? Every time I read her site, I’m like, “Dayum, woman! Why can’t I do that??” And then I try to do that, and I fail. The reasons are numerous. For one, I’m not Jade. Obviously. As far as I’m concerned, the woman is a genius. There is no one like her in the entire Sims 2 community. And there never will be. She’s like Highlander, you know? THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!
Secondly, aside from being not-Jade, I happen to be very much ME. And me is pretty much all over the place. I change my mind constantly, I’m terrible at organizing things, I have no discipline to speak of, etc. And I’m not saying all that to put myself down. Not at all. I just know what kind of person I am. Trying to shove my flibbertigibbet brain into a differently-shaped box just isn’t going to work. I’m not patient enough for this large-scale ‘hood-building. I miss writing stories. I miss having just one or two families on which to focus. I hate that I can’t build my perfect dream town because The Sims 3 isn’t out yet.
So here’s what I’m going to do: I make no promises, of course, but the next time I post, I will be posting a story. It will still involve Gnomesby (I refuse to change the name of this site!). It will also involve some characters you might know from my old site. And we’ll just see what happens from there.
I spent some time this past weekend working on Gnomesby’s town square, so I thought I’d share a few pics. It doesn’t have an official name yet, so it’s just “Town Square” for now. Exciting, eh? It’s also unfinished, but that’s OK, because this is just my first pass — I’ll go back later and tweak everything to my heart’s content. (And I can already tell this lot is going to need a TON of tweaking. Oy.)
Myron Luxton enjoys a cup of hot cocoa
So far this community lot includes a rollerskating rink (which will be switched over to an ice-skating rink in winter), espresso bar, drinks bar, vending machine (which dispenses hunger-satisfying snacks, woot!), hot chocolate machines, chess tables, numerous places to sit, restrooms, and a bandstand/stage for summer concerts and plays.
It looks a little weird now with no buildings around it (except for the Great Hall), but that will change in due time. Also, I apologize if the pics are a little dark — I fast-forwarded the game to see how the lighting would turn out and had only taken a few pictures before nightfall.
The past couple of nights I have been working on another of Gnomesby’s oldest structures, the Old Church.
The Old Church has been around for as long as the Gnomers (as they like to call themselves) can remember. There is evidence that a smaller, much older structure preceded the current one, and some of the markers in the cemetery go back several ages.
Hey, folks! I thought I’d give you the scoop on what I’ve been up to with Gnomesby lately. Mostly I’ve been researching cool stuff and downloading even cooler stuff, but tonight I finally fired up the game and did some building. I’ve decided to do what I’m calling a “first pass” of all the buildings in Gnomesby. That means exteriors only – no interiors (which is usually what takes the most time, at least for me). I have a list of all of the buildings I want in Gnomesby, but I don’t know where they’re going to be or how they’re going to fit together. So this is just a way to get a feel for how things are going to look eventually.
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Tonight I worked on the heart of Gnomesby, the Great Hall. The name may change, but that’s what I’m calling it for now. It’s basically the government center of town; the aldermen and alderwomen have offices here, and there are town meetings in the Assembly Room. I may also put the Chamber of Commerce, Post Office, Historical Society, and a gift shop somewhere in here, too. Not sure how much I want to cram in there. Anyway, here’s The Great Hall:
Have you guys seen the very cool article and magazine cover posted on 1UP.com?
OK, so it’s not a whole lot of information yet, but there some very tantalizing bits:
It remains to be seen how this will affect things like hood-building — will the Sim’s neighborhood be set in stone, or will we be able to edit/create/modify to our heart’s content? I certainly hope it’s the latter. And I sincerely hope they’ll allow more than one neighborhood, too. An in-game ‘hood editor is also tops on my list.
If they can make things seamless but still allow the kind of flexibility offered by The Sims 2, then this could be the ultimate sandbox game.
Oh, and The Sims 3 web site is up, too! Not much there yet, but still…eeee!
(Thanks to Snooty Sims for the links!)
Hey, folks. I spent most of the day downloading stuff, deleting stuff, creating brand new Sims, and giving my old Sims some makeovers. I decided to get rid of the Rensim skintones and go back to the Maxis defaults since I’ll be moving in some even older Sims, and they’d look weird mingling with skintoned Sims. And when I say “older”, I don’t mean elderly — I mean Sims from the past. I’ll keep the question of “who?” a mystery for a little while, but you can probably guess at least one of them.
So here are the new and improved versions of the Cliffes and the Pells. What do you think?
Adrian Cliffe, Professor of Literature and Aspiring Novelist