Here’s the Plan, Stan

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Hey everyone, I have good news: there will be an update TONIGHT! I have all the pics in order, so all I have to do is write up the text. I’m dedicating my entire evening to it, so it will be up! By midnight at the latest. I’m making a promise this time, that’s how much I believe in this update occurring.

Now for some more news, although whether it’s good or not, I’ll leave up to you to decide. The reason why I’ve been a bit quiet the past week is that I’ve been having a kind of Sims crisis. You may be familiar with this concept. It comes from having about a billion things I want to do with the game and not enough time to do them all. And when I try to do them all, I lose focus and don’t get anywhere with anything.

You may remember me having this same problem awhile back, when I had the Braytons, Shanleys, Maude’s Tales, and Annabel Island all going on at the same time. It was too much, and I had to streamline. The Braytons ended up going to Annabel Island, Maude’s Tales were put on hold, etc. At any rate, I am feeling the need to streamline once again. I pondered the possibilities all week long, and here’s the plan:

The Ravelos are going to move to Shady Bluff. Now, I know we haven’t even gotten to Shady Bluff yet (currently that storyline is set in Pleasantview), but it’s a huge project of mine based on Jade’s Isle of Thyme, and I’m quite excited about it. Without giving too much away (although if you read Jade’s site you can figure some of it out), I will say that it’s going to be very story-oriented, but still based upon The Sims 2. In other words, I’m not taking a story that is not Sims-related and using TS2 as a tool to tell it (not that there’s anything wrong with that! Some of the best Sims stories are done that way. I’m just going in a slightly different direction).

My Shady Bluff stories will be centered around the Sims within it — their wants, fears, personalities, interests — and the usual weirdnesses of the game. That’s not to say real-life situations won’t occur, but the storyline will, in essence, grow from gameplay. At any rate, that’s basically what I have going on with the Ravelos already, so I figured, why not move them to Shady Bluff? They will continue to be a Legacy-style family, but they will have a whole town with which to interact, and they will probably get caught up in the many subplots and such going around Shady Bluff. They will also age more slowly, but considering it has taken me a year to age Anastacia from a teen to an elder, that won’t be a huge change from the norm.

I’m working on a storyline for the Ravelos so that their move makes sense. I just wanted to warn you guys so you’d know what was going on. This also helps me get things straight in my crazy head.

I am keeping the Burrs as my “gameplay only” family. I’ll continue to update on them as I have been doing. They’re nice to have around for when I just feel like doing commentary and not a real live story. I’m still enjoying them, but gameplay has slowed down considerably (with the addition of pets in the household as well as the family business), so I’m not in marathon mode with them like I was before.

Anyway…thanks for continuing to read my blog — you guys rock! And look for an update TONIGHT!

17 thoughts on “Here’s the Plan, Stan”

  2. That sounds good Jen! Now not only do we get more of your great stories but it offers you a retreat when you just feel like playing. And about that update tonight…my eyes are peeled!

  3. Sounds like an excellent idea to me! :D RL health issues (backpain *and* nausea, weee!) are keeping me from playing the Sims 2 myself, so I’m hoping to play vicariously through you for a while, Jen.

  5. That’s a good plan, Jen. I totally know where you’re coming from and glad you figure out a way to streamline things.

    I’m really excited about your Shady Bluff project/story. I’ve been reading Jade’s tutorials on setting up a custom neighborhood. It sounds like a big but ultimately rewarding project. And it will be so great to see the Ravelos again. :)

  6. That’s really cool, good luck Jen!
    (Although I wonder how Shady Bluff Kaylynn will interact with Trent Ravelo, considering they were in love in Rosebrook!)

  9. YAAYYYYY MORE UPDATE!!!!! My bedtime is before midnight, though, so if you DO update then, ill read it tomorrow!! CANT WAIT!!!

  10. Sounds great, Jen! I love the new ideas :]

    Anything you write I’m sure we’ll all be here with ya :3

  12. Sounds good to me Jen! That’s the problem I am so scared of running into! Too many thoughts running through my head and not enough time to do it all! So I’ve decided to stick one with plan of action! And that is to finish my Prosperity Challenge before taking on any more projects. I’ve been so tempted to try some new challenges (seeing as how I’ve only ever done the Prosperity Challenge!), but I just know that I will get overwhelmed! So, I’m sticking with my PC until the end! But I can’t wait to read about Shady Bluff some more…especially since I’m going to be in it! Yippee!

  13. I am all for it, Jen. Thank you for keeping all of us informed. Speaking of which, I really need to update my own blog.

    I am so very excited to hear more about this “Shady Bluff”. It seems to be a very well kept secret in The Sims 2 Community.

  14. I don’t know how you juggle all of these different projects, Jen. I have a hard enough time keeping up with my current legacy family. I can’t imagine adding more stories to my agenda! It sounds like you have a great plan. I’m looking forward to seeing what develops in Shady Bluff. My bedtime is not far off, so I’ll make sure I check back in the morning over a cup of coffee. I can’t wait!

  16. Jen,

    Never in my entire life have I been so happy to rediscover a website. I’ve been looking for you for ages now (ever since I’ve had computer access again!) and I must have kept typing the wrong URL because I kept getting an index page (you might want to fix that).

    Would you mind terribly blogrolling me? I’ll get yours added in just a minute. Thank you so much for your wonderful stories! If you remember me at all you know I love them!

  17. Oh my gosh! DEVIN! Of course I remember you! I’m so glad to see you back and blogging again! I’ve added you to my link list and left a comment at your blog (but it didn’t show up — maybe it’s waiting in the moderation queue?). And thanks for letting me know about the URL that was showing an index page. I’ve fixed that now. Welcome back!! :-D