Storytelling Guide to Gameplay – Create Your World!

Create Your World

What kinda of world do your sims live in? I don’t simply mean the climate they live in or culture they live in, but for you as the play what kind of world is it? Do occults exist in your sims world? Are their specific rules that each sim must follow? Like having a degree before getting certain jobs or having to live solely off grid.

• If your sims must live off grid make use of the off the grid lot trait
• If occults exist in your save thing of the lore and background you might want associated with them. What will it take for your sims to become one of them or even meet one of them? Keep it as simple as complex as you want. And if occults don’t exist in your save make sure to delete the pre-made ones from the save

Fun fact: I use to always delete vampires from my saves as I found them too intrusive when they’d always come to the door, but now I actually leave them in my game.

Community Lots: What kind of community lots might you find useful? These can be changed at any point, but at least having a few places in mind to get your sim out of the house. These can also very depending on what packs you own so I organized the lot types below.

For Example: If you own Get To Work, you might have a few retail lots, if you have Dine Out you might have a few restaurants. Use the Community Space lot type from Eco Lifestyle to create an actual community space, something for everyone from kids to adults. Maybe even make a town hall of sorts! That could be fun!

Base Game Lot Types

• Bar
• Gym
• Library
• Lounge

• Museum
• National Park
• Park

• Nightclub
• Pool
• Rental
• Generic

Pack Specific Lot Types

• Retail [Get To Work]
• Spa [Spa Day]
• Cafe [Get Together]
• Restaurants [Dine Out]

• Art Center [City Living]
• Karaoke Bar [City Living]
• Community Space [Eco Lifestyle]
• Onsen Bathhouse [Snowy Escape]

• University Housing [Discover University]
• University Commons [Discover University]
• Beach [Island Living]
• Vet Clinic [Cats & Dogs]

Making worlds feel connect: For me it is so important to make packs and the worlds that we get with them fit into the game as a whole. I don’t have it set in stone what worlds are next to each other in a technical sense, I just figure out what fits well for the story I’m telling at the time. I also like making sure the packs feel connected by adding objects from new packs to existing worlds, and even things we get from new updates to existing worlds as well.

For Example: We have toddlers now, why not make sure community spaces have things for the little ones. Especially the toddler potties! You don’t want to have to run home just because your tot needs to use the bathroom.

Here’s some suggestions for other packs, though not a complete list:

• Cats and Dogs; Create a dog area in parks, make sure lots have pet bowls, oh a pet cafe would be adorable too!
• Get Together: add a dance floor or DJ booth in night clubs or lounges.
• City living: Add a basket ball hoop to gyms, murals to museums, karaoke stations to bars.
• Seasons: Add in the various seasonal activities to lots, like water balloon fights, swing sets, etc. to parks.

There are definitely a lot more things you can add and do to make the worlds feel all connected and that much more alive, but these are the things that I often think about when looking for lots or saves to play in. I am no builder, trust me when I say I’ve tried. I get way to caught up in the little details, so instead and to make it less stressful for myself I use the gallery/saves from other simmers to enjoy my game, I then will edit the lots as needed. Saves me a huge headache at the end of the day.

That’s about all I’ve gotta say on creating the worlds! I hope it was helpful to anyone who might find it. The next Storytelling Guide to Gameplay will cover Aging and how I handle it.

Storytelling Guide to Gameplay – Create Your Sim!

Create Your Character

Have a backstory: Who is your sim? How old are they? Do they have a family? Where were they born? These are a few of the questions I often ask myself when creating a new sim. Creating your sims backstory can be as simple or as complex, as you want, what matters is that you have fun with it.

If you want a more insight into how I go about creating the backstories for my sims here are some things I consider.

• What are their hobbies, favorite things, & goals?
• What is their family background? Are their parents still alive?
• Where did they grow up? Where they from a financially well off family or one that struggled to make ends meat?
• Did they have a childhood best friend?
• Did they have a pet growing up or do they currently have a pet?

This list is by no means a completed one, but just a few things that might spark an idea for you to bring more life to your sims! After I determine the basics of my sims back story I move on to traits and aspirations!

Traits & Aspirations:

• When choosing my sims aspiration I don’t focus on the aspiration that fits them the best, but instead, focus on what bonus trait the aspiration gives my sim. I do this because aspirations can be changed in-game at any point. You may even want to work on more than one aspiration at any given time..
• When choosing my sims traits I look at their backstory once again and then choose what feels right for me at the time.

For example: Luna in my Willow Legacy loves plants and so I gave her the Loves the Outdoors trait, she is also a very kind person, so I also gave her the Cheerful trait, her last trait, Family Oriented comes from the fact that in her backstory she was raised in an orphanage so she longs for a big family to call her own.

• Their are also some people who chose one “negative trait” to balance out their sims personality. While this works for a lot of people I personally still go with what traits feel right and work in the “negative trait” through actions within gameplay as we only have three traits that we get to choose and I find it can feel too limiting at times.

Your sims style:

• Now for the final part and personally one of my favorite parts of creating a sims! Choosing your sims style. Again as with everything this can be as simple and complex as you want. For me I at least try to be consistent, sticking to a style that fits the sim and even trying to incorporate their favorite color as well as what they can financially afford.

For example: If my sim wouldn’t wear a skirt for any reason I wouldn’t give that sim a skirt or dress even in formal wear. If my sim doesn’t wear a lot of make-up I again keep it consistent through every outfit, and it goes the other way around too, if my sim wears make up all the time I make sure to give almost every outfit some.

• I also give my sim at least a few outfits in their everyday wear so that they don’t have to wear the same thing all the time, this however is my personal preference and by no means has to be how you choose to create your sim. That about covers all I have to say about creating sims! The next Storytelling Guide to Gameplay post will cover how I build up my sims world!

Storytelling Guide to Gameplay – Introduction

Storytelling in the sims is my favorite part of playing. I love seeing what crazy things my sims can find themselves in. I also really can’t get enough of family gameplay and storylines. This guide is my way of making the game feel more immersive and connected,from simple tips to more detailed ones. 

I’ll be going through simple things like creating a sim, adding more to the world to do, and even using some systems from various packs in ways that you might not have thought about.

In the next post the first thing we’ll dive into will be Create-A-Sims and more importantly how to create a sims with a story you want to tell.