Thursday Off With Worrying Vibes
Aug. 15th, 2024 11:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickBasically, I woke up and immediately found my mom in a bad mood because she had to go to Stop & Shop for some groceries (which she hates doing because she hates that particular store and its digital coupon nonsense...I did not ask her why she doesn't just go to the OTHER grocery store near us) and Dad not doing so great either because he didn't get a lot of sleep last night (he was in fact awake and eating Jello when I went to bed around 1 AM). The mood improved a little from there, but then lunch came and Dad wasn't crazy about the old "Last Week Tonight" we watched (reminded him of some bad experiences he had growing up), nor about the lunch (spinach pies, which he found hard to eat and worried would have a bad effect on his colon -- Mom ended up making him mashed potatoes). Things were better by the end of the day, but -- still. Not exactly a great way to start a day off. Especially with me PMSing and thus being more sensitive to that sort of thing... *grimace* Despite all this, though, I got a bunch of stuff done --
Tumblr: Had a pretty productive day over on the two blogs here –
Victor Luvs Alice – After a bit of catch-up on my dash, I managed to finish off the Song Friday and Song Saturday posts in my queue so they’d actually be ready to post on Friday and Saturday, then got about halfway through properly drafting the VITD “Fun With Special Abilities II – Time For the Crew” post (covering the special abilities I want the crew to get; I still need to finish up the bit about lair upgrades, since I want to talk about that a bit too). I also saw that Moose had a new McFlyJuly, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to get to it today – I’ll reblog it tomorrow, Moose!
Valice Multiverse – Had two anon asks and one ask from Toonsisters to put in the queue –
A) First anon was talking to Secundus about a dream they had where they were performing in a nude production of “Death of a Salesman” – On Ice, only to remember they hadn’t studied their lines, then found themselves interrupted by a marshmallow rain, only to realize that was great because all the trees were graham crackers and all the currency chocolate bars, and how they wanted to make that dream a reality. Secundus!Victor was like “...well, Flint can provide the marshmallow rain,” while Marty was like “can we please at least talk you into wearing underwear for your big performance.” XD
B) Second anon suggested Victor check out Chapter Five of Full Metal Alchemist as it was about a girl and her dog who were inseparable – High School!Victor asked Alice and Smiler if he should be suspicious, and Smiler – having looked things up like I did – told him that the anon meant they were literally inseparable (as the chapter involves a girl and her dog being fused into a chimera by her own father). Victor was like “no thanks,” and I do not blame him.
C) And Toonsisters asked what weapons the group would turn into if they could, saying that Victor would totally be a sword – Cuddlepile!Victor ended up agreeing with her, with Alice saying that he would likely be a rapier in specific; Alice said she’d want to be her own Vorpal Blade; and Smiler, who doesn’t like fighting, said that they should be some sort of stunning weapon, with Victor suggesting a hypnowheel on a stick XD I mean, it does suit them!
Toonsisters also left a reply on their last ask responding to VITD!Smiler’s inquiry about what they were, admitting they didn’t know and that they just felt dead inside – Smiler offered a hug and their help in figuring the question out, because that’s the kind of person they are. :) We’ll see where that goes, and if it becomes a proper thread or anything, tomorrow!
Sims 4: Had a lovely and successful day over in the Wiped Windenburg Building Save today, finishing off my Ministry of Joy-themed nightclub – let me tell you all about it –
A) After letting the game patch itself (forgot that I hadn’t yet downloaded the 8/8 patch because I was playing Portal Reloaded) and taking a moment to look up builds tagged “#corpsebride” on the Gallery (was looking for any potential Ball & Socket bars – no dice, though I did find a lot that looked like it had the B&S underneath the church? I might download that just to see what its deal is), I headed into the Wiped Windenburg save with the express intention of finally finishing off the MOJ! The main things I needed to do were to get the lighting situation sorted; add or update a few decorations around the place; add a couple more activities to certain spots; and add the lot traits. Let’s take those one at a time –
I. Lighting – I took a moment to restore the Exposed Filament lightning to the back exterior walls of the karaoke and arcade rooms upstairs, then proceeded to make all the spiraly rec center lights I was using in most of the rest of the build small again because they’re just SO BIG at normal size – and from what I could see, making them smaller actually didn’t affect how big of an area they actually lit. So that was nice and handy! I also ended up fiddling with the positions of the ones downstairs so I could fit in a light or two above the seating area for people chilling out with drinks or food, since I wanted that place to be adequately lit (but not OVERLIT, since we did have the glowy stairs nearby). Took a little bit to get everything just right, but it all seemed to work out pretty well in the end!
As for the dance floor (where, as you’ll remember, I was having trouble setting up lights that didn’t totally wash out the fun neon lights on the surrounding walls near the DJ booth), I ended up stumbling across a Get Together “laser light show” spotlight while looking at “miscellaneous” lights (checking for lights that might make fun table centerpieces – there’s a very amusing giraffe light in that category too XD), then some Get To Work spotlights that were fairly dim while checking ceiling lights. I realized both of these might work to light up the back of the dance floor a little bit without killing the effect of the neon lights nearby, and so put two laser lights just next to the two back corners of the dance floor, with a set of spotlights hanging from the ceiling between them and the DJ booth. It’s still kinda dark back there, but I actually don’t think that’s necessarily a BAD thing – kinda adds to the atmosphere. I just wanted it to be bright enough that Sims (and me) could see what they were doing!
II. Decorations – With the lighting situation more or less sorted, I then took a moment to start rearranging decorations and adding more fun stuff to the walls as necessary. The two pride flags got moved to the small wall by the side of the bar, while I moved the cute little yellow flower decal over closer to the dance floor and put up a bright purple frog decal next to it, along with one of those High School Years narrow “Plumbite Pier” posters. I also added some arrows near the front door – a yellow one pointing toward the dance floor and a black one pointing toward the bar, just because I thought it was fun. :) I also threw up another High School Years poster celebrating the sciences by the bathroom, mostly because the swatch I picked showed a bunch of multicultural hands all reaching in toward some symbols in the middle, which I felt went well with the City Living “everybody get along” poster I’d put up next to the bathroom door earlier. :)
On the second floor, I ended up removing the “balloons” decal from the arcade room (it just didn’t really fit, no matter how much I liked it), then restored some of the gaming posters that had gone bye-bye when I had to shift the rooms around thanks to all my “the build looks too small/now the build looks too big” shenanigans in past building sessions. I put another nice signed “Road Rage Alpha” poster up by the foosball table (which I rotated 90 degrees and shifted in a little bit toward the notch behind the stairwell because it looked a bit better that way), then some regular posters up on the one side wall on the left that doesn’t totally disappear whenever I go “walls cutaway” up here (I THINK this must have something to do with the fact that the corner of the karaoke room touches the corner of the half-walls surrounding all the balconies, but I’m not sure). Over in the karaoke room, I ended up putting up all those “WooWho Historical Posters” (showing minimalist versions of some of the old premade Sims that were apparently in a band once) up on the right-hand side wall just so there would be something there (even if I will probably never see them because of the aforementioned “walls cutaway” thing), then – on the exterior wall by the benches – stuck up some fun neon signs with a palm tree and a parrot perching on someone’s drink by the corner because why not. XD I mean, that’s the wall nearest the hot tub party area! Might as well put up some fun lights there!
III. Activities – Okay, lighting and decorations all good, time to finish off figuring out what Sims can even do here! This consisted of three main updates – adding a chess table to the balcony around the back of the arcade room, under the filament light there (I went with the fancy-looking City Living one in the black-and-white swatch and paired it with a black chair and a white chair); adding a virtual gaming mat to the middle of the arcade room, now that I had room for it (because I really felt like it should be there – this DID cause me to have to shift the arcade machine on the back wall over slightly so it would be in-line with the mat, gaming table, and foosball table, and then update the posters around it accordingly so we had two posters that stood out well against the black stripes flanking it); and adding a “Plumbot Box” wall radio (believe it comes with Backyard Stuff) to the exterior wall of the karaoke room, with all the benches (with everything shifted slightly so it was all nicely centered) so the people sitting there at least had music to listen to. Well, music that wasn’t filtering over from any buskers playing in the busking corner nearby. XD Guess you could dance there too, there’s plenty of room on that bit of the balcony… But yeah, this lot now has something for just about everyone!
IV. Lot Traits – And with everything else settled, I slapped on the “Party Place” (obviously this lot has to be great for parties), “Convivial” (we want all social interactions to go well here!), and – after some thought – “University Student Hang Out” (because it would attract people to the lot and make sure the food and drinks were all reasonably priced) lot traits! I was kind of tempted by “Up-And-Coming Hot Spot,” but I wasn’t really sure what gameplay value it offered, and frankly I don’t need a ton of celebrities coming around and gunking up my lot of with their paparazzi and fans. No thank you. :p
B) And so, with that, the Ministry of Joy nightclub was all done, right? Well, basically – but as I looked at the rooftop party area, I was like “I am SURE I put that damn busking area facing the right way around, right? And Sims can cleanly access both sides of the foosball table? And the front balcony? And all sides of the hot tub?” All very important questions, with only one way to answer them – get a Sim on the lot. Fortunately, given this is a copy of my original building save, I do have one played family in this save – that Valicer trio I keep giving various makeovers to look at new pack clothes and such! Plus Dogmeat, since this Victor was originally his “Sole Survivor” self in a CC vault suit living in a copy of the SS’s house from the opening I downloaded from the Gallery and started updating with CC before the save became my building save. XD So I went over to send them to the club to playtest it –
And noticed that they all seemed to have a milestone of some kind. Curious, I opened up their info panels and started taking a look around. The milestone for all three was for Dogmeat “joining the family” (I think you’ll find that it was you guys who joined Dogmeat’s family, Alice and Smiler), though Smiler also had a milestone for getting a job as a Barista (when did that happen??? I don’t recall that???). I also noticed that they were all set to be romantically interested in no one and with romantic boundaries where they would get jealous from anything. Not how I wanted them to be set, but I wasn’t going to worry about it, as I wasn’t going to really PLAY them, just use them to test the lot –
And then I saw their Preferences. Specifically, I saw that the game, upon choosing something random for Smiler in the new categories from Growing Together – had chosen to give them a DISLIKE for Optimistic Sims.
I’m sorry, even if I have no intention of seriously playing this version of the family, that had to change. So I popped into CAS and updated everyone’s romantic preferences so they were properly open, and their likes and dislikes so that they matched what I felt were their actual personalities better (like Smiler LIKING Optimistic Sims, because come on). Made it so everyone enjoys discussing interests so they all have something in common too, which is good.
C) Anyway – with that done, I had them all hit the club! My intention was to leave Dogmeat at home, but the game gave me a notification that the doggo was hungry right as the gang traveled, so I had him join them once they were on the lot so Victor could give him a treat. Immediately I could see one small issue – while the game had provided a mixologist, he was only standing at one of the two bars I’d put in – and the other one wouldn’t let me hire a mixologist as there was already one on the lot. I decided it wasn’t a huge deal – after all, Sims would still be able to order drinks, and the spare bar would be handy for Sims practicing their mixology – and had Alice head over to order a drink (I picked “favorite drink,” which resulted in her getting a Virgin Caipirinha, the non-alcoholic version of the national drink of Brazil – interesting) while Smiler got to use the photo booth and Victor was sent up to practice some foosball after feeding Dogmeat. I also took the opportunity to check out the laser spotlights and the special effects machines I’d set up over the dance floor – to my surprise and deep amusement, one of the potential effects was “spaghetti and meatballs,” which does indeed result in pasta and meatballs raining from the sky. XD I ended up going with sparkles on the left-side machine, bubbles in the middle, and confetti on the right, which created a pretty cool effect if I do say so myself. :D Anyway, Smiler hired a DJ so they could shake their groove thang out on the dance floor, while I sent Alice up to join Victor at foosball once she’d finished her drink so I could make sure Sims could access both sides. She could, and they had a nice little game together. :) I then got Smiler and had them head upstairs too, with the intent of having them do some busking –
And then I remembered “Not the Chill Valicer Save Smiler, Vic – they don’t have a guitar!” So instead I had Smiler hire a busker (as this is apparently a thing you can do in this game) and instead – after a quick detour onto the front balcony to make sure that was properly accessible – pull Victor and Alice into a game of Simbles together (to make sure all the seats on THAT table worked). They all had a good time, with Victor officially befriending Alice and developing a Like for High-Energy Sims (didn’t know Erratic Sims counted for that, but okay). And during their game, the busker showed up, went to the busking spot –
And, happily, did indeed start playing facing into the actual hot tub party area, instead of looking out across the water behind them. Whew! I was really worried about that...okay, now I know which way is front on that object. Yay!
D) And then I looked downstairs and discovered that Dogmeat had pooped right in front of the front doors. Boo. I ended the Simbles game and had Victor go throw that away (as Nancy Landgraab showed up and JUST missed stepping in it), while I had Alice try the hot tub (it worked, though she refused to stay in long as it was already a warm day) and Smiler take a turn on one of the bubble blowers in the chill-out room. They didn’t particularly like the experience, so I had them meditate for a bit on one of the meditation poofs while Victor also tried the hot tub and Alice wandered over to put some Strange Tunes on the Plumbot Box radio. She and Victor struck up a conversation while I decided to have Smiler try out the vending machine by getting a lemon seltzer water –
Aaaaand the damn thing got stuck. Figures. XD Poor Smiler had to shake the machine twice to finally get the drink they’d paid good money for. At least the machine didn’t fall on you, Smiler! XD Anyway, once that was sorted, Smiler and Alice both hit the bathroom (glad to see that working too), then Alice went to dance upstairs while Victor went to talk to Smiler –
And that’s when I noticed a woman in the bathroom using a wrench on one of the sinks. “Huh – did that break after Alice used it?” I wondered. “Well, nice of the lady to fix–”
“Wait. When I hover over her, it says she’s a Renegade and they’re currently meeting? What – OH SHIT THAT’S THE PRANK CLUB SHE’S SABOTAGING THE SINK ABORT MISSION ABORT MISSION!”
Yeah, uh, apparently the Renegade meetings are just tied to that lot in general, not whatever’s on it like I originally assumed when I got rid of the pool. Which normally I wouldn’t mind TOO much, but I still hadn’t saved this thing to my Library, let alone put it on the Gallery, and I didn’t want to have to deal with a broken sink! So I quickly hit Build/Buy to delete the sink she was sabotaging to stop her in her tracks, then canceled all my trio’s interactions and had Victor bring them back home. Whew! That was a close one...gotta remember that for the future!
E) And with that, the Ministry of Joy nightclub was done, right? Well – almost. For you see, while I was playtesting, I was looking at the bathroom I’d set up. And while I liked the little side area that I’d created for babies and toddlers to get changed/go potty in privacy – I didn’t think it actually suited a bathroom in a NIGHTCLUB. Like, no toddlers or parents with infants are going to show up naturally at this lot as far as I’m aware. So once I’d gotten the trio safely home (and paid them for their service by making sure they actually had a functioning house with a fridge, oven, and a bed for Smiler), I went back onto the lot, deleted that bit, and put in two more regular stalls instead, then shifted the bank of sinks over so I could fit in a couple more of those in too. So now this club has a five-stall bathroom with five sinks. :) Minimum of waiting in line for the can here!
F) And with THAT, the Ministry of Joy nightclub was truly, officially DONE! I made sure there were no stray poops or weird plates or glasses hanging around anywhere, then took a bunch of pictures before saving it to my Library and uploading it to the Gallery! :D So yes, if you would like to check out my nightclub, you can look up my profile, “AliceNVictor,” the next time you’re in the game, or search “#thesmiler” as a hashtag. :) Feels good to have this thing finally done! And while I plan to do a proper photo post over on tumblr soonish (end of August, after next week’s Chill Valicer Save update), I’ll be nice and give you a little bit of a sneak peek now of the trio visiting the club –
Smiler grooving on the dancefloor! Come on, aren’t those special effects cool?
Wide shot of the upstairs, letting you see the arcade room (and the trio playing Simbles in the corner), the balconies, and, in the back, the busker playing to the hot tub party area
Smiler (and Alice, but she’s already in the closed stall) using the old bathroom with the “kid-friendly” area while some of the local NPCs mill around the downstairs (including one Judith Ward, who was already trying to make a scene by hyping up non-existent fans)
And a Build/Buy shot of the downstairs after I redesigned the bathroom, so you can see all the stalls and such.
*nods* I am pretty damn happy with that, I must say. :) This was a long build, but it was worth it! Now I just have to figure out all the OTHER lots I want to eventually put in my Tiny Town...
Writing: Got to it very late, but I did get another chunk edited on “Start At The Beginning...Sort Of!” Featuring Smiler telling Victor and Alice about their invention of Joy Serum, in an attempt to make the juice of the glow orb fruit (a strange round fruit thatI half-stole from Sims 4 is a representation of Mar-Mal’s influence on the Shattered Isles) safer to use more regularly (as it makes you SUPER happy, but it also knocks you on your ass for two days). Turns out if you mix it with devilroot and ichorcap ooze and inject it, you get most of the happiness without most of the exhaustion, yay! I left off with Smiler getting to the part where Mar-Mal blessed them and gave them their trademark glowing yellow eyes – looking forward to getting through that tomorrow!
YouTube: Well, I’d expected to get in at least one bonus video today, but circumstances (aka the various write-ups I did for the other things I did today, notably “Sims 4” above and “Workout” below) forbid, so I stuck with the one video in my Subs that I knew I could watch (the other being the next GSP compilation – horror games! That’ll be interesting) – Josh Way’s latest, “RAW TAKE: Borderlands Review!” Yes, they made a movie based on the Borderlands game series, and yes, it sucked. Josh panned it as the worst movie he has seen this year (and remember, he walked out of The Garfield Movie), and said that it felt like they spent all the money getting a few big-name actors in there before trying to turn it into an ersatz Guardians Of The Galaxy-style movie. Which, as I understand it, is not the tone of the games at ALL. *shakehead* Oh Hollywood, why do you ruin almost every video game-based movie you touch… Anyway, this doesn’t affect me because I’m not a fan of the Borderlands series, nor did I even know this movie existed until people started panning it, but in case you are a fan and did know this movie existed, Josh recommends saving your money. Maybe get that defictionalized Tiny Tina RPG instead.
Workout: Check – another night on the bike, another night with “I wish I didn't have twins in the Every Life Stage Challenge! - Part 4” by James Turner! Things have gotten somewhat less chaotic for old Semaj now that he’s successfully cut himself a Plumbite spire that he can use to help refill his needs (it generally lives in the nursery when it’s not outside recharging, so it can help little Pablo too), but his struggles as a single dad are not yet done, as every time he wants to do something, it seems he gets distracted by somebody needing his attention. XD But despite this, he and his family accomplished some very important things this half-hour –
A) Despite the best efforts of his constantly-crying newborn twins, Semaj was able to get in some tummy time with Pablo near the beginning of this chunklet and help get him a couple of gross motor skill milestones, such as lifting his head and rolling onto his back! :D Meaning that Pablo accomplished everything he needed to do to age up, yay! One less thing to worry about!
B) And while that was happening, Semaj got a certain “this person has left you an enormous inheritance, do you wish to accept it?” phone call, and chose to just ask for the money, prompting him to get married within seven days to get the payout. Fortunately, he already had a prospect in mind – Mei! He invited her over and – despite more distractions from his kids – successfully woohooed her before convincing her to marry him for the cash (which, hilariously, got him the “Loyal” trait – uh, don’t think so, game! XD). She accepted –
And Semaj got $24,757 as the payout. :D James was THRILLED. Mei got $12,000 for her assistance and was immediately kicked out out of the house via Manage Households, and Semaj invested a good chunk of the cash into getting one of the best-quality beds so he wouldn’t have to spend so much time sleeping once he did need to sleep again. As you do. XD
C) He also invested in a basketball hoop (and fake driveway made with terrain paint) so he could get his Fitness skill up fast (as he needed another two points in it as one of his “age up the kids” tasks). Fortunately, Dreaming Big got him the points he needed SUPER fast, and looked cool to boot. XD He also developed a Like for Fitness, which is nice. Good to see him actually LIKING things about his life. XD
D) After that was completing an aspiration milestone so he could eventually age up all these children – fortunately, all he had to do for his Super Parent aspiration was discipline one of his kids five times, so James just had Krystoff (the only kid who could be disciplined) make messes outside and directed Semaj to calmly tell him to stop until they hit the target. XD If only all parenting was so easy!
E) After that was getting all of Krystoff’s skills to Level 3 – the kid had already done this with Imagination and Communication (via the play tent and his giant stuffed animal), so Semaj just had to potty train him a couple dozen times, let him play with his blocks so he learned his shapes, and then play with him a few times to get Potty, Thinking, and Movement all up to the appropriate level! Dude is being very efficient with his baby care (which makes sense, as he did also achieve level 10 parenting skill this episode and thus unlock Super Efficient Newborn Care).
F) And in the middle of THAT, he also went to his latest gig, where he was playing a doctor on some sort of medical drama – he still hates acting, but thanks to actually having decent needs, he gave an excellent performance, and made a nice chunk of change. :D We love to see him winning!
G) And finally, after coming home and making sure Krystoff was all set, Semaj went and practiced his gemology some more with random jewelry (locked in his bedroom so he didn’t keep wandering off to check on the crying children) in order to level THAT up to Level 3 and complete the final “age up the kids” task!
Whew – lot happening in this episode! And we’ve still got about a half-hour to go on it...but I suspect a lot of that will be building, as when I left it, James was rearranging the house to allow for more children (widening the central hallway to eventually allow for stairs and adding another room on the side of Semaj’s bedroom and two more rooms at the end of the hall for more kid bedrooms and a second bathroom). We’ll see what he comes up with, and who Semaj picks to help create his next baby, tomorrow!
Yeah, pretty busy day, huh? Just glad I got the MOJ done at last... And now I really need to head to bed, as I do have work tomorrow, even if it is only a half day. Hopefully it'll go by fast, and in the afternoon I can catch up on some videos I want to watch and get some more writing done. :) Though that might depend on how Dad's doctor appointment goes...everyone keep your fingers crossed for good news! Night all!
Tumblr: Had a pretty productive day over on the two blogs here –
Victor Luvs Alice – After a bit of catch-up on my dash, I managed to finish off the Song Friday and Song Saturday posts in my queue so they’d actually be ready to post on Friday and Saturday, then got about halfway through properly drafting the VITD “Fun With Special Abilities II – Time For the Crew” post (covering the special abilities I want the crew to get; I still need to finish up the bit about lair upgrades, since I want to talk about that a bit too). I also saw that Moose had a new McFlyJuly, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to get to it today – I’ll reblog it tomorrow, Moose!
Valice Multiverse – Had two anon asks and one ask from Toonsisters to put in the queue –
A) First anon was talking to Secundus about a dream they had where they were performing in a nude production of “Death of a Salesman” – On Ice, only to remember they hadn’t studied their lines, then found themselves interrupted by a marshmallow rain, only to realize that was great because all the trees were graham crackers and all the currency chocolate bars, and how they wanted to make that dream a reality. Secundus!Victor was like “...well, Flint can provide the marshmallow rain,” while Marty was like “can we please at least talk you into wearing underwear for your big performance.” XD
B) Second anon suggested Victor check out Chapter Five of Full Metal Alchemist as it was about a girl and her dog who were inseparable – High School!Victor asked Alice and Smiler if he should be suspicious, and Smiler – having looked things up like I did – told him that the anon meant they were literally inseparable (as the chapter involves a girl and her dog being fused into a chimera by her own father). Victor was like “no thanks,” and I do not blame him.
C) And Toonsisters asked what weapons the group would turn into if they could, saying that Victor would totally be a sword – Cuddlepile!Victor ended up agreeing with her, with Alice saying that he would likely be a rapier in specific; Alice said she’d want to be her own Vorpal Blade; and Smiler, who doesn’t like fighting, said that they should be some sort of stunning weapon, with Victor suggesting a hypnowheel on a stick XD I mean, it does suit them!
Toonsisters also left a reply on their last ask responding to VITD!Smiler’s inquiry about what they were, admitting they didn’t know and that they just felt dead inside – Smiler offered a hug and their help in figuring the question out, because that’s the kind of person they are. :) We’ll see where that goes, and if it becomes a proper thread or anything, tomorrow!
Sims 4: Had a lovely and successful day over in the Wiped Windenburg Building Save today, finishing off my Ministry of Joy-themed nightclub – let me tell you all about it –
A) After letting the game patch itself (forgot that I hadn’t yet downloaded the 8/8 patch because I was playing Portal Reloaded) and taking a moment to look up builds tagged “#corpsebride” on the Gallery (was looking for any potential Ball & Socket bars – no dice, though I did find a lot that looked like it had the B&S underneath the church? I might download that just to see what its deal is), I headed into the Wiped Windenburg save with the express intention of finally finishing off the MOJ! The main things I needed to do were to get the lighting situation sorted; add or update a few decorations around the place; add a couple more activities to certain spots; and add the lot traits. Let’s take those one at a time –
I. Lighting – I took a moment to restore the Exposed Filament lightning to the back exterior walls of the karaoke and arcade rooms upstairs, then proceeded to make all the spiraly rec center lights I was using in most of the rest of the build small again because they’re just SO BIG at normal size – and from what I could see, making them smaller actually didn’t affect how big of an area they actually lit. So that was nice and handy! I also ended up fiddling with the positions of the ones downstairs so I could fit in a light or two above the seating area for people chilling out with drinks or food, since I wanted that place to be adequately lit (but not OVERLIT, since we did have the glowy stairs nearby). Took a little bit to get everything just right, but it all seemed to work out pretty well in the end!
As for the dance floor (where, as you’ll remember, I was having trouble setting up lights that didn’t totally wash out the fun neon lights on the surrounding walls near the DJ booth), I ended up stumbling across a Get Together “laser light show” spotlight while looking at “miscellaneous” lights (checking for lights that might make fun table centerpieces – there’s a very amusing giraffe light in that category too XD), then some Get To Work spotlights that were fairly dim while checking ceiling lights. I realized both of these might work to light up the back of the dance floor a little bit without killing the effect of the neon lights nearby, and so put two laser lights just next to the two back corners of the dance floor, with a set of spotlights hanging from the ceiling between them and the DJ booth. It’s still kinda dark back there, but I actually don’t think that’s necessarily a BAD thing – kinda adds to the atmosphere. I just wanted it to be bright enough that Sims (and me) could see what they were doing!
II. Decorations – With the lighting situation more or less sorted, I then took a moment to start rearranging decorations and adding more fun stuff to the walls as necessary. The two pride flags got moved to the small wall by the side of the bar, while I moved the cute little yellow flower decal over closer to the dance floor and put up a bright purple frog decal next to it, along with one of those High School Years narrow “Plumbite Pier” posters. I also added some arrows near the front door – a yellow one pointing toward the dance floor and a black one pointing toward the bar, just because I thought it was fun. :) I also threw up another High School Years poster celebrating the sciences by the bathroom, mostly because the swatch I picked showed a bunch of multicultural hands all reaching in toward some symbols in the middle, which I felt went well with the City Living “everybody get along” poster I’d put up next to the bathroom door earlier. :)
On the second floor, I ended up removing the “balloons” decal from the arcade room (it just didn’t really fit, no matter how much I liked it), then restored some of the gaming posters that had gone bye-bye when I had to shift the rooms around thanks to all my “the build looks too small/now the build looks too big” shenanigans in past building sessions. I put another nice signed “Road Rage Alpha” poster up by the foosball table (which I rotated 90 degrees and shifted in a little bit toward the notch behind the stairwell because it looked a bit better that way), then some regular posters up on the one side wall on the left that doesn’t totally disappear whenever I go “walls cutaway” up here (I THINK this must have something to do with the fact that the corner of the karaoke room touches the corner of the half-walls surrounding all the balconies, but I’m not sure). Over in the karaoke room, I ended up putting up all those “WooWho Historical Posters” (showing minimalist versions of some of the old premade Sims that were apparently in a band once) up on the right-hand side wall just so there would be something there (even if I will probably never see them because of the aforementioned “walls cutaway” thing), then – on the exterior wall by the benches – stuck up some fun neon signs with a palm tree and a parrot perching on someone’s drink by the corner because why not. XD I mean, that’s the wall nearest the hot tub party area! Might as well put up some fun lights there!
III. Activities – Okay, lighting and decorations all good, time to finish off figuring out what Sims can even do here! This consisted of three main updates – adding a chess table to the balcony around the back of the arcade room, under the filament light there (I went with the fancy-looking City Living one in the black-and-white swatch and paired it with a black chair and a white chair); adding a virtual gaming mat to the middle of the arcade room, now that I had room for it (because I really felt like it should be there – this DID cause me to have to shift the arcade machine on the back wall over slightly so it would be in-line with the mat, gaming table, and foosball table, and then update the posters around it accordingly so we had two posters that stood out well against the black stripes flanking it); and adding a “Plumbot Box” wall radio (believe it comes with Backyard Stuff) to the exterior wall of the karaoke room, with all the benches (with everything shifted slightly so it was all nicely centered) so the people sitting there at least had music to listen to. Well, music that wasn’t filtering over from any buskers playing in the busking corner nearby. XD Guess you could dance there too, there’s plenty of room on that bit of the balcony… But yeah, this lot now has something for just about everyone!
IV. Lot Traits – And with everything else settled, I slapped on the “Party Place” (obviously this lot has to be great for parties), “Convivial” (we want all social interactions to go well here!), and – after some thought – “University Student Hang Out” (because it would attract people to the lot and make sure the food and drinks were all reasonably priced) lot traits! I was kind of tempted by “Up-And-Coming Hot Spot,” but I wasn’t really sure what gameplay value it offered, and frankly I don’t need a ton of celebrities coming around and gunking up my lot of with their paparazzi and fans. No thank you. :p
B) And so, with that, the Ministry of Joy nightclub was all done, right? Well, basically – but as I looked at the rooftop party area, I was like “I am SURE I put that damn busking area facing the right way around, right? And Sims can cleanly access both sides of the foosball table? And the front balcony? And all sides of the hot tub?” All very important questions, with only one way to answer them – get a Sim on the lot. Fortunately, given this is a copy of my original building save, I do have one played family in this save – that Valicer trio I keep giving various makeovers to look at new pack clothes and such! Plus Dogmeat, since this Victor was originally his “Sole Survivor” self in a CC vault suit living in a copy of the SS’s house from the opening I downloaded from the Gallery and started updating with CC before the save became my building save. XD So I went over to send them to the club to playtest it –
And noticed that they all seemed to have a milestone of some kind. Curious, I opened up their info panels and started taking a look around. The milestone for all three was for Dogmeat “joining the family” (I think you’ll find that it was you guys who joined Dogmeat’s family, Alice and Smiler), though Smiler also had a milestone for getting a job as a Barista (when did that happen??? I don’t recall that???). I also noticed that they were all set to be romantically interested in no one and with romantic boundaries where they would get jealous from anything. Not how I wanted them to be set, but I wasn’t going to worry about it, as I wasn’t going to really PLAY them, just use them to test the lot –
And then I saw their Preferences. Specifically, I saw that the game, upon choosing something random for Smiler in the new categories from Growing Together – had chosen to give them a DISLIKE for Optimistic Sims.
I’m sorry, even if I have no intention of seriously playing this version of the family, that had to change. So I popped into CAS and updated everyone’s romantic preferences so they were properly open, and their likes and dislikes so that they matched what I felt were their actual personalities better (like Smiler LIKING Optimistic Sims, because come on). Made it so everyone enjoys discussing interests so they all have something in common too, which is good.
C) Anyway – with that done, I had them all hit the club! My intention was to leave Dogmeat at home, but the game gave me a notification that the doggo was hungry right as the gang traveled, so I had him join them once they were on the lot so Victor could give him a treat. Immediately I could see one small issue – while the game had provided a mixologist, he was only standing at one of the two bars I’d put in – and the other one wouldn’t let me hire a mixologist as there was already one on the lot. I decided it wasn’t a huge deal – after all, Sims would still be able to order drinks, and the spare bar would be handy for Sims practicing their mixology – and had Alice head over to order a drink (I picked “favorite drink,” which resulted in her getting a Virgin Caipirinha, the non-alcoholic version of the national drink of Brazil – interesting) while Smiler got to use the photo booth and Victor was sent up to practice some foosball after feeding Dogmeat. I also took the opportunity to check out the laser spotlights and the special effects machines I’d set up over the dance floor – to my surprise and deep amusement, one of the potential effects was “spaghetti and meatballs,” which does indeed result in pasta and meatballs raining from the sky. XD I ended up going with sparkles on the left-side machine, bubbles in the middle, and confetti on the right, which created a pretty cool effect if I do say so myself. :D Anyway, Smiler hired a DJ so they could shake their groove thang out on the dance floor, while I sent Alice up to join Victor at foosball once she’d finished her drink so I could make sure Sims could access both sides. She could, and they had a nice little game together. :) I then got Smiler and had them head upstairs too, with the intent of having them do some busking –
And then I remembered “Not the Chill Valicer Save Smiler, Vic – they don’t have a guitar!” So instead I had Smiler hire a busker (as this is apparently a thing you can do in this game) and instead – after a quick detour onto the front balcony to make sure that was properly accessible – pull Victor and Alice into a game of Simbles together (to make sure all the seats on THAT table worked). They all had a good time, with Victor officially befriending Alice and developing a Like for High-Energy Sims (didn’t know Erratic Sims counted for that, but okay). And during their game, the busker showed up, went to the busking spot –
And, happily, did indeed start playing facing into the actual hot tub party area, instead of looking out across the water behind them. Whew! I was really worried about that...okay, now I know which way is front on that object. Yay!
D) And then I looked downstairs and discovered that Dogmeat had pooped right in front of the front doors. Boo. I ended the Simbles game and had Victor go throw that away (as Nancy Landgraab showed up and JUST missed stepping in it), while I had Alice try the hot tub (it worked, though she refused to stay in long as it was already a warm day) and Smiler take a turn on one of the bubble blowers in the chill-out room. They didn’t particularly like the experience, so I had them meditate for a bit on one of the meditation poofs while Victor also tried the hot tub and Alice wandered over to put some Strange Tunes on the Plumbot Box radio. She and Victor struck up a conversation while I decided to have Smiler try out the vending machine by getting a lemon seltzer water –
Aaaaand the damn thing got stuck. Figures. XD Poor Smiler had to shake the machine twice to finally get the drink they’d paid good money for. At least the machine didn’t fall on you, Smiler! XD Anyway, once that was sorted, Smiler and Alice both hit the bathroom (glad to see that working too), then Alice went to dance upstairs while Victor went to talk to Smiler –
And that’s when I noticed a woman in the bathroom using a wrench on one of the sinks. “Huh – did that break after Alice used it?” I wondered. “Well, nice of the lady to fix–”
“Wait. When I hover over her, it says she’s a Renegade and they’re currently meeting? What – OH SHIT THAT’S THE PRANK CLUB SHE’S SABOTAGING THE SINK ABORT MISSION ABORT MISSION!”
Yeah, uh, apparently the Renegade meetings are just tied to that lot in general, not whatever’s on it like I originally assumed when I got rid of the pool. Which normally I wouldn’t mind TOO much, but I still hadn’t saved this thing to my Library, let alone put it on the Gallery, and I didn’t want to have to deal with a broken sink! So I quickly hit Build/Buy to delete the sink she was sabotaging to stop her in her tracks, then canceled all my trio’s interactions and had Victor bring them back home. Whew! That was a close one...gotta remember that for the future!
E) And with that, the Ministry of Joy nightclub was done, right? Well – almost. For you see, while I was playtesting, I was looking at the bathroom I’d set up. And while I liked the little side area that I’d created for babies and toddlers to get changed/go potty in privacy – I didn’t think it actually suited a bathroom in a NIGHTCLUB. Like, no toddlers or parents with infants are going to show up naturally at this lot as far as I’m aware. So once I’d gotten the trio safely home (and paid them for their service by making sure they actually had a functioning house with a fridge, oven, and a bed for Smiler), I went back onto the lot, deleted that bit, and put in two more regular stalls instead, then shifted the bank of sinks over so I could fit in a couple more of those in too. So now this club has a five-stall bathroom with five sinks. :) Minimum of waiting in line for the can here!
F) And with THAT, the Ministry of Joy nightclub was truly, officially DONE! I made sure there were no stray poops or weird plates or glasses hanging around anywhere, then took a bunch of pictures before saving it to my Library and uploading it to the Gallery! :D So yes, if you would like to check out my nightclub, you can look up my profile, “AliceNVictor,” the next time you’re in the game, or search “#thesmiler” as a hashtag. :) Feels good to have this thing finally done! And while I plan to do a proper photo post over on tumblr soonish (end of August, after next week’s Chill Valicer Save update), I’ll be nice and give you a little bit of a sneak peek now of the trio visiting the club –
Smiler grooving on the dancefloor! Come on, aren’t those special effects cool?
Wide shot of the upstairs, letting you see the arcade room (and the trio playing Simbles in the corner), the balconies, and, in the back, the busker playing to the hot tub party area
Smiler (and Alice, but she’s already in the closed stall) using the old bathroom with the “kid-friendly” area while some of the local NPCs mill around the downstairs (including one Judith Ward, who was already trying to make a scene by hyping up non-existent fans)
And a Build/Buy shot of the downstairs after I redesigned the bathroom, so you can see all the stalls and such.
*nods* I am pretty damn happy with that, I must say. :) This was a long build, but it was worth it! Now I just have to figure out all the OTHER lots I want to eventually put in my Tiny Town...
Writing: Got to it very late, but I did get another chunk edited on “Start At The Beginning...Sort Of!” Featuring Smiler telling Victor and Alice about their invention of Joy Serum, in an attempt to make the juice of the glow orb fruit (a strange round fruit that
YouTube: Well, I’d expected to get in at least one bonus video today, but circumstances (aka the various write-ups I did for the other things I did today, notably “Sims 4” above and “Workout” below) forbid, so I stuck with the one video in my Subs that I knew I could watch (the other being the next GSP compilation – horror games! That’ll be interesting) – Josh Way’s latest, “RAW TAKE: Borderlands Review!” Yes, they made a movie based on the Borderlands game series, and yes, it sucked. Josh panned it as the worst movie he has seen this year (and remember, he walked out of The Garfield Movie), and said that it felt like they spent all the money getting a few big-name actors in there before trying to turn it into an ersatz Guardians Of The Galaxy-style movie. Which, as I understand it, is not the tone of the games at ALL. *shakehead* Oh Hollywood, why do you ruin almost every video game-based movie you touch… Anyway, this doesn’t affect me because I’m not a fan of the Borderlands series, nor did I even know this movie existed until people started panning it, but in case you are a fan and did know this movie existed, Josh recommends saving your money. Maybe get that defictionalized Tiny Tina RPG instead.
Workout: Check – another night on the bike, another night with “I wish I didn't have twins in the Every Life Stage Challenge! - Part 4” by James Turner! Things have gotten somewhat less chaotic for old Semaj now that he’s successfully cut himself a Plumbite spire that he can use to help refill his needs (it generally lives in the nursery when it’s not outside recharging, so it can help little Pablo too), but his struggles as a single dad are not yet done, as every time he wants to do something, it seems he gets distracted by somebody needing his attention. XD But despite this, he and his family accomplished some very important things this half-hour –
A) Despite the best efforts of his constantly-crying newborn twins, Semaj was able to get in some tummy time with Pablo near the beginning of this chunklet and help get him a couple of gross motor skill milestones, such as lifting his head and rolling onto his back! :D Meaning that Pablo accomplished everything he needed to do to age up, yay! One less thing to worry about!
B) And while that was happening, Semaj got a certain “this person has left you an enormous inheritance, do you wish to accept it?” phone call, and chose to just ask for the money, prompting him to get married within seven days to get the payout. Fortunately, he already had a prospect in mind – Mei! He invited her over and – despite more distractions from his kids – successfully woohooed her before convincing her to marry him for the cash (which, hilariously, got him the “Loyal” trait – uh, don’t think so, game! XD). She accepted –
And Semaj got $24,757 as the payout. :D James was THRILLED. Mei got $12,000 for her assistance and was immediately kicked out out of the house via Manage Households, and Semaj invested a good chunk of the cash into getting one of the best-quality beds so he wouldn’t have to spend so much time sleeping once he did need to sleep again. As you do. XD
C) He also invested in a basketball hoop (and fake driveway made with terrain paint) so he could get his Fitness skill up fast (as he needed another two points in it as one of his “age up the kids” tasks). Fortunately, Dreaming Big got him the points he needed SUPER fast, and looked cool to boot. XD He also developed a Like for Fitness, which is nice. Good to see him actually LIKING things about his life. XD
D) After that was completing an aspiration milestone so he could eventually age up all these children – fortunately, all he had to do for his Super Parent aspiration was discipline one of his kids five times, so James just had Krystoff (the only kid who could be disciplined) make messes outside and directed Semaj to calmly tell him to stop until they hit the target. XD If only all parenting was so easy!
E) After that was getting all of Krystoff’s skills to Level 3 – the kid had already done this with Imagination and Communication (via the play tent and his giant stuffed animal), so Semaj just had to potty train him a couple dozen times, let him play with his blocks so he learned his shapes, and then play with him a few times to get Potty, Thinking, and Movement all up to the appropriate level! Dude is being very efficient with his baby care (which makes sense, as he did also achieve level 10 parenting skill this episode and thus unlock Super Efficient Newborn Care).
F) And in the middle of THAT, he also went to his latest gig, where he was playing a doctor on some sort of medical drama – he still hates acting, but thanks to actually having decent needs, he gave an excellent performance, and made a nice chunk of change. :D We love to see him winning!
G) And finally, after coming home and making sure Krystoff was all set, Semaj went and practiced his gemology some more with random jewelry (locked in his bedroom so he didn’t keep wandering off to check on the crying children) in order to level THAT up to Level 3 and complete the final “age up the kids” task!
Whew – lot happening in this episode! And we’ve still got about a half-hour to go on it...but I suspect a lot of that will be building, as when I left it, James was rearranging the house to allow for more children (widening the central hallway to eventually allow for stairs and adding another room on the side of Semaj’s bedroom and two more rooms at the end of the hall for more kid bedrooms and a second bathroom). We’ll see what he comes up with, and who Semaj picks to help create his next baby, tomorrow!
Yeah, pretty busy day, huh? Just glad I got the MOJ done at last... And now I really need to head to bed, as I do have work tomorrow, even if it is only a half day. Hopefully it'll go by fast, and in the afternoon I can catch up on some videos I want to watch and get some more writing done. :) Though that might depend on how Dad's doctor appointment goes...everyone keep your fingers crossed for good news! Night all!
