LH Babble

[somuchsong]

I started a whole post about Sim nipples at N99 (okay, it wasn't just about nipples, but that's what it was inspired by). I think we might have to share the Dorkiest Simmer title!

[laura]

LOL, glad to know I'm not the only one making maps!

Here's what I came up with in the end ;D



This is what the poster I recolored will look like. Now I just have to lay out the actual tracks and stations at these points.

I only needed two rail lines in the end - 1, blue line, from Stoneview Court to the Lakeside Heights town center. And 2, yellow line, from Lake City Corporate Center out to the space where my projected airport will be. (Yet another project to save for later...

And you can kind of see how all the neighborhoods are laid out too, in relation to each other. (Traditional compass direction apply): Northwest of the river is all Lake City, and southeast of the river is Lakeside Heights. Lake City is landlocked except for the river running through its southeast corner. That same river then runs through Lakeside Heights' northwest corner, and then it carries on to the east along Bluewater's northern border.

Bluewater Township isn't on this map because it doesn't have a rail station, but it would be to the east of Lakeside Heights, with the same river to the north and the same lakeshore to the south.

Funny enough, I've always imagined Lake County was in southwest Michigan, but if I'm going to stay true to what I've established here, with Lake Michigan to the south, then Lake County could only be in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Ah well, so be it, lol!

[thelunarfox]

*is rather speechless* All I can keep thinking is how much I love your nerdy brain. XD

[laura]

You're speechless from fear, lol! I see you slowly backing away...

But really, I had another thought, about how this entire project was kind of prompted by story, and how it might affect future stories.

I remember my first concepts of this project were when Corbin wanted to buy a car to go visit Leila, because there wasn't a train running out to Bluewater. And there was only one bus line between Lake City and Bluewater, and it didn't run very often because the distance was so far. I wasn't thinking about actual, physical train and bus stations then - it was just something I made up for his story. I kind of had these ideas and orientations vaguely in my head, but I'm sure my details weren't always consistent.

But now, I have a real solid plan for all of this. So if Lucy wanted to drive to visit her cousin Melissa in South Lake City, coming from Hazel Park, I know it isn't really that far, even if they're in different cities. Or Aurora Harris, living out in Stoneview Court, would have to travel really far to see her brother Nathan in Lakeside Heights - though she could just hop on a train to get there without much hassle. Or that anyone commuting by train from Lakeside Heights to the corporate district of Lake City for work would be really pissed off about having to take two trains.

So basically, now I don't have to just make it up, next time I want a detail about space or distance. I'll just look at my map

[thelunarfox]

LOL! I don't think I can get any farther away than I am now.

But it's genius. One of my issues is always space. That's why playing Sims helps with the writing. Sometimes I see a space, but I have to build it so that I know what it looks like. I think this is a trick I'd use even if I wasn't taking screen shots for the story.

[heredoncove]

I am solidly impressed and a tiny bit jealous. Too bad the cove sits in (or is it on? damn prepositions) the ocean.

[laura]

I had this idea (= illusion) in my head that this building stuff would somehow free up my writing energy to work more on my novel, but I've found exactly the opposite true these past weeks. Two weeks it's been since I published my last LH story update, and it's now been about the same amount of time since I accomplished anything substantial on my novel.

I *never* would have thought that working on LH *helps* me work on my other writing, but it certainly appears to be the case, lol! Or maybe it's that all this building stuff is actually much more time consuming than the demands of a normal weekly story update?

But considering all that, I'd hate to not finish what I started. Though I guess there's no rule saying I have to finish what I started this week - or even soon. I think my new priority is going to be to finish buildings well enough to take pictures from hood view, because I'd really like to update my maps. Any buildings built will remain shells until they're needed.

This weekend I have a semi-playables update scheduled, and that's kind of story-ish. As well as a SBP interview. So that'll kind of be my transition back into normalcy

And for now, more spam from Drew's new family, lol!


I made up this one for the Mothers and Sons theme at N99, so I wanted to share it here too where everyone could see it. Because you know, they're such an adorable family everyone should see them, lol!

It was weird for me at first to see them all as a family, especially knowing both Drew and Fenton for so long on their own. It felt a little bit like cheating. Though Drew never specifically said he *didn't* have a family. And neither did Fenton.

I know in Sims 2-land, it's not at all strange that a Sim doesn't have a family - with townies, it happens all the time. But I'm trying to divorce that way of thinking, lol! Especially since in Sims 3, townies do have families. In my real writing, every character has a family of some sort. And I've found even with LH lately, I've been writing about their family members, even if they don't have actual in-game Sims to represent those people. Like I know that James doesn't have a mom, and his dad lives in Ohio. Corbin is an only child and his parents live in Oregon. April has a mom (and a Sim to represent her) who lives in Lake City - she really doesn't know who her dad is.

Sometimes I feel like I can't reach a character until I know where they come from. And I think I was feeling that with Drew, actually, which might have inspired this whole surprise family thing. He has a few big story pieces coming up, and I think I needed to know where he comes from, before I could write where he's going.

[laura]

Oh hey, I think I just got a screencap of half of Lake City before it crashed! Maybe I'll post it... you know, after my computer is finished crashing

[laura]

Random stuff:



The two stations in Lakeside Heights are DONE! And you can kind of see my faking-it job of having the track go underneath the town. Really, there was just no way to get those huge track pieces to work on my tiny layout.

Lake City is just as bad, lol! It's going to end up being a "looks good from lot view" kind of thing. But as for actual track layout around the city, the pieces won't really make much sense. Good thing I can't take a whole picture of Lake City then, huh?

And I'm also able to get much more interesting camera angles with that mountain out of the way. Otherwise, I don't think I'd ever been able to take a picture from the back out towards the lakeshore.


Here's the random shot I was able to get of Lake City last night, before it crashed, lol! And this is only about half of it. (I don't know why I'm so stubbornly persistent about trying - really, I should just give up, but sometimes, very rarely, I'm able to, and it's easier to see how the layouts are working or not working when I look at it all together).

Anyway, I'm quite happy with how the west side (the two blocks on the left) has come together. I managed to get most of the empty space occupied, and that blank spot in the lower left corner is where the Old West End station will be.

The east side (two blocks on the right) is a wreck, but that's because I'm still kind of reconstructing the LCU campus and south end.


And I'm recoloring clocks!!! I'm totally getting carried away with these - I'm going to make five thousand of them!

What kinds of color schemes do your Simmies need for their clocks?


And I recolored some posters for my train stations. Each station will have posters from the local businesses in the area.

At least SimPe isn't giving me any hell today, lol!

[heredoncove]

I like what you did with the deco stull. Most of them are way too huge for me to think about using but I love the way you incorporated them.

[laura]

Have to stop for a bit, but I have three more clocks!



I must have had April in mind when I made these because they're all bright and bubbly, lol! The black one is a little more masculine for Beau. I might tweak that one a little lighter, because that came out *really* black in game, lol!

[laura]

So hey! LH gets a sequel then! Sequel/spin-off, kind of. I'm imagining it'll be about half old families, half new. In a new town, which I'll attempt to do with TS3, but if that doesn't work out, I'll still continue it with TS2, I think.

Because the first story for it was just kind of born, lol! You know, all far ahead and sketchy. January 2089! Can't really tell you who or what it's about though, because that would be *such* a spoiler!!!

But yay for sequels?!

(But I'm supposed to be in a cave and working on a novel chapter. Far ahead and sketchy LH stories are much easier to write than real and actually polished novel chapters. Ack!)

[rad]

Ooooooooh! I think you could make it work with TS3 if you fiddled with the ageing and SP settings and downloaded some of Twallan's mods. The Master Controller lets you change active household a lot more easily than the main game does. Bbut whether it's 2 or 3, a sequel/spin-off would rock!

[laura]

Rad, I'll have to ask you all about a thousand questions about all these mods when I finally get the game. It's supposed to be my prize for finishing my novel, lol! (When I finish my novel - aiming to finish by the end of the year!) The game and a new supercool computer to run it

Illandrya, yes! That's just what I want! I try to fake it sometimes for the story right now, and even have little pathways in between my lots, though my Sims could never walk to them that way. I'm really impressed with the things people are doing with TS3, so I do hope it works out.

Right, either way though, I'm also excited this story still has a future!

[rad]

Heh, thelunarfox is your go-to woman for mods. She knows all!

[laura]

Thanks guys! Good to know! I do read Sims In Testing, that I can't really apply what I learn there to anything without having the actual game to play with, lol!

[laura]

Shhh... I'm still 29 for a few more hours here

But thank you! LOL, I hardly even remembered. (Or maybe didn't want to remember?)

[applevalley]

A sequel will be interesting, I would love to read that

[laura]

Ha, lol! Yup, that's just the intro post. Like a book cover, I guess. First real story comes this weekend, but I do have a little mini-something for you guys tonight

[laura]

Ah, road block!!! TS3 needs to have pets! I never really felt very passionate about the Pets EP in TS2, and in real life, I actually kind of hate dogs... and most animals, lol! But one of the characters I want to bring with me to my TS3 spin-off has a very special doggie (if you think about that too hard, it's probably a major spoiler, lol!), and he would certainly never leave her behind.

Oh, what to do? I think I heard somewhere that there was actually coding for pets in TS3 already in place, so it's probably likely.

ETA: okay, actually not *too* much of a spoiler, lol! I have at least 5 male characters that own dogs