Day 3 Machinima , Screenshots, and emotions

As promised today we go over the classes for day 3. We started the day’s classes with Sim Guru Todd Stallkamp and Sims Guru Jonathan Richardson. We saw some rather funny Machinimas as the class started. They wanted to show what all was possible in the world of videotography and the Sims 4. I have to say that this was over this simmers head as they went on to discuss the ins and outs of toggles and key switches. But the likes of Minraed and Asia were there and they fully understood the inner workings of what was going on. The glee from them made us all excited. So I have to assume this is a good thing. I saw the way the camera adjusts and the new camera angles I am going to share some scans of settings that those of you that make Machinimas are sure to understand. This was shared at the class and deemed very useful:

So as you can see the class was a bit technical for me. **who struggles through screen shots** #epicfail.

Next to take the stage was Sim Guru Grant Rodiek. So on to the one thing that makes Sims 4 a cut above any other series they have done in Sims. The emotions. Now in talking about the emotions lets go back a bit to yesterday. I mentioned that they did not include the random sort with picking emotions. This is key to you as a player. What you choose when making your Sims will have a huge influence on your Sims Experience. A specific word used was algorithms. The intertwining of all the aspects of traits and aspirations.

Let’s start with a few definitions. These pictures are from the demo and not the actual game, but it’s a good representation to what we had in game.

The aspirations look like any other Sims game in term of definitions but don’t let that fool you. These are vital in the way they interact with their neighbours and household. Combining these with the traits section makes for some very interesting game play.

The Aspirations

 ·         Athletic

 ·         Creativity

 ·         Deviance

 ·         Family

 ·         Food

 ·         Fortune

 ·         Knowledge

 ·         Love

 ·         Nature

These main aspirations all have branches so you may choose a specific aspiration with respect to the category. Choosing these wisely determines how the traits will be handled.  I personally chose my traits first and then determined from those how I wanted to handle the Aspirations. It can mean the difference between a happy Sim and a miserable one.

TRAITS

Emotional

 ·         Active-can become upset if they don’t exercise over time

 ·         Cheerful-Happiest of Sims

 ·         Creative-Inspired Easily (More about this later)

 ·         Genius-Have the need to improve their mental state

 ·         Gloomy-Tend to be sad but have the best inspirations when sad

 ·         Goofball-Says it all. They tend to be very playful and need that to stay happy

 ·         Hot-Headed-Tend to be angry Sims and they don’t like Sims who do mischief things

 ·         Romantic-Flirty and get sad if they don’t have a romantic happening for a long period of time

 ·         Self-Assured-Confident Sims

Hobby

 ·         Art Lover-The Sims Love art and have special interactions pertaining to art

 ·         Bookworm-Can Analyze books and get more pleasure from reading

 ·         Foodie-Love watching cooking shows. Get upset with bad food

 ·         Geek-Get tense when going long times without video games. Sci-fi makes them happy.

 ·         Music Lover-This Sim is most happy listening to or playing music

 ·         Perfectionist-Cannot stand to create anything that is of low quality.

Lifestyles

·        Ambitious-Career failure upsets these Sims and need steady promotions

·         Childish-These Sims enjoy playing with their Children and all the interactions with Children. Are Happy when watching the kids network

 ·         Clumsy-These Sims are very forgiving when they fail. They don’t ge3t bad moodlets from Failing. Not good at athletics.

 ·         Glutton- These Sims eat anything including spoiled food

 ·         Insane-They talk to themselves which tends to get funny reactions from other Sims.

 ·         Lazy-They hate exercise and household chores. Better get a maid with this one.

 ·         Loves Outdoors-Special interactions with other Sims about nature and of course love to be outdoors

 ·         Materialistic-This Sims will want to show off possessions and gets annoyed when they don’t buy something new for a period of time.

 ·         Neat-These Sims can actually go into a cleaning frenzy. Gets a very bad moodlet in dirty surroundings

 ·         Slob- These Sims are known to eat from the garbage and think nothing about leaving a mess in the house

 ·         Snob-The Sims benefit from being around other snobs. Will not have any fun watching TV that they consider beneath them like fishing.

Social

·         Bro-Manly thing. Although I am going to use for my girl Sims. Who says a girl can’t be a bro? Loves sports and happy with other bros

·         Evil-Become angry interacting with good Sims. Discusses Evil Plans with other Sims. A schemer.

·         Family Oriented-These Sims have special interactions to boast about their family. They need to spend time with the family and get negative moodlets when they don’t.

·         Good-These Sims do not react well to Evil Sims and may get a bad moodlet from the interaction

·         Hates Children-can be mean and nasty around children. In a bad mood after try for a baby action.

·         Loner-more prone to social rejection. Can become tense in social situations and do not like strangers

·         Mean-gain confidence from winning a fight. Can be mean spirited and mischievous

·         Non Committal-Have special interactions to discuss fear of commitment and likes to quit jobs as well as relationships often.

·         Outgoing-These Sims need to socialize often and get powerful, powerful bad moodlets from no social interactions

Now these traits look familiar to any other Sims Series, but looking closer at them you can see by the definitions how they may interact with each other. It makes for a hilarious game play. You won’t see this right away rather when you start playing and interacting with neighbours and family over a few days. Get a feel for how to pay your Sim.

I never ever play Free will when playing Sims, but I found myself needing to play free will in this series. With that in mind I wanted to get screenshots of the babies for you all, so with my mind still stuck in Sims 3 I began giving the Sims traits sure to get a family. I gave the Mother the family aspiration and branched that off into the big happy family option. The Father I gave a family aspiration as well but gave him the successful lineage.

The traits for the parents were as follows:

Mother

Aspiration-Family-Big Happy Family

·         Trait one-Cheerful, cause after all you have to be upbeat to take care of a bunch of kids

·         Trait Two – Bookworm. I wanted a stay at home Mom, I know old fashioned but still what the heck. This will give her something more to do when they get old enough for school

·         Trait Three – Neat. I wanted her to keep a tidy home

Father

·         Aspiration-Family-Successful Lineage

·         Trait One-Goofball, need to have help for Mom to entertain the kids

·         Trait Two – Geek, I need for him to earn a good living

·         Trait Three – Outgoing, wanted to see what an outgoing geek was like

I put them together and started immediately trying for babies. It started off a bit slow, but the more they woohooed (we weren’t getting pregnant) the more hilarious it became. It was non stop (we don’t have a lot of time to play here) woohooing until I could get pregnant. By the 4^th time the Father shouts out WooHooHooHoo and does a dance and grabs her for another go round. Oh good, now looks like we’re pregnant. But She wouldn’t stop, I had to force them to stop she wanted more and was having way too much fun. But alas..we do need to earn a living dear.

Now I finally got him off to work and, leaving on freewill, watched what she would do. She talked to neighbours outside her door. One neighbour made her mad, he hates kids. She brought another one in to see the new crib, then they ended up socializing for hours. She was a neat freak so she was picking up things and continuing to socialize.

No sooner did the father come home from work all interacted with each other. The neighbour left. He was in a bad mood as his geeky trait meant work and no video game play time. So he fired up his video game and told her about his day while she cooked. And on it went. The emotions drive them in a way that’s hard to explain until you play the game. They were multi tasking. It was fun to watch. Not only were they multi tasking but their faces were changing with each emotion showed. Not a generic change but facial expresions.

One of the nicest changes is that as a child grows you can change their aspirations like real life.  We all want to be a fireman when we grow up but rarely do. Same applies here. I think this is a good change.

And with that we’re starting to tread into the waters of game play. There are a lot of things to go over with this as there is so much to do in Sims 4.

We can start with Careers. Each career has 2 branches. Kind of like in Sims 3 where you can go 2 ways in music and entertainment.  So that when you choose a career you need to be sure which branch, or path, you want to take. Again this relies heavily on the traits you have chosen for your Sim. I chose the wrong geeky path in the tech guru branch and my Sim hated work. I left my Mother Sim at home and she wanted to work and was most unhappy. The bookworm trait had her wanting something in that type of career. So again trait driven and emotionally driven.  And I don’t mean emotional like wants in the Sims 3 I mean downright making faces when they think about it.

You can get a career from your phone, computer or directly from the panel. The main career choices are as follows:

• Astronaut

•  Writer

• Tech Guru

• Entertainer·         
• Painter

• Criminal

• Culinary

•   Secret Agent

Each of these has a sub Branch so that you have 2 path choices. For instance the Astronaut has the paths Space Ranger or International Smuggler. Entertainers can be Musicians or Comedians. Yep that’s right Comedians. There is stand up comedy at the club.

The Sims have Whims now, something like Sims 3 wishes. You can earn traits that are only available from fulfilling whims. You can also gain something akin to Lifetime wish rewards called Satisfaction Points from Whims. They look like potion bottles if you have supernatural.  Courtesy of SimsVIP  here is a full list of these rewards:

• Instant Fun Potion (100 SP) – Instantly Fills the Fun Need

• Instant Hygiene (100 SP) – Instantly Fills the Hygiene Need

• Confident Potion (200 SP) – Drink this to temporarily make your Sim Confident

• Energized Potion (200 SP) – Drink this to temporarily make your Sim Energized

• Flirty Potion (200 SP) – Drink this to temporarily make your Sim Flirty

• Focused Potion (200 SP) – Drink this to temporarily make your Sim Focused

• Happy Potion (200 SP) – Drink this to temporarily make your Sim Focused

• Inspired Potion (200 SP) – Drink this to temporarily make your Sim Inspired

• Sleep Replacement (400 SP) – Instantly Fills the Energy Need

• Always Welcome Sims will act more at home when at others’ residences, and the hosts won’t mind at all!

• Gym Rat (500 SP) – Gym Rats build Fun while exercising and don’t lose Hygeine

• Moodlet Solver (500 SP) – Instantly removes all negative Moodlets from your Sim

• Speed Cleaner (500 SP) – Speed Cleaners tidy up much faster

• Insta-Large (750 SP) – Drink this to become a bigger you!

• Insta-Lean (750 SP) – The most efficient diet beverage on the market

• Mentor (1000 SP) – Once Mentors reach Level 10 in certain skills, the Mentor interaction becomes available and they can help other Sims improve their skills even more quickly.

• Morning Sim (1000 SP) – Morning Sims build extra skill in the morning.

• Night Owl – (1000 SP) – Night Owls build extra skill at night.

• Speed Reader (1000 SP) – Speed Readers read books faster than your average Sim.

• Free Services (1500 SP) – All single use service requests are free.

• Marketable (1500 SP) – Marketable Sims sell items they’ve crafted for more Simoleons!

• Potion of Youth (1500 SP) – Drink this to turn back the clock on your Sim’s current age

• Creative Visionary (2000 SP) – Creative Visionaries have a higher chance of painting and writing masterworks.

• Entrepreneurial Sims (2000 SP) Entrepreneurial Sims are more likely to get promoted in their Career

• Frugal (2000 SP) – A Frugal Sim’s household has reduced bills.

• Independent (2000 SP) – Independent Sim’s Social Need decays slower

• Observant (2000 SP) – Observant Sims learn the traits of others just by meeting them

• Shameless (2000 SP) – Shameless Sims will never get Embarrassed

• Steel Bladder (2000 SP) – Sims with a Steel Bladder rarely have to pat attention to their Bladder Need

• Beguiling (2500 SP) – Beguiling Sims can put anyone in a flirty mood with just one look

• Antiseptic (3000 SP) – Antiseptic Sims’ Hygiene Need decays much slower

• Carefree (3000 SP) – Carefree Sims will never get Tense

• Connections (3000 SP) – Sims with Connections start all Careers several levels ahead

• Fertile (3000 SP) – Fertile Sims have an easier time when trying for a baby, and a higher chance of twins or triplets

• Great Kisser (3000 SP) – Great Kissers have amazing success with kissing, and increase Charisma with every kiss!

• Hardly Hungry (4000 SP) – Sim Sims just don’t have much of an appetite

• Never Weary (4000 SP) – Never Weary Sims do not need to Sleep

• Professional Slacker (4000 SP) – Professional Slackers have no fear of being demoted or fired

• Savant (4000 SP) – Savants gain all skills much faster

• Super Green Thumb (4000 SP) – Super Green Thumbs will find that the plants they garden have amazing vitality

The one thing they gave us in base game that makes me happy is the ability to plant a garden. You buy the containers and from the containers you can purchase starter seeds. You tend the garden as usual watering and such. It’s a great fun thing to do for Sims with the love the outdoor trait among others.

Pack of Starter Seeds:

• ·         Vegetable – Carrot, Spinach and Mushroom
• ·         Flower – Daisy, B Bell, and Chrysanthemum
• ·         Herb – Basil and Parsley
• ·         Fruit – Plantain, Grape and Apple

Now the plants look really nice in the garden, I could see my retired elders having a lovely garden to take care of. You can harvest the fruits and veg for recipes later.

Another thing they are including in base game is fishing! So from out of the box you will be able to fish and gain skill for it.

Sims gain skills just by doing in Sims 4 so that you can gain skills by everyday activities like playing computer games and cooking. You still have learning from the TV and books. I found it delightful that there are new skills to go along with the new emotions and traits. Skill books include Mischief and Comedy. I was really interested to find out how these played out. Unfortunately ran out of playing time.

Looking across the top of what you can buy from the bookcase are the following categories:

• ·         Children
• ·         Fantasy
• ·         Non-Fiction
• ·         Poetry
• ·         Romance
• ·         Sci-Fi
• ·         Mystery
• ·         Skills
• ·         Emotional

Generally when you buy from any storage unit it gets placed in the Sims inventory until you have them put it away.  So if you buy a book from the bookcase check your inventory for it and have them put it away so all the Sims can use it.  Skilled Sims can mentor other Sims to gain skill.

There is also a work bench shipping with base game that they can gain the handiness skill with. Upgrades to appliances and plumbing gives positive reactions to Sims having certain traits.

 Décor objects also have attributes that you can turn off and on to gain room moods. Like when you see a painting In Sims 3 that has a décor bonus of +++ and in Sims 2 when they rated the room 10 points. This décor feature sets the room “mood” . It inspires them. If your Sim is inspired they will perform better. They can get inspired to exercise, paint, create and more. You can click on the décor to turn this ability on or off in a room. Only certain Décor objects have this so you’ll have to experiment.

Let’s talk about pregnancy for a moment. Having had kids of my own I can appreciate the discomfort of the last trimester of being pregnant. The don’t tell me I look beautiful or I’ll smack you discomfort. The back-aches and never ending stomach where the only thing you want to do is be able to tie your own shoes.

Sims never really got that in prior series and the nicely rounded convenient tummies gave the illusion that something was going on like a nice safe Sims baby in exactly 3 days time. Well not this time around. The Sims LOOK pregnant. They grab their back like a real pregnant woman when they are uncomfortable. The Sims remains uncomfortable in that last trimester no matter what you do. Then just when you think it’s over as you were using the counter they give you like a countdown to baby, the baby doesn’t come. You wait another day. No baby. When will this beast be born! I want my Sim in comfort already! Sure enough when you least expect it that little bundle of joy finally makes an appearance. For some of the other fan sites this took 3 days, some 4 and some, like me more. So it’s not a set time to when that baby is coming, only an estimate which is a sometimes amusing, yet painful, thing to watch. When they go into labor, they really go into labor big time. A huge difference from any prior Sims series.
The babies are cute, look like the parents and can be born at home if you own the basinet. If not they can be at the hospital for the baby. They have LEGS! Yes legs. Finally. They kick and everything.

Tomorrow we will begin Part 3 and more about game play along with answers to the questions on Facebook and announcing the winners of the prizes.

Some more links for today:

Ruthless_kk

BillSims

The Sims Supply

SimTimes

SimsNetwork