Hi there! You are currently browsing as a guest. Why not create an account? Then you get less ads, can thank creators, post feedback, keep a list of your favourites, and more!
Instructor
#551 Old 17th Aug 2018 at 2:28 AM Last edited by Yvelotic2001 : 17th Aug 2018 at 1:13 PM.
Default Round 4 - 57 Road To Nowhere

Quote:
17th August 2018
Strangetown

Dear Mr. Smith
It is a pleasure to inform you that the town council of our great Strangetown has decided to assign the house on 57 Road To Nowhere to you and any other members of your household. The house is in need of some repairs, but a mysterious benefactor donated a hefty sum to the town's treasury. Thus, the town council grants you total freedom in the refurbishing of the lot. You are free to redecorate and change the layout of the inside, nevertheless the outside shell must remain. Further stories can be added at your discretion. Do note that you are free to repaint the exterior.
We hope you the best for the rest of your life here in Strangetown.

Best regards,
Town Council of Strangetown


The new Smith residence

For the final round of this contest, we had an unlimited budget. And what do I do with an unlimited budget? I go overboard with the landscaping, that's for sure! In fact, if the lot was only a shell and the outside, it would cost 130K! Then again, the only thing PT9 cares more about than his lawn is his family, so he would surely go to the Moon and back (maybe he's even been there before) to have a great backyard. Outside, the lot has a Mediterranean-ish feel. With a total of 4 doors to the outside, the main door is the one on the left of the building - and that is the one used by the mailman, as I wished. The two back doors are only accessible through the gated backyard, though. Inside, my original plan was to decorate it in a typical Suburban family likes the Smiths always seemed to me, but I guess inspired by @iCad 's idea to recreate Strangetown in a 50's setting, I went for a mid-century modern decoration instead. Since PT9 is alien, I though I could give them access to a piece of modern tech here and there, hence the flat screen and the computer.
The house has wood tones throughout, with plenty of splashes of green, Jenny's favourite colour. In the living room, there are enough seats for everyone to watch TV, read a book or listen to music. Jill has left some of her toys there, though. Someone better clean that up before guests arrive. They have a spacious bathroom downstairs, but it doesn't feel like it is empty. Upstairs, both kids have their own room and the parents have their ensuite bathroom, as requested (the bathtub is functional, it was tested). Jill's room has a maritime theme. And while I know one judge mentioned they didn't feel like Johnny was a jock, I have to disagree. His bio states that he would like to arrive in a cool sports car, he has 7 body points and he has almost max interest in sports. So, his room has a massive pop-art painting and sports deco, like a rugby helmet and a jersey. Again, green.
The four-click high level between the first floor and the roof allowed me to build an attic, where they have some desks, bookcases, armchairs and an easel, as well as some MALM dressers to mimic cardboxes (thanks @Zarathustra!). Jill isn't supposed to go there, her father thinks the ladder is dangerous, but she sneaks in anyway when he's not looking.
This house has a burglar and fire alarm, so it meets Strangetown's safety standards, as well as a phone, a bin on every level except the attic and items for every skill. The aquarium under the stairs is merely decorative. The off-grid chess table works and I found no issues with the attic, other than carefully placing items as to not have them poke through the roof. And Johnny might not yet be the hero he dreams of, but at least he can drive a 1984 Pontiac Trans-Am and a 1967 Corvette. Pretty cool.

Here are the photos the town council took during their inspection of the lot:



I think that's it for this lot. I loved this contest, it really helped me improve my building skills. Also, it finally made me go and grab a Live Camera mod. The camera is so much better now.

EDIT: Two things I forgot to say. First, sorry for the underside texture of the roof, but AFAIK, that can't be helped. The default replacement I had even made it worse. Secondly, like I said in a later post, chairs are placed off-grid to show how the house would look in a lived-in situation. They were put in the correct position after screenshot taking.


Nice Rachel we're having.
My C:Simblr!
Advertisement
Space Pony
#552 Old 17th Aug 2018 at 3:10 AM
Jo,

I will take the half point hit (or even one full point one, depends) .

My little niece was flew by helicopter to hospital this morning , after she hit her head to the dock of our cabin when she jumped to swim. Gladly her bigbrother was allready at the sea, so he helped her out of the water and alarmed us right away.

very lovely entries <3 I was lazy and went for Spectre/Nigmos lot, as no dormers there

~~~~Call me Ellu ~~~

My love, my love, my fearless love, I will not say goodbye..
Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..
Turquoise Dragon
retired moderator
#553 Old 17th Aug 2018 at 3:12 AM
BIG HUGS and keep us posted on your niece!
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
Original Poster
#554 Old 17th Aug 2018 at 3:30 AM
((hugs)) Ellu, keep us posted. I hope she isn't badly injured.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Instructor
#555 Old 17th Aug 2018 at 1:06 PM
Ellu, hope she's alright!
Also, I forgot to say that in the photos I used setquartertileplacement to show how the chairs would look in a lived-in situation, but obviously I placed them correctly after taking the screenshots.

Nice Rachel we're having.
My C:Simblr!
Test Subject
#556 Old 17th Aug 2018 at 2:40 PM
Default Round Four: Ajay Loner Opens 'Taste of Belgium' Bakery on 91 Road to Nowhere
Wow! Talk about last minute lol, but I got my entry done
What follows is an excerpt from the latest edition of The Strangetown Inquirer.





I had a great time participating in the contest! Thanks Jo for organizing it, the judges for - well, judging lol, and the other contestants for participating
Field Researcher
#557 Old 18th Aug 2018 at 2:01 AM
@joandsarah77, just to let you know that it'll probably be Sunday (UK time) when my entry gets posted. I was sick earlier this week, and am now pulling an all-nighter at work. Once that finishes I expect to sleep most of Saturday, but I'm about two-thirds done so hopefully one more session over the weekend will get it finished.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
Original Poster
#558 Old 18th Aug 2018 at 2:30 AM
Table updated with entries.

Thanks for letting me know Muridae.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#559 Old 18th Aug 2018 at 11:00 AM
Lovely entries, everyone
Thinking of you and your niece as well, Ellu, wishing her a full recovery soon.
Field Researcher
#560 Old 18th Aug 2018 at 10:44 PM Last edited by muridae : 18th Aug 2018 at 11:57 PM.
Just to let you all know - I've now finished my entry, and am trying to post it but can't get any images to upload to my post. :-(

Currently trying in two separate browsers, with no luck whatsoever. I'm about to give up and hope that I have more luck with it tomorrow.

ETA: image uploads are now working again for me. Apologies for the double post!
Field Researcher
#561 Old 18th Aug 2018 at 11:56 PM Last edited by muridae : 19th Aug 2018 at 12:24 AM.
Default Round 4 - 51 Road To Nowhere / Singles


The Singles girls gathered around to discuss their windfall and discuss what they should spend the money on, over and above putting a roof over their heads.

"A pool," voted Erin.

"A pool... and maybe a hot tub so we can throw really good pool parties," added Chloe. "It'll be a great way to get to know everybody in town again."

"A pool... and a barbecue," said Lola. "All those thousands of people Chloe's going to invite to our parties are going to need to be fed."

"A pony," said Kristen, daring to be different.

Unfortunately she couldn't decide which horse she wanted to buy. So she bought five. Hey, unlimited budget!



Mad Poster
#562 Old 19th Aug 2018 at 9:23 AM
On starting work on 57 Road to Nowhere for the Singles girls, I couldn't help noticing a very obvious tear in the Simearth's crust between their lot and the Grunts next door. The two lots were adjacent to each other and some of the terrain in the Grunts' lot (No. 51) was slightly higher than the adjacent terrain at number 57, resulting in "daylight" being visible through the tear. My first thought was to try to disguise/hide the tear with a hedge or boundary wall. But then I decided that I wanted another copy of 57 Road to Nowhere to use as a barracks for the military a little further along the road, so yesterday I installed Jawusa's new empty Strangetown to copy the house from there. I was surprised to see that, in jawusa's empty version, there is a one-square-wide space between numbers 51 and 57. And, as a result there is no tear in the landscape. Now my normal Strangetown -- the populated one where I'm building is Tarlia's, and it has the two lots (numbers 51 and 57) touching. Whereas in Jawusa's empty version there is a one-square-wide gap between them. So did Tarlia move the two lots together, or did Jawusa move them apart? I've never played the original Maxis Strangetown -- I'd replaced it with Tarlia's version before I started to play it. Now everybody here is obviously playing Strangetown for this contest (or at least we're all building there. So can I ask you ask you all to check in your game if the two lots (51 [The Grunts] and 57 Road to Nowhere) touch or whether there's a space between them? And which version do you have? Maxis original version or Tarlia's cleaned-up version? And, if they touch, can you see a tear in the terrain between them?

In my live game, I have now moved the Grunts' house 1 square further out of town to match its position in Jawusa's version, and the tear is no longer visible. I actually preferred the arrangement with the houses closer together, but not if it means a tear in the landscape. (I think originally, in the "good old days" as General Grunt calls them, when the military ran all of Strangetown, there was some sort of parade ground on the land between the two barracks buildings.)

As for my play-along entry, I don't know. In the last few days my internet connection has become very unreliable, not working more often than it works. Our ISP has promised us a new router in the next few days, but I don't know when that will arrive. Moreover Real Life commitments are looming large, with my sister and her husband coming to visit, and I don't know how long they'll be staying. (No one in my family knows that I play The Sims at all!) I might manage some sort of "quickie" entry, with the house fairly basically furnished. (I now want the Singles living in that house for my game anyway.) If I don't make it, and the contest thread is closed by the time I'm ready, I think I'll post the entry in the Lots and Housing picture thread.

For the longer term I've added that third barracks-style house a little further along the road and numbered in 43. That will become a barracks for the half dozen or so townie soldiers already living in and around Strangetown. (I've checked in SimPE, and quite a few of the townies are in the military career.) I might even add a fourth such building to keep them in symmetrical pairs.

@Yvelotic2001 , may I ask where you got that loft ladder in your picture? At the moment I always use a rope ladder that came with Phaenoh's playground set, and a wooden ladder would be far more likely.

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
Original Poster
#563 Old 19th Aug 2018 at 9:39 AM Last edited by joandsarah77 : 19th Aug 2018 at 9:54 AM.
Okay guys, I am closing the last round. I'm so blind I thought it still had days to go.

Thank you to everybody who got this last round in. Any entries in after this will incur a .5 point deduction per day over from this point on.

Judges sheets sent.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Instructor
#564 Old 19th Aug 2018 at 1:38 PM
@AndrewGloria You certainly can! These are Marvine's animated ladder using Kodiak's pets animation version. If you don't want the animations, use everything from Marvine's set. if you use the animations, replace the mesh with Kodiak's file.

Nice Rachel we're having.
My C:Simblr!
Mad Poster
#565 Old 19th Aug 2018 at 9:51 PM
Quote: Originally posted by AndrewGloria
On starting work on 57 Road to Nowhere for the Singles girls, I couldn't help noticing a very obvious tear in the Simearth's crust between their lot and the Grunts next door.

Fixing this has gotten to be so automatic with me that I've forgotten that I even do it. I just go to Neighborhood View, pick up one of the two "barracks" lots, and move it to various spots along that side of the street in the immediate area - I use the lot as a "stamp" to flatten the terrain along the road. This always fixes the problem for me.

I've been using Tarlia's templates. I recently replaced the base neighborhood version of Strangetown with this fixed version by Dorsal Axe. I don't recall whether Dorsal Axe's version had that rip in the fabric of the universe or not. I've been playing it for awhile and if the problem was there, I may have done my usual thing and automatically fixed it without remembering that I did it.
Lab Assistant
#566 Old 19th Aug 2018 at 11:00 PM
Quote: Originally posted by AndrewGloria
On starting work on 57 Road to Nowhere for the Singles girls, I couldn't help noticing a very obvious tear in the Simearth's crust between their lot and the Grunts next door. The two lots were adjacent to each other and some of the terrain in the Grunts' lot (No. 51) was slightly higher than the adjacent terrain at number 57, resulting in "daylight" being visible through the tear.


As far as I know I have the original maxis version of the hood. And the lots are adjacent, but they also have flat edges between them so no tear on my end.

Lauri
Mad Poster
#567 Old 20th Aug 2018 at 2:50 PM Last edited by Justpetro : 20th Aug 2018 at 3:09 PM.
Default Round 4 - Play along - Curious family
This is really just a play along entry - but I had fun. I decided to make over the starter and try my hand at a smaller lot again.

The Curious boys felt that they were on the losing side - how are all of them going to fit into a starter house? They are scientists, so they came up with a plan, Pascal reminding his brothers that the house has to be fit for a child as well. They decided that a nice kitchen is important, because not only does it fit a family home, they are scientists, they cook. Each brother will have his own quarters on a floor and they will share the first floor. Each of them has a brand new telescope too.





Tour the house:
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
Original Poster
#568 Old 21st Aug 2018 at 11:12 PM
Reminds me of a rocket pod- intentional? Wow who would have known it was that house!

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#569 Old 22nd Aug 2018 at 7:46 AM
Thanks, Jo - yes, that was intentional I am glad you noticed!
Space Pony
#570 Old 22nd Aug 2018 at 9:07 PM
Default Spectre/Nigmos lot to Singles. Late entry.
I once again am so sorry this took so long, but it had to be this way. Thanks for the wishes, Jenny is better, still very tired little girl, but will be getting home at end of the week.

I do not know the name of the lot, as my game is finnish, I took the lot from Jawusa's empty Strangetown and it has the finn name (the real occupied Specter lot is still there and right next to this makeover lot) .

I build it to look like an apartment, but is is residential, I used dorm rooms like pre AL apartments I used to do.

I did add some staging as decorative flowerboxes (in original house, the foundation is bigger than shell of the house, hence all the columns).
In Chloes flat, the phone in the bathtub is for decorative purpose only. (Well what if she remembers something very interesting about last night's party when taking a bubblebath?? Naturally she has to ring to her friends instantly!! )
In Erin's flat, there is tons of candles, but also there are lots of sprinklers (NOT in the shower, I assume there is enough water without sprinkler).
Kristen's flat is very minimally decorated, on purpose, as she isn't going to live there for long (so she thinks).
The armchair outside was originally explained in my story, but as now the story shall go, in nutshell ,girls wondered why it was there, some greepy old lady came every night and sat there till sunrise.. ehh.. weird.
All kitchens have firealarms ,trash compactor or bin, burglar alarms near the unit door, phone/several phones per unit , and also trash cute in the hall area near the elevator and stairs.


Thanks to the 3 extra pics per added floor, I have 4 playable added floors (not counting the toppest floor, as it is only a roof piece), making it 12 pics, plus the 12 originally mentioned, I used 19 to girls apartments and 5 outside pics to make it total 24.



Mandatory images



Rest of the images.

~~~~Call me Ellu ~~~

My love, my love, my fearless love, I will not say goodbye..
Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
Original Poster
#571 Old 23rd Aug 2018 at 2:58 AM
@yavannatw Your judging badge should show up shortly.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Lab Assistant
#572 Old 23rd Aug 2018 at 9:15 PM
Oh man...I completely forgot about this! In the downtime after the third round, I had to start working on syllabi for my fall classes, and yeah...absentminded professor time. I was just assigned another section yesterday and classes start next week, so....I don't think I'm going to have time to build the last entry. I'm really sorry Jo!
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
Original Poster
#573 Old 23rd Aug 2018 at 10:35 PM
That's okay @quycksylver thanks for letting me know.

@Justpetro your judges badge should show up shortly.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#574 Old 24th Aug 2018 at 8:22 AM
Party time - raising a glass to all the contestants at the Fermented Fruit Juice Bar!
Screenshots
Mad Poster
#575 Old 25th Aug 2018 at 2:01 AM
Hi everyone!

Just to let you know I'm still here. Real World issues have been taking up almost all my time lately, but I am at last beginning to find a little time for Simming again. I spent about an hour and a half tonight working on the Singles house (57 Road to Nowhere). I reckon the exterior is now about finished, and I hope I've done the garden in a way the Curious girls will like. Here (in case the contest thread closes before I can finish it) is an in-game picture of the house, looking out of "town" along the Road to Nowhere:
I reckon building and landscaping work is now complete, and it's just a case of interior decorating and furnishing, moving them in, taking the pictures and writing up the post. I do hope I can manage that before the thread completely closes. Whatever happens, I undoubtedly shall finish the house sometime, because I'm playing this in my "live" Strangetown, and the Singles really need the house to live in!

As you can see, I've added an attic so those windows in the roof actually provide light to a usable room. It changes the roofline slightly, but I think it's actually more interesting. On the first floor I have shamelessly copied the arrangement of the 4 bedrooms from muridae's post (#561): I simply couldn't think how to get a double bed into each of 4 bedrooms till I saw her/his entry. On the ground floor I'm really just sticking to the Maxis layout, slightly altered for the changed position of the stairs. I won't be doing anything too ambitious with the furnishing or decorating -- I really want to just get this house finished and the girls moved in.

Jo, I know it was very late, but could you still add my round 3 entry (post #542) to the play-along table? Also, I may have missed them, but did you make any comments on the round 2 play-alongs? I didn't read the thread posts for a couple of weeks, and, even though I tried to catch up, I may have missed your comments. And I really would appreciate any comments (including adverse ones) from anyone on any of my play-along entries.

Thanks Jo for organising this contest, and for putting up with my tardiness.
Screenshots

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
 
Page 23 of 25
Back to top