Saturday, September 19, 2009
The Sims 3 World Adventures Goes Underground
Written by: Mike Fahey
The Sims 3 expansion pack World Adventures brings with it a basement tool, which everyone will use to build tombs, and not underground Sim torture chambers.
The new basement tool allows The Sims 3 players to create underground structures up to four levels deep, and EA has plenty of new tomb objects in store in order to help facilitate the joy of exploration. Objects like the Fogger, which hides unexplored areas from the player's view, or hidden stairways, which help facilitate secret passages. Other important objects include that old staple the floor switch, and traps that shoot fire, steam, electricity, or darts. This is going to be so much fun. Toss in a couple Saw-inspired face bear traps and I'll be in heaven.
Check out the rather large list of tomb objects EA released today below, and start planning out your tomb so you can get building when the expansion arrives on November 17th.
And yes, I am already planning my underground Sim torture chamber, but don't you dare judge me, or you'll be right there with them.
Here is some of the dozens of Tomb Objects and Object Updates:
Tomb Object (Fogger): The tomb object is the cornerstone of tomb building and will often be placed in every room of the tomb. The Tomb Object is what creates the "fog" that hides non-explored rooms from the player. This lets you create a sense of discovery and suspense as your Sims explore new tombs. The "fog" will recede from a room when a player enters the room through a door, descends stairs into the room, enters a room that is connected to a fogged room with an arch, or if a Sim "Looks Through" a window that looks into a fogged room. Adding or Removing fog is also a potential Activated Behavior.
Floor Switch: The floor switch is a classic adventure game object. It is a small, 1 tile floor object on which Sims can stand or push statues. Stepping On and Off the switch are both Triggers that can connect to Activated behaviors. Floor Switches can also be set to Appear or Disappear.
Wall and Floor Trap: The traps are two different objects that can be placed on the wall or floor. These can be set to shoot fire, darts, steam, or electricity on unsuspecting Sims. They can have a variety of states, including hidden and dormant, armed and visible, hidden and armed, or hidden and firing. Each of these states can be activated by Sims walking over them or as an Activated Behavior. Traps can light Sims on fire or knock them out. However, there are multiple ways to handle traps. Sims can disarm them by tinkering with them, or push statues upon them to disarm. Water will disarm a fire trap, which makes a great puzzle element when paired with the steam trap…which creates water! Sims can walk with immunity through a fire trap when soaked. Experiment and come up with your own puzzles!
Dive Well: Dive Wells are one of the most exciting Tomb Objects. Sims can use them to become Soaked, which makes them immune to fire, or to put themselves out when already on fire. A Hidden Switch can be set at the bottom of dive wells as a Trigger. You can always place treasures at the bottom. Another fun element is that you can set the color of the water in the dive well, so fire tombs can have blood red water, whereas a tomb with a poison theme can have murky green water.
Dive Wells are most fun when they are set up as portals. Dive Wells set as Portals will connect to each other. Sims will go to the bottom, and then emerge from the closest dive well on the same floor. It's also possible to designate a Dive Well as an Uber Dive Well. Here, you designate a name so that you can define the precise point of origin and exit – even across multiple lots in the world. This lets you create one-of-a-kind entrances to island tombs and other inaccessible areas.
Treasure Chest: The biggest reason to explore anything is to find treasure at the end. Treasure Chests let you fill your tomb creations with various treasures, keys, garbage, or whatever you can imagine. Opening and Inserting a Keystone a treasure chest are also Triggers that can set Activated Behaviors.
Sarcophagus: The Sarcophagus can act as a large, ornate treasure chest, a place to hide, a place to sleep, and even a place to WooHoo. Most exciting, however, is its ability to spawn mummies. Mummies will patrol tombs in search of unsuspecting Sims to pummel and *gasp* curse! Mummies provide an element of danger and the unexpected to any tomb.
Torch Lever: The torch lever, like the Floor Switch, is an object for Sims to pull on to trigger Activated Behaviors. Some can be set to active, whereas others can be dummies, forcing players to carefully examine their surroundings. It's possible to define the colors of the torch light, which allows Tomb Designers to provide hints and clues on how to complete puzzles. Or, to simply set the ambience of a tomb!
Pushable Statues: Pushable Statues are another classic adventure game element. They can be pushed on top of traps to disarm them, or cleverly pushed through a maze to unveil a formerly blocked path. Their most common use is to be paired with a floor switch. Floor Switch triggers can be set so that they activate something when a Sim is on them, but deactivate as soon as a Sim steps off of them. This means a Sim must push a statue on top of them in order to keep the floor switch depressed. Pushable Statues can be set to be secretly pushable (they require inspection), visibly pushable (no inspection needed), or not pushable at all.
Hidden Stairways: Stairways from The Sims 3 can be set to Hidden now. This is an Activated Behavior, so that a Trigger can now Hide or Unhide the stairs. Hidden Stairways are a great way to surprise players. Just when it seems there's no way out, pulling a switch reveals a stairway!
Source: Kotaku.com
After leaving Melani a few days ago to work out what to do about Hal after discovering more about him seconds after his furniture was placed, I decided it would be a good idea to stick my head back in and see how she was coping. I'm very happy to report that it all appears to be smooth sailing at the moment. Yay.
A house of 6 is quite a handful I must say. By the time I get through queueing up all the tasks for one sim and work my way down the list, it's time to go back up to the top and start again. The good thing is that both Seth and Ricky are at school, and Hal has a job (that's at least one plus), so during the middle of the days it's just Audrey (grandma) and new addition Muhammad at home. So really, not unlike when grandma was at home with baby Ricky. Nice and easy.
For a child that could have been made to feel neglected and unwanted, the entire family have shown their just how wonderful they can be and embraced him as one of their own. The boys happily include him in any suitable games they play, and although Melani has been preoccupied, she hasn't forgotten his arrival and makes time to get to know him. Audrey, as warm and loving as any grandma could be, happy takes care of him during the day, and even spends some time sitting down and watching his favourite cartoons on TV... naaaw.
The poor bugger though, a single day after he moved in, I had the message pop up that it was his birthday and he had already aged up. Normally you get a warning message a day or two before hand so you can organise a party, but because he wasn't part of my family until the day of his birthday, Melani got no such warning. Instead, I was just presented with the following:
My heart did break a little when I saw that due to his difficult upbringing his traits could not be chosen. While Melani refuses to take any blame as it was up to Hal to do the right thing, she can't help but look at the happy childhood her own children have had so far and feel it's unfair that Muhammad didn't experience the same. In that moment, she decided that she would throw a belated birthday party for Muhammad!!
I have a funny feeling he's going to have a very good life regardless of what's happened so far. Apart from the fact he's in a loving family now, he's a really good looking kid! He's going to drive the ladies wild!!
I did notice that there was no interaction between Hal and Muhammad when he aged. I thought that was a little odd for a father and child. I checked his relationship status and noticed that Muhammad in fact dislikes Hal. How sad!! I'll have to work at fixing that I think - Melani will nag Hal until he rectifies his relationship with him lol.
I also had to laugh when I noticed that Hal doesn't like Jebidiah haha!!
He has to be feeling pretty happy that he got the girl in the end though. And he appears to be openly showing his affections towards Melani as well as both Seth and Ricky, which makes me really pleased. Especially as he's never really spent any time with his two older boys before.
The entire family decided to take a trip into town as there was a cook-off happening and it sounded like a fun family outing. I'm not too sure how they all fit into Melani's Prias, but doesn't it make for a cute family shot?
The cook-off lasted well into the night, which was no problem as it was a weekend. Melani and Hal took some time to get close and comfy while the children ran around and played. I like the image of flowers above Hal's head!
And I had to laugh when I saw the thought bubble during one of their many kisses - it appears everything tastes like chicken... lol!
Muhammad also appears to be very accepting of Melani's impending pregnancy. Yes, the toilet bowl party was pregnancy related as I expected. Upon announcing it to Hal, he was very pleased, and of course both Seth and Ricky are excited at the possibility of having a little sister... with three boys already, I think everyone is hoping for a girl this time.
Then again, take a look at Muhammad's eyes in this shot. I didn't even realise he was standing in it when I captured it...
Maybe he's not so accepting of it all? Or maybe he's just turning evil with all that's happened so far in his life. What ever it is, it's creepy as hell!
Outside of that minor issue however, I'm VERY pleased to report that it's all happy families over at the Banks residence! Melani and Hal are getting along marvelously, while Grandma is still going strong and painting up a storm. Seth, Ricky and now Muhammad all appear to be coping at school, with Seth and Ricky excelling. And at the end of the day, while Melani cooks dinner and Hal makes his way home from work, the three kids sit down together and do what all good kids should do - their homework!
Maybe he's not so accepting of it all? Or maybe he's just turning evil with all that's happened so far in his life. What ever it is, it's creepy as hell!
Outside of that minor issue however, I'm VERY pleased to report that it's all happy families over at the Banks residence! Melani and Hal are getting along marvelously, while Grandma is still going strong and painting up a storm. Seth, Ricky and now Muhammad all appear to be coping at school, with Seth and Ricky excelling. And at the end of the day, while Melani cooks dinner and Hal makes his way home from work, the three kids sit down together and do what all good kids should do - their homework!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Very rarely do I loiter around the local graveyard, I just don't possess the Buffy ninja skills to fight anyone off. But recently, while trying to locate the Mysterious Mr. Gnome, I have been scanning past at night time to queue up the request to explore the catacombs for Thomas. I had forgotten that the Ghosts come out to play at night, and zoomed in a little closer when I noticed one wandering around.
This wasn't just any ghost however...
Yup, that right there is the ghost of Adrian Waters! I got really excited when I saw who it was haha. I had intended for Emily to try to find him back when he died, but then I got distracted with her emotional melt-down and all the drama that followed. And then I just plain forgot. I considered waking Emily up and bring her down there now, but who wants to be dragged out of bed in the middle of the night to be reminded of who isn't in your life anymore? No no, I let her sleep lol.
I was glad I did too! I didn't realise what ghosts get up to!! Oh my goodness! Not long after I found Adrian, he had the bed icon appear above his head - I didn't realise ghosts needed sleep lol.
As he started walking off I was going to leave, I assumed he was just going back to his grave to get some shut eye. I'm glad my curiosity to see him jump back into his grave made me hang around a bit longer and watch him, for my assumption of asleep was wrong! Oh he jumped into a grave alright, but it wasn't his!
At first I thought that perhaps it didn't matter what grave they jumped into, that the game might not make them jump into their actual grave. But that didn't really sit right with me. And the fact that the headstone was jumping around also had me confused. I REALLY wish I had of hit record, but I was too stunned when I realised what was going on. The headstone... was jumping... liiiiike the pillows in a bed being woo hoo'd in does...
Yeeees, now you're with me. Mr Adrian Waters was having a ghostly good time with Kiko Kimora there. Apart from the fact she sounds like a girl ready for a good time, this cracked me right up. I didn't even think ghosts could woo hoo haha!! I guess Adrian can't be too upset that Emily is off doing the hanky panky with other sims then LOL!
After a few seconds (yes sorry Adrian, you really weren't in there that long), he popped back up and started having a conversation with another fellow. I did take note of his name when I saw it him, but didn't think to write it down.
Previously, Max ran into a little girl who dripped water when she walked. Ghost sims reflect how they have died, and dripping water would be drowning. I noticed Adrian had periodic sparks flow through his body (electricity) and this guy, who glowed red, has obviously died in a fire of some sort.
I watched Adrian and this guy chat away for a good 10 minutes which was amusing. I shouldn't have been surprised given what I had just witnessed not a few minutes earlier, but I found it kinda cool that ghosts can appear to raise their reputation with other ghosts.
After their conversation ended, the fire man wandered off. I found it cool that perhaps Adrian could find the friends in death he never could in real life. Then again, maybe not...
I realise that the smell of burnt skin and hair probably isn't that tolerable for too long, but do you even have the use of your lungs to breath, let alone nostrils to smell when your dead? Then again, maybe the other guy farted? That'd be really bad if your ass is constantly on fire still...
Adrian just stood there for a while before wandering off with the following sim in his thoughts...
I can't quite make out if he's thinking about himself or not, it doesn't exactly look like Adrian. Who ever it is though, they look bloody scary!! And evil... which is why I wondered if he was thinking of himself.
As the night was ending and I noticed it was getting lighter, I watched Adrian walk over to the concrete bench in front of the catacomb entrance to lie down and fall asleep. No idea why he didn't go back to his grave, I'm sure his casket would be more comfy. You can also see his electricity sparks here which is cool. Took me ages to get that image as it happens really quickly - just like his passing lol.
I noticed by this time that Thomas was already out of bed and on his bike on the way to the graveyard. I got really excited at the thought that he might see Adrian given where he was lying! Unfortunately, it was not to happen as moments before Thomas arrived, Adrian... well... poofed!
Another day perhaps. Then again, I'd hate to have Thomas see his dad doing the horizontal tango with another ghost. That'd really mess you up!
This video got shared by the official Sims 3 Twitter guys which I thought was pretty cool. I got a chuckle out of it, very creative...
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Emily really is a glutten for punishment. All last night she kept having the wish to hang out, chat with or invite Rainer over. I was trying to look out for her best interests and cancel them all - after all, the guy did beg for money, but like a teenager determined, Emily was hell bent on seeing him. So I stepped back, I let her go. It is her life after all, she has to learn for herself.
What did Emily learn not 10 minutes after his arrival though?
Gee, colour me surprised. *sigh*
Like long lost friends, these two have clicked so much it's scary. This is yet another example of my theory that there are sims out there that are just meant to be. Even if I don't want this to be an example of that theory, it just goes to show, it's all out of our control whether we like it or not.
Emily, clearly smitten, had all sorts of distrubring and stomach churning wishes come up. I really don't like Rainer's looks lol - I can't stand the stupid facial hair, he's a horrible dresser, looks a bit goofy and never takes that bloomin hat off. He's everything I don't go for in a man lol. But he's not for me is he? I have to keep reminding myself that Emily is the one interested not me. And there's no accounting for taste...
The first few wishes I could handle - a friendly hug, a general chat, etc. Then the first kiss wish came up, followed by the wish to make out. Gah...
Either this guy is a really good kisser, or Emily's just happy to finally found a man who is single, and interested - even if I think for the wrong reasons. The next wish to pop up made me want to pull her aside and slap her - she wanted to go steady. And of course, Rainer realising he would need to woo Emily a bit more to get any money out of her, agreed.
We've all seen the movies where the women gets done over by the perfect, charming, wonderful man that just happened to arive in town after a family tragedy left the heartbroken, lonely woman alone and sometimes with a huge pile of money right? He swoops in, wins her heart and then runs off with her money. Hell, even Neighbours had this story line recently (for the Aussie viewers). I've seen a few of these movies in my time and Rainer is following the exact same pattern. All the warning lights are going off. But Emily, blinded by happiness, can't see them.
I'm sorry to report, it all goes down hill after this. To celebrate their new relationship status, Rainer proves just how far he will go to pull the wool over Emily's eyes. Or in this case... the bed sheets.
I warn, keep scrolling at your own peril... *gags* Do take note of Emily's face in the first image - have we ever seen her so happy?
I'm sorry to report, it all goes down hill after this. To celebrate their new relationship status, Rainer proves just how far he will go to pull the wool over Emily's eyes. Or in this case... the bed sheets.
I warn, keep scrolling at your own peril... *gags* Do take note of Emily's face in the first image - have we ever seen her so happy?
See that last image? That's four hands dissapearing under those blankets! Of course, we all know what happens next right?
One thing I have never seen before, is the wish to woo hoo pop up, right after a woo hoo. I was going to ignore it, but I gotta give Rainer credit, he was still awake lol. *ducks the man glares* So, fine, off they go, again. Of course, I accepted this wish before I took a good look at Rainer.... check out those manly slippers!
I do have to give him some credit though, he does look better without his beany on at least. And the body image isn't as bad as his clothes make him appear. So maybe there is hope? He's even starting to fool me with his act, check out his face when he realised he was going to get lucky twice in one night:
One thing I have never seen before, is the wish to woo hoo pop up, right after a woo hoo. I was going to ignore it, but I gotta give Rainer credit, he was still awake lol. *ducks the man glares* So, fine, off they go, again. Of course, I accepted this wish before I took a good look at Rainer.... check out those manly slippers!
I do have to give him some credit though, he does look better without his beany on at least. And the body image isn't as bad as his clothes make him appear. So maybe there is hope? He's even starting to fool me with his act, check out his face when he realised he was going to get lucky twice in one night:
Clearly a man excited right there...
Just when I was starting to warm to Rainer and think that perhaps the money begging was a once off, that maybe he was just really broke and desperate (after all, Emily's been pretty close to needing to beg recently), he went and showed his true colours. As soon as he'd had his fun, he was off...
I did think he was going to leave and prove what a real scumbag he was, but he noticed the computer on his way to the front door. I chuckled at how fitting the football game seemed to him, and had to hold back thoughts of 'typical male' that goes off to game after he's had his fun and the woman's alseep lol...
Just when I was starting to warm to Rainer and think that perhaps the money begging was a once off, that maybe he was just really broke and desperate (after all, Emily's been pretty close to needing to beg recently), he went and showed his true colours. As soon as he'd had his fun, he was off...
I did think he was going to leave and prove what a real scumbag he was, but he noticed the computer on his way to the front door. I chuckled at how fitting the football game seemed to him, and had to hold back thoughts of 'typical male' that goes off to game after he's had his fun and the woman's alseep lol...
Chatting to Umi and Alter the other day, I learnt that there is a Mysterious Mr. Gnome in game - and he moves around! Umi, or Alter (I wasn't sure who I was talking to) have two of these little guys and shared an image of them frolicking in the garden. After seeing that image, I just had to get me one of these guys.
I did some investigating and discovered that the Mysterious Mr.Gnome is nameable which is kinda cool. He is dressed in a very trendy orange hat that has a yellow star shaped flower on it with a brown center. He also sports a long gray beard, blue button down shirt, red pants and shoes of an odd brown-tan colour. Clearly a trend setter this guy.
The Mysterious Mr.Gnome is kickable (lol!), like any good gnome should be. But unlike the regular garden gnome you can purchase, he cannot be cloned with the eyedropper tool. He also has the habit of sneaking around your house. How cool! Unnerving, but then aren't all garden gnomes?
Apparnetly you will never see the gnome sneaking around, instead, he just pops up in all sorts of places that you never put him in. If kicked, he falls in odd positions that you would never expect from a gnome and sometimes ends up with a plaster across the bridge of his nose (har har). When picked up, he is known to float on air, do hand stands and assume other theatrical positions.
One cool thing to him though, is if you have a high level sim in the science career, you can perform a scientific experiment on him. LOL! Definately time to get me one of these guys!
I figured Thomas would be the best one to collect one as he's already building an unexplainable collection of butterflies, moths, precious gems and gold bars as recently discovered by his sister Susie the other day. Why not an odd little gnome as well? After a bit more research, I found the best way to find one is in the town Cemetery by exploring the catacombs. Oh joy, I remember the blackened, petrified sims that have emerged from there on previous visits.
Apparently you can also obtain a gnome from within Ore or Gems when you mail them to their respective refiners, through fishing, or as an 'acquisition' from being promoted in the thief career. The gems and ore might be a possibility for Thomas, but I didn't want to wait around that long. None of The Waters Family have fishing, or are yet to join the thief career - I have a funny feeling Thomas may eventually though... So yeah, pretty much the only way was via getting down and dirty with the town ghost folk.
The first time I sent him down at night thinking that it might have a higher change to be found - I dunno, maybe gnomes that move around don't like to be seen so only come out at night?
I didn't find any gnomes, but I did see something interesting. Does this surname look interesting?
I can't quite tell her age, but for memory Tom Shallow is married to a June yeah? So this must be his daughter! I resisted the urge to throw something at her. Feeling a bit protective of poor Emily at the moment lol. Outside of the Shallow run in, nothing was to come from the first trip down.
Since night time can conflict with the 10pm curfew that children have, I decided to start sending Thomas down early in the morning before school. I figured this would be better than in the afternoon as the morning's are quieter, so no visitors should be at the graveyard yet, and everyone at home should be getting ready for work, school and the like and be too distracted to notice him not there.
That said, I don't know how anyone didn't notice this:
Hello - door wide open?! Even if that went unnoticed, I can't believe that anyone could ignore Thomas riding to school 3 mornings in a row looking like this:
I guess there is a 'no question' policy in town or something. Or perhaps that even if there were questions, no one believed him...
It's a shame too, as he's got some pretty interesting tales to tell by the looks of things...
I also had to chuckle at some of the options that popped up for me. It was like reading one of those books where you get to decide the story line.
And all was not lost with his underground adventures, check out this beauty he can add to his collection!! Sweeeet.
Eventually, on this third trip in, Thomas found what he was looking for. Yay!
Now I'll have to wait and see what interesting places this little guy pops up. Personally, he gives me the creeps just a little bit...
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
With Tom clearly out of the running to be Emily's new husband, the girl has been prowling the town looking for a better candidate. After stopping in at the local diner for diner one night (soup can only be eaten so many days in a row), she literally stopped every single male in the area, introduced herself and asked their marital status. If they were single, she stopped to talk. If they weren't, she walked away with barely a goodbye. This was a woman on a mission!
While in the middle of introducing herself to one of the men there, her attention was immediately grabbed by a Fabio look a like who had just walked up to the diner doors. I don't believe she even got the name of the sim she was currently standing in front of, for her jaw dropped when she realised this handsome god of a sim was wearing... a tool belt. Never before had she been so attracted to a sim other than Adrian. Good looks and he was handy?! She couldn't be that lucky...
And no, she wasn't. It seems Mr Fabio wanna-be there is already taken. I considered whispering in her ear that it didn't matter and to pursue it anyway, but Emily's a good girl. And he didn't really seem that interested lol.
After introducing herself to another five or so men, Emily was feeling deflated and questioning the gods if there were any eligible men left in town. It was at that moment, when she was about to hail a cab and just go home, that she met Rainer. Interestingly enough, Rainer introduced himself to her. The first man she didn't have to chase down to get their name lol. Tired, deflated and feeling very sorry for herself, she half-heartedly asked if he was single... he was!
Hearing that unexpected answer, her mood immediately picked up and she proceeded to introduce herself properly. Right away these two hit it off, with the conversation flowing and the body language saying it all.
Emily was clearly interested and liked what she saw as she kept having Rainer's image pop up with a smiley face beside it. Either that or she was just happy to finally found a sim that was worth talking to lol. I personally can't see what she might see in him, he's certainly not my type of sim. Thankfully though, I'm not the one needing the man...
Rainer liked being liked it seems, as every time Emily paused and "checked him out" as per the image above, Rainer would lean in real close and just smile.
All of a sudden, Emily had the image of a steak dinner pop up. Now, she had just eaten, so she couldn't be hungry. Perhaps she might be thinking she's happy she came here for dinner? But I don't remember the deep fried diner serving steak last time I went there. Maybe she's thinking that the two of them should go out to dinner? You think? Or maybe, just maybe, given her current mind set, she sees him as nothing more than a piece of meat?
Apparently though, Rainer is ok with this line of thought LOL!
Given how late it was getting, and the fact that she had two kids at home waiting for her, Emily decided she should call it a night and say goodbye. Feeling lucky, and having such success with Rainer so far, Emily approached a 'first kiss' to say goodnight...
Unfortunately for her, this was not on the cards so early in the game. Upset and feeling shut down, Emily hoped that perhaps this just meant Rainer was a gentleman? Then again... maybe not?
Right as she was leaving, Rainer stopped her and asked for money?! Shocked and taken by surprise, Emily didn't give him any, thankfully. But, what a scum bag! Oh the poor girl, suddenly I could see her questioning their interactions and how agreeable he was to all of her thoughts and interest. This man doesn't care about a relationship at all! He just wants to know how deep her pockets might run!
Well I hope you realise you just waisted your time barking up the wrong money tree Rainer, you couldn't have picked a poorer sim in town! Now bugger off scumbag!!
Oh poor Emily...
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