Honey, I'm Home!

Yes, that's right, I'm back! Whether this news makes you picture a happy family reunited or Jack Nicholson with an axe, I can't say, but I'm glad to be back either way. I really missed my Simmers.

Why I Left

I don't want to bore anyone with all of the personal details, but basically, about a year ago,  I simply had to quit Simming, cold turkey. I was in really bad shape health wise and I was spending far too much time on my Sims projects. It was my fault for always adding more to my project pile. But I loved doing all of it and could not say no to new opportunities. Plus for some reason I couldn't stop myself from making tutorials, even if I didn't really have the time. I had felt that I should cut back for a long time before then, but I just never could do it. Finally, during SimsCamp in Germany, my health issues really showed themselves and how bad they had gotten. It was easy for me to ignore myself in my usual daily routines and so it was an eye opener to just how bad I had let myself get. I felt miserable and like a failure for not living up to expectations nor earning that lovely trip. Not to mention I was basically a zombie the whole time. I wish I could have a redo and really get to meet everyone. I would never change getting to meet my friends though. And in the end it was the kick in the pants I needed.
So I quit and not well. I left a single message on Facebook and then poof, was gone. I felt so bad about that but it was the only, the only way I would have been able to quit. I even deleted every Sims 3 file, project, wip, you name it. I never stopped missing you all but I really needed that time to get my life back in order. I really didn't think I would be back. I figured Sims had moved on and what place would I have? But it only took a few friendly chats to make me realize how much I wanted to come back. And then in a flash I was re-installing Sims 3, which I played heartily until my saves were corrupted... And then I gave up on that and focused more on the upcoming Sims 4.

My Thoughts On Sims 4

 If nothing else I'm honest to a fault. And so will I be about Sims 4. Change is hard, yes it is. We all love Sims 3 and it's hard to move on, especially since some of our favorite parts will not be coming with us. It's true, as a builder the loss of  CFE, MOO, and especially CASt make me less than thrilled about building in Sims 4, not to mention the loss of terrain sculpting and only having 3 levels to play with. I'm also not loving the loss of realism either. The trade offs are(hopefully) to have a game with far less issues(let's face it, Sims 3 had issues 24/7) and more interesting game play. Now do I wish they could have fixed the issues and still kept the tools we love? Of course and I would never downplay how disappointing it is. But life is not fair and I realize there is much going on in background that we don't get to see or know about. We do have our theories though. I feel as though the Developers simply ran out of time to get everything just so and include everything they wanted to, and instead focused more on the newer features in the game and playability. 
I am looking forward to the new aspects of the game. It's always exciting to try something new and fresh. There are quite a few new building tools I want to play with and I'm loving the sleek new look to objects. And although I'm not happy about the missing tools, I do realize that they caused issues for many Simmers. A lot of the new changes will really make the game more enjoyable. I respect that they want to make it easier for everyone to build, but I feel like there needs to be more of a middle ground so we can keep our creative touches. With such strict guidelines in building we'll really have to be inventive to show our individuality, which is what The Sims is all about.
As for the Sims themselves, I will miss the more realistic look of Sims 3 but I do know that the wonderful custom content creators will be on that like white on rice, so I'm not too worried. Look what they did with the Sims 3 Sims. In fact, the Sims may end up looking more realistic before all is said and done. I'm sure the modding community will be working hard too.
No CASt rears it's ugly head here too, as I quickly found out while making my new Simself. My eye color? No. My hair color? Nope. My hair type? Not even. Freckles that don't look like blackheads? Not going to happen. I'm hoping that there will be much more selection when the game comes out. That being said, I did really enjoy grabbing and yanking my Sim into existence. Fun...
Having no toddlers is a mistake, in my opinion, and I hope they will be back soon.
I'm excited to try out all of the new animations and see just how interesting the new Sims will be to play with and what all the new inspirations will entail. So even though I'm not thrilled with some of the changes, I'm still looking forward to Simming again and even building. While pouting about no CFE I thought I might focus only on SF Magazine for a while and swear off building altogether, but you know Ive already seen a house in a movie that I just have to build. Now, will I be able to? That is the question. We'll see soon enough.

The New SimEve

 Things are going to have to be different this time around. I won't be able to do nearly as much as I did before I left. My plan is to make this blog my home base. I won't be able to spend hours on the forums and sites, which makes me sad. I won't be making tutorials or videos unless I just find something so amazing that I have to share. I won't be able to spend so much time on showcasing my lots and that may make them not get used as much, but I have to make these trade offs to be able to come back. I can't let it get like it was before. I just wanted to mention this since I won't be popping up everywhere like I used to. But I'm here and that goes for chatting and questions too. It just may take me longer to get back to you.
I also have a new take on building. With some of the changes coming I realized that my way of building may not be the best. I usually started with the structure and style I wanted and then fixed any problems as I play tested. Of course, I tried to keep playability in mind at all times, but by focusing on the structure looking just how I wanted, first, I probably made things more difficult than they needed to be and overlooked some game issues. My new take will be to build as I play. I plan on playing the game first and then building the homes to the needs of my Sims as I go. Of course I will still use my style and design along the way, and hopefully the result will be a perfect combination of looks and playability. We'll see how that goes.


Hopefully I haven't bored you all to death with this. I'm so happy to be back and I'm looking forward to Simming with you soon!