Behind the scenes - Chapter 23
This is spoilerly for chapter 23.
Chapter 23 marks the transition from generation D to generation E - Edward is now on my cover and head of the family (Dorfl will be around for quite a while yet of course). It also marks the beginning of the end of a plot strand I've been working on for more than a year, I haven't finished with Esme and her witchiness but it's going in a different direction from here.
The significance of the chapter, both for the legacy and for the plot, is what delayed it for so long - I kept avoiding working on it because it had to be right. There's also the fact that I created it in a very different way to my usual chapters. Generally I take pictures while I play and only start writing once the pictures are in order, there will usually be a scene or two that I go back and stage or restage at this point, but basically it's pictures first and writing second.
Not only was this chapter 100% staged but all the pictures were taken after the scene was written, and most of it was staged after the whole thing was written. Actually it was a very useful experience because I'm a lot happier about staging now. I spent more time working on this chapter panicking about the amount of staging I had to do than actually staging it, so now I know that staging isn't quite as horrible an experience as I was setting it up to be it should go smoother next time.
Aliens
One of the fun things about doing the chapter was working with all the aliens I borrowed for one little scene. I simply needed to show why Esme's skin wouldn't be as much of a distinguishing feature as you might think, I could have done it all with text but I'm glad I didn't - it gave me a chance to work with other people's sims (something I haven't really done before) and provided in a break in the chapter's many conversations.
When I CASed up all the aliens I gave them their correct personalities and relationships and then stuck them in groups according to where I'd be shooting them. I had some giggles watching them interact on free will:
Celestia proved to me just how awesome she is: first lot I took her to - ninja!
And, of course, she got the question right first time. I was tempted to use one of the ninja pictures for the chapter but decided to go with the tea instead because the ninja was going to be important for Edward's search.
Star had way too much fun playing with fire (but how could I resist using it for her shoot?)
Now that's a face I'm slightly scared of - Star and fire is not something my real hood is ready for.
I've spammed the pirate ship before, but have some with Kennedy and Glory:
It was a pain to find something interesting for them both to do that looked good in a picture though.
Vox made me giggle when he was watching My and Pipi log roll:
Think he's a concerned father?
Yeah right :D
My didn't win every log rolling round.
Vox and my Viola were in the same group and it didn't take long for the pleasure sim to find the romance sim.
By then end of it I was rather sad that this relationship wouldn't be carrying over into the real hood.
My sims
To make my life easier I created three groups of clones of Edward, Dorian and Esme - one for each of the vacation destinations. That way I could stage things in each destination without having to move sims to and from the main hood more than once. I actually shot things almost completely in order so could have just used one set of sims, but it was nice to have the option. The Far East family also contained two ninjas and a Wise Old Man clone.
Having all the clones running around led to fun moments like this.
And meant I got to see this three more times.
Pillow fighting ninjas are always funny.
It also meant I had to dig for the hidden maps for each family, of course the first map they found each time was never the right one.
I taught my ninjas to teleport the non-cheaty way - I really shouldn't have bothered and just used the BV pose box, but never mind.
The Wise Old Man you see in the chapter is a combination of the original and a clone, where I could I used the original one but there were some things I just couldn't do with him. Anything posed was the clone.
It did mean that Esme had tea with two Wise Old Men :)
After complaining that Edward and Dorian took ages to find a ninja when I played them in the real hood I now have more ninjas that I need. The whole time when staging in Takemizu it was more likely for a ninja to turn up on the lot than to not.
As with the aliens, I gave all the clones their proper personalities and so they entertained me in the few moments I let them run around on free will:
Esme spent a lot of her time hanging out with the posing hacks and the com lot clutter I wanted out of pictures:
I haven't played Esme for the last year or so (she's just been hanging around in her wooded hut). Having her around for this chapter reminded me just how much I love Sim!Esme.
She's such a cute sim. I kind of want kids from her one day, but I'm not sure that'll ever happen - stuff with Aaron has severely messed up her perception of relationships. it's something I have to think about.
Even her randomly starting doing tai chi didn't bug me (too much) as it reminded me I needed to change her athletic clothes.
I'm not sure why I made the Esme clones witches but I got some nice pictures out of it.
Oh Esme XD
Esme and my male ninja (cunningly named NinjaM) had three bolts so they spent a lot of time like this:
Oh Edward, it's not like you don't kiss Dorian in front of everyone :D
It did annoy me slightly when they decided to use the room I had just finished setting up when their ACR timers went off.
I said earlier that staging was easier than I expected it to be, that is true, doesn't mean it wasn't a pain at times though.
Like when townies try and insert themselves into conversations
Or when Edward wouldn't stop looking at me
Or when everyone kept doing that bask in the sun animation.
Ok, this one made me lol
So did this one
I thought I'd broken Edward here - he's meant to be telling a joke and, no, he doesn't have a face overlay on him.
The ghost pirate was a pain to shoot with - I had to get all the pictures I needed through Edward telling him jokes. Edward likes telling jokes, so I got to see a lot of this :)
Mostly I got very lucky with not having pose boxes or the wrong sim visible in pictures (I say lucky because I kept forgetting to check until after I took the picture). This is the only picture I had to retake - spot why :D
I think my funniest annoyance was when I lost the pose box I'd been using
There is a pose box somewhere on this lot, I still don't know where - I ended up buying another copy. This is the lot where Esme has been hiding since the end of chapter 19 - she gets to move to a new one next chapter.
Now that I've posted this I've just got the rotation picspam to post and then I'll start work on chapter 24 (along with my cc clear out).
Chapter 23 marks the transition from generation D to generation E - Edward is now on my cover and head of the family (Dorfl will be around for quite a while yet of course). It also marks the beginning of the end of a plot strand I've been working on for more than a year, I haven't finished with Esme and her witchiness but it's going in a different direction from here.
The significance of the chapter, both for the legacy and for the plot, is what delayed it for so long - I kept avoiding working on it because it had to be right. There's also the fact that I created it in a very different way to my usual chapters. Generally I take pictures while I play and only start writing once the pictures are in order, there will usually be a scene or two that I go back and stage or restage at this point, but basically it's pictures first and writing second.
Not only was this chapter 100% staged but all the pictures were taken after the scene was written, and most of it was staged after the whole thing was written. Actually it was a very useful experience because I'm a lot happier about staging now. I spent more time working on this chapter panicking about the amount of staging I had to do than actually staging it, so now I know that staging isn't quite as horrible an experience as I was setting it up to be it should go smoother next time.
Aliens
One of the fun things about doing the chapter was working with all the aliens I borrowed for one little scene. I simply needed to show why Esme's skin wouldn't be as much of a distinguishing feature as you might think, I could have done it all with text but I'm glad I didn't - it gave me a chance to work with other people's sims (something I haven't really done before) and provided in a break in the chapter's many conversations.
When I CASed up all the aliens I gave them their correct personalities and relationships and then stuck them in groups according to where I'd be shooting them. I had some giggles watching them interact on free will:
Celestia proved to me just how awesome she is: first lot I took her to - ninja!
And, of course, she got the question right first time. I was tempted to use one of the ninja pictures for the chapter but decided to go with the tea instead because the ninja was going to be important for Edward's search.
Star had way too much fun playing with fire (but how could I resist using it for her shoot?)
Now that's a face I'm slightly scared of - Star and fire is not something my real hood is ready for.
I've spammed the pirate ship before, but have some with Kennedy and Glory:
It was a pain to find something interesting for them both to do that looked good in a picture though.
Vox made me giggle when he was watching My and Pipi log roll:
Think he's a concerned father?
Yeah right :D
My didn't win every log rolling round.
Vox and my Viola were in the same group and it didn't take long for the pleasure sim to find the romance sim.
By then end of it I was rather sad that this relationship wouldn't be carrying over into the real hood.
My sims
To make my life easier I created three groups of clones of Edward, Dorian and Esme - one for each of the vacation destinations. That way I could stage things in each destination without having to move sims to and from the main hood more than once. I actually shot things almost completely in order so could have just used one set of sims, but it was nice to have the option. The Far East family also contained two ninjas and a Wise Old Man clone.
Having all the clones running around led to fun moments like this.
And meant I got to see this three more times.
Pillow fighting ninjas are always funny.
It also meant I had to dig for the hidden maps for each family, of course the first map they found each time was never the right one.
I taught my ninjas to teleport the non-cheaty way - I really shouldn't have bothered and just used the BV pose box, but never mind.
The Wise Old Man you see in the chapter is a combination of the original and a clone, where I could I used the original one but there were some things I just couldn't do with him. Anything posed was the clone.
It did mean that Esme had tea with two Wise Old Men :)
After complaining that Edward and Dorian took ages to find a ninja when I played them in the real hood I now have more ninjas that I need. The whole time when staging in Takemizu it was more likely for a ninja to turn up on the lot than to not.
As with the aliens, I gave all the clones their proper personalities and so they entertained me in the few moments I let them run around on free will:
Esme spent a lot of her time hanging out with the posing hacks and the com lot clutter I wanted out of pictures:
I haven't played Esme for the last year or so (she's just been hanging around in her wooded hut). Having her around for this chapter reminded me just how much I love Sim!Esme.
She's such a cute sim. I kind of want kids from her one day, but I'm not sure that'll ever happen - stuff with Aaron has severely messed up her perception of relationships. it's something I have to think about.
Even her randomly starting doing tai chi didn't bug me (too much) as it reminded me I needed to change her athletic clothes.
I'm not sure why I made the Esme clones witches but I got some nice pictures out of it.
Oh Esme XD
Esme and my male ninja (cunningly named NinjaM) had three bolts so they spent a lot of time like this:
Oh Edward, it's not like you don't kiss Dorian in front of everyone :D
It did annoy me slightly when they decided to use the room I had just finished setting up when their ACR timers went off.
I said earlier that staging was easier than I expected it to be, that is true, doesn't mean it wasn't a pain at times though.
Like when townies try and insert themselves into conversations
Or when Edward wouldn't stop looking at me
Or when everyone kept doing that bask in the sun animation.
Ok, this one made me lol
So did this one
I thought I'd broken Edward here - he's meant to be telling a joke and, no, he doesn't have a face overlay on him.
The ghost pirate was a pain to shoot with - I had to get all the pictures I needed through Edward telling him jokes. Edward likes telling jokes, so I got to see a lot of this :)
Mostly I got very lucky with not having pose boxes or the wrong sim visible in pictures (I say lucky because I kept forgetting to check until after I took the picture). This is the only picture I had to retake - spot why :D
I think my funniest annoyance was when I lost the pose box I'd been using
There is a pose box somewhere on this lot, I still don't know where - I ended up buying another copy. This is the lot where Esme has been hiding since the end of chapter 19 - she gets to move to a new one next chapter.
Now that I've posted this I've just got the rotation picspam to post and then I'll start work on chapter 24 (along with my cc clear out).