Maxis Taste Dare #35: Fantastic Lots
I'm a little late to the competition, but I couldn't resist this one. Now, first there's a little backstory. I enjoy making houses to real life floorplans in my game and especially recreating very common house style floorplans as found in Britain - it just tickles me for some reason to walk down any street and be able to imagine my sims living in the houses I see! Also, it seems to be very common here to find that many houses built in the same era or decade have very similar layouts.
When I had the idea for this lot I was having fun experimenting with Mootilda's LotExpander, as this allowed for the first time to create totally seamless lots, meaning that the extremely common British terrace was at last within my grasp. I live in an area with many Victorian homes, a lot of which have been converted into flats, and a common sight is the garden flat (even in unconverted homes), which is a basement or cellar which has been converted and often with it's own entrance. I had an idea that it would be fun to have a normal family living in a house, with a vampire secretly hidden away in the cellar!
Warning: Image heavy, and contains reference to bad UK daytime TV shows
I decided, with Apartment Life, why not make a two-storey house, with cellar and attic rooms - so a total of four apartments - and decorate each one as though a different supernatural creature lives there?
So may I present...
72 Specktral Road
Let's enter through the original stained glass door and window feature. The house mostly retains it's original layout, and some original features such as fireplaces remain in place in the apartments themselves.
The hallways have been decorated in a basic but neutral style. However, the landlord is quite laid back about tenants painting the walls and adding their own fixtures and style to the place. Let's go through the keyhole*, into Flat 1!
Who lives in a house like this?*
*Note for the un-British - this is a terrible strapline of a daytime TV show which used to air called "Through the Keyhole" where they would look around some minor C-list celebrity's house and you had to guess who lived there. It was utterly dire, but my sister and I always used to think it was hilarious in a so-bad-it's-just-cheesy kind of way.
If it wasn't immediately obvious, it's a Plantsim's house, of course. Featuring sunlamps in every room, all-natural furnishings, space for socialising (and lurve...) and toddler entertainment.
A ready supply of water, bottles and food for non-plantsim visitors. Also, a juicer for all of your produce, since a plantsim isn't likely to have much interest in eating it.
Into the front room, we have some skilling objects.
Other side of the room, with many toddler activities, a toddler toilet and a change table to change their outfit (and in case of any accidents)
Wet room leading off the main living room/kitchen, with toilet for visitors (apologies for the lack of privacy, it was the only place I could fit it without sacrificing a shower!)
Patio seating area/greenhouse. Some of the greenhouse/seating area is uncovered, because of the way the game considers levels. Also, I am TOTALLY LAME and only just thought of putting a hot tub in the house, so in fact I'll probably rip up some of the greenhouse/garden/etc and put one in.
Beyond the greenhouse, a couple of apple trees and a bath for bathing toddlers, or playing pirates in.
Okay! That's all of the Plantsim's house, it's by far the biggest, because of the garden (plus it was pretty to photograph!)
Onto the upstairs landing, and throooooooough the keyhole of Flat 2.
Who lives in a house like this?
It has kind of a... magical vibe, don't you think?
Bathroom
Desk in the long kitchen at the back of the flat. Why yes, I do think witches might swap spell tips on the internet. Why not? Plus they need to network to keep their good/evil streak nice and strong.
Actual kitchen area. The counters and fridge are silver and white, not slightly lilac, that's just my lighting mod.
Bedroom.
Okay, I just realised I didn't get a picture of it at all (even in the aerial shot) but at the end of the long thin kitchen, there's a telescope and an extra counter with some spell ingredients on it. I thought this would be a good place to put your witch's cauldron, you might have to remove the telescope (I can't remember offhand how big it is). Similarly if you remove some or all of the black bookcases in the living room (in the corner by the door), you should be able to fit the spellbook there, and possibly a throne as well. I just didn't have a witch handy to playtest this house with. Or, once you have the throne you could just delete the bed and make the bedroom into a magic room with optional secret bookcase door!
Now up to a tiny, tiny landing at the very top of the house - we're actually in the roofspace now, a converted attic room. So, who lives in a house like...
This?! It appears to be made of curiously durable materials... and that couch looks like it's seen much better days.
A motivational poster near the exercise equipment gives the game away - Flat 3 is home to a werewolf, of course. Who else would want to be so high up, as close to the moon as possible?
Stainless steel kitchen with microwave and food processor to minimise food preparation time, for that transformation hunger. Also a phone (somewhere??) to order takeaway at 7pm, if you're an organised kind of werewolf.
Time to brave the final house... down the creepy old iron steps to the basement flat entrance, no communal hallways for this tenant!
This is a rather serene, gothic kind of house.
The owner obviously enjoys entertaining, as they have state-of-the-art facilities to do so.
There's even a private dining booth, lined with black silk.
With no natural light at all in the property, this has to be the home of a vampire.
Indeed, there is a coffin set up in a back bedroom. (Also shot to show that it's perfectly playable in normal walls-cutaway mode without any camera mods or anything.) It's a shame I couldn't fit in a four-poster, too. But then, neither the werewolf or the plantsim has a bed. Such is the challenge of building within the constraints of a small lot!
Top-down view of each apartment, from under the ground up.
Vampire
Entertainment area, refined hobbies (chess, classical music, cuisine). Bedroom with coffin and chest for assortment of fabulous robes. Bathroom (who wouldn't want a black toilet and blood red walls??)
No outside windows or light permeating at all.
The stairs lead nowhere, by the way. It's blocked off at the top - they're just left as a slightly spooky reminder that the building was originally one house.
Plantsim
Sorry. My widescreen monitor broke, so I'm stuck on this old one :P
Kitchen with juicing and water providing facilities, toddler activities, many plants. Hobbies are nature (gardening) creativity/arts and games (social). Wet room with toilet facilities, outside space (which I just realised should really contain a hot tub AND a flower arranging stand! Maybe your plantsim is supposed to save up for them :P)
Witch
Eclectic style, many magical elements. Out of shot on the right is a magic research area with telescope and potion ingredients, would be a good place to place cauldron.
Food bowl for visiting spectral cats (I wasn't sure if they needed to eat?)
The shadow between the front door and bathroom is three bookcases, you could sell one/two/all of these to make room for the magical spellbook. Hobbies are arts & crafts, cuisine and science/logic (if you keep the telescope).
Werewolf
I actually thought of something to put in that corner behind the shower (which is next to the exercise machine, if you can't see it) but I can't remember what it is D: Maybe a computer on a one tile desk? A stereo? Bookcase? Also I've just noticed that the lighting is terrible overall in this particular flat, so I need to rip those lights out and replace them with ones which actually work, bearing in mind the only window is a tiny privacy one. The thing that's in shadow just above the stairs in the picture is a toilet. The pillar is required to make the room seasons-proof, although I think it looks pretty cool also.
Sofas and dartboard for socialising with other werewolves or human friends. Stainless steel kitchen with gadgets to allow fast preparation of snacks. Exercise bench, because I figured a werewolf might have fitness as a hobby - I guess the aforementioned space allows customisation based on what your werewolf's actual hobby is.
It's not up for download yet for a few reasons. Firstly I need to track down all of the CC I've used and check I can share it, and then I need to fix a wall before I convert it into apartments (just one of the roof walls) which involves going back into LotExpander and I wouldn't have had it up in time :P Lastly, I originally intended to have a whole set of these terraced houses for download, with two ends and various options for the middle houses (converted, unconverted, dilapidated, modernised, gutted, etc etc) so you can mix and match and end up with a terrace of houses which slot together perfectly. So I wanted to at least have two ends of the terrace and a mirrored one, so that it matches up correctly!
A shot of the back of the house, as you can see, there are meant to be mirrored houses on either side to make the terrace effect.
When I had the idea for this lot I was having fun experimenting with Mootilda's LotExpander, as this allowed for the first time to create totally seamless lots, meaning that the extremely common British terrace was at last within my grasp. I live in an area with many Victorian homes, a lot of which have been converted into flats, and a common sight is the garden flat (even in unconverted homes), which is a basement or cellar which has been converted and often with it's own entrance. I had an idea that it would be fun to have a normal family living in a house, with a vampire secretly hidden away in the cellar!
Warning: Image heavy, and contains reference to bad UK daytime TV shows
I decided, with Apartment Life, why not make a two-storey house, with cellar and attic rooms - so a total of four apartments - and decorate each one as though a different supernatural creature lives there?
So may I present...
72 Specktral Road
Let's enter through the original stained glass door and window feature. The house mostly retains it's original layout, and some original features such as fireplaces remain in place in the apartments themselves.
The hallways have been decorated in a basic but neutral style. However, the landlord is quite laid back about tenants painting the walls and adding their own fixtures and style to the place. Let's go through the keyhole*, into Flat 1!
Who lives in a house like this?*
*Note for the un-British - this is a terrible strapline of a daytime TV show which used to air called "Through the Keyhole" where they would look around some minor C-list celebrity's house and you had to guess who lived there. It was utterly dire, but my sister and I always used to think it was hilarious in a so-bad-it's-just-cheesy kind of way.
If it wasn't immediately obvious, it's a Plantsim's house, of course. Featuring sunlamps in every room, all-natural furnishings, space for socialising (and lurve...) and toddler entertainment.
A ready supply of water, bottles and food for non-plantsim visitors. Also, a juicer for all of your produce, since a plantsim isn't likely to have much interest in eating it.
Into the front room, we have some skilling objects.
Other side of the room, with many toddler activities, a toddler toilet and a change table to change their outfit (and in case of any accidents)
Wet room leading off the main living room/kitchen, with toilet for visitors (apologies for the lack of privacy, it was the only place I could fit it without sacrificing a shower!)
Patio seating area/greenhouse. Some of the greenhouse/seating area is uncovered, because of the way the game considers levels. Also, I am TOTALLY LAME and only just thought of putting a hot tub in the house, so in fact I'll probably rip up some of the greenhouse/garden/etc and put one in.
Beyond the greenhouse, a couple of apple trees and a bath for bathing toddlers, or playing pirates in.
Okay! That's all of the Plantsim's house, it's by far the biggest, because of the garden (plus it was pretty to photograph!)
Onto the upstairs landing, and throooooooough the keyhole of Flat 2.
Who lives in a house like this?
It has kind of a... magical vibe, don't you think?
Bathroom
Desk in the long kitchen at the back of the flat. Why yes, I do think witches might swap spell tips on the internet. Why not? Plus they need to network to keep their good/evil streak nice and strong.
Actual kitchen area. The counters and fridge are silver and white, not slightly lilac, that's just my lighting mod.
Bedroom.
Okay, I just realised I didn't get a picture of it at all (even in the aerial shot) but at the end of the long thin kitchen, there's a telescope and an extra counter with some spell ingredients on it. I thought this would be a good place to put your witch's cauldron, you might have to remove the telescope (I can't remember offhand how big it is). Similarly if you remove some or all of the black bookcases in the living room (in the corner by the door), you should be able to fit the spellbook there, and possibly a throne as well. I just didn't have a witch handy to playtest this house with. Or, once you have the throne you could just delete the bed and make the bedroom into a magic room with optional secret bookcase door!
Now up to a tiny, tiny landing at the very top of the house - we're actually in the roofspace now, a converted attic room. So, who lives in a house like...
This?! It appears to be made of curiously durable materials... and that couch looks like it's seen much better days.
A motivational poster near the exercise equipment gives the game away - Flat 3 is home to a werewolf, of course. Who else would want to be so high up, as close to the moon as possible?
Stainless steel kitchen with microwave and food processor to minimise food preparation time, for that transformation hunger. Also a phone (somewhere??) to order takeaway at 7pm, if you're an organised kind of werewolf.
Time to brave the final house... down the creepy old iron steps to the basement flat entrance, no communal hallways for this tenant!
This is a rather serene, gothic kind of house.
The owner obviously enjoys entertaining, as they have state-of-the-art facilities to do so.
There's even a private dining booth, lined with black silk.
With no natural light at all in the property, this has to be the home of a vampire.
Indeed, there is a coffin set up in a back bedroom. (Also shot to show that it's perfectly playable in normal walls-cutaway mode without any camera mods or anything.) It's a shame I couldn't fit in a four-poster, too. But then, neither the werewolf or the plantsim has a bed. Such is the challenge of building within the constraints of a small lot!
Top-down view of each apartment, from under the ground up.
Vampire
Entertainment area, refined hobbies (chess, classical music, cuisine). Bedroom with coffin and chest for assortment of fabulous robes. Bathroom (who wouldn't want a black toilet and blood red walls??)
No outside windows or light permeating at all.
The stairs lead nowhere, by the way. It's blocked off at the top - they're just left as a slightly spooky reminder that the building was originally one house.
Plantsim
Sorry. My widescreen monitor broke, so I'm stuck on this old one :P
Kitchen with juicing and water providing facilities, toddler activities, many plants. Hobbies are nature (gardening) creativity/arts and games (social). Wet room with toilet facilities, outside space (which I just realised should really contain a hot tub AND a flower arranging stand! Maybe your plantsim is supposed to save up for them :P)
Witch
Eclectic style, many magical elements. Out of shot on the right is a magic research area with telescope and potion ingredients, would be a good place to place cauldron.
Food bowl for visiting spectral cats (I wasn't sure if they needed to eat?)
The shadow between the front door and bathroom is three bookcases, you could sell one/two/all of these to make room for the magical spellbook. Hobbies are arts & crafts, cuisine and science/logic (if you keep the telescope).
Werewolf
I actually thought of something to put in that corner behind the shower (which is next to the exercise machine, if you can't see it) but I can't remember what it is D: Maybe a computer on a one tile desk? A stereo? Bookcase? Also I've just noticed that the lighting is terrible overall in this particular flat, so I need to rip those lights out and replace them with ones which actually work, bearing in mind the only window is a tiny privacy one. The thing that's in shadow just above the stairs in the picture is a toilet. The pillar is required to make the room seasons-proof, although I think it looks pretty cool also.
Sofas and dartboard for socialising with other werewolves or human friends. Stainless steel kitchen with gadgets to allow fast preparation of snacks. Exercise bench, because I figured a werewolf might have fitness as a hobby - I guess the aforementioned space allows customisation based on what your werewolf's actual hobby is.
It's not up for download yet for a few reasons. Firstly I need to track down all of the CC I've used and check I can share it, and then I need to fix a wall before I convert it into apartments (just one of the roof walls) which involves going back into LotExpander and I wouldn't have had it up in time :P Lastly, I originally intended to have a whole set of these terraced houses for download, with two ends and various options for the middle houses (converted, unconverted, dilapidated, modernised, gutted, etc etc) so you can mix and match and end up with a terrace of houses which slot together perfectly. So I wanted to at least have two ends of the terrace and a mirrored one, so that it matches up correctly!
A shot of the back of the house, as you can see, there are meant to be mirrored houses on either side to make the terrace effect.