Gone Simming!

Sorry I haven't written much lately. I have this stupid Christmas present crafty thing I've been working on (I know, I know, I'm nuts, it's only September, but it's a HUGE project) and every other spare moment has been dedicated to playing The Sims 2 again. Well, also playing some PS2 again, but that's a topic unto itself.

As I mentioned in my last post I decided to start fresh with a whole new neighborhood of my own creation in every way. This means a LOT of building and planning if I want the neighborhood of my dreams.

One thing I always felt like I did wrong in the past was create adult Sims after I got University. I mean, not everyone needs to go to college but the perks of those extra want slots is a good way to go with a new Sim. Not to mention that creating my founding Sims as young adults will let them get some skills before entering the job market, as a Sim born and raised in the game would have skills before becoming an adult.

Therefore, my first move this time around was to create the base neighborhood (of course) and go straight to creating a university. The neighborhood is named "Polansky" in honor of NASA Astronaut Mark Polansky (who tweeted his way through STS-127 as @Astro_127 and helped get me re-addicted to following the space program). The university is the completely uninspired "University of Sim State" because I wanted to build that style of school and play on "Sim State University". A stupid inside joke with myself, I realize.

Going with the huge state school style means building some huge fancy buildings, though, so it is taking awhile. I'm trying to gear the school towards a diversity of interests and thus am creating at least one building that covers each skill and hobby. There are the campus staples like a library, a student union, a "quad", and even a basketball arena and soccer stadium. I also made some "academic" buildings for visual and performing arts and plan to make a culinary center, science building, and an agricultural center. Then you have the fun stuff like bars, a beach club, dance clubs, fishing holes, and stores where they can pick up nearly everything.

This is before I even touch the whole residential situation!

It will probably take a few more weeks but when the campus is ready for it's first Sims I will take some screenshots and post them. I think my Sims will like it a lot, though, and be able to graduate from college with much more than just the perks that come with a diploma.