The Sims 4 Creators Camp Overview

In July, I received an invitation to participate in The Sims 4 Creators Camp at EA's headquarters in Redwood Shores, California just outside San Francisco. I could not believe my eyes. I literally had to catch my breath, read, and re-read my email twenty plus times to believe this was really happening. After all the concerns I expressed in various forums and even directly to EA itself. After all of that, they actually extended their hand and invited me there. If anything, I expected to be served with a restraining order! First, I was incredibly humbled as I've learned so much about being a creator from other artists in the Sims community. Second, it has given me quite a different outlook on EA as this ambiguous corporate entity. The Sims 4 team is made up of so many warm, extremely talented and thoughtful people who don't just want us fans to suck up to them and say what we think they want to hear. They are genuinely interested in our opinions and perspectives. And many of you know, I have some pretty strong opinions! It's just nice to know that voicing my opinions (and voicing yours) matters to them. It really does. That means a lot to me--to know that I can express my feelings, and that makes me all the more welcome in this community I'm so honored to be a part of, of which all of you are included.

I flew out to San Francisco on Monday, July 28 from Newark, NJ. I was so excited on the flight, I couldn't sleep. So I jotted down some thoughts and questions to ask during the week knowing I would forget them otherwise in all of the excitement. Once I arrived at the airport and found my missing suitcase (long story), I rushed for a cab to get to the hotel in time for our welcome reception. There, I immediately ran into several familiar faces from my time at Sims Camp the year before including my friends from SF Magazine, Sims VIP, and Sim Supply. I dropped off my suitcase, then made my way to the reception in the lobby where I met even more friends from the year before, friends I had made online in the Sims community over the years, and new friends. I even met the legendary SimGuruHydra, the wonderful, supportive force behind so many in the Sims creative community including the magazine I work on, SF Magazine. Drinks, hors d'oevres, and plumbob-shaped cake pops awaited us on the terrace as all of the invitees convened for catching up, meeting, and getting to know each other before the big week. Sara De Moor surprised me with a box of Belgian chocolates, so I figured my diet could always start afterwards. Ruthless_KK treated me to a shot glass wrapped in the colors of the Texas flag that said, "Don't Mess with Texas." Minraed from Simatography gave me a very thoughtful card and a magnet for the Sims International Film Festival (SIFF). And Daniel from SimFans.de gave me a … oh wait, he actually didn't give me anything. Not to worry, I didn't expect the gift exchange and came empty-handed myself. 

Photo courtesy of MM from The Sim Series

Photo courtesy of MM from The Sim Series

Belgian chocolates from Sara De Moor, a "Don't Mess With Texas" shot glass from Ruthless_KK, and a thoughtful card and SIFF magnet from Minraed

After stuffing our faces, many of those who had never visited San Francisco before left for an excursion to see the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. I had seen all of that before, so I stayed behind and went with some friends to the nearby supermarket to pick up some refreshments for the week. It was a fun time to catch up with friends. With many of us jet-lagged, we went to bed early that night so we could wake up early the next morning for the first day of Creators Camp.

All of us met in the hotel lobby that morning where we took a group photo and SimGuruHydra led us on our way to the EA Studio. EA was just a short walk away, and I marveled at what a paradise it was for whoever was lucky enough to work there. Video screens, large action figures, and a huge green-glowing plumbob were on display in the lobby. When the CEO of EA strolled by in jeans and an oxford shirt, unnoticed by all but me, I knew this was a casual and laid back place to work. Working our way through the campus, we made our way past displays of concept art, more larger-than-life action figures, a Starbucks, office windows with plumbobs and mischievous garden gnomes, a large lawn, gym, and cafeteria. There was even a garden where staff could grow their own vegetables. Our home for the next week was in the gym, decked out with dining tables with green table cloths, a large breakfast buffet, huge screen and platform for our speakers, a step-and-repeat photo backdrop like you might see at a movie premiere, and numerous computer terminals where we would get our hands-on experience with the game.

Rachybop

James from Sim Supply

Chrillsims

Photo courtesy of MM from The Sim Series

I see a plumbob and garden gnomes.

 

SimGuruRiley, one of the animators for The Sims 4, could not contain her excitement and gave us the most heartfelt welcome. Meeting her gave us a glimpse of what an enthusiastic team there was behind the game. And every person from the team that spoke with us and met with us afterwards during the week proved just the same. Every single person I met on the team was truly passionate about making the game the best possible experience for all of us. They would continuously check in with us to see what we thought, good and bad, about the game. There were feedback forms and even a feedback session at the end of the week. And many of the team members spent their evenings with us, too, sharing stories and laughs over dinner. We had several masterclasses including Create A Sim with Jill Johnson (SimGuruJill), Building with Aaron Houts (SimGuruHouts) and John Berges (SimGuruJohn), Animation with Marion Gothier (SimGuruMarion), Modding with Darren Gyles and Lyndsay Pearson (SimGuruLyndsay), Screenshot and Video Capture with Todd Stallkamp and Jonathan Richardson, and How to Toy with a Sims's Emotions with Grant Rodiek (SimGuruGrant). 

Aaron Houts and John Berges 

Rosie from The Sims Network with Rachel Franklin

Lyndsay Pearson

Somehow, I made it onto a local news program featuring Creators Camp and other attendees! I cringe to hear my voice, but check it out if you so desire: A look at The Sims 4 through shared content creation.

Photo courtesy of Luana Tavares

After the first day of Creators Camp, we were treated to delicious grilled cheese varieties with Sims-inspired names. More great dinner gatherings followed throughout the week including a trip to a local Tex-Mex restaurant and bingo night on the EA Campus. The bingo games came with fun Sims prizes like plumbob headbands, vintage games and paraphernalia, and a juice pong set. 

I'll have the Plumbob.

Photo courtesy of MM from The Sim Series

I didn't want the week to end. I remember watching the clock as I scrambled to finish my mammoth mansion project. I could have stayed there all night. And it was tough to say goodbye to longtime and new friends. Some of us even shed a few tears. That's how much the week and the entire experience meant to us. I will always treasure the memories from the week and being able to spend time with so many creators and artists who continually inspire and teach me. Many thanks to EA and the Maxis team for making the week possible. It meant the world to me.

Me with Ange from Simsoucis. Photo courtesy of Simsoucis

Other Participants:

Sim Supply (Australia)

Sara De Moor (Belgium)

The Sim Series (Brazil)

Simatography (Canada)

Dark Funeral (France)

Garry's School (France)

L'UniversSims (France)

Lesime (France)

Sims Artists (France)

Sim Cookie (France)

Simsoucis (France)

Gronkh (Germany)

SimFans.de (Germany)

The Sims Times (Germany)

Babylonia (Korea)

Salamul Heyo (Korea)

Sims Network (Netherlands)

Sasha Spilberg (Russia)

Pekesims (Spain)

ChrillSims3 (Sweden)

EnglishSimmer (United Kingdom)

Rachybop (United Kingdom)

The Sims Resource (United Kingdom)

Ehaught58 (United States)

Pinstar/The Sims Legacy Challenge (United States)

Ruthless_KK (United States)

SF Magazine (United States)

Sims VIP (United States)

Pelican Point

Hi everyone! My latest project, Pelican Point, is another build that I've been working on for a few years. This is a Hamptons-style luxury home with four bedrooms, five bathrooms, and attached two-car garage. It also features a five-star chef refrigerator, upgraded appliances, mature garden with perfect harvestables, complete ancient Chinese vase collection, gym, large recreation room, and stocked cellar with lots of amazing nectar varieties (named after New England orchards and other locations). There are a plenty of other treats as well, like the resident rare bird, Hamilton Hedgefund, IV. I had a lot of fun playing with this house and adding to it over the years. It's actually the home base where my Showtime family of magicians, acrobats, and singers lived in Starlight Shores, but it perhaps looks more fitting on the hilltop overlooking the ocean in Sunset Valley. The house was renovated by my friend Freddie at TSR for a custom content feature in the latest issue of SF Magazine ([url]http://issuu.com/sf_magazine/docs/sf_magazine_issue_24[/url]). However, the lot I have uploaded to the Exchange is the original version of the house with no custom content.

Download link: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=8097614

Video tour:

Exterior:

Interior:

Thank you for checking out my lot, perhaps my last one before The Sims 4 since I seem to take soooo long to finish these houses nowadays! I really appreciate all of the support and friendships I've made in the Simming community over the past few years. I've learned so much from creators, and I'm continually inspired by the creativity and talent in this community.

Spread the word

Spread the word and wear a camouflage ribbon! Today. Every day. Maybe together, with one voice, one song sung in unison, we can make our future brighter, more colorful, and easier to blend in with the surrounding foliage.

Build Mode Masterclass for The Sims 4

Summary of Build Mode in Sims 4 (will update as I remember more)

-Presented by Aaron Houts, director of Build mode and a genuinely all-around nice guy with true passion to make this the best possible experience for Sim fans and builders. He is an avid builder, himself, so he has a vested interest in making this tool as perfect as possible.
-Goal was to make build mode more accessible to players of all skill levels as before it was a part of the game that was felt to be too intimidating and not explored by many players
-Many features asked about were not commented on or are not part of the base game, and it was emphasized numerous times that their goal right now is to create a solid, intuitive, functional, approachable, and tactile base game. Once that is complete, additive features can be considered. A producer later explained to me that building the base game is the most complicated, time-consuming, and critical component when making a new game from the ground-up. The expansion packs and other off-shoots of the game will be simple by comparison.

-Building a home is as a simple as placing different room shapes anywhere on the lot and resizing the room as you see fit. You can also create rooms by building walls tile by tile (once they connect, they will create a room)

-Can move rooms, even between different floors, but moving the entire house on the lot currently not possible (have to move room by room)--may change with final game
-Three different wall heights with different doorways and windows that can be used for those wall heights
-Friezes can be applied to the taller wall heights
-Three floor levels maximum currently but may change
-Rooms may be moved anywhere on the lot, even to different floors
-Foundation may be applied after house built
-Different foundation heights
-Stairs automatically adjust to different foundation levels and wall heights
-Round fences available but round walls currently not a feature
-Windows can be applied in groups evenly spaced along the walls or individually
-CFE and MOO cheats (or any cheats) not commented on
-Able to move objects off grid and 45 degree rotation axis as usual with ALT key
-Able to apply roof trims along edge of roof
-Can manipulate roof shape in many ways to give it different curvature, height, width
-Chimneys and fireplaces not commented on
-Spandrels ("fencing" along the roof)
-Currently cannot paint ceiling
-Catalog of textures, patterns, and colors for walls and floors like Sims 3 grouped similarly (wood, brick, masonry, etc.)

-Catalogs can be filtered by colors or groups of colors
-Certain textures appear to have a reflective/shiny quality, but this was not elaborated on when asked
-No Create A Style currently for furniture/decor items
-Room decor set up by catalog-like sections where you can buy the entire room or individual objects from the room
-Again, decor has a limited set of color choices with no Create A Style at this time
-Can mix and match items from different catalog sections. They're just there to help builders know what looks good together.
-Lighting illuminates floors above and below if no obstructing floor tiles between them
-No comment on different light colors (e.g. flame, white, etc.)
-No need for support underneath upper levels. Can build rooms as far out above the ground as you want.
-Landscaping not commented on, but we saw different plants and trees you could use
-No comment on water like ponds or pools
-Environmental effects like trees swaying in the breeze and sunbeams casting down into the neighborhood
-Neighborhood inspired by Garden District in New Orleans
-Certain objects can affect Sim emotions--currently mostly pieces of art
-Painting is a way a Sim can decorate their home, but no comment was made on other types of art Sims might create such as photography or sculpture
-Buydebug menu and fog emitters not commented on
-Columns snap into fencing in appropriate places on decks
-Again, curved fencing allows for curved decks
-No diagonal or L-shaped stairs
-Mirrors reflect entire scene in the background for improved realism (no boxed out portions of the environment in the reflection)

-Paintings can be shifted up and down on the walls as in the Sims 3

-I believe he said mirrors could be shifted as well but only functional at certain heights? (still finalizing this when asked again)

-Shifting windows and curtains not commented on

-Adapting/adjusting curtains and window treatments to particular windows not commented on
-No comment on split levels
-Currently not able to cut away portions of the foundation--it is universal for the home
-No comment on attached garages
-No comment on basements
-No comment on Sims Store or Exchange

-No comment on unlockable content

-No comment on application of textures or colors to floor edges

-No weather or seasons with base game
-No comment on whether plants will need upkeep/maintenance by Sim or gardener

-Roof elements like ventilation systems and air ducts shown in pictures