Get into the Halloween spirit in The Sims 4 with the newly announced Spooky Stuff pack! Let’s scare up some fun when it releases next week on September 29th.
The pack features two new gameplay objects. Reach for a treat in the Spooky Candy Bowl for a spooktacular surprise. Create all manner of jack-o’-lantern with the Pumpkin Carving Station. And what would Halloween be without ghosts? Slip a pumpkin on their head and haunt the neighborhood!
Dress up in a pirate, witch, fairy, ninja, or even a llama superhero costume for the new Spooky Party social event. Dust off those old Deluxe Edition costumes for even more fun. Transform your home into a haunted house with ghastly decor, like pumpkins, spiderwebs, tombstones, and unsettling paintings. Lastly, serve up three new ghoulish delights, including an Eyeball Cheese Plate, Zombie Cake, and Spooky Cookies. Try asking your guests for treats with a new social interaction, but watch out for tricks!
The Sims 4 is getting a brand new world for players to fill! Arriving in a free update on June 11th, Newcrest is a totally empty world consisting of three neighborhoods.
Each neighborhood includes five lots of various sizes, perfect for any Sim homes or venues you couldn’t fit in the preexisting worlds.
Hey Simmers! Today we’re taking a look at setting up a Bakery in The Sims 4: Get To Work!
Bakeries, unlike other retail spaces, require a kitchen, equipped with a counter top, stove, and fridge. Certainly, Sims with cooking and baking skills are also required. It doesn’t really matter which of the two skills they have, as long as they can efficiently cook a meal.
After setting up the general layout of the store, have your Sim bake a meal and place it on the counter. Click on it once, and select the “Set For Sale” button to allow customers to purchase the item once the store has opened.
Next you’ll need to place the “Baker’s Cousin Display Case” in the main dining area, and drag your baked goods onto its shelves. This shelf greatly extends the time-frame until the food expires, sometimes making it last a week or more!
Though optional, another object you can place in your bakery is the “Lice Cold Retail Freezer.” This allows customers to quickly purchase your baked goods without having to go through the checkout process. However, there’s one little caveat, which we’ll talk about a bit in an upcoming section.
Opening Up Shop
Once you’ve finished placing your Baked Goods on display, you can open up your store in one of two ways. You may click either on the Cash Register object or the Retail Store Icon at the lower right corner of the screen. From here click the “Open Shop” button and wait for the customers to come strolling in.
Shop and Employee Management
When a customer is ready to purchase an item, a shopping cart icon will pulsate overhead. Click on the customer and select “Ring up Customer” to complete the transaction. After a customer completes the transaction, it’s very likely for the display case to become dirty. In addition, if you take too long to fulfill a Sim’s order, they’ll get angry, and stomp out of the store. That’s why it’s imperative to have one Sim focus on sales, while the others focus on cleaning and restocking.
Now you may think that hiring employees might be the best way to fulfill those tasks, but there’s one major problem. Bakeries aren’t very profitable. An employee, even at the starting salary, can take a huge drain on the store’s profits. Obviously you can get around this with cheating, but if you’re trying to play fairly, you may find your employees too expensive and incompetent to efficiently help with the store.
If you do hire an employee, keep in mind that you need to dismiss them after about 9 hours, or else they’ll start complaining. After working for a few days they’ll ask for a raise. Even the prospect of giving the Sim a raise, will most likely put your Bakery further in the red. It’s best to just fire them when you’re starting out, and use family members in their place.
Item restocking can place a further dent to your profits. While the store is closed, use the price markup feature in the “Retail Shop” menu to sell your baked goods at a higher price.
If you plan to sell items from the Lice Cold Freezer, keep in mind that you will not be able to restock them after the purchase is complete. This means you must cook the item from scratch each time an item is purchased from the freezer.
Other Baking Devices
The Whipped Dream Cupcake Factory allows Bakers to create cupcakes, donuts, tarts, and muffins. The higher the cooking skill, the more kinds of cupcakes you can create. As the Sim reaches Baking skill level 3, they’ll gain a new interaction to decorate their treats for an even sweeter presentation.
The Cupcake Factory will occasionally require cleaning and restocking. In addition, it appears to have a “failure” condition, releasing confections at an “Okay” quality. This seems to happen more often if a treat requires a particular ingredient, like apples, or bananas.
Baking Skill Level
Here are the list of items you can create with each Baking Skill level.
Level 3: (Decorate Cookies Cakes Cupcakes to Improve quality)
We’ve just one week before the big launch of The Sims 4’s first expansion pack on March 31st! You can check out all our previous coverage for an overview of what to expect in Get to Work.
I’ve got my copy ordered, and we’ll be featuring additional details about all the new careers and fashions following its release.
The Sims 4: Get to Work expansion pack introduces a new neighborhood called Magnolia Promenade, a prime location for setting up retail lots. As a business owner, your Sim can build a store and sell any items from the buy catalog, as well as items they’ve collected or crafted. Sims can run more specialized stores, such as a boutique, bakery, and photography studio.
At a boutique, your Sim can set up mannequins with fashions you’d like to sell. With enough customers, you can set a clothing trend.
Put that new bakery skill to the test and sell scrumptious confections to hungry Sims. You’ll want to build a kitchen somewhere in the bakery. Perhaps in the basement? That’s right, basements are arriving in a free update for the base game in late March!
Sims can take up photography and create their own studio. Here you can snap photos of Sims against a selection of backdrops and in different poses. The size and orientation of a photo can be adjusted, and various filters can be applied.
To really bring in the big bucks, your Sim is going to need some help. Up to three employees can be hired, each with their own set of skill levels. After customizing their uniform, they can start making your Sim rich. With a successful business comes perk points, which can be used to upgrade your Sim’s business savvy.
Be sure to check out our other Get to Work articles for details on active careers!
As a scientist, your Sim will spend their day working at the science lab. Here they’ll perform experiments, gather materials, build inventions, and discover new ideas. Some of those old collectibles your Sims have amassed can now be used to create serums.
Serums can be used on your Sim or given to others, causing effects such as becoming a ghost, altering their body shape, evoking certain emotions, and lowered needs. Amidst their day of work, the scientist can experience a “eureka moment,” indicated by a light bulb above their head. This unlocks new invention ideas at the invention constructor, including a Sim ray and a cloning machine!
The life of a detective is centered around the police station, wherein your Sim will be tasked with taking on cases. With the help of other officers and a bit of investigating, you’ll solve it in no time!
The first stop is the crime map, which will give your Sim a basic understanding of the case. They’ll need to gather evidence if they have any hope of solving it, so it’s off to the crime scene. Detectives can ping the ground, revealing nearby clues to investigate. Photographing evidence, dusting for prints, and interviewing witnesses are crucial for the success of the investigation.
Back at the station, Sims can do a bit of forensics work to further examine the gathered evidence. The detective should now be able to identify and detain a suspect. After processing, the suspect can be called over to the interrogation table. Figuring out the right technique will cause the suspect to spill the beans. Case closed!
A look at some of the hats available in Get to Work.
The Sims 4: Get To Work is a new expansion pack expected to release in April 2015. This expansion features three “Active Careers” allowing you to see the day to day interactions of your Sim at work!
As a doctor, your Sim will be spending their time at the hospital diagnosing and treating their patients. This starts off with a proper diagnosis through examining the patient from head to toe. Ailing Sims can display a variety of symptoms, from sneezing and coughing, to strange markings across the skin. As your Sim advances through the career, they’ll unlock interactions, object rewards, and be given more options to accurately diagnose a patient.
Doctors will be given unique interactions, allowing them to give medical advice, go on house calls, and check whether pregnant Sims will have a girl or boy. They can even unlock a new romance interaction where they brush their hands across the side of a cheek.
The trailer gave us a peek at new hairstyles included in the expansion!
As the expansion pack reaches towards the release date, we hope to bring you even more information about the other “active careers,” but until then…see you soon!
Your Sims can live out their dream careers by heading to work in the new Expansion Pack. This pack introduces three career opportunities, allowing your Sim to become a Doctor, Scientist, or Detective. Alternatively, if you’re in the entrepreneurial spirit, you can open up your own business and manage its day to day operations.
The Sims 4: Get to Work releases April 2015 for $39.99!
The Careers
Your Sims can take active employment in these careers.
Doctors work at the hospital, treating patients, saving lives, performing surgery, and even delivering babies.
Detectives will make their triumphant return, as they investigate scenes, interrogate Sims, and arrest criminals. You’ll start out as a Cadet and can rise through the ranks to become the Chief of Police.
Scientists can create zany inventions, but will they use their inventions for good or evil?
Open a Retail Business
Perhaps your Sim is itching to run a successful business. Use your retail space to run businesses like bakeries, clothing boutiques, bookstores, art galleries, and more! Customize your store in Build Mode, then choose the items you’d like to sell. You can manage your employees, and schmooze with your customers to get that final sale!
Career Venues
Sims will have new career venues to travel to, like the Hospital, Police Station, and Science Lab. They can even head down to the Retail District and take an active role in managing their business.
New Skills
Sims can use new skills to create even more unique objects. They can show off their creations at home or sell them for some extra cash! Build up the baking skill to entice customers with fancy confections, or catch the perfect scene with the new photography skill.
On our final note, we’d like to announce that Aliens are officially returning. Let’s discover what’s out of this world, when “The Sims 4: Get To Work” expansion pack drops in April 2015!
Tomorrow marks the release day of the full Outdoor Retreat trailer. This time we got a look at the new horseshoes activity and some of the new build mode objects included in the pack. Sims can end a romantic night of sitting by the campfire and gazing at the stars with a little woohoo in their tent.
We’ll be breaking down all of the game pack’s content in our overview after its release this week.
