Sims 4: Secret Sylvan Glade Lot in Willow Creek

Sims 4 Sylvan Glade 2

The world of Willow Creek holds a secret. Through a series of interactions you can gain entrance to the Sylvan Glade lot!

Sims 4 Sylvan Tree 2

Next to the Crick Cabana lot you may notice a large, strange tree unlike any other in the game. Clicking on it gives you an option to view it. Continually interacting with the tree will unlock additional options. Eventually an entryway will appear on one side of the tree. Choosing the explore option will begin your Sim’s Tree Adventure.

Sims 4 Sylvan Tree

Now you are faced with a small puzzle of sorts in which you must correctly choose the correct options in order to continue.

(1) Follow the Sound

(2) Follow Downstream

(3) Enter the Mist

(4) Travel to Glade

After a loading screen your Sim is transported to Sylvan Glade! Here you’ll find various ingredients, collectibles, and a fishing spot. You may return at any time through the tree.

Sims 4 Let’s Play – Day 5: Launch Day Broadcast

Today’s Sims 4 stream was broadcasted live from the production pit at Maxis and hosted by Sim gurus Ryan Vaughn, Grant Rodiek, and Antonio Romeo. Various members of the Sims 4 team also made appearances.

Familiar faces Andre DaSilva and Babs L’amour were joined by new Sims Tracey Hills and Albert Peterson in their Willow Springs home.

Sims 4 Woodworking and Science Tables

The gurus empty a room of the house and plan to fill it with crafted furniture. Babs begins crafting an end table at the woodworking table, making use of the handiness skill. Albert is building his mental skill at the science table. In addition to unlocking new science table potions and computer and social interactions, the mental skill will make the logic skill easier to obtain once a child ages. After completing the end table, Babs begins working on a Large Bear Sculpture.

 

Sims 4 Weeding and Feeding

Andre heads outside to weed the tomato bush while Tracey feeds the Cowplant. At level 8 of the gardening skill, a Sim can graft two plants together to create a plant that grows both types of produce.

 

Sims 4 Focused

Andre is in the focused emotional state, so now is a good opportunity to work on his programming skill at the newly purchased computer. Being focused enhances the rate at which he can learn the skill, evidenced by the purple outline around the skill progress bar and the purple background of the interaction in the queue. Andre has the genius trait, so he becomes focused more often.

 

Sims 4 Andre Gym Rat and Shameless

He has plenty of satisfaction points, so the gurus open the Rewards Store to redeem a couple new traits for him. “Beard guru” Argus Hulin stops by and chooses the Gym Rat trait, and Grant picks the Shameless trait. Gym rats don’t lose hygiene and have fun while working out. Shameless Sims won’t become embarrassed.

 

Sims 4 No One Home

After a short load, the household heads across the street to visit another house in the neighborhood. It turns out that no one lives here, however, so they head over to a trailer house in Oasis Springs. This was a bust, as no one is currently home. The shameless Andre tries to chat up some local ladies. Tracy goes fishing and catches a chest containing an apple.

 

Sims 4 Nightclub Bar

They nearly visit the Rattlesnake Juice Bar for the third time, but Andre and Babs instead head to The Blue Velvet Nightclub. It’s not as lively as they’d hoped. Andre tends to the bar, and it appears that Pancake Bob works here.

 

Sims 4 Voodoo, Sculpture, and Pruning

After returning home, Babs picks up a voodoo doll and binds it to the unsuspecting Andre. A lumberjack sculpture is placed out of her inventory. Sculptures and paintings your Sims make can produce emotional auras that affect nearby Sims. She performs voodoo and forces Andre to frolic around the house. Poking the doll backfires, giving her an uncomfortable moodlet. Poking it again is successful, and Andre receives an angry moodlet. Andre can prune a nearby bonsai tree into various shapes. He is feeling inspired, so he has a special inspired shape choice.

 

Sims 4 Pyramid and Spaceship

The gurus rock the Landgraab family’s world by bulldozing their home and placing lots made to look like a pyramid, a spaceship, a floating house, and a castle. The castle is an incredible creation with fully furnished rooms and a lovely garden. Fences were used around the rooftops to emulate crenels.

Sims 4 Leonardo Bogeyman Fight

From the Gallery they add a Sim modeled after Leonardo DiCaprio, an unfortunate creature called “The Bogeyman,” and one unibrowed fellow. Leonardo and The Bogeyman duel atop a tower, with the blue monster coming out victorious. Two more individuals rocking unibrows were added, and the Full House achievement was unlocked by having 8 (the maximum) Sims in the household.

 

Sims 4 Hungry Games

The Hungry Games lot from the Gamescom presentation made its return. This time the Sims actually got to try it out. All six present Sims were instructed to the middle of the maze. Nancy Landgraab won the race, with Leonardo and The Bogeyman far behind the pack and in need of a bathroom break and a nap. The bathroom and bedroom are all the way on the other side of the maze.

Sims 4 Leonardo Passes Out

The two waddle through the winding walkways and past shooting fountains. The Bogeyman is right outside the bathroom, but his bladder gets the best of him. Leonardo gets just as far before having to pass out. With no room in the narrow maze, he must slowly walk all the way outside and drops to the ground. Shortly afterwards he is awoken by his bladder…

To see all the entertaining interactions between the Sims 4 team, be sure to watch the stream!

The Sims 4: Live Demo at PAX Prime 2014

Lyndsay Pearson (Senior Producer of The Sims 4) and PAX Prime’s Joseph Alminawi aka Swiftor presented a live demonstration of The Sims 4 on the PAX Prime 2014 Twitch channel yesterday.

Sims 4 Penny Arcade Household

In their Sims household they have Angel, Robyn, Jax, and two Sims modeled after Penny Arcade’s Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Jerry is actually watching a gaming livestream on his tablet, which increases his video gaming skill. Mike is sent on a Zero G Workout into space using the rocket ship in the backyard. Jax is able to listen to the space launch from the computer.

Sims 4 Eating, Drinking, Talking

The ladies demonstrate multitasking by watching television, eating, and having a conversation at the same time. Meanwhile, Jerry is participating in a novice Blicblock tournament using the motion gaming rig.

Sims 4 Styled Bedroom

A Sim modeled after Swiftor is added to the household from the My Library tab of the Gallery. He’s going to need a place to sleep, so a bedroom is added from the Styled Rooms section in Build Mode and placed at the front of the house. Any conflicting objects are highlighted in yellow and automatically sold when the room is placed. After decorating the outside of the room, the Sims head to the Burners & Builders Gym in Oasis Springs.

Sims 4 Treadmill andTelevision

Swiftor is new to the fitness skill, so he’s struggling a bit with the punching bag. Mike can push the limits when using one of the machines because of his workout earlier. Moving on to the treadmill, Swiftor and Jax can also watch television. If they were to watch the cooking channel, they could learn two skills simultaneously. Robyn has the loner trait, so being around so many people at the gym makes her tense. Loner Sims have less trouble keeping friendships over time, however, and can receive positive moodlets from being around their friends.

Sims 4 Drink in Face

While doing a bit of “simwatching,” Lyndsay notices two women having a conversation over burgers across the street. She sends Swiftor dashing over to one of them and gives her a rude introduction. The two argue, and he throws a drink in her face. Despite being the instigator, he ends up being the one in the angry emotional state.

Sims 4 Caterer

The household heads home and plans a house party. In addition to the hosts and guests, the Sims can hire an entertainer, caterer, and mixologist. Jerry is hungry and that slice of cake hanging from the Cowplant’s mouth is looking pretty tempting. Reaching for it, he is swallowed up and spit back out by the plant. The caterer has just finished baking a real cake, and proceeds to place it on the floor for the party guests.

Sims 4 Inspired Painting

Jax is feeling inspired and begins painting. Sims can paint their emotion while in certain emotional states. When placed in a house, these paintings can affect the emotions of Sims in the room. Lyndsay mentioned that this can be turned off.

Additional Notes:

The little clouds above a Sim’s portrait contain whims, which serve as temporary goals that your Sim can achieve. These are very much like wants in The Sims 2 and wishes in The Sims 3. There is always one whim based on a Sim’s current emotion. Completing whims can improve a Sim’s mood and gives your Sim satisfaction points that can be used in the Rewards Store.

Clicking on an icon in the Needs panel will automatically queue an action to fulfill that need.

Sims 4 Let’s Play – Day 4: Race to the Death!

We’re on day four of The Sims 4 official Twitch livestreams. Today’s echo-filled stream was hosted by Sim gurus Azure Bowie-Hankins and Antonio Romeo. The first four minutes can be viewed here. They had audio issues that persisted for a short while into the next video, so do beware of the possibly painful echoing.

The stream picked up right where the last left off, with the Goth family and a pregnant Bella. From the Inventory panel, a Cowplant Berry is dragged onto the ground. Cassandra is then instructed to plant it. The Cowplant needs to be routinely watered and weeded until it grows into its final stage.

Sims 4 Baby Cowplant

 

Bella is in her second trimester of pregnancy. The first two trimesters last about 24 hours each, meaning that pregnant Sims will give birth within three or four days. The gurus go into the Gallery to add a Sim. Not realizing that they are under the Maxis category, they are unable to find any Sims under the #ts4lb hashtag.

Sims 4 Homework

Cassandra is outside doing her homework. According to Azure, homework can be done in multiple ways, such as reading the book or writing in it. The focused emotional state she is in allows her to more quickly complete her homework. Meanwhile, Mortimer is inside helping Alexander with his homework.

 

Once again they enter the Gallery. Lina and Kim Cart are added from the Maxis category. This category consists of uploaded creations favorited by Maxis. Viewers want to see a Sim die, so the gurus try and push Kim’s emotions to the extreme. Azure attempts to have him fail a romantic interaction with Lina to put him in the embarrassed emotional state. Lina, however, has the romantic trait, making her more likely to react positively to flirting. He tries a pick-up line on Bella. The happily married woman isn’t having any of it, and he receives the awkward encounter moodlet. He takes a bubble bath in his clothes, sinking his head under the water from embarrassment. The bubble bath puts him in the playful emotional state.

 

Sims 4 Playful Goth Meal

After one failed attempt at killing Kim, the gurus set their eyes on Mortimer. He is feeling very playful, so they have his family tell him jokes and use playful interactions to try and make him die from laughter. Viewers want to see someone go to work, however, so after a family meal at 2:00 AM they give up and send him to bed. Dishes can be dragged and dropped into a trash can or sink to dispose of them, aside from having a Sim perform the task. One particular trash can actually gives Simoleons when used.

 

Sims 4 Kim and Broccoli Embarrassed

After some secret guru whispering, Broccoli Brócolis is successfully added from the Gallery using the #ts4lb hashtag. The gurus try their luck at killing Kim from embarrassment again by having him flirt with the new Sim. To put Sims in the flirty emotional state and have more successful romantic interactions, they can watch the romance channel, primp in the mirror, eat flirty cookies, or take a steamy shower.

 

Sims 4 Performance and Chance Card

It is almost time for Bella and Mortimer to head to work, and for the kids to go to school. In addition to goals, Sims also have daily tasks that they can complete to improve their work or school performance. Careers and school also have an ideal mood for your Sim to attend in. As a writer, Mortimer should attend work in the inspired emotional state and has a daily task of reading books. While at school, Alexander encounters a chance card!  Their choice nets him a small boost to his performance.

 

Sims 4 Sprinkler Utility Panel

Broccoli walks in on Kim taking a shower and they both become very embarrassed. The maid arrives and begins cleaning up the house. She isn’t wearing the typical French maid uniform of past Sims games. Causing an emotional death proves to be too much of a challenge for the gurus, so they instead decide to play with fire. The Goth’s expensive stove is replaced with the cheapest available. Outside of the house is a utility panel for activating a house’s sprinkler system. It detects when a fire is present and activates sprinklers that will extinguish it. After removing that, they send Kim to the kitchen to cook some mac and cheese.

With the combination of his poor mood, the cheap stove, and his lack of cooking skill, a fire begins. During a fire, Sims will flee outside of the house for safety. Kim must die, however, so they force him back inside to stand by the fire. The fire spreads, setting him ablaze. Kim eventually perishes, prompting Azure to sing a tune. The Grim Reaper arrives and examines his tablet, giving players plenty of time to plea for the life of their fallen Sim. Kim’s charred corpse is replaced by an urn. Broccoli takes the opportunity to get to know the reaper at the kitchen table over Kim’s remains.

 

Sims 4 Bella Promotion

Bella has returned from work and has earned a promotion! From the Notification Wall they see that she is now an Agent Handler, unlocking the Tranquilizing Handshake social interaction and the Reconnaissance Workstation object as a bonus.

 

Now in her third trimester, Bella is ready to pop. She goes into a two hour long labor the following day. While taking a bath, a baby carriage appears next to her. It’s a boy! After a quick spin, baby Ollie appears!

   Sims 4 Introvert & All Nighter Achievements

During the stream. the gurus earned two achievements. The All Nighter achievement was unlocked by having a Sim stay awake for 24 hours. Having a Sim perform no social interactions for 24 hours granted them the Introvert achievement.

Sims 4 Let’s Play – Day 3: Parties and Pregnancy

We’re back with day three of our continued recaps of The Sims 4’s Twitch livestreams. Today’s playthrough was hosted by Sim gurus Matt Yang and Shannon Copur.

Sisters Sarah and Rebecca Hudson were downloaded from the Gallery and are looking to throw a party at their new house. From the cell phone menu they pull up the map and travel to the Rattlesnake Juice Bar. At the bar they meet some potential party guests. A social group was automatically formed with the other Sims at the bar,  indicated by clear plumbobs over their heads.

They headed over to The Future’s Past Museum with a couple of their newfound acquaintances to look for intellectual guests. Rebecca strikes up a conversation with another Sim in the midst of painting. Shifting the focus to Sarah, they notice Ryan Vaugh from yesterday’s stream sashaying down the sidewalk.

 

Sims 4 Social Event

Back at home. they schedule their party from the social event menu. They could throw a House Party, Dinner Party, Birthday Party, or a Wedding. You can earn medals and rewards from completing goals by hosting a Prestige Event. These events have one main goal and various lesser goals. Completing goals gradually fills up a progress meter, and a timer indicates when the party will end. After choosing their event, they had to select at least one host (up to 8) and two guests (up to 15). The sisters automatically changed into their party outfits and the invited guests began arriving.

 

Sims 4 Sarah & Nelson Flirting

Viewers wanted to see some romance and a Sim use a pregnancy test, so from here on the stream shifted into a mission for woohoo. Rebecca becomes friendly with party guest Tylor Moore, but her flirtation doesn’t go over well.  Matt adds a new Sim named Nelson Tarso to the household from the Gallery for Sarah to try her luck with. The two hit it off at first, but Nelson becomes embarrassed and thing go downhill from there. The gurus resort to adding a married couple from the Gallery. It’s going well, but they need a good night’s rest and viewers wanted to see the Goth family.

 

Sims 4 Goth Woohoo

Over at the Goth residence, the gurus put Bella and Mortimer to work. After a bit of flirtation and making out on the couch, they head up to the bedroom for some woohoo while Matt and Shannon avert their eyes.  Bella now has the option of taking a pregnancy test when interacting with a toilet.

Sims 4 Pregnancy Test Bella
Bella is pregnant!

Mortimer and Bella spend some quality time with the children. Bella announces her pregnancy to the excited family. Cassandra gives her father fake bad news and learns the Mischief skill, allowing her to use additional mischievous social interactions. Opening the career panel reveals that Bella is in the secret agent track, and Mortimer is a writer. Mortimer breaks the downstairs toilet and can’t seem to use the upstairs toilet, so he ends up soiling the carpet. A child themed Styled Room is added to the rear of the house, and interactions with two toys are demonstrated with Alexander.

Sims 4 Let’s Play – Day 2: Good vs Evil Sims in Live Mode

The official Sims Twitch channel held their second livestream session of The Sims 4 today. This time we were walked through a bit of Live Mode gameplay by Sim gurus Ryan Vaughn and Argus Hulin, who were joined by a cutout of Cassidy Purdue.

The Mordecai Malakai brothers are identical twins. One of these brothers, however, is evil. At the computer, Bad Malakai pulls up the career menu. The career list includes Writer, Criminal, Culinary, Astronaut, Painter, Secret Agent, Entertainer. and Tech Guru.

The Sims 4 Career List

Each branch off into one of two career paths at some level. The criminal career, for example, has a Boss Branch and Oracle Branch. After joining a career, a Sim’s work schedule, performance level, and the goals you can complete to help raise that level can be viewed from the Career panel. If your Sim doesn’t have a career, a button will appear in the panel for joining one. Bad Malakai can do a bit of hacking with six targets to choose from. Most notably is the work performance option.

 

The Sims 4 Change Aspirations

On the Aspiration panel you can view your Sim’s current aspiration and their progress towards completing it. At any time you can actually change your Sim’s aspiration without losing their progress, and you can complete as many as you want on a single Sim.

 

The Sims 4 Relationships Panel

From the Gallery, Argus plops down a house made by a Creator Camp attendee. Bad Malakai’s evil trait and Good Malakai’s good trait clash, causing them to develop the Good vs Evil moodlet when in close proximity to each other. With the angry emotional state this put him in, Bad Malakai performs Enraged Reps on a workout machine. In the Relationships panel you can see that the brothers despise each other and are nemeses. Being an Elder Sim makes Bad Malakai susceptible to the Dangerously Tired moodlet when performing strenuous activities. Continuing such activities in this state could actually prove fatal.

 

The Sims 4 Cooking Menu

Good Malakai heads to the kitchen to cook up some grilled cheese on the stove. Meals come in three sizes, including single serving, family size, and party size. At the top of the cooking menu there is a checkbox for using fresh ingredients. Despite his lack of cooking skill and flipping it outside of the pan a couple times, the meal was of good quality. Hovering over the meal also displays a timer indicating when it will become spoiled.

 

The SIms 4 Willow Creek Map

After a good meal, it’s time for the brothers to head out on the town. From the map they are able to switch over to Oasis Springs and visit the Rattlesnake Juice Bar. Bad Malakai is still uncomfortable from working out, and it can be seen in his walk style. The brothers find themselves in the company of Katrina Caliente, who shows a fine display of multitasking by holding and drinking two glasses of juice at the same time.

Mortimer Goth arrives on the scene, and Bad Malakai wastes no time trying to get on his bad side. Being mean to Mortimer brought him one step closer to completing his aspiration. The two end up in a bar brawl, with Bad Malakai coming out the victor. This puts him in a confident emotional state and allows him to show off his muscles to his defeated foe.

 

The Sims 4 Rewards Store

In the aspiration panel you can access the Rewards Store. From here you purchase special items and traits for your Sims with their Satisfaction Points, which are earned by completing aspirations.

 

The Sims 4 Dina Caliente

Now it’s time to throw another Sim into the mix. In the Gallery they search for Sims with the #ts4lb hashtag. Scrolling down the list, an awfully familiar looking Sim named Ryan Vaugh catches their attention. Just like that he’s added to the household. He struts into the bar and begins telling jokes, accompanied by Dina Caliente.

 

The Sims 4 Embarrassed

The guys travel to the Desert Bloom Park with Katrina for a change of scenery. Good Malakai and Bryan are in a playful emotional state from joking around at the bar. At the park they spot Malcolm Landgraab, another familiar face. Good Malakai is in desperate need to of a bathroom. Clicking on the Bladder icon in the Needs panel queued an interaction with the nearest toilet. While Good Malakai waddles to the bathroom, Ryan tries to flirt with a Sim named Jenna, who quickly leaves the room. He follows her and tries again, but she rejects him. This puts him in an embarrassed emotional state, but successfully telling a self deprecating joke took care of that. Another failed attempt at flirting puts him right back. It turns out that Jenna is married, so maybe flirting with her isn’t the best idea.

 

The Sims 4 Hiding Under Covers

It’s late and they’re tired, so Ryan and the brothers head home for bed. Ryan hides under the covers to help make his embarrassing moodlet go down faster. While they sleep, another Sim is added from the Gallery. After a painful violin session and a bit of painting, gurus Argus and Ryan decide to give the viewers what they want and show off some gameplay of the child life stage.

 

The Sims 4 Moving In

In Create A Sim they quickly make a household consisting of a randomized mother and two children. Children have their own unique aspirations to choose from, and get one trait. To make Bob even more miserable, they moved the family into the Pancake household. They head out for some fun at the Magnolia Blossom Park. Little Maureen played pirate with her mother while Darwin climbed the monkey bars. Children have a Motor skill that allows them to perform more interactions with certain objects, such as climbing on top of the monkey bars.

The Sims 4 Hugging a Stranger

Maureen is hungry, but rather than cook a quick meal on the grill, Ryan and Argus have the mother go fishing for food. Darwin stumbles upon a sleeping stranger and wakes her up. She is in an angry state, so he brightens her day. Now Darwin has learned the Social skill, giving him more interactions revolving around socialization. He gives the dirty stranger a hug and put her in a happy state. Meanwhile, Maureen jogs over to trash on the ground and jstomps around in it.

The Sims 4 Guilty Vegetarian
Her emotional state is made clear by facial animations.

Unable to catch any fish, the mother cooks some hot dogs. A vegetarian Sim begins eating a hot dog and becomes embarrassed. With only five minutes left in the stream, they head back home to enjoy an excellent quality pancake meal prepared by Bob.

Sims 4 Official Let’s Play: Tactile and Intuitive Build Mode

Starting today until The Sims 4’s launch, the official Sims Twitch channel will be hosting livestreams of the game at 3 PM EDT. Today’s livestream was hosted by Sim gurus Ryan Vaughn and Aaron Houts and focused on building a weird house with the game’s “tactile and intuitive” building tools.

They started off by using the classic Motherlode cheat to increase their household’s Simoleons. In Build Mode, they opened the Styled Rooms menu. Clicking on one of these rooms brought up a display.

The Sims 4 Styled Room

Each room has three different color designs to choose from. Hovering over individual components of the room displayed information about them. You can place any individual piece of furniture from the room into your lot from here, or the entire room itself. There are special career themed rooms, unlocked by reaching level 10 of different career paths.

While decorating a bathroom, Aaron made use of Build Mode’s text search function. As he typed, various objects, tools, and categories matching the text appeared above. You can also filter objects by color. After placing a few rooms, Aaron showed off the three door heights. These correspond with the short, medium, and tall wall heights. Wall height can be adjusted on the fly, and objects affected by this may automatically adjust.

 

The Sims 4 Windows Placement

A foundation was instantly added under the house with a simple eight level height slider. Windows can be placed by room, in addition to standard placement. This automatically places evenly spaced out windows across the exposed walls of a room. Aaron displayed the free vertical placement, holding the Alt key to smoothly move a window up and down the wall.

 

The Sims 4 Floating Room

In The Sims 4 you no longer need supports for rooms spanning more than two spaces past the ground floor. They can even float in midair! You can move a room up a floor by placing it on top of itself. Roofs are highly customizable, allowing you to resize and curve the shape. The eaves, or bottom edges of a roof, can be adjusted together or individually.

 

The Sims 4 Design Tool

On the toolbar at the top of the screen you’ll find many familiar tools. The Design Tool allows you to choose a different color design for an object.

 

The Sims 4 Lot Info Panel

In the Lot Info Panel you can edit certain details of your lot, including the name, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and the lot type. It also displays the current value of the lot.  This ties into sharing it on the Gallery. When changing the lot type, it will display what items you’ll need for the lot to work properly. You will be unable to change the lot type while there are Sims living there.

 

The Sims 4 Weird Living Room

Saving your room to the Gallery or your library is done by selecting the room and clicking the Save To My Library button on the toolbar. You can save the room or the entire lot. Now you can change the display image and the room or lot’s information.

 

The Sims 4 Day Cycle
The background buildings light up in the night.

Aaron began placing grass over the harsh desert terrain with the terrain tool. The size and feathering can be adjusted. To liven up the environment, various outdoor plants were added to the front of the house. In The Sims 4, terrain and outdoor plants can be placed on top of rooms. Surrounding the top with a fence turned it into a block. This removed the terrain, but Aaron was able to quickly add it back. Now the whole block and its contents could be moved together.

 

The Sims 4 Fountain Tools

Fountains can be created with a selection of different shapes. You can customize your fountain with trim and place different water emitters and decorations inside of it. Differently colored water emitters will change the color of the water as it passes through and glow at night.

 

The Sims 4 Items Removed

After completing the strange house, it was uploaded to the Gallery. They pulled up Edna and Mary’s Place, a residential lot uploaded by Graham Nardone.  When placing a lot from the Gallery, you can choose whether or not it is furnished. After placing the lot, a notice popped up noting that items were removed. The lot contained the Plumbob Lamps rewarded to owners of The Sims 3 and its expansions, which Aaron and Ryan did not have in their game. After a quick look around the house, they decided to show off the object resizing cheat.

The Sims 4 Size Cheat

You’ll be able to find the lot they created on the Gallery after the game’s release under the TS4LiveStream Origin ID. We’ll continue our rundown of the livestreams in the coming days. Stay tuned!

The Sims 4 Challenge: Rise of the Blusimians!

This week’s challenge for The Sims 4 Create A Sim demo was to create a Sim that looks like they come from another planet. We decided to give this one a shot, and here are the results!

The Sims 4 Challenge Space Poster

The fictional Rise of the Blusimians follows the latest adventure of Sheriff Darien Grey and his burly green sidekick, Grun Dal, as they take on a rising threat on planet Blusimia. The great Blusimian race has always lived in harmony within the Simsonian System under the matriarchal rule of the Vol family. Following the death of her beloved sister Samira, Lampira took up the Blusimian crown.

 

Characters

The Sims 4 The Sheriff

Sheriff Darien Grey has sought to bring justice across the Simsonian System for the past eight years.  Under the employ of the Simsonian Supreme Council, the sheriff holds judicial authority throughout the entire system.

 

The Sims 4 The Sidekick

Grun Dal feels indebted to Grey for his role in safely evacuating the Grensim people a few years back during the events of Disaster on Grensimus. He has followed the sheriff ever since, serving as his sidekick and close friend.

 

The Sims 4 The Empress

Lampira Vol has a different direction in mind for Blusimia and its people. Tired of living under the Supreme Council’s laws, she thirsts for power. With the combined forces of the Blusimian armada and advanced technology hidden from the council for generations, she just might stand a chance.

 

The Sims 4 The Unfortunate

Hervey Vol is the sole child of the late Samira Vol. He was cast out of his royal home following Lampira’s rise to power. Now living the simple life, Hervey finds himself caught in the middle of a brewing war. Unknown to Lampira, he holds knowledge of their secret technology and how to disable it. Aiding the council would save many lives, but what will become of Blusimia and its people?

 

The Sims 4: Official Launch Trailer

This is it, everyone! We’re almost up to the release of The Sims 4. In this official launch trailer we find out several things: Babs and Ollie have kids, Gladys has been getting some action, June Kay and Steve Fogel are newlyweds, and we’re still not quite sure if Pancake Bob did stay up past midnight.

We’ll have several articles up in time for The Sims 4; it will explore some of the gameplay and casual modding aspects of the game. Furthermore, we’ll focus on news for other simulation games as well. Stay tuned!

Sims 4: Live Playthrough at Gamescom 2014

Peter Moore (COO of Electronic Arts) and Rachel Franklin (Executive Producer of The Sims 4) presented a live demonstration of The Sims 4 at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany.

Sims 4 Angela Merkel

Using the power of the Create A Sim tool, they designed a Sim based off of Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany. She looks close enough for the most part, just with a bit more volume to her hair.

Sims 4 Peeter Moore

Next, they showed off Peter Moore’s Sim and made him extremely muscular since he’s been training for marathons. His Sim had some funky body proportions, made even more awkward when he switched into his ‘executive’ outfit. Certainly, you can just click on a body part and shrink those bulging muscles right away.

Sims 4 Build Mode

They proceeded to show off the Build Mode, where you can move an entire mansion just by dragging it across the screen. It wasn’t as snappy as it looked in the trailer videos, but to be fair, it was a complex house that may have needed some time to process moving all those rooms.

Willow Creek neighborhood 1

We even got a little bird’s-eye view of one of the neighborhoods in Willow Creek. Look closely at one of the houses designed to look like the Freezer Bunny.

Sims 4 Pancake bob

In this neighborhood, we get to meet Pancake Bob, whose current mood state made him depressed. Peter Moore’s Sim, in contrast, was generally happy, providing for some unique interactions between the two. Pancake Bob’s emotional interactions lets him complain to others about his problems or ask for advice from other Sims. Peter Moore, on the other hand, could cheer him up, or brighten his day to improve his outlook.

Sims 4 Cowplant

Lastly, we were treated to a special scene with the Cow Plant; which then proceeded to eat Peter Moore as soon as he grabbed the cake dangling from the plant’s tongue. A few moments later, the cow spat him right back out, immediately placing Peter in a bad mood.

Anyway, the major announcement at this event was for the Create A Sim demo which was released yesterday to the general public. I guess the timing of the conference was supposed to coincide with its release, but it appears this was a little too late.