After a long while
away, I finally find myself back in a Sims groove of late. I always
play, but I don't always design and upload items to the exchange. I need
inspiration, a theme, a family to build around, a place I've visited
that I need to recreate first in my mind's eye and then within the game
itself.
I've been watching the Canadian TV series Heartland for a few years now. It's the story of young woman who has a gift in healing sick and scarred horses, taking place in the big sky country of Alberta, Canada. Like all TV and like all of life, it has its good moments and bad, but to its credit, it has a strong sense of place, something I like in media and in reality.
So it has indirectly inspired me to revamp my Sims communities and make them have a stronger sense of place, to convey better what kind of communities they are. I think the creators of the Sims have this in mind as well, but there are so many communities now, with so many options due to so many games. It can be difficult to remember which town is which, especially when you can let vampires and horses run amok in all neighborhoods.
Thus, I'm slowly beginning to renovate my communities, starting with Riverview. I don't see it as Alberta's Heartland. Instead, with its parks and 19th-century homes and rolling hills and winding river, I envision it more as a sleepy Midwestern town. Maybe a community near the Ohio or the Mississippi or the Missouri rivers. Or maybe, like me, it's in Pennsylvania, the south central part, where there are dairy farms and Amish families and quieter, gentler way of life.
Or so the stereotype goes. Amish Mafia may have turned that fantasy upside down always and forever.
Regardless, Riverview is starting to see changes. First, I moved all the homes off the island and onto the nearby riverbanks. Next, I added new, more "urban" businesses to the island to make it feel more like the center business district of a small town. There's now a salon, a fire station, and a consignment shop. I'm hoping to add a cafe or coffeehouse as well, doing so without disturbing the lovely parkland of the original Riverview design.
Next, I want to design some "new" 19th-century homes and add them along neighborhood streets. I'd also like to move the military base, prison, and stadium to locations farther out and redevelop the existing area with more businesses and a few houses as well.
Then, finally, I'd like to make a dairy farm or two, add some "down home" families, clear the area of vampires and werewolves, and rechristen the town as . . . as . . . .
This is where I get stuck. What's in a name? Everything! And Riverview needs a new name, one that pays homage to its origins but one that is less generic, more tailored to the community that I want to convey.
I haven't a clue at the moment. OK, well, one: Finn's River, which makes the town sound decidedly Minnesotan. I may go with that, extend the winter season a bit, and add an ice rink downtown. But the name also conjures up Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn as well, perfect for conveying the mood of this Midwestern river town.
Sawyers River or Clemmons Landing might work as well.
We shall see, we shall see. All I know is that it's nice to have some Sim-spiration again. I can't wait to see which way the river and my creativity flow.
I've been watching the Canadian TV series Heartland for a few years now. It's the story of young woman who has a gift in healing sick and scarred horses, taking place in the big sky country of Alberta, Canada. Like all TV and like all of life, it has its good moments and bad, but to its credit, it has a strong sense of place, something I like in media and in reality.
So it has indirectly inspired me to revamp my Sims communities and make them have a stronger sense of place, to convey better what kind of communities they are. I think the creators of the Sims have this in mind as well, but there are so many communities now, with so many options due to so many games. It can be difficult to remember which town is which, especially when you can let vampires and horses run amok in all neighborhoods.
Thus, I'm slowly beginning to renovate my communities, starting with Riverview. I don't see it as Alberta's Heartland. Instead, with its parks and 19th-century homes and rolling hills and winding river, I envision it more as a sleepy Midwestern town. Maybe a community near the Ohio or the Mississippi or the Missouri rivers. Or maybe, like me, it's in Pennsylvania, the south central part, where there are dairy farms and Amish families and quieter, gentler way of life.
Or so the stereotype goes. Amish Mafia may have turned that fantasy upside down always and forever.
Regardless, Riverview is starting to see changes. First, I moved all the homes off the island and onto the nearby riverbanks. Next, I added new, more "urban" businesses to the island to make it feel more like the center business district of a small town. There's now a salon, a fire station, and a consignment shop. I'm hoping to add a cafe or coffeehouse as well, doing so without disturbing the lovely parkland of the original Riverview design.
Next, I want to design some "new" 19th-century homes and add them along neighborhood streets. I'd also like to move the military base, prison, and stadium to locations farther out and redevelop the existing area with more businesses and a few houses as well.
Then, finally, I'd like to make a dairy farm or two, add some "down home" families, clear the area of vampires and werewolves, and rechristen the town as . . . as . . . .
This is where I get stuck. What's in a name? Everything! And Riverview needs a new name, one that pays homage to its origins but one that is less generic, more tailored to the community that I want to convey.
I haven't a clue at the moment. OK, well, one: Finn's River, which makes the town sound decidedly Minnesotan. I may go with that, extend the winter season a bit, and add an ice rink downtown. But the name also conjures up Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn as well, perfect for conveying the mood of this Midwestern river town.
Sawyers River or Clemmons Landing might work as well.
We shall see, we shall see. All I know is that it's nice to have some Sim-spiration again. I can't wait to see which way the river and my creativity flow.
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