Happy New Year Everyone,
I hope this T-Mail finds you all well, and that you had a safe and happy New Year. I know many have been touched by the disaster in SE Asia, even some at Electronic Arts, and I can only hope that each of you has been spared personal loss in this tragic event.
For the next two weeks I am traveling throughout Europe on a press tour for The Sims 2 University. I started in Amsterdam on Wednesday, and it was wonderful to have so many from the User Community there at the event. I continue to be honored by the community's love and commitment to the game. You are such an important part of the games' success. Then it was Brussels, today in Warsaw, and now just arrived in Madrid, then Frankfort, Paris, London, Copenhagen, and finally Milan, before I head to New York City to wind up my tour. I'm sure there will be more information on The Sims 2 University posted than you can all sort through.
As I’m demoing the game, it's becoming clear to me that we need to make everyone aware of how we describe the content we make for each expansion pack. As you know, The Sims 2 introduced many new types of content, for example Neighborhood ploppables and ground textures. We often use the terms Objects and Items and I want to make sure you are all clear on the difference so that when it comes up as a topic you can make sure players understand what each word means.
Objects for us are unique user-placeable selections in the catalog that offer either gameplay or architectural additions. A new lamp, a new sofa, the pool table and 2-Story columns we are introducing in the Sims 2 University -- these are what we mean when we talk about objects. We include new NPC's in the object count, like the Cheerleader NPC we are adding. Each of these new gameplay elements involves Edith scripting (game scripting) and that is how we distinguish them from Items.
An Item is anything that adds additional content to the game including objects, but also content that does not offer interactions for the Sims. Examples of these would be wall and floor patterns, new outfits in Create-A-Sim, or neighborhood elements. New social interactions can fall into this category as well, although we tend to call those out separately.
I hope that makes it a little more clear. So when you see something that says "includes 100+ new objects," you understand how that differs from "Hundreds of decorating items."
I'm having a great time showing off the game, and here are a couple samples of the things people are getting to see on the trip. I can honestly say that the Cow Plant is the hit of the tour so far. Hope you enjoy.
I'll hit you guys soon with an update on the tour and more tidbits. It's hard being away from the office as the pack is being finished, but the team is doing an awesome job and we can't wait to get the game in everyone's hands in March.
Cheers,
Tim LeTourneau
World Traveler
News
Tired of your avatar looking like everyone else on the virtual Sims block? Well now you can update your avatar with our new Create-An-Avatar tool! Get a fresh new look for the new year!
During the weekend of January 7-9 2005, The Sims Resource will be celebrating the milestone of having over 100,000 Custom Creations for "The Sims" games with 10,000 free downloads, a contest, and more!
Feeling nostalgic? Do you miss the original Sims website? Well now you can add some flavor from the past to your MySim page with The Sims Classic MySim page theme.
De winnaar van de e-card wedstrijd is bekend!
We hebben vele creatieve inzendingen van jullie binnen gekregen. Het was dan ook geen makkelijke opgave een winnaar te kiezen!
Maar, we zijn er uit, de winnaar van de exclusieve opblaasbare Simsdiamant, gesigneerd door niemand minder dan Will Wright is gewonnen door:
Kristof!
Van harte gefeliciteerd, de diamant komt zo snel mogelijk jou kant op!
Naast Kristof zijn ook de kaarten van Sam, Patricia, Margot en Nina te zien en te versturen bij het e-card gedeelte op de website.
Tim LeTourneau, senior producer van De Sims 2 komt naar Nederland en België; 10 community leden zullen erbij zijn!
Zoals jullie onlangs op deze site hebben kunnen lezen, brengt Tim LeTourneau (senior producer van De Sims 2) op 5 en 6 januari een bezoek aan Nederland (Amsterdam) en België (Brussel).
Gedurende dit bezoek vertelt hij meer over de nieuwe expansion “De Sims™ 2: Studentenleven” en zal hij vragen uit het publiek beantwoorden.
De afgelopen dagen konden jullie motiveren waarom je graag bij deze bijeenkomst aanwezig wou zijn.
En vandaag is het dan zover, de winnaars zijn bekend!
Bij de Belgische persconferentie mogen de volgende leden aanwezig zijn:
- kezzeken
- dirna
- Swapie!
- /muzie/
- fayetjeh
Bij de Nederlandse persconferentie mogen de volgende leden aanwezig zijn:
- scoubiyo
- Simsnetwork
- LeeRoyNR09
- Roy Williams
- akajoris
Staat jou naam in de bovenstaande lijst? Stuur dan een email naar Burgemeester_EA@hotmail.com en vermeldt daarin je contact gegevens. De burgemeester zal dan contact met je opnemen om de locatie en tijden aan je door te geven.
Tijdens zijn bezoek zal hij meer vertellen over de allereerste Expansion Pack voor De Sims 2.
Heb jij ook vragen aan Tim? Plaats deze dan in het “vragen voor Tim” topic. Je vind deze topic in het Real World forum. De vragen uit dat topic zullen namelijk door de moderators aan Tim gesteld worden!
Now you can rank the movies pod on a MySims page. When you're done voting, head on over to the new Movies area in the Community Section and check out our interview with movie-director extraordinaire, MaxisPlumbob.
Kerie Kimbrell, aka. MaxoidPlumbob, is Maxis' in house film editor. Today she discusses makin' movies with MaxoidMonkey!
MaxoidMonkey: MaxoidPlumbob, How did you get involved in filmmaking? And how long have you been doing it?
MaxoidPlumbob: I started out as an apprentice editor 16 years ago. We edited on film then and part of my job was to organize the film. I would literally hand the editor each shot as they needed it. I loved it. It was a great way to learn.
MM: Tell us what makes a good movie.
MP: Interesting characters, a good story and nice camera work are things I like in a movie.
MM: Since the best movies always have a great story, do you have any tips and pointers for creating a good story?
MP: There needs to be a beginning a middle and an end to the story. A good story usually shows a main character with a challenge or conflict. Also, The beginning of the movie should introduce the setting and give some background information about the main character. In the Middle you can start to show scenes that set up the main character's challenge or conflict and that help build suspense for the movie. These scenes should build in intensity to the climax of the movie. Think of the climax as the part where action is the most intense, where we wonder what will happen next. At the end of the climax you will have a turning point where the suspense ends, and the main character's conflict is resolved, At this point you still might need to explain other plot points. After that comes the ending. In the end you need to show something that gives a sense of closure and that brings the movie to conclusion. It can be something like the beginning but that shows a change in the main character.
MM: Sometimes the most difficult part of making a movie is the ending. Do you have any good tips on how to wrap up the story lines proposed throughout a movie? How do you go about creating a satisfying conclusion?
MP: I would start by writing down what your main characters struggle or conflict is in the movie, then think about whether your ending makes sense and if it provides a sense of closure and sets the right mood.
Some endings are "open ended" where the view has to decide for themselves what has happened or "closed ended" where the movie maker has made the connections and it is clear to the viewer what has happened. A "cliffhanger" is an abrupt ending, often at the height of the excitement and ending with a title card reading "to be continued". This type of ending would need to be followed up with another movie that has a ending. Eventually you need an ending.
MM: Got some pointers for creating a good movie?
MP: Try and write down the idea for your movie in 1 or 2 sentences. Make sure it has a beginning, middle and an end. All of your scenes should tell a part of the story and move the story forward. Try not to include a scene that doesn't provide any new information for the viewer.
MM: When you're creating movies for Maxis, what is your process?
MP: First, we write down treatment that includes the characters, and the story with the beginning, middle and end. Then we start building the set and the characters in the game and grabbing still frames of camera angles that we think will work for each scene. Next, we print up all the frames and put them on a wall and rework the order until we think it's right. This gives us a chance to change our minds and come up with new ideas before we start trying to capture. After we capture, I'll start editing but will usually decide that I need more footage and we'll re-capture some scenes from different angles.
MM: What sort of cheats or methods do you use to 'get the right shot'? Do you use cheats or methods that are different from what the users have?
MP: Sometimes we set key positions for the camera and jump between them to get some motion in the shot and still have the framing be nice. I will also capture the scene a little wide so that I can blow it up later to get the composition just right. I don't think I have any cheats that the community doesn't have, well, except for a money cheat to help build.
MM: How long does it usually take you to create a movie of 2 minutes in length?
MP: It depends on how complicated the story gets but usually around 2 days to capture and another day to edit. The sound crew can usually pull additional sound effects and do a mix with music in about 1/2 day. I don't do everything. There are usually several people working on a movie.
MM: What are the challenges you encounter in create movies with the sims 2?
MP: Getting the sims to do what you want them to. It's definitely an amusing and sometimes frustrating process. Sometimes we lock them in a room or make them sleep so they won't disrupt the shot if they're not in it. I think it's funny when you try and get one sim to kiss another and they get slapped because you haven't got them in the right mood. Or If you've forgotten to turn off "free will" and you have 2 sims in a hot tub and you want them to kiss but then a 3rd sim appears out of no where, gets in and starts making moves on one of your other sims. It can be pretty crazy. We like to yell "cut", like we're on a movie set, when they mess up. Sometimes the camera frustrates me too. It isn't always as smooth as I would like it.
MM: Thankyou for the great advice, MaxoidPlumbob!