Strangetown extras: Preview of "next generation" LFT student

[strangetomato]

It might be a while before another Strangetown chapter surfaces, but I am working on it, just so you know. I'm thinking of doing a shorter "extra" chapter 23.5, but even that might not show up before the weekend. It's a busy time for me, and we have family coming to stay with us for the weekend, so there is plenty of tidying up to do in preparation for that. That darn housework cuts into my simming time. If only maids were as cheap and easy to obtain in real life as they are for sims, I'd have Remmington Harris doing my chores instead.

I just wanted to share one photo with you, mostly just to get excited about the Free Time Skirt & Stockings outfit converted for adults by cloudlessnights on MTS2. I love that Free Time outfit to bits. BITS! Fair isle, argyle, sweater vests, knee socks, and skirts... these are a few of my favourite things!

She's pretty happy for someone caught in the rain, don't you think? It must be the fabulous outfit.

And who is this pretty gal? Why, she's one of the "next gen" of LFT students that will be starting their studies when Buck and Jill go to university. I figured that I would work some new characters in, and these may seem familiar to some of you. I decided that sims from any neighbourhood might go to LFT to study. That makes sense, right? I don't intend to go crazy with crossovers, exactly, but I do want to expand on the little bit of dabbling in that area that I've been doing. You can never have too many characters, right? (We'll see about that one.)

If you know her, feel free to call out her name. She's not shy.

ETA: I found some more Free Time conversions on the Sims Resource by aikea guinea: teen male and teen female Free Time "Tech" outfits converted for adults (same as above, but includes the male versions too... and your guess is as good as mine about why they are called "tech." outfits) and Teen female "Bohemian" outfit converted for adult females. Hooray!

Comments

[music-simbol.livejournal.com]

Did you do any gender/gene switching? You mentioned Veronaville to me earlier, so if that's the case, then maybe Bottom? If you did mess around with gender and genes, I have no freaking clue.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you got me. It is Bottom Summerdream (I hid the ears). Isn't she cute? I won't be doing any gender switching with the Strangetown story (unless I actually work the gender reassignment into the story). I have a couple of others heading to college from Plesantview and one other from Veronaville. They would all have been the same age as Jill and Buck when you start the game (any mention of or sightings of sims from other 'hoods will be kept in the proper time frame like that).

I also attached Bluewater Village to Strangetown. I don't expect to get too detailed with those characters, unless they get involved in the plot, or cross paths with one of the Strangetown characters for some reason. I have some plans for Malcolm Landgraab.

[music-simbol.livejournal.com]

Bottom is the only s3 brown haired character in Veronaville, so she'd have to be the only possibility. All the Monty's are s3, but they all have black hair. Bottom is pretty cute, as I've seen her adult form in madame_ugly's Peculiar.

How the hell would you work a gender swapping into the story? You know what, nevermind. :P

I now have OFB, but I've barely used any features. I really only wanted that damn magisplay thingie. I've only seen Malcolm Langraab a handfull of times, so whatever you do with him will be new to me! :)

[imsothenetgirl.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, Bottom is a possibility but my first thought was Jane Stacks, from SSU. But it might be just the hair throwing me off.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's Bottom. I like that Jane Stacks character, though. But another Jane would only confuse me, I think.

[saunasims.livejournal.com]

*perks* Ooo, this'll be fun! You'll be using Alexander then, right? Right? I love how creepy he looks, especially combined with his little bio blurb. Can't wait to see him as a young adult.

[ndainye.livejournal.com]

Alex is a Goopy clone appearance wise.

Alex and Bottom just got married in my game, they are adorable.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I suppose he does look like Goopy, doesn't he? (Though, I must admit that I have never played Goopy. Does that make me a bad/weird simmer?)

Do you have a combined 'hood? Or did you clone one of them?

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I have considered using Alexander, but maybe only in a very peripheral way. I don't think he'll be going to LFT. It's too small and out in the middle of nowhere - I think that a Goth might go somewhere fancier, and Alexander probably had a full scholarship too (I swear the story writes me, not the other way around... this stuff just comes out of the ether sometimes). There will definitely be some students at LFT who know him, though.

I don't remember what his blurb said. I'll have to go check it out. He does have a very interesting look.

[saunasims.livejournal.com]

Ahh, good point. Yeah, he'd likely go to the Academie instead, especially since Mortimer's supposed to be from Europe.

[franwi.livejournal.com]

You made Bottom look like a GIRL! Awesome! LOL. I love that outfit, too. I'd attempt Free Time if I didn't think my computer would explode. I can't wait to see what sort of backstory or history you come up with for Bottom and whatever characters you introduce. I love having these side characters with their own issues that play into the lives and events of your Strangetown characters! ;)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I'm confused... does she usually look like a boy? I know the name isn't particularly feminine, but she's not really very butch to my eyes.

You can get that outfit without Free Time. All of cloudlessnight's conversions work with the base game. I haven't installed FT yet, but I recieved the Prima guide in the mail today, and I really, really want to install it now. There is so much great stuff on it. I'm pumped.

I like having a large cast of minor characters too. Townies can always fill these roles, but it's more fun to work in the Maxis stock where I can, or create originals that are based off of them, or that fit with the look. Some of the big players in other 'hoods have the potential to play into the drama in Strangetown. There is already the connection with the Goths, so why not go with it all a little more? It's fun.

[redqueenofevil.livejournal.com]

What a great outfit. Cloudlessnights is awesome for converting all of these. As soon as I feel better, I'll go a downloading. And she's cute. I saw the comments, as to whom she might be, but I'm too incoherent to ask how you do the gender swap.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I agree. I love these conversions. I think that anything that can be used by teens, should be a YA mesh anyway, if not an adult mesh too (since many of them seen appropriate for adults too, especially in these youthful times).

There was no gender swap. Maybe I said that in a way to make it confusing. Bottom is actually a girl in Veronaville. I didn't do any switching of the genders with these newcomers. I was doing that with my prosperity 'hood, so that's why music_simbol was wondering if I'd do it in Stranegtown too, I guess, but I want to keep things more true to the actual setup of the game.

Doing the actual gender swap would be easy, though, since I'm just cloning sims with SimPE and recreating them, based on their character profiles. If I wanted to gender swap, I could just click the button in CAS.

I hope you feel better!

[dothesmustle.livejournal.com]

*GASP* I would have never found out about that conversion. *loves it and downloads*

Bottom is adorable! I never really play Veronaville, so I haven't even seen her as an adult/young adult. I can't wait to see her in the story. Can I ask what her aspiration is?

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

*grins* Well, I'm more than happy to spread the good news.

I don't play Veronaville much either. I've don't some minor dabbling, and that's about it. I've played Pleasantview the most, if you can believe that. I've only played Strangetown a little before this story, and then it was mostly just one family (Nervous Subject). I've played through Pleasantview in its entirety a number of times.

I chose knowledge for Bottom's aspiration. It seemed to work. She's fairly serious.

[pixelcurious.livejournal.com]

I love those outfits! Thank you for the link. Are they teen outfits in FT?

I also love the idea of sims from other neighborhoods going to La Fiesta Tech. Bottom's a good choice. :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. I'm happy to share. Those are teen girl outfits in FT, but I don't know why they didn't make them accessible to all ages, since it's hardly a teen specific look.

I think it will be fun, and I don't see any reason why they couldn't go to LFT instead of Sim State or whatever. They're from different neighbourhoods, not different planets (and even Stella went to LFT)! I always did plan to do a little intermingling with Peasantview (like with the Pleasant twins - they'll likely make an appearance beyond Ripp's dreams). I like Bottom. I think she'll be a fun character to work into the story.

[madame-ugly.livejournal.com]

Ooh, conversions!! KNEE SOCKS!! Now if I can just get someone to make a roller derby style outfit, I would soil myself. (I'm more than a little fascinated by roller derby right now so. . .). I was just getting ready to go over to MTS2 and look for recolors/conversions. Hee hee!

Did you change Bottom's name? (I love the idea of a parent naming their kid bottom, it's just a bit mean!)

You've caught the cross over bug! Mwuahahahah.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Hooray for knee socks! I'm a big fan. I wore argyle knee socks like that a lot when I was a bit younger (now I usually just wear tights). That mesh is closer to something I would actually wear than most Maxis clothing. I was crossing my fingers that someone would make this conversion, and now I'm really hoping the teen males get the same treatment. There are some really nice new meshes for them too. I may find a good outfit for Buck. That's totally his style.

Roller derby, hey? That's fun. That would be a cool outfit, and didn't they add roller skating with Seasons? Why not have some roller derby action?

Nope. Still Bottom. I like that name. Even for fairies, it's pretty weird. She can join the club that the Grunts have going, with their unusual names. I'd imagine that her friends probably just call her B, or something like that.

Of course I caught the bug, seeing how much fun you have in Peculiar! Crossovers are so much fun, and I totally have the bug. I like to think of the Maxis 'hoods as one whole network of towns, so why not? The Goth thing comes built into the plot of Strangtown and Pleasantview, so that's how I got started thinking about it. And the Pleasant twins are even on the TV! I'm going to try to keep it realistic, as if those characters remain in the other 'hoods, or perhaps move to Sim City. There won't be a whole bunch moving to Strangetown anytime soon, or anything like that. Who would want to move there? *snicker*

[jessicus.livejournal.com]

I love the conversions as well. I have my selfsim in one of those outfits.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I'm such a big conversion fan, especially since the newer Maxis meshes have been so well made. That's very much like something I would wear too.

[saunasims.livejournal.com]

Speaking of crossovers and conversions, have you seen this awesome mega-hood that Hysterical Paroxysm put together? All the Maxis made hoods in one!

http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=278072

I'm testing it out today.

[ownsimscorner.livejournal.com]

... *faints* *runs to download*

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

That's very cool, though I'm far too invested in Strangetown now to start over with a combined neighbourhood. Those things have always intrigued me, though. I think the intermingling would be a bit too easy and evenly distributed to work with the story (like having kids from other 'hoods come home on the bus with sim children... things like that). I'd love to try it out for fun one day.