strangetomato: (Default)
Strange Tomato ([personal profile] strangetomato) wrote2008-09-03 12:22 pm
Entry tags:

Updates and rambling on about various things

It's a grab bag of topics, folks...


So, what is this... Wednesday? *scratches head* Could I post the next chapter by the end of the week? I haven't actually taken any photos for it yet, but maybe I could put it together in a couple of days.

I'm thinking of taking a different approach to some of the upcoming chapters, and making them more centrally focused on one character or group of characters. The next chapter will have two parts (was originally going to be one, but I thought I'd add a little look at Erin and Circe before I got to Nervous - that side of the plot needs to catch up with itself). After that, I'm going to take all the college kids up to graduation (well, not Buck, Jill, etc.), but I think I'm going to tackle them seperately. There'll be a chapter on the trio, one just about Frances, one about Tank (yeah, I could combine those, but maybe not...). There'll be some overlap there with events in those sections, but I think this will work. I'll probably send Vidcund to Veronaville in there somewhere too.

So... it's good to have a plan of action. Next up: get some momentum back.

 

Oh, and squirrel_tamer has been feeding my creativity in a big way with some new drawings, and she REALLY outdid herself on the latest one. (Seriously, I'd like to print this out and frame it... and maybe I will.) It really captures the whole J/R/O thing so well for me, and it's a gorgeous drawing. Scroll up for some other sketches, and she posted this set recently too - also very cool. (I'm pretty sure those are the only ones I haven't linked to yet.)

Thanks a BILLION for these, ST (hey, we have the same initials. How... confusing). ^_^ You're super cool. I liked your suggested soundtrack for that latest drawing, but I'd also like to suggest Illuminated by Weird War. Have a listen (it's on Youtube)... I think it really works. *adjusts nerdly glasses*

Speaking of nerds,  If you'll allow me to nerd out about characterization a little here, I love how she's drawn their bodies in this one. It really exaggerates the differences in heights and builds in the way I imagine they differ. Ophelia is so cute and pear-shaped. And short... or, at least, she's short compared to Johnny. Johnny is tall (I think of PT as being tall too, so perhaps it's an alien thing) and thin. He's athletic, and not really underweight, but maybe bordering on it. Ripp probably tells him that he needs to eat more meat. *snicker* I really like the image of Johnny as this willowy, green, vegan athlete. It's pretty kickass to me. 

Ripp is physically average, but has a hint of those solid "army guy" genetics, and you can tell he could be really well built, like Tank is, if he bothered to try (though, of course, he doesn't). He's somewhat broad-shouldered and it all looks pretty good, but get closer and he feels... kinda flabby.

I told you this would be nerdy. ;)

I also sometimes think about how their voices would sound, and I've made reference to it here and there in the story (same goes for those body types too - I've mentioned it a couple of times). Some characters give off really definite "voices" like that when I'm writing their dialogue. I'll spare you the details for now... unless you're really interested.

 

I've been playing with Apartment Life a little, and I do enjoy a lot of the new features. There are some issues with it, of course, but MATY has provided some fixes (be sure to get the critical fix and the updated notownieregen - that fixes an NPC spawning issue similar to the one from BV - both hacks are in the updated Director's Cut). I'm happy to have the Director's Cut again, since there are some real sanity-savers in there, though I always spend some time weeding out all the hacks I don't like. Traditional Marriage? Umm, no thanks... I can decide who's name gets taken myself.

Speaking of the Director's Cut, there are always a number of hacks that are unlisted in the hack description thread. Does anyone know how to find information on those? I know it's part of the whole "director's cut" thing and I don't get to know what they do because I'm not "awesome" enough, but most actual director's cut dvds come with hours of commentary that over-explain the movie in question. I don't see why we can't get a simple one-liner about what those mystery hacks do.

But anyway... I'm lucky to have the Director's Cut at all, aren't I? I shouldn't complain.


 
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[identity profile] strange-tomato.livejournal.com 2008-09-04 12:44 pm (UTC)(link)
I guess the combined hood has pretty long loading times in general with so many characters in it, right? From the description, your next computer should be able to handle it. That's so exciting. :)

Pescado really is hilarious. I get a huge kick out of him and his way with words.

As for the pet thing, maybe I can get Florence Delarosa a cat and try it out. She has snapdragons in her flower shop. It's a great strategy for a business, since you can take advantage of the effects while they're on display, and still sell them too. If only the flower business brought in much actual money...

I'm starting to sell flower paintings too. That should bring in more cash.

[identity profile] meetme2theriver.livejournal.com 2008-09-05 05:18 am (UTC)(link)
It does take a long time to load the neighbourhood, and to load the first house in a session. After that, switching houses isn't SO bad, but yeah, all loading is pretty slow. It's got 600-something characters and almost half of them are dead EAxis relatives. I don't understand why they feel the need to add two complete sets of (dead) GRANDPARENTS for every single playable they make. We should probably have deleted some of them. Anyway, yes, I hope the new computer should speed things up. :) Then I might go on a crazy add-custom-content spree too... <_< I found an old thread some time back on MATY about SimPE and how Quaxi wasn't updating it anymore (I think Inge has taken charge of that now). In the whole 10+ page discussion, Pescado's only contribution was 'Clearly, Quaxi has failed us. YOU must not!' (to Inge) He posted this at least 7 times throughout the thread. Cracked me up. Appearently, businesses can be very, very profitable but I've never played enough with them to be able to do that. On average, the income seems to be very little. It's fun though! I've never tried selling paintings before... that seems interesting.
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[identity profile] strange-tomato.livejournal.com 2008-09-05 06:24 pm (UTC)(link)
I like all the grandparents, if only for the back stories you can make up for them. (But yeah, the character files suck, especially if they're useless for resurrecting.)

Businesses are better when you sell big-ticket items. I'd love to try a car dealership some day, and I have plans for Malcolm Landgraab to open an art gallery (he'll be the rich Saatchi-type art patron in my sims world).

(I just noticed the connection with both of those names having that double A too... pretty cool.)
Edited 2008-09-05 18:25 (UTC)