orikes | Day Three Behind The Scenes (Reply)

Warning: Lots of Sim Stuff Ahead. 19 Pictures, to be exact.

But first, let's start with Inappropriate Childlike Behavior 101. This update was hosted by a group of simselves and Ben came over to visit and promptly went downstairs to watch television. I have a feeling Godfrey disconnected the cable where Ben lives, so he needs to get his movie fix elsewhere.

First, I want to explain Cecil sabotaging Dwight in the race for the hot tub. It was all free will. Of course, the actions he actually took were quite a bit less sinister.

Cecil likes a good tickle.

Dwight certainly didn't mind. After this, they told each other jokes and then played some pool. Even though I wrote it with a certain Cecil-esque spin, it was actually quite a bit more innocent.

What wasn't so innocent was what happened with Farnsworth. Everything was going fine. He was right up there with the rest of them as far as scores went and he accepted the charm without any problems whatsoever. (Or was it a sweet talk... I think it was a charm, but I can't remember at this point.)

Then came the caress and the rejection.

For all you Farnsworth fans out there, if it helps, please know that I was screaming at my computer. I honestly expected this whole thing to get down to Dean and Farnsworth vying for Miranda. I never in a million years expected him to reject one of her flirts, especially considering that HE was the one stalking her.

I've been wondering if I've been doing the whole BC thing wrong. The caress option was only available for Dean, Farny and Cecil. Dwight and Scott got a Hold Hands, which is a lot less likely to be rejected. But, I went for the highest available flirt in each menu. Cecil and Dean accepted no problem, but Farnsworth.. gah.

In the end, I decided to put the spin on it you see in the update. Farnsworth and Dean really were best friends and when it comes down to it, "Bros before Hos".

I really hope I did Farnsworth justice in this and didn't make it seem like he was doing it just to be angsty. He realized that if things continued on the way they were going, he was going to get hurt no matter what. Either he was going to fall for Miranda and lose her to Dean, or he was going to win her and lose Dean as a friend. There really wasn't any other option for him.

At least that's how I wrote it after I got done screaming at the computer.

This time around, only one set of hearts went flying and it was from Dean to Miranda. He really does have it bad. The scores are astoundingly close all around, but if you were just watching the game, it would seem like Dean should be miles ahead of the other guys.

I LOVE shooting pictures of Annie and Devon. This little bit of plottiness was so much fun to shoot. It was a blast figuring out how to make it look like she was climbing the wall, then standing outside looking in, and then falling down. What makes it all complete win, though, are the expressions she throws. I always thought Tara Kat was a bit boring, but transforming her into someone else has made me fall in love with her completely. I may just give her a name change and an aspiration change.

One thing that's amused me in the responses I've gotten so far are the reactions to the off camera voice that's talking to Annie after she falls. I really don't want to give anything away, but I apparently do a better job writing other people's characters than I thought.

Here's a better shot of Hello in her mad scientist space chick costume. I wanted to give her a little bit of a different look for this and I happened to find this on MTS2. The goggles were added for extra effect.

I think it was Jamie who said she's almost more afraid of Hello than Uranium because Hello is so blissfully ignorant of what's right and wrong. A very true statement in my opinion.

Another scene I enjoyed shooting was the conversation between Lancelot and Lipschitz. I'd wanted to try some of the tricks I'd seen to position and pose sims, and this was a perfect opportunity.

So, I used Decorgal's model pose hack to pose lancelot. I then used a combination of a OMSP and an invisible display tray (along with snapobjectstogrid false) to get him on the bed. You can see the odd shadow on the bed here, but that was easily avoided by changing the angle. It really gave the scene a nice touch, I felt.

Before I gave Hello her makeover, I got this picture. I include this for two reasons.. First, this gave me the idea on how to get Annie to 'fall' out of the window. Second, I can just imagine what Rhys wants to say here.

Speaking of Rhys, this is what he spent the better part of a day doing.

In his underwear.

Even though I have Uranium and Devon getting it on in the story, Rhys and 'Ranie' are making ample use of ACR. I think they actually have three bolts for each other right now, but that's amplified by the whole Romance Sim thing.

Speaking of Romance sims, here's a shot of Lancelot being adorable.

Not so adorable is Cecil being Cecil. This is what he does throughout my neighborhood now. He shows up, makes everyone think he's the Unsavory Charlatan, then runs off with the paper.

As I said earlier, this update was hosted by simselves. Specifically, Ruby, Stacie and DocNerd with little Denise, Renee, Aaroc, and Anabanana. I haven't really played the house extensively, but while I was there I decided to get all the kids into Private School.

I randomized skills, so I put Stacie in charge of cooking and Doc in charge of schmoozing. In the end, that turned out to be futile. Doc could not schmooze Kory Jitmakusol to save her life. I began to quickly understand why the Prof killed him. The tour was great, the food was great, but they still needed 2 points to get in. Finally I had Doc walk away and Stacie stepped in and chatted up the Headmaster. Instantly 10 more points for schmooze.

As you can see in this picture, Stacie's in her element with all the kids while Doc is looking out the window seeking an escape. Ruby's in the other room playing with the bird.

Speaking of Ruby, I want to sing about how much I adore her. I've been struggling to find the right adult outfit for Ophelia. I adored her YA outfit, but it didn't seem mature enough to be an adult's choice in clothing. So, I needed something somewhat sophisticated but definitely sexy.

Do you know how hard it is to find something sophisticated and sexy that doesn't remove rib bones or come with stilletos of death? GRAR! For a while I settled on an outfit from Sims2Cri that didn't have the waist problem, but it did have killer heels. I just wasn't happy with it, but I was content to let it go for now.

Then I saw her makeover in Sarah's game. While that oufit is adorable and I think it works over there, I wanted something a little different. Still, I was inspired to start looking again. I download a crapton of red dresses trying to find just the right one. Finally I stumbled across a dress from Briher.dk. It was PERFECT.

But it was a leopard print.

I tried to modify it myself, but it was just not working. So, I cralwed on my knees to Ruby and begged her to help. The dress you see above is her work and I adore her for it.