Sims 4 Creators Camp: Creating a Legacy

ladycheshireSims 4 Creators camp is a full three day hands-on experience. There were about two dozen of us invited in total, simmers from across the spectrum. Some were machinima makers, some custom content creators, others builders and modders, and still others were Let’s Players and other Youtube figureheads. Everyone was given the same level of access to the game, but everyone approached their time with the game differently. After the break, I detail MY experience with the game from start to finish.

I was invited there as the creator of the Legacy Challenge, so my #1 priority was playtesting my own start of a Legacy. While three days would only scratch the surface of a Legacy Challenge, it would give me some very important framework to which I could mold the new version of my challenge. Like all good Legacy Challenge starts, everything began with a founder, Lady Cheshire Masque, given the creative aspiration with a focus on writing, art Lover, music lover, and delightfully insane.
There are two neighborhoods to start with, though they intend to add more. And sadly you cannot customize lot sizes. The largest lot size in the game is 50×50, a bit smaller than past Legacy Challenge lots, but still quite sizeable.

I was invited there as the creator of the Legacy Challenge, so my #1 priority was playtesting my own start of a Legacy.

There are four 50×50 lots to choose from in the game. My first inclination was to bulldoze one of the two parks which occupied two of the 50×50 lots. The game lets you change the lot *type* to whatever you want. So it was easy for me to convert the park-type lot to a residential lot. However, even after bulldozing the whole park, the lot still cost me $25,000 simoleans to buy. A starting CAS sim only has $20,000 in starting funds and sadly there is no Family Funds cheat that I could find (There ARE cash cheats like motherlode, kaching and rosebud that you can use once in game, but not from the neighborhood screen.) Not wanting to get too complicated with the steps needed to start a Legacy Challenge, I tried my luck with the two residential 50×50 lots. Both of these start with mansions pre-built on them, and in the case of Oasis Springs, the Landgraab family lives there…but I could easily bulldoze and evict. What was left was a 50×50 lot that cost me exactly $10,000.

That was both good and bad. Good that I was able to afford the lot directly out of CAS, bad in that the $10,000 lot would leave me with $10,000 in starting cash, which is WAY too much for a Legacy Founder to start with. With no Familyfunds cheat to artificially decrease my wealth, I had to find an alternative. Luckily one presented itself. There is a decorative set of armor that costs $8,200. Buying that and sticking it in your family inventory leaves you with $1,800 in starting cash and nothing on the lot: A perfect Legacy Challenge start.07-29-14_7-40 PMSince her aspiration was writing, I decided to enroll her in the new writing career. This wasn’t registering as self-employed, this was a full-fledged career. Both military and law enforcement are absent, so I wasn’t sure which careers paid the most in the early stages. In hind sight, writing wasn’t one of them, but I don’t regret going into it.

My initial purchases included a mid-quality double bed for $1500 and a crappy (haha) toilet for about 300. Off I went to the community lots to go build her skills, meet potential mates and friends and fulfill her needs. While she wasn’t famished I went off in search of cheap food. Notably absent were restaurants, but there were grills in the park. However, even a batch of hot dogs was $32 a pop! Luckily I found a source of free food: Bars.

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After working out at the gym, Lady Cheshire takes a long thoughtful shower, leaving her clean AND inspired and ready to work on her books at the library.

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Lady Cheshire finds plenty of guys, but slim pickings for marriage material.

You can walk up and order “Chips” from a bar for free. The bartender will hand you a bowl of bar snacks that your sim can casually munch on. It won’t fill the hungerbar all the way and my sim would sometimes not finish them if she got distracted by something else, but I did get a great preview of the new multitasking system. After getting her bowl of chips she would either grab a seat or just stand and munch on them. With a gaggle of other people in the bar, some eating, some drinking, others dancing, she was able to join in the conversation. I could even command her to do specific socials like flirting with potential mates and she was able do that without abandoning her snacks.

Bars aside, community lots are good for social interactions. If the time of day is appropriate, there is normally a gaggle of people coming and going. And whatever you came to the community lot to do, you can probably do that plus talking with nearby people as a multitasking action. Now, chatting DOES slow down your action, so if you want your Sim to buckle down and finish that book or finish that skill point, you may want to seek out solitude.07-29-14_5-54 PMIn my visiting of the community lots, I found one of the most powerful uses for multi- tasking out there. At one of the gyms, there is a trio of treadmills setup side-by-side in front of a wall-mounted TV. While the writing career didn’t require any athletic points, I wanted to make sure Lady Cheshire maintained her figure. So she got onto a treadmill and started working out. I then told her to watch TV and she turned it on and started watching it WHILE ON THE TREADMILL. I could even change it to the cooking channel and build cooking skill at the same time as athletic. Then a townie wandered in and hopped on a treadmill next to her and while still working out and still watching TV, she was able to strike up a conversation with her fellow gym goer. So multi tasking is NOT limited to just two actions.

After her workout it was shower time.

And let me tell you about showers: They play a pretty big role in the Sims 4, and not just with hygene. So at base your sim can “Take a shower” “Take a brisk shower” “Take a steamy shower” and “Take a Thoughtful shower”. Just plain taking a shower is the fastest in terms of just getting your hygene up. A brisk shower only fills your hygene halfway but is very quick and it leaves your Sim with an “Energized” moodlet. Energized is one of the emotions. A steamy shower leaves them in with a flirty moodlet. A thoughtful shower takes MUCH longer than normal and very slowly satisfies hygene, but leaves them with the inspired moodlet. After all, we all do our best thinking in the shower.

As a funny side note, if your Sim is flirty already when they go to use the shower, they get the option to take a ‘cold shower’ which takes them OUT of the flirty mood.

After much searching and flirting, Lady Cheshire finally found her would-be mate. A scruffy art lover. Just like in past games, talking about their shared interest helped build their friendship faster. However, even with the shared interest, it took me awhile to build him up to a solid friendship. Worse still, it took me about three failed attempts to even start flirting. He was happily accepting interactions that were friendly, but politely turned down Lady Cheshire’s flirts.

It turns out that, as I learned from one of the developers, interaction acceptance and rejection now has a random element. Granted, it is heavily influenced by environmental factors, mood and current relationship. You aren’t going to get a life long loving spouse randomly rejecting a simple interaction with their mate, but on borderline cases, an interaction might be accepted OR rejected given similar circumstances. I actually find this a good thing, even though it delayed Lady Cheshire’s aquiring a mate. He even rejected her first proposal! She was rocking the embarrassed emotion for a VERY long time after that.

You aren’t going to get a life long loving spouse randomly rejecting a simple interaction with their mate, but on borderline cases, an interaction might be accepted OR rejected given similar circumstances.

I did have her invite him out on a date, and dates are now mini-events of their own. They give you goals to meet, such as sitting and talking, having a number of flirty interactions, playing together. All of which builds your date score. I was able to get a gold metal on my date and was rewarded with a free reward object, a champagne bottle in a bucket of ice. When placed in the world it could radiate an aura of flirty, making Sims who enter the room become flirty unless they had a stronger emotion present. Great for putting in the bedroom.

After the successful date and more poking and prodding, I got him to accept Lady Cheshire’s marriage proposal. There are two relationship bars, but the way they spin it is new. You have a friendly relationship bar and a 2nd romantic bar. The romantic bar doesn’t appear unless you’ve romanced that Sim before. Doing flirty interactions with a Sim builds the romantic bar not the friendly bar. Thus it is possible to have a woohoo buddy; a sim who is really romantically involved with someone but couldn’t care less about them as a friend. Lady Cheshire was at a full romance bar but only halfway friend bar when her first proposal was rejected. I built up the friendship bar more before trying and succeeding. A dev stated that her first proposal should have been accepted at those levels, but I probably got an unlucky roll.

The Insane Lady Cheshire passed the time while waiting for her boyfriend to come over by talking to a trash can. Her non-insane boyfriend humored her and joined the conversation.

The Insane Lady Cheshire passed the time while waiting for her boyfriend to come over by talking to a trash can. Her non-insane boyfriend humored her and joined the conversation.

At this point I could either have her throw a wedding party or elope and get married immediately. A wedding party costs $1,000 just to throw! She eloped as money was still tight. Which reminds me…speaking of money.

Bills. Let me talk about bills. They have teeth now. They are calculated based on the total value of the house, including objects in the family inventory. The only thing they don’t tax is cash on hand. Her first set of bills, back when she was just furniture on the lawn, came to $750. Yes, you read that right, $750. You have 48 hours to pay them from when they arrive or you get your power shut off and if you continue to not pay, the water gets cut. The Repo man no longer exists, having your utilities cut is now the punishment for bill non-payment.

After marrying her hubby, he brought in quite a bit of money. $19,000 and a few modestly priced objects. The devs indicated that the wealth brought in by townies is random, and that I probably got lucky in having her hubby bring in that much. Regardless it was enough for me to start building a proper house.

Nothing makes a better conversation piece over breakfast like a decorative urn.

Nothing makes a better conversation piece over breakfast like a decorative urn.

Now let me talk about build mode. At first, you’re going to hate it. You’re going to go in and try to build and half the things you want to do, which used to be pretty simple in the Sims 3, are now done in a completely different manner. I had to call over the devs a few times to help me accomplish some pretty basic tasks. This is because I was approaching building from a Sims 3 mindset. After a few times having things explained to me…I got it. You need to recalibrate your brain to build in the Sims 4. The whole “Block building” methodology requires new techniques. Until you get “block building” you are going to have a tough time building and probably declare Sims 4 inferior. But once you ‘get it’ and wrap your brain around the new system… you’ll find the Sims 4 a lot more powerful and flexible.

I was able to build what I had a vision for… a house with a double story theatre built into it. I had to be skimpy with furnishing to have enough for all the walls and such. That said, I could easily see the insane artist deciding that form trumped function. That said, it had the basics. One of its hallmarks was an “Inspiration Room”

Lady Cheshire taking a Pregnancy test in her Inspiration Room...yes there is a toilet and shower in there.

Lady Cheshire taking a Pregnancy test in her Inspiration Room…yes there is a toilet and shower in there.

Certain objects, mostly career reward objects, radiate an emotion. With Lady Cheshire being a writer and a painter on the side, being in the ‘inspired’ mood was VERY benefical for her. If she went to work inspired, she’d get a performance boost, her books were higher quality if written while inspirired and she built writing and painting skills faster if she was inspired. This inspiration room was full of every inspiration boosting object I could get. It also had the toilet and shower there. While squatting on the toilet, she chould look at an inspiration boosting painting, and thoughtful showers just further served to increase her level of inspiration. If enough moodlet points were stacked in favor of inspiration, she would become “Very Inspired” which seemed to amplify the effects even further.

This ends the first half of the tale of the Masque family. In the next part, learn what happened after the knot was tied as we explore the ins and outs of growing your family and bringing in the next generation.

(Part Two is now up! You can read it here.)

Goodnight! See you Tomorrow!

Goodnight! See you Tomorrow!

Posted by Pinstar Legacy

53 comments

Is the family tree still in the game?

ImaginingMystic

From Pinstar at work:

I did not look for one while at the camp, so I cannot confirm or deny this… I should have.

Since bills take into account what you have in your family inventory and the first set of bills were so expensive, would it be acceptable to give away the 8,200 armour to another Sim as a present? I imagine you would have to take the time to build up a relationship high enough to be able to have the gift accepted anyway. I wonder how much giving away the armour would have reduced that first bill.

Also, are you considering increasing the legacy starting funds since bills are pricier and purchased food is more expensive now?

Thanks for all this info! I really enjoy playing Legacy Challenges and look forward to your future posts.

ImaginingMystic

From Pinstar at work:

Nope, keep that armor in your family inventory and let it inflate your bills J. Think of the armor as a title; a sort of nobility status of the family. And I think the starting Legacy funds are just right. It *felt* right compared to other incarnations of the challenge. To help compensate for the bills and the higher cost of food, sources of income now pay a bit more. When she married Raheem and he brought in 19k, I was able to build quite big house, so build mode items like walls and such aren’t *too* expensive. The first generation (at least until you get married) is meant to feel like a struggle. Starting you with too much cash would let you get too comfortable too quickly.

Thanks so much!

no restaurants? but I saw a pic of 2 sims eating outside of what looked like a restaurant. that really bums me out.

They can eat at bars, in this case they orderer food on the bar and eated outside.

So, with writing as a career does that mean there was set work hours that she had to walk off the lot to go to work?
This all sounds so awesome! Great article. I’m so pumped for the release of The Sims 4 and starting a new legacy!

ImaginingMystic

From Pinstar at work:

She did have set hours and did have to leave the lot. I neglected to write down all the career level names. The jist was that she was hired part time to write for various publications. As her job levels went up, the prestige of the publication went up. That said, MANY of the requirements to advance to the next level involved writing and publishing your own books. The hours were also clear that it was meant as a part time gig. She normally had 3-4 days off every week and on the days she did work, she didn’t stay extremely late, nor was the job taxing on her mood levels.

Thank you for the information! It sounds like its going to be a great new twist.

Also… Is that a toilet WITHOUT a wall (starter lot pic)?! Crazy!

Thank you so much for this. This preview is the best I’ve read so far. It really got me excited to play the game again (you could say it put me in the “inspired” mood :p)

Pinstar Legacy

I’m glad you liked it! I was worried that it was a little wordy, but I’m glad the glut of details were a good thing! I’m working on Part 2 right now so keep your eyes peeled for more 🙂

Definitely not too wordy! Nice to read actual content!

Snarkysims

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Snarkysims

I second QDog. This is exactly the level of detail I was hoping to hear about the game. Great job, Pinstar!

Awesome article, love it. :)) I’ve got 2 questions – 1) If my sim does not work out, will he get fat like in the Sims 2?
2) Is there a musician career?

Pinstar Legacy

1. Sims have a weight level and it CAN change, so yes they can get fat. Now… if a simple lack of working out makes them fat or if you have to over-eat (eating when hunger is full) to get fat, I’m not sure. I didn’t test that. Lady Cheshire did hit the gym in the early stages of the Legaacy, but even once she got married and pregnant and pretty much stopped going, she didn’t get chunky, namely because she never over-ate.

2. The “Entertainer” career is split into 2 paths, comedian and musician, so your dedicated music sim will have a career track just for them! Lady Cheshire’s husband was in the entertainment career, but since he had a level 6 skill in comedy when he married into the family, I stuck him on the comedian branch, so I don’t know what the musician branch is like.

I’ve been wandering the same thing about the weight and it’s relation to working out. I’ve missed having that aspect of the Sims 2 and am glad that the weight can change.

Great preview! Can’t wait to read part 2! 🙂

Wickedjr89

AweSim! This is the info i’ve been waiting for! Love it!

[…] Sims 4 Creators Camp: Creating a Legacy […]

Very informative and creative writing! I liked reading about your legacy beginnings. I especially liked the info about the showers. The brisk/Energized, steam/Flirty, cold/unFlirty, and long/Inspired was really well thought out by the developers an d is a perfect gameplay strategy for us to use in our games. Can’t wait to read you part 2.
-RR

I am thrilled to hear you can somehow cut your money down in this game to start a legacy. I love starting off poor and building up. I love the challenge of it. Thanks for all this information. I read every word. It was not to wordy at all. Just loved it. Thank you.

That was the most useful article to come out of the Creator’s Camp by a long way 🙂 Provides a real sense of what gameplay is like, and so many fascinating details. Can’t wait for Part 2!

I was also thrilled to see the showertub WITH A CURTAIN in the bathroom screenshot 😉 Have had to rely on CC for that for far too many years! When the sim gets in, is the curtain animated? Does it retract on both sides (so it could be used in either orientation)?

Dunno if you happened to notice this, but I had a question about wall height. Do prebuilt and Gallery rooms come with an indication of their wall height? I can see where adding a too-short room would be ok (height could adjust to match), but if a room has too-tall walls, it could have deco, windows etc which wouldn’t fit anymore if you put it on a floor which had short walls. If you see what I mean 😉

Pinstar Legacy

I didn’t pay too much attention to the curtain or the orientation so I can’t really answer that. I want to say the curtain wasn’t animated…but maybe it was and it was just too subtle. I tend to play zoomed out and miss some smaller details.

That would be a question for the builders. The only bit of building stuff I played around with is the foundation…I gave the whole house a really really tall foundation… mainly to make the stage effect that you can see in the screenshot. The devs said that at the lowest level, a foundation doesn’t need stairs to step up onto, but anything higher needs stairs.

Sorry for the question spam, but looking at your screens I have more 😀

Beds (etc): Do the beds have different energy levels like the earlier games? Looks like you started off with a relatively pricey bed (just based on appearance). Similar question about showers, chairs etc… what kind of perks does buying a more expensive one get you?

Gardening: I see she started a garden on her empty lot. Can sims now eat fruits and vegetables without cooking them? Anything else you can tell us about your gardening experience? Very interested in this aspect 🙂

Pinstar Legacy

Beds do have different energy levels. OHH! And there are kids beds and teenager beds. They are cheaper than normal, but carry the modifier “Uncomfortable for Adults” Lance slept in his kid bed with no bad moodlets, but I have a feeling if I made Lady Cheshire sleep there, she’d be rocking some bad moodlets in the morning.

I did start her with a pricier bed. My general Legacy strategy is to spend as much as I can on the bed and worry about the other stuff later. I didn’t buy the super expensive showers/chairs/etc. The family wealth had not reached the level where I could afford the top quality products. I DID upgrade my fridge from the cheapest to the 2nd cheapest as the ‘tastes like fridge’ moodlet is back.

I was not able to make her eat fruit and veggies raw…but when I cooked, certain dishes could have certain fruits or veggies added in. Unlike in the Sims 3, even if I had the proper fruit (such as a straberry for strawberry pancakes) it did NOT make the dish free. Having the fresh fruit on hand reduces the cost and/or improves the quality. Fruits have their own quality rating just like in 3. Since I couldn’t eat them raw and I didn’t want to sacrifice writing time, I got rid of most of the plants and kept just one strawberry and one onion plant. The fruit CAN be sold raw, so you can sell it and use it to buy meals if you are dead broke. I didn’t do too much else with gardening…but I KNOW it is fully fleshed out and complex.

I have a question, do you have to join the writing career or can you just write books on your own time and get paid royalty’s like in this sims 3.

Pinstar Legacy

You can absolutely write and publish books without the writing career. The career is there as a sort of supplemental income, and to help guide you in improving your sim’s skills. Not to mention it unlocks some really nice career rewards. Level 2 nets you a computer can help your sim become inspired…and used to write on too. It was that freebie that allowed Lady Cheshire to start writing at home and not visit the library every time she wanted to work on a book.

Thanks very much for your report about the game! I do not like information on The Sim 4, but after I read your report, I wanted to play. I look forward to the continuation of your story! (and excuse my bad english).
Tell me please, I have correctly understood, Sims can not eat raw fruits and vegetables?

ImaginingMystic

From Pinstar at work:

My whole reason for cultivating a garden in the beginning was so I could put off buying a fridge and stove and such…but ‘plant’ was the only interaction I was able to use with them. There is a chance that this was a bug that I mistook for a feature… then again the plants yielded quite a bit and it would make cooking a non-item if you could just chow down on all of them raw.

Food cost wasn’t a HUGE issue. Once I got a fridge and stove, I could make family meals (4 servings now, down from 6…but now there is a ‘party size’ option that makes 8 servings) and the cost per plate wasn’t bad at all.

please give us a list with all the missing features you noticed in the game, compared to the sims, sims 2 and sims 3 base games

Great job, Pinstar. Don’t know if you remember me as SimMasterMoira back in the day, trying to get you a conversation with EA because of your wonderful Legacy Challenge, but the rest, as we say, is history. I’m so proud of you and of what you’ve accomplished since then! Well done, young sir. Well done. You are Legend. 🙂

ImaginingMystic

I remember you! I will pass your kind words on to Pinstar at work 🙂 He’ll be happy to read them!

Thank you! 🙂

Hi! I absolutely love the text! It is truly the first really 5 star report on TS4!!! Thank you very much!
I have a huge question if the developers kept family tree or not? Did you have a chance to check it? Thanks much anyway!

ImaginingMystic

Pinstar stated in a response to someone else that he didn’t check when he was at Creators Camp, so he isn’t sure 🙂

Thank you!!!

Shell052311

Awesome job on this post Pinstar!! Cannot wait to read part 2, and the comments and answers above, have provided even more information, I feel spoilt lol! Roll on 5th September!! Cannot wait to play!! 😀

Omg, reading this really gave me the information I’d been looking for as far as gameplay goes. Your article was wonderful and had to lol at the last picture…I love it. Thank you for your expert insight into what is shaping up to be a truly exciting sims game, again. 🙂

When you brought the 50×50 lot to start and you had $10,000 left, can you use that money to buy trees and bushes on the lot.
Love this challenge and am anxious to start when I get the game in Sept. Glad they invited you to go. Great info. I see that you can buy a vacant lot and also the toilet does not need a wall.

ImaginingMystic

From Pinstar at work:

That does follow the challenge in spirit, though you would be barred from ever selling those trees and bushes, and it might be tricky to arrive at exactly 1,800 leftover starting cash. If you DO do this, you have to make sure none of the items gives you any kind of environment score. The whole reason why I make you stick the armor in the family inventory (rather than allowing you to display it on the lot) is so you don’t get a massive decoration moodlet that might otherwise dull the ‘dirt poor’ experience. (That said, nothing stops you from earning 9,800 and buying a new set of armor specifically to display in the house) I don’t think stray trees and bushes give any moodlet bonuses, but I’m just stating that to be sure.

[…] simslegacychallenge.com/sims-4-creators-camp-creating-a-legacy […]

It sounds like your taxes were so high because you had that expensive object in your inventory. If you hadn’t bought that and just had the cash on-hand, it probably wouldn’t have charged you so much since the other objects you had purchased were pretty inexpensive. Looks like maybe buying that item isn’t going to be a good “cheat” for starting a Legacy challenge after all.

Pinstar Legacy

On the contrary. I want your early bills high, yes, even artificially higher due to that statue. I tested to make sure the bills were not un-funly difficult.

Did you say Sims can no longer eat raw fruits ?
And where do they buy their food from ?
Can you explain more in depth about how the meals work in cooking from home ?
You said you were able to bring your meal serves down from 6 to 4…
Thank you for posting this & revealing what game play would be like.

[…] was able to play The Sims 4 during The Sims 4 Creators Camp, and reading about their Pinstar Legacy Challenge experience  intrigued me by the following info […]

What is the Whoohoo like? Does the game have porn movie music play when your Sims do it?

Pinstar Legacy

Woohoo is actually much more realistic…but not in an NSFW way. After your sims do the deed, they get a moodlet. When Lady Cheshire and Raheem were newly weds and had been flirting up and kissing up a storm beforehand, they both ended their woohoo session with a +2 happiness “Fantastic woohoo” moodlet.

Now, fast forward to later on, I decided they both have some low fun so I just tell them to woohoo. Don’t bother with the flirty mood, don’t bother with any flirts, kisses, romantic jokes…just boom- woohoo. They did it, but afterwards they were both left with a “Unsatisfying Woohoo” moodlet that left them with +1 tense. So just like in real life, if you skip to the sex without foreplay, it isn’t going to be as good for either sim involved.

[…] Sims 4 Creators Camp: Creating a Legacy – The Sims Legacy … – Sims 4 Creators camp is a full three day hands-on experience. There were about two dozen of us invited in total, simmers from across the spectrum…. […]

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Love The sim 4.
I play this game with girlfriend

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