That's true, @joandsarah77 ~I don't want to rush anyone. It's just me watching.

We are all watching

I bookmarked this topic in my phone

@gummilutt , I did wave like a maniac from the upper deck of the Baltic Princess, please say you saw Whole city had to see that as I was told my pink sneakers will be seen from miles away :P

Oh was that you? I thought I saw something pink shining in the distance *waves back over the pond*

@Kukamuukaanmuka I know I had nothing in the rules about residential vs apartment but I did intend for all the homes to be private residences. Not sure how the judges will judge your large empty level. I might tell them to ignore it. But if you can make future rounds as regular residential lots~ thanks
Can you also say what your third exercise piece is, I am guessing the TV?

Jo, the ballet thing is the third, radio and that punchinbag are 2 others

If I have time I may try to change the lot, but no need to ask judges to ignore the empty room, I knew it was a risk when I build it, and will take the negative score from it

Edit: And yes, this was the only time I tried to make it apartment alike

@Kukamuukaanmuka
Ellu!!!! How did you manage to fit all these goodies with that budget? Are you a...a..a..genie? I love it very much.

Rose, balletbar and the punchingbag saved a lots of money, and the walls and floors were most likely the cheapest in game and naturally IKEA :P

Was planning on going and looking over my lot and maybe tweaking it, but then my laptop decided to update, and everytime it updates I have to refresh it and reinstall everything .-. Is this my computer telling me not to tweak and overthink my lot too much .-.
(Though luckily when my computer needs refreshed all the files stay or I think I'd cry)

Jo , I will rebuild the lot, so I will repost to my entry

If I cannot make it on time I will gladly move to play along group

Okay Kukamuukaanmuka, Karen did mention that you were. I think there is about 4 days left on the clock. But if you can't I will let the other lot stand so don't remove or delete the pictures. If you get your new lot built in time please swap the pictures. I do not want you in the play along, contests frequently have extensions. Also ahmm I don't want to redo the coding, that bad boy is a pain in the bum. Which is why I hope you have not deleted that entry-just swap pictures and I don't have to mess with the coding.

This goes for anyone who wants to change an entry please leave it even if you hate it, just swap pictures because I do not want to redo any coding. Unless your plan is to drive me to drink
I am joking but please once posted leave it even if a hoard of zombies come by.

I am learning so much simply by following this creative contest! (for one thing I had no idea that there is a bike we can download !!). Oh, and I am playing along all on my own without having joined the play along group. I have never learned how to share photos here at MTS ((LOL))! I am absolutely amazed at the very different vision each player has for the basic foundation and for the Sims chosen to live there.

I did deleted the pics but not the post I know I can make it in time I will post the new pics tomorrow in the same post the old pics were

EDIT: as I allready know what I do with the lot

I figured you could rebuild it quickly, I've done that before myself.

I love your attitude, Ellu! I don't want to belittle the role of the judges, but, at the end of the day, if you like your lot (and your Sims like it) that's the important thing. You have live with your lot. (And your Sims have to live in it!)

Personally I'm not changing my entry now, and I wouldn't change it, even if I was in the contest proper, unless I discovered that I'd missed out one of the requirements. The Elliotts have been living in the house for a week now -- the state it was in when they moved in is a matter of history. Neither I nor my Sims can change the past -- we can only go forward and build a future on it. Now that Joe Elliott has a little money, he is starting to buy some more furniture (end tables and the like) but I won't be changing the uploaded pictures -- this furniture wasn't in the house when he bought it. And it's probably over the original budget. The house is theirs now, and they'll make changes to suit themselves.

I suppose what I'm really betraying here is the fact that I'm really a player - not a builder. I build for my Sims. And I play for the story (or stories) that my Sims and I work out as we play the lots. This contest, and the last one I was in (the Monopoly Game Town one last year) caught my attention because the scenarios presented by the competition hosts seemed to offer scope for my imagination. In both cases the contest was incorporated into my gameplay. In that one, two of my original Sims in Veronaville, though still teens at school, started a construction company to tender for the work, and I imagined myself working for them. I had many imaginary conversations with my very first Sim, Andrew Jones, who was the managing director. He was a fair but exacting boss. The aim of that contest was to maximise his company's profit, and I had a lot of un juggling designs and budgets with him. Andrew's objectives weren't always exactly the same as the contest's. He saw the contest as a shop window for his company, and I was expected to maintain quality standards while keeping prices affordable. I added Monopoly Game Town as a sub-'hood to Veronaville where Andrew lives, and finished dividing the closing budget between him and his co-director, his boyfriend, Julian Moltke. They both have certificates from the contest on their bedroom walls. In this contest I've made a completely separate new 'hood where I hope my Sims and I can build a genuine community spirit among the varying families that Jo has specified (and probably a few others), similar to the community spirit we have built up in Veronaville over the last few years. I believe Andrew's company, Jones & Moltke Construction (Veronaville) Ltd., is still involved in the actual building. The first round entry has a façade in the company's Veronavillesque mock Tudor house-style. We were thinking of doing the same in the second round, but in the end we went for a blue-grey stucco (Sea Mist I think it's called) because of the Elliotts' liking for blue. It's maybe a subtle distinction but I think we're building these houses for our clients, i.e. the Sim families Jo specifies, rather than for the contest. And Andrew and I agree that giving the client what they want, is the way to grow a company.

Well I suspect I'm unlikely to win a contest with this approach but I do have a lot of fun, and I think my Sims do too. And I'm wondering Ellu, if you're maybe a little bit like me. I do think anyone who can speak Finnish must be very clever. To me it looks the most difficult of all the European languages. I can look at a whole page of Finnish, and there's not a single word I can understand!
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I see that while I was writing this extremely long post, you've changed your mind and decided to build a new one. In a way I'm sorry -- I liked that lot. I thought you'd maybe rezone it as an apartment when the round was over, and move the ballerina into the empty flat. But I suppose that's just typical of me -- more interested in the Sims and their story than in the lot itself -- even in a building contest. I wonder if you might have kept the lot if I'd posted faster. This was meant to be a short post when I started it! I'm always doing that with my posts -- I just don't know when to stop! I do hope you've kept at least a copy of the lot itself and just deleted the pictures. It really was a good one. And the best of luck with your new one. I'm sure it will be good too.

There is no reason why you can't have more than one lot, one for the contest and one for your game play. I like that people are coming up with different families but it is a build contest and if anyone enters to try and win then they will want to build and decorate to that effect.

OHHH believe me I feel the same with many other languages :D

@AndrewGloria , very true
I am not in this contest to win, only to learn and for fun :D

And that doing a contest v. game play variation was how I made my cabin into a contemporary to put in my suburban hoods, changed my mind, then completely made over my entry! Beware!

But re-making my lot to suit my game play. was a blessing, actually. Changing it around to suit my hood gave me a fresh look at the lot. Sometimes a fresh look and approach can make a big difference when you feel you're stuck creatively.

And Kukamuukaanmuka, I hope you have your current configuration for upload later. There was quite a bit of interest in it.

Three days and counting now!

Yes I will keep the lot as it is , as I like it too as an apartment.

I am editing the copy of the lot

Well, whether we win or lose, at least if we all stay to the end, we should all get an achievement. You too, joandsarah77 and the judges (if you haven't received one already). So even if we don't get a blue ribbon (and I sincerely doubt everyone is going to win the contest!) we at least will have something pretty in our profile.

Those who are able to upload lots here will get another pretty picture in their achievement section as well.

Just musing.

One host-me lol. I'm quite creative but not much in the story telling area. I figured you could all come up with something from the families I made up.

Ever since application round has been done and dusted things here have been pretty good, almost relaxing with Petro's juice bar.

Fermented fruit juice bar is open. Always! Glad to see somebody uses the hammock

These contests, where you have a foundation (or sometimes a shell) are so interesting because everyone builds differently - and I think that is what makes it fun (and hard for the judges).

I have to add that the families are a wonderful bunch, and I think that they can be perfect for anyone who wants to start a brand new hood as well. We seem to interpret the families in different ways as well and I love to see what my fellow contestants come up with This is a nice concept added to the building, and I think all of us enjoy that (some seem to have gone and written books about them A drink to that as well

Wow! I didn't think I was going to make it lol
I think I said my game was playing up? Well before I could even start to fix it my pain meds were increased so that wiped me out for two days. Then I had to sort my game and it still wont run with CC so I had to start the build over. Trying to fit 4 bedrooms into the budget and give them enough dining space and seating was "impossible" so I've ended up with a fairly sparse lot. I still can't get used to terrain painting in 2 and couldn't find a tutorial (my google fu totally failed me ) Aargh! Anyhoo enough complaining. Here is a pic of my Lamberts.



Toni and Karen met at university, she with dreams of becoming a teacher and he dreamt of being the best businessman simanity had ever seem. At first he didn't think he stood a chance with her and anyway he was far more interested in making money. But after they got to talk more at the university's art club he finally plucked up the courage to ask her to go for a coffee. When she said yes this gave him all the encouragement he needed and before the end of the semester they were engaged. After graduation they had planned to start their careers before getting married however they found out karen was pregnant so plans had to change. By the time that Benji and Sara were born enough was enough and Toni and Karen decided that they had to find a better house. The now teenage twins Kia and Keri begged their parents for a room each but Toni had to explain that they just couldn't afford 5 bedrooms so a compromise was struck. The girls could each decorate their half of the room. It was a decision that their parents have regretted ever since! The boys however were delighted with their new garden and fort at last they had somewhere to play after school instead of being couped up in their old apartment. They only wish that there were more kids to play with but their mum keeps telling them that soon others will move to the new neighbourhood.
As I said the budget with so many sims was really tight and I would have liked to add more but at least Toni and Karen have decided that they like the empty wall upstairs so they can use it as a gallery for portraits of the kids. If you squint you can just make out how Benji and Sara look now that they have grown into children and there is also a picture painted by tony of the fort that he built for the boys with the help of his new neighbour Bob Wilson. Karen says Bob helped because he's nervous about the arrival of his first child and wanted to get a feel for what looking after kids is like.






Scottiedoag

Jo, I posted the New entry to same post where it was before