I can't think what to do, I'm desperate to make my own world, but I just can't seem to get my ideas off the ground.

I love tiny lots, 15x15 in size, so that's my main feature I suppose. But I also like the idea of separate areas, like a residential one, a rich mansion-filled residential area, a community area (with schools, shops etc) and then the career/urban area.

But I can't think how to get started. Most of the ones I've made have been very 'boxy', lots of straight lines and nothing really joining nicely.

So, can anyone give me some tips on making a good neighbourhood plan? I've even tried sketching things out on paper, and copying real street plans from actual maps of towns! Please, halp me! This has been going on for weeks now!

In my area, there are middle class neighborhoods and high class neighborhoods. So maybe you could make different areas branching from the main town, perhaps an area for your mansions, another for middle class family homes, and another for small starter homes.

So the town could be in the center while the other residential areas branch off.

Well, my main thing is terrain... I like my worlds to be scenic, which means hills, water, good use of neighborhood decor and terrain paint, and lots situated so that as many as possible have an arresting vista. That has to be balanced with having enough flat space for players to expand if they want, but I really don't like all-flat Sims 2-style hoods.

As part of that, I think you really need a theme, so there's a unifying aesthetic... whether it's a particular real-world region or something from fiction. A mental narrative about where the town is and how it got to be that way. Old mill town in New England, mining town in the Australian bush, touristy village in Germany, alien crash site or faerie settlement or whatever :-) All that of course has consequences for landscape, since different kinds of communities form in different kinds of places. A seafaring port needs a harbor, a mill town needs a river, an alpine village needs alps, a seaside resort needs beaches, and so on. A generic suburb needs, at least, a freeway to the city, and a lot of mini-malls

I like the idea of a completely urban neighborhood -- with distinct areas for the different income levels. Let there be scrabbling hard rock poor shacks on the outskirts and mansions for the rich in the center. Very classic theme, I know. Maybe take a look at some famous real life cities, or, one of my favorite fantasy ones: Sanctuary, from Robert Lynn Asprin's Thieves' World. (If you google Map of Thieves' World, and look at the images, you can see what I mean.

Good Luck.

(and if anyone does get inspired to make a Sanctuary for the Sims... oooh, post and let me (us!) know.

Last edited by kiatyn : 7th Mar 2011 at 01:16 AM. Reason: i before e ... yeah, typo.

Building a world is a lot of work and takes a lot of time. Plus CAW is difficult to work with. It tends to crash a lot.

This all means that you probably should have a pretty clear idea of what you are trying to accomplish. It means that you need to understand WHY you want to create a new world.

A lot of worlds, good worlds, already exist and are readily available. Perhaps you should ask yourself why you are dissatisfied with all of those worlds. What is missing that you absolutely want? When you play other worlds, what drives you crazy?

If you are happy with any of the worlds out there, you should examine your own motivations for undertaking a project like this.

I personally think that building a world for the sake of building a world is a waste of time. Building a world to impress others likewise is a waste because most people will ignore your work unless you do something truly exceptional. (e.g. Los Aniegos)

I also think you need to play a lot of worlds to see what other people do right, and what they do wrong. After you have played a number of worlds, you should have a pretty good idea of what you want to see in a world.

Find a city/part of the world you want your town to emulate. Napa Valley? New Orleans? Santa Fe? Suburbs of Vancouver? They all have different architectural themes, so it depends on your taste.

It depends on the climate too, and atmosphere (for example, there's tons of misty mountains in Shang Simla, versus desert cliffs and dunes in Al Simhara), vegetation...

If you pick a town, check out Google maps for layout ideas.

(I got these ideas from my token D&D friend, by the way. He's an excellent DM. )


I personally don't bother making my own worlds. I tend to shoot for the moon when designing... so I just customize what's already available.

I have a suggestion: Make it flat. Seriously! It will fix a ton of problems.

Completely agree with Tevlik. I have been working on a world for several months now. I'll build for a bit, play for a bit. I much prefer it to anything else I've found out there but it's all personal choice so won't be everyones cup of tea (particularly not TUN3R's as it's certainly not flat) so will probably share it eventually but I am a perfectionist and this may not be for several more months - if ever. The sculpting and terrain painting has been the most arduous part of it all. Until you have a flash of inspiration just don't bother as CAW can test the patience of a saint and you'll soon lose interest when you start to encounter (and you will) annoying little problems (she says looking at the folder with several unfinished projects in).

My suggestions are- start off by planning the rough shape of your world, and placing the distant terrain (if you are using one).

Which are the main lots or features of the world? For example, does it have a central park, or main shopping street, or perhaps a harbour or castle? Whatever the focal point of your world is, roughly create that first- so carve out the harbour, place a temporary lot of the size of your park, or place a landmark. That way you can plan the roads and lots around that feature, and get an idea of scale and where you want things to be.

I find that once I start placing lots and roads, I'll get other ideas too. So I would say to just start off by creating the basic roads and lots of your career/ urban areas, and then the ideas will come to you.

Definitely don't start how I started - trying to build and sculpt as you go will be major time sink. A rough sketch on paper will help cut down time spent on the base sculpting (if it is all mostly flat, well and good, but in the case of the project I'm working on (large island with varying heights), I ended up starting over a couple of times). Also plan ahead on the common vegetation (most frequently appearing trees) of your choice.

- If you're going have waterfalls, rivers and lakes, you've got even more complexities to deal with.

- Lot sizes - Plan Plan Plan! Check out lot sizes of community buildings like schools, hospitals, city hall, police station, etc and create these lots in CAW, then place all the objects in the in-game-editor in one shot

- Roads and the GRID - USE THE GRID! Ensure that certain lengths of roads snap to grid so that adjacent lots line up with the roads seamlessly. Also, mix it up a bit by changing the grid angles using the setting at the bottom left when the grid is enabled.

Here's what I am having to deal with when going unplanned:





Using the grid for varying road directions:







And leave decorations, street lights, and effects for LAST.

Last edited by Vidblitz : 21st Mar 2011 at 09:19 PM. Reason: P.S.