Cool ... and they not NPCs? Double cool

YES!!! That's what I had before :lovestruc perfect! Thank YOU, Maxon

...now if I only had a horseback riding pose-box that would work with these... hmmmm?

Gazania - I love kativip's stuff too - but am leary of downloading. Those horses look nice though. Thanks!

Ask and you shall receive!

Thank you for my comments and scores, judges

ok I have sent notes to the respective judges to come and answer questions on the scores

"waits til everything is talked through, and is poised waiting to change scores respectively as needed "

OMG! That is perfect!!! Thank YOU soooooo much

Hmm, yes those horses ("where the hell is the favourite button?" scroll, scroll, scroll - on my tablet) and pose box perfect for my medieval hood.

I just realized that my lot might not be classified as a tropical lot. I mean, it's based on a building IN the tropics, but there is no jungle or anything. Tropical areas often have exquisite buildings, such as these:

https://www.architecturaldigest.com...ical-escape/all

Oh, well. Can't rebuild now. My goal is to get this building done in a week.

I think it just has to have a tropical feel - my beach bar is not even close to a beach

Looks tropical to me gazania.

Beaches are fine. After all, on the very first page it says
"for instance a beach would be a good choice for tropical"

There are a lot of beaches around the world that aren't tropical in any case.

Oh wait, it is a beach, right? I got distracted by mention of them. Now to stop procrastinating and getting on to real life stuff...

It looks tropical to me - but what do I know, I live in Central Florida. LOL!

Tropical is a climate range, not an architectural style.

You already got good replies, but I thought I'd confirm their answers are correct. It's not a requirement, and you did not lose points for doing so (if you look back you'll see more people have gotten that feedback). But as Jones said, if you only add them via link in the text it'll be resized to size of the post. As attachments they will open as big as the window allows, which means we can see more details. Being able to see things bigger lets me see things in more detail, which is especially helpful if something is only visible in the floorplan shot. So I point it out because it's something that could save you points in a hypothethical future round. And it's less frustrating for me when judging, since I can flip through more easily and see things better, so win win!



The stair I was referring to is the one you used in the garden. The windows were the tall thin ones in the lobby, which combined with the wallpapers/ceiling/floor makes it look really busy which is not something I associate with the eastern style. If you look at the pictures you added, it does use similar things but only one thing at a time. You've got a busy pattern ceiling, busy pattern wallpaper, busy pattern floor and on top of that the multiple thin windows next to each other which add even more business to the already busy wallpaper. The furniture-comment was mainly in reference to the super modern tv set, but also to some extent the stairs. Not that the stairs are wrong, but it's one more thing that's got a lot going on which contributes to the jumbled feel. If you go way back to where I shared the criteria I use for judging theme-category you'll see the final point is for "Everything about it screams theme", and in this case while you do have a clear Asian-feel throughout there are some question marks and in order to keep it fair to previous scores I felt it was necessary to deduct that point.

As for being disjointed with the other two judges, that's been the case for almost every entry I'd say. I'm a tougher cookie than my two co-judges. And while I understand that's no fun as a contestant, I'd like to remind all of you I am equally tough cookie on everyone. As I mentioned above if there are question marks on which way to sway, I will compare with previous rulings and try to make sure it's dealt with the same way as the previous one, so that it remains fair.



I don't remember what the half point deduction was for, and I'm away for the weekend so I don't have access to my notes at the moment. I will take a look when I get home and get back to you

But generally speaking about playability I look at several things. Beyond the basics (can objects be used? is there stomping potential?) I also look at the flow of the lot. Are things placed in a way that will create a natural flow in Sims movement, or is it likely they'll end up tracking back and forth from one corner to another? Are there narrow areas in said natural flow of Sim movement? Did you use your space in a strategic and creative way? Is there a lot of empty space? Is that space empty for a reason (dance floor, heavily trafficked area etc) or is it empty for no reason (ie space defined by the structure that you don't know what to do with)?

As for unique, for me a lot being unique is not just about it being a new concept or something creative, but about it being really well made for what it is. We've all seen that one community lot with perfectly ordinary things in it, but that blows our mind because it's doing it in a really great way. Or that one residential lot that isn't a medieval castle, or a space station, just an ordinary home but that's got a lot of great thought put into it and effort in every detail of it. To me that is a unique build, because it stands out from others of the same type. Being a creative new concept does certainly gives you a great starting point in terms of being unique, but it has to be executed well too

When it comes to my scores, try and think of them as 0 being the base line, and 30 being extra everything. Each point you get, is something you achieved. Something you did right beyond "I made a house with things in it", which is the starting point of any build, isn't it? So getting for example a 26 out of 30 is not 4 points from being good, it's 26 points good. That's 26 individual things you managed to do in your build beyond the basics, and that's pretty darn great if you really think about it.

I am sorry guys that I didn't get on with the play alongs scores tonight, I will for sure tomorrow. It has been an interesting day, some good and some bad around here, and I didn't quite make it.

I have an earlier post talking about how different judges judge and in most contests you will find a tougher or easier judge, but so long as a judge is equally as tough or easy on everyone their overall score doesn't matter. I must admit to being tired so I may not have judged this round with as close an eye as past rounds. But for what I do see, I take off .5 at a time.I don't think anybody has asked me about the scores I gave though.

I am fine with the rest of your scores, @gummilutt - as I said, I don't have to agree with your opinion. But losing even half a point for playablity (I had to scrap my first attempt due to playability issues; I am absolutely 100% sure this one does not have any) is not making sense to me, so that is all I want explained. (I put less effort into building skills, however it may be defined, in Round 1 and 2, and that is why I don't agree, but I am accepting your score there).

I would like to hear from Judge 1 - I have left some comments on her comments in post 1140 - since she asked me questions, I had answered them.

I understand what you are saying but it sounded like it was a requirement in the way you phrased it - Please attach your pictures to the post, it makes judging much easier - I know you are not a native English speaker but that doesn't sound like a request to me (speaking as a native English speaker), it sounds peremptory. I would guess that was not your intention. It's not an unreasonable requirement to ask people to post pictures to the thread if it helps so much with judging. Perhaps in future contest this could be made a requirement though, as I said, that information needs to be on the front page.

BTW, I do not read every post on the thread (I've been ill for one thing) and it's probably best not to assume that everyone has seen every word written.

Well I will try to remember that piece of advice for next contest for sure! Maxon

Only one comment per play along this time Things have been kind of nuts for some of our judges lately

@Justpetro

after further review.... please accept my apology. You learn something new everyday... Thank you! I am raising your score to a 5 on theme. gdayars and I have been in contact and your score will be changed to reflect it.

Thank you very much. I appreciate it a lot.

raised your score @Justpetro

Thank you

@gdayars. Somehow I have 29 points for unique-ness from judge 3 in my score sheet. I'm not saying I won't take that because I sure could use a boost in points but I think something is off