User blog:Kiwi tea/News: Seasons & Sunlit Tides

News: Seasons & Sunlit Shores

We've had so much news and I don't make enough time to keep updating, but here's another round up of what we've heard that really impacts the world-building community.

Seasons

Recently EA announced that they are releasing a Seasons expansion pack in November, so let's discuss some of the details and how these might affect world builders.

Firstly: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter will work just fine in our custom worlds. Seasons and weather are already customisable in-game, so there shouldn't be any need for complicated tunings like there is for the general lighting and climate.

Secondly: Swimmable oceans are coming in the related patch. Sims will be able to enter any water with a gentle slope into it, and swim anywhere in the water they like, right up to the yellow "Camera Non-Routing" paint you've applied in CAW. Blue "Sims Non-Routing" paint has no effect on routing in water.

Thirdly: Seasons won't come with a new world, instead the development team have focused on making the seasonal effects compatible with all existing EP content. Expect, for example, seasonal changes for EP trees as well as base game and Seasons trees.

Fourthly, and lastly: There is a fantastic new seasonal lot marker that allows lots to cycle through seasonal changes. Builders can set up objects on the lot to alter per season, but cannot make key elements like walls or roofing change. We do not yet know the exact user interface of the marker, just its general functions. This object is key to the shifting seasonal festivals, but also functions on any lot - community or residential. Festivals happen according to the season, but the weather for each season can be altered (however, winter will always be freezing outside even if you disable snow). Therefore players can have winter festivals without snowy weather, but it will still be freezing outdoors and Sims will still need outwear.

Sunlit Tides

The talented team at The Sims 3 Store have been hitting some home-runs with their recent projects like Lunar Lakes and Lucky Palms. Now they've announced Sunlit Tides, which looks to include quite a number of CAW goodies for those who are keen on Polynesian worlds. As a resident of a Polynesian island (New Zealand) and a regular visitor to Polynesian islands, I'm personally very excited by this world. It's very bright, as you can see by the announcement banner above, but that seems to appeal to a lot of simmers even if it strikes me as quite a bit less beautiful than a more authentic, relaxed palette.

In terms of new flora there are hibiscus bushes, coconut palms including wind-blown ones, mid-sized ornamental banana palms (or possibly young travellers palms?), and some misc trees that are hard to identify from the pics so far. The world looks wonderful, in either case, and will include some appropriately themed rabbit holes. Looking forward to seeing more of this world.

A modern downtown gives way to a lush jungle sprinkled with exotic bungalows and waterfront vacation homes nestled between the gentle waves of the ocean and a sun kissed lagoon. Enjoy a picnic on the beach, plan a secret rendezvous at an island waterfall, or cozy up to a loved one in the shade of a palm tree and watch the sun sink into the sea. Will your Sims find true love, or just have fun trying?