Hello everyone. Apologies for the lack of news updates, all of us are pretty busy. Anyway, if you have been paying attention, you will know that The Sims 3 - High End Loft Stuff was announced a while back, and was released in the US yesterday. For everyone else though, we have to wait until Friday to recieve our copies. If you haven't seen them already, you can view the trailer and a few screenshots below.

Screenshots



Trailer

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/3AGgD9BuMrc&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/3AGgD9BuMrc&rel=0</a>

I was browsing another The Sims 3 website when I found some information on World Adventures coming to the iTunes App Store. It's supposedly being released tomorrow as a seperate game, but there's no way to be sure. MacWorld.com has released an article about it, that you can find here.



This sounds pretty cool! I'll be sure to purchase it when it's released.

EA added a new page to The Sims 3 site. This page is under the "Exchange" and says "Worlds". Now, right now, it leads to a 404 error, but I am inclined to think it will be functional when the CAW tool becomes available.

EAUK is reporting that The Sims 3: High End Loft Stuff will be released on February 5 of 2010.

Thanks to Phoebe for giving me the tip.

Gamespot reviewed The Sims 3: World Adventures. They gave it an 8.5 out of 10. If you don't have it yet, you can see some more screenshots. I'm going to get it on Christmas, so all of these pictures are making me want it even more!

Check out the review!

The German The Sims 3 Fan Page on Facebook was updated earlier today saying that we would be able to get tool on December 10. This should be pretty interesting!

Thanks SimTimes for finding this!

Earlier today I posted some box art. Turns out the official box art from the German site was released today. I especially like the box art for some reason for this stuff pack. Anyways, hopefully we see the English version soon.


Thanks SimTimes for the find.

Update: I know I said I posted box art earlier, but it didn't click with me that it was the English version. I'm sorry guys. The English version (according to EAUK) is posted below.

I forgot to post the boxart for the new stuff pack...so here it is.

(Sorry for the delay guys)

Primaguide released a teaser of their official guide online a few days ago.

It's a long guide full of goodies.

Check out the preview!

Create a World Update

The Sims 3 created a new page a few days ago...The Sims 3: Create a World. It appears to be a tool that will be available for us to use. It will be free as well.

Unfortunately, it is only available on the PC.

Check it out!

Stuff Pack #1
Hello all! Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted anynews and to follow up on the juicy new expansion pack, EA has decided to create their first stuff pack. The Sims 3 High End Loft stuff.

Worthplaying.com recently posted an article about photography in The Sims 3: World Adventures.  This is not the photography that you are thinking of.  We all know that we can easily take screenshots with the "C" button.  For the first time, a brand new skill called Photographer's Eye is introduced.  To learn more about this new skill, read this article.   

EA has done it again!  Surprising us all with the newly announced feature Create A World.  Thanks to Gamestop for finding this out!  With this tool, players can create their own world or country and their own places with traps and other goodies, like in the pyramids of Egypt!  It's a short article, but very sweet, filled with all new info!  You can read it here!

Feel free to post any comments or questions about content in the World Adventures Event threads here. I look forward to hearing what you have to say, and I'm sure EA does, too!

So be honest.

Basics
- Lot Sizes: You cannot put a larger lot onto a smaller lot. Try to stick with a few standard lot sizes to make sharing/moving more convenient. Keep this in mind for community lots as well as residential lots.
- Lots should have one side flush against the road.
- The footprint and routing slots of all interactive objects should be completely on the lot.
- Non-routable areas in the world should look non-routable. Routable areas should look clearly routable.
- All porches should have at least double-wide stairs leading up to them.
- Roads and sidewalks should always be terminated. If they are not, the routing system will break.
- Use bridges on lots sparingly as Sims prefer to walk around them rather than over them (because they exist in a different room) and they do not look good with walls down or walls cutaway.
- Do not put multiple rabbit holes on the same lot, it totally confuses the routing system!
- Porches should have enough space for at least two Sims to socialize on it, but ideally more to accommodate party guests and welcome wagons (usually three people). Two socializing Sims require at one 1x2 tile area that is not blocked by stair routing footprints (use CTRL-F to see) or door slots (CTRL-G)
- Lots ideally should be connected to a road or sidewalk so that Sims have a clear, preferred way of getting there.
- World objects should never butt up against a lot. Sims will not know that they're there and can walk right through them. Keep world objects at least one meter away from lot edges.
- Fences that sit at the edge of the lot are likely to be clipped through by Sims. Consider putting fences a tile away from the edge if possible, especially with thick fences.

Performance
- Only 4 terrain paints per lot
- Only 4 species / 30 plants per lot
- No more than 8 terrain paints in the world per 256x256 chunk
- Be conservative with double-walls as walls are bad for performance
- Keep trees clustered as much as possible
- Min Spec looks better when the lots are further apart because they can only have one high detail lot at a time

Gameplay and Aesthetics
- Keep camera-angle issues in mind when building, to avoid cameras bouncing up steep terrain walls (among other issues)
- Be conservative with double-walls as they look strange when playing with walls cutaway or walls down
- Watch for parts of lots being on different levels (makes for strange views when playing)
- Keep travel times in mind when placing lots and designing roads
- Keep neighborhood clusters aligned to the same grid
- Houses with toddlers should have stuff for them accessible when there are stairs
- Put down invisible picnic baskets if you want to see Sims autonomously picnicking there
- Keep in mind the ratio of empty/starter/etc lots
- Try to cut out square lots, since they can be rotated any direction. In cases where this is not possible or desired, try and be consistent about the direction of the shorter side of the lot vs. the road and front door. Players can only really rotate a rectangular lot in two directions so consistency multiples the number of places that they can move lots to.
- House front doors should have at least a little outdoor lighting, so be sure to check how your houses look at night
- Outdoor trashcans and mailboxes that are closer to the house make taking out garbage and paying bills more convenient

Technical
- Keep in mind that rabbit holes and venues that are non the same lot have a single thumbnail, address, and map tag. The only benefits to sharing a single lot is that is saves on overall lot count and it allows more visible area to be at high LOD when the camera is nearby (remember that we render a limited number of high LOD lots at any given time).
- Give as much space around a lot as possible when changing grid and changing elevation.
- Mailbox orientation = thumbnail orientation
- The door closest to the mailbox is considered the front door unless a door has been specifically marked using the debug interaction. The front  door is the door that is used most by Sims going to and from the house.
- To make sharing lots on the exchange easier, lots should be on mostly flat ground.
- Avoid building lots that are on really steep terrain. There is a higher chance of seams and odd normals.
- Don't place world objects on lots because players will not be able to remove them.
- Don't use sidewalks to "paint" patio-type areas. This confuses the routing system.

Other
- Auto paint uses 1st (default) paint as the ground and 2nd paint as the mountains.

Pictures of the Create A World tool to come.