Magical Guardian & Gnome of Protection

Title: Magical Guardian & Gnome of Protection

UPDATE August 4th, 2017

This update makes several improvements to student routing. For example, if a session is in progress seated around a table and there is a shortage of seating, Sims will stand rather than sitting on the floor.




Purpose

a) To program a half-size garden gnome to act as a whole lot intruder alarm that would summon either a neutral elder warlock or a police officer to remove prowlers, selectable by menu option. Only one of these Gnomes of Protection is necessary to defend the entire lot, inside and outside.

b) To enable this gnome to automatically create (on community lots) and/or invite (on residential lots) an elder warlock to teach Logic skills, raise an interest in Crime, stimulate FreeTime Science Enthusiasm, increase Neatness, satisfy Fun and Social needs, and improve magic skill. If Apartment Life is not available or the user selects the "Disable Magic" menu option, then a police officer will arrest burglars and teach - magic skills are not applicable.

c) If magic is available and enabled, to direct the elder warlock - the "magical guardian" - to catch Burglars and other "Undesirables", or simply "Burglars Only".

d) To give the option for the warlock to cast spells that remove leaf piles and puddles from the lot. If Apartment Life magic is not available, the Gnome's menu options will remove all leaves and puddles with its own built-in "magic".

e) Even if magic is not available or not desired, to optionally protect any gnomes, flamingos and trashcans on a residential lot from vandalism.

f) To supply recolours for the basegame garden gnome.



General Description

The Gnome is compatible with the podiums available in the Opportunity Pack Lectern, Reading Desk and Ravendancer projects.

The Gnome of Protection is available from both the Hobby/Knowledge and Decorative/Sculpture sections of the catalogue at a cost of §75. The mesh is based on and slaved to the basegame garden gnome.


Contents

1) Gnome of Protection - This is one gnome that is not going to be stolen or kicked around - and it will summon a guardian to protect the lot from burglary. This charmed statue can also control leaves and puddles, and reduce vandalism.

The guardian can teach Sims about the dark arts (i.e. criminal psychology), raising Logic skills, Crime interest, FreeTime Science enthusiasm and grade points, while satisfying fun and social needs. If the teacher is a magic user, such as the elder warlock who may be summoned by the Gnome, all in attendance will improve their neatness and comfort level, and students of the occult will increase their magic skill and shift to a neutral alignment.

If Apartment Life is installed and magic is enabled, an elder townie will be transformed into a fully skilled neutral warlock who will dismiss the intruder magically - otherwise, the Gnome will call in a basegame police officer. The warlock or magical guardian will optionally catch "Burglars Only" or several different "Undesirables" including the Basegame Burglar and Repo-Man; University Evil Mascot; Nightlife or Seasons Mrs. CrumpleBottom; and Bon Voyage Unsavory Charlatan. Only the burglar will win the current family a §500 reward when apprehended.

When a burglar is detected, the gnome acquires a red glow. If the intruder is some other "Undesirable", then the gnome projects a blue glow. This effect lasts until the interloper is removed. In cases where the guardian response is delayed - particularly if he was socializing on the lot - failsafe code will automatically remove the intruder.

If there is more than one Gnome of Protection on the lot, only one of them will respond to the trespasser. If there is more than one Gnome of Protection on a lot and they are each enabled to summon the warlock for teaching, there will be a delay of at least ten game minutes between the appearance of each instructor.

If puddles are present on the lot (including the chocolate puddles created by spills from the basegame candy machine) the warlock can be asked to cast the Aqua Deletus spell to remove them. If Seasons is installed and leaf piles are present, he can also use Folium Deletus to discard the leaves. The warlock has a gold badge in the Seasons Fishing talent.

Even without guardian availability, the Gnome can magically delete all leaves and puddles on the lot by selecting the "Dispel Leaves" or "Evaporate Puddles" menu commands.

Regardless of whether a magical guardian is available, the gnome itself will optionally protect basegame gnomes, flamingos and trashcans from being kicked, upset, salvaged from or stolen. In the case of gnomes and flamingos, this protection also disables them from being Viewed. Basegame gnomes may still be stolen, but potential perpetrators will typically be distracted to come and admire the Gnome of Protection instead of committing gnome theft. As a side effect, these Sims will gain just enough Niceness points to prevent them from stealing gnomes in the future. This transformation will be indicated by a starburst effect, centred on the reformed Sim. If you would prefer not to allow this personality shift, either select the "Permit Vandalism" menu option or do not place any basegame gnomes on residential lots that have the Gnome of Protection.

A Sim who has at least three points of Logic may teach using the Gnome, gaining Charisma in the process. Magicians who practice "Neutral" magic and moderately Charismatic Sims (those with at least three Charisma skill points) may do so autonomously.

The Gnome is college accredited for those majoring in Psychology, but regardless of what major they may be specializing in, attending a lecture at the Gnome will grant college credits to all those registered in university. The Gnome satisfies the "Practice Speech, "Read To" and "Be Read to by" wants. Teachers and students will dress appropriately to attend class. In the case of children and teens, those who are not magicians will dress in private school uniforms.

College and school progress is displayed at the beginning and end of each student's learning session. If a school student earns an "A+", additional study will earn Extra Credits which allow a child or teen to take time off without losing a letter grade, or can be saved for advanced placement in college (up to one half term for 1000 points). For students of magic, magic skill and alignment data is displayed at the beginning and end of a student's learning session.









2) Basegame Garden Gnome Recolours - this set of recolours supports the surfaces subset of both the Gnome of Protection and the basegame Kozy Kitsch Gnome: Asparagus, Coconut, Forest, Gold, Grape, Grey, Indigo, Invisible (Built-In), Lime, Russet, Storm, Teal, Umber.



Terms of Use

You may include any item from this set in uploaded lots, whether for free or pay. It is nice but not necessary to provide a credit and link to this page.


Recommendations

I suggest using Pescado's Community Lot Skilling and Enthusiasm patch so that these and all other skill building objects are fully functional on all lots.


Additional Credits

Dizzy2's Daily & Weekly Burglar supported more efficient project testing
GIMP 2 and Microsoft Paint for graphics editing, file conversion, processing, sizing and titling
Jfade's Compressorizer for minimizing file size
Milkshape 3D, Ultimate Unwrap3D Pro and UV Mapper Professional, for 3D modeling and mapping
The Gnome of Protection is accredited in the college Psychology program, for those studying "Dark Magic". The association of psychology with dark magic was inspired by Morganna's "Black Arts" psychology equivalence in her default medieval college replacement project
Numenor's AnyGameStarter, for testing this project in several game environments
SimPE, PJSE, and CEP for Sims 2 object creation


Polygon Counts

Gnome of Protection: 1406 faces, 1030 vertices
(same as the basegame Garden Gnome)