Concept
This is a home makeover with a trading spaces twist. House Rules is a TV show here in Australia where families swap houses and makeover not one room, but the entire house including the garden.
One starry night Loki was busy setting up his experiment on the roof of his house while across Strangetown Pascal Curious aimed his telescope towards a new blue star. The aliens hearing the call to an intergalactic party came down precisely when Loki’s experiment went horribly wrong. Not at all impressed at having lightening zap their ship and break their new plasma TV, the aliens sucked everyone out to the family bin leaving the houses as empty shells. Worse still, nobody could remember which house belonged to which family and as the fighting broke out the town council decided to assign each family to a house, no arguments allowed! Your job as town council is to decide which family gets which house. There are 7 Strangetown families to pick from and four houses to make over. They may not go back to their original house.
Game Set Up and Requirments:
This contest is open to base game players on, any skill level. This contest does not have to involve a lot of building.
The basic set up is to move the families out to the family bin to empty the houses. This can be done one at a time if you wish. The Grunt and Specter houses are not on the makeover list but you can use them as families. It may be easier to make a new sims folder for the contest. Simply rename your current folder, run the game and it will make you a new one. All you really need is each lot emptied. You do not have to move the sim families in.
Rules
This contest is for TS2 only.
No eliminations.
CC is not only allowed but feel free to go wild with it! There is no bonus to going cc free but you are also free to use no cc if you so choose.
Feel free to use any and all building cheats you want.
You may not add or remove full walls from the outside shell of the house. Do not remove outer foundation walls unless you are swapping it for wall so that you can add windows or doors. The outer shell must remain the same shape. You are free to change all the wall coverings inside and out. You may not add an attached garage.
You may add or remove half walls, fencing, lattice and stump decking. Remove or add fireplaces. Add or remove basements. Add or remove stairs so long as you don't remove the original wall or foundation to do so. Add or remove doors and windows. Add as many stories as you wish. You may remove and change roofs and platforms. Remove and add internal walls.
You may sculpt the terrain and change to any other terrain type. You may add foundation or walls for a carport or a garden structure that does not touch the house.
Each round will last for two weeks. Unless otherwise specified.
You may make up a short story about your families. Not required. You may show them in photos or not.
Make sure to say which family is doing the makeover on your entry. You can only choose a family one time.
And finally, have fun!
Rule Edit: I will allow the foundation to be replaced with walls so long as the outside shape stays the same footprint.
All but the first image must be placed under [ SPOILER ] tags.
You may edit your pictures up until the deadline.
Each round requires:
1 shot showing the front.
1 topdown image showing the entire lot.
1 floorplan taken of each level taken as close as you can. This includes the roof and the foundation.
1 shot showing the price. (If you have the needed EP simply show the price on the lot.)
Base game players can show the lot price by taking a screenshot of the lot in hood view.
You are allowed another 12 extra photos to show off your lot to its best advantage.
Scoring Each round will have a potential of scoring 25 points from each judge.
Build skill up to 5 points. This includes the floor plan.
Garden and outside up to 5 points.
Inside decorating Up to 5 points
Playability up to 5 points
This does not include items set up only for deco purposes. For example, a strip of pool water used as part of a decorative fountain is not expected to be usable as a pool. If it is not clear on your photos if items are for decoration or use you should make that clear by adding an explanation.
Suitability and requirements up to 5 points
Does the house seem suitable for the chosen family and meet their needs and wants?
The Families Requirements Along with the requirements listed with each family there is an additional requirement, that the makeover somehow reflects the sim family who is doing the renovation. Make sure there is at least one item or a room/area that would suit each sim. What would they want to add to this reno? A moat? A sports car? a garden? You can use their bios, job, personality or aspiration for inspiration since some are tricky.
The Smith family
A family of four who look like they want the perfect suburban life. They consist of elder alien Pollination Tech#9 Smith, his adult wife Jenny, teenage son Johnny and child age daughter Jill. Requirements: Each child must have their own room the parents an en-suite bathroom.
Bio's: The only thing PT9 loves more than his lawn is his family. When he is not spending time with his children, he enjoys clipping coupons and staring up at the sky.
Jenny loves having a career, but she wishes she could spend more time with her family, and maybe make some new friends. She really likes green.
Johnny dreams of being the hero that rides in on a white horse, or at least a cool sports car.
When Jill closes her eyes, she sees dolphins. She has her heart set on becoming a deep sea welder someday.
The Beaker family
This science and medical family consists of Loki, his wife Circe and the adult ‘boarder’, Nervous Subject. Requirements: Nervous will require his own room and Loki a lab of some kind.
Bio's: As soon as he perfects his latest invention, Loki is sure to get the recognition he knows he deserves. In the meantime, he keeps himself busy by trying to assemble a nuclear reactor out of common household items. Loki is employed as an inventor.
Circe knows 238 different ways to make someone scream, and none of them are nice. She enjoys taxidermy and collecting coat hangers.
Nervous’s hobbies include twitching and blinking a lot.
Not much is known about Nervous, but his only personality points are 10 active and zero everything else!
The Curious Brother’s Lambert’s
This scientific family consists of three adult brothers; Pascal, Vidcund and Lazlo. Requirements:Each brother should have his own bedroom with a nursery ready for Pascal's coming alien baby.
Bio's:No matter what happens, Pascal believes there is a logical explanation for everything. In his free time, he practices home psychoanalysis and collects conspiracy theories.
Serious and exact, Vidcund strives to fit the universe into a nice tidy package. He has an unnatural fondness for African violets.
Not as studious as his older brothers, Lazlo got his degree in Phrenology. He likes to call phone psychics and spends hours trying to bend forks with his mind.
The Grunt family
A military family of four males. Father and widower General Buzz, teenage sons Tank and Ripp and child age Buck. Requirements: 3-4 bedrooms and something to keep fit that isn't a radio or TV.
Bio's:The General likes to have his clocks set to military time. He used to enjoy barbershop quartet singing, but that is classified information.
Tank Grunt wants to be just like his old man. He spends his days lifting heavy things, dodging imaginary bullets, and being bigger than the other guy, but deep down inside, he wonders if anyone really knows who he is.
Ripp totally doesn't care what you think of him. He is going to do whatever he wants to do, which is mostly what everyone else is doing.
More than anything else, Buck wants to be a pet stylist to the stars. He spends a lot of time wondering why his father never seems to notice him.
The Specter family
Consists of elder Olive Specter and her teenage niece Ophelia Nigmos. Known for her dead husbands and her graveyard, Olive is also a professional party guest… Requirements: Each sim must have their own bedroom and a secret room for Olive to do - who knows what.
Bio's: Olive will stop at nothing to get what she wants. She spends her time collecting mushrooms, sharpening sticks, and excavating her yard.
Ophelia’s hobbies include hypochondria and monitoring the air quality. She worries about the future…and the past…and the present.
The Single Ladies
A group of four female adult sims. Lola and Chloe are sisters, no one is employed. Requirements: At least two bedrooms and two full bathrooms.
Bio's:Intelligent and focused, Lola knows what she wants and how to get it. She enjoys politics and telling those around her what to do. She is a fortune sim and daughter of Pollination Tech#9 Smith from the Smith family.
The complete opposite of her sister, Chloe just wants to meet new people and to have a good time. She can often be found daydreaming or chatting on the phone. Romance is her game and she is also daughter to Pollination Tech#9 Smith from the Smith family.
Erin spends a lot of time working on her psychic powers. Of course she isn't really psychic, but don't tell her that. Popularity is her goal and Loki beaker is her brother of the beaker family.
Kristen envisions herself as a world famous sports champion. She doesn't particularly care for Strangetown, but it's only a pit stop on her track to greatness. Kristen has no family ties to Strangetown that I can see, except for dead parents and grandparents in her family tree. she is fortune aspiration.
The Loner family
A family of just one. Since nothing much is known about Ajay except that he is a loner and wears black. Requirements: A masculine home and a way to make money.
Bio: To pass the hours, Ajay enjoys counting the grains of sand in his backyard.
Another fortune sim Ajay has no job.
Houses
These will be announced each round. It’s up to you, the town council, to pick a family to go with the house.
Timeline
There will be 4 rounds total, each lasting two weeks. Judges will get 1 week.
Round Four
You may pick any residential Strangetown lot you want! This can be an occupied or unoccupied lot.
You may spend as much as you like.
Make sure to pick a family that you have not picked before.
You may have 12 walk around shots but floor plan shots are always free.
Make sure to leave all the outside wall in red. Because this lot is larger and more complex, I did up pictures of the walls in red for staying, blue that can be demolished to make it easier to see. You are free to knock out the upper story flooring and not use that space so long as the walls stay.
After moving the Beaker family out the lot is worth $61,718
Budget: After the renovation, your lot may come to $120,000. Your chosen family has $58,282 to spend.
Do not pick the Beaker family.
You may have 15 shots since this is a large lot.
Do not post replies and/or contest applications before the contest host has checked in on this thread, or your post will be deleted.
DO NOT WRITE USELESS POSTS like "Hey cool contest, I think I might join." Reserve type posts and useless posts about coming back with an application will be deleted.
If you can either put up some pictures of a lot that you have built or decorated (A makeover of a maxis lot will do just fine too) or link to one you uploaded.
Thanks for volunteering to be our first judge. :D
"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
I do not have any lots uploaded in here. So very hard to link to those. But I did take a part as a contestant at your Community Spirit and as playalong (yes yes late late) in gdayars's Wanderlust. Too bad pics were eaten by MYP
EDIT: found some what was still at my compu
~~~~Call me Ellu ~~~
My love, my love, my fearless love, I will not say goodbye..
Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..
My love, my love, my fearless love, I will not say goodbye..
Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..
Well, I won't be participating in this one because the health crap has gone really wonky, but also because I have vowed not to waste any more time on that particular house. It's not only hideous, it's massively inconvenient, and nothing I've ever done to it has helped.
I'll watch, though. I'm sure what I see will be inspiring, so good luck to all.
Jo, can judge also be playalong? I can judge palyalongs also, sure, but would like to try that horrid house myself too
~~~~Call me Ellu ~~~
My love, my love, my fearless love, I will not say goodbye..
Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..
and yes so glad I am just judging the attempts think it would be only fair to attempt to fix its ugliness myself so you know, no unreasonable expectations :D
Sorry to hear that @Peni Griffin I hope things get under control for you soon.
@Kukamuukaanmuka Feel free to play along. :D
I think anything that people can do to that house will be a vast improvement. I only attempted one makeover of it some years ago myself, so I know how horrible it is. I would totally be doing one now if my game was fixed.
"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
One thing; it'll all be down hill from here! Every other house in Strangetown - yes, even the Curious Bunker! - will be easy in comparison to the Hell House.
Sorry for the deleting, my pc is misbehaving this morning.
I was going to apply for judge, but the time zones prevented me (It is just after 8am here).
So I will apply for emergency judge.
Here is a link to my maxis makeover lot: http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=557162
@AndrewGloria Thank you for that catch. I did that on my calculator and must have been thinking 50K and change my mind to 40K or something. Also, thank you for posting, I am worried if anybody is interested in this contest.
I will go fix that up immediately.
"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown