Military Base Progress *Major Update*

Progress slowed down when I picked up some overtime at work to make Christmas a little more exciting.  But, what is lacking in quantity I'm making up for in quality.  I have a few of the houses built out, but I'll show those off on another day.  I'm waiting to place them all down in CAW until after I have all of the terrain finalized.  There's quite a few buildings starting to fill up my lots bin!

 Here's a view of the base's main entrance and flagpole at the quad. I can just picture the Sims running drills here and marching up and down the plaza. That yellow highlighted area is where the guard shack/gate will be.

 Since the things I have to work with in game without a ton of mods are a bit limited, I've decided the military is Navy with ships and planes.  This is the dock area where the ships will be moored.

 This is a nice path Sims can follow from the barracks to the beach.  I wonder what nice photos your Sims will be able to take in this area.  The barracks will be set-up as apartments for single Sims.

 Here's a little sample of a jogging path.  It winds around the rocky south side of the island and gives some lovely views while you work on your fitness level. If you look closely you can just make out that work dirt path from the sailors jogging the same trail day after day.

 Widow's Watch is a small clifftop lookout. It's overlooks the beach and you can see for miles. The spouses of the deployed Sims can look out for incoming boats, wishing them fair winds and following seas.

 Here's a glance at the residential area.  There's 13 houses here, along with a school and playground!

And finally, a complete overview of the full island. The bridge is off the right there.  Obviously I'll get the buildings finalized and placed before the world is released, so it will look rather different.  I'm still undecided if it will have the rabbit hole rugs or the various RHs in the basement of buildings. I'm leaning toward the rugs.

Dragonwyck Military Base Housing (November 13th)

After doing more brainstorming and allowing logic to take hold, I ended up putting actual roads on my military base. Originally I wanted it to be all sidewalks beyond the main gate, but then my brain asked silly questions like, "How do they restock the grocery store?", "How are they going to bring in equipment?", and of course, "How will moving vans get to houses?".  No, none of these actually happen in game, but growing up a military dependent, I did see that stuff all of the time.  Though the Sims military seems to be some sort of Air Force, I'm designing the base to be more of a Navy.  The Navy flies planes too, after all!  So, I trashed the old base set up entirely and I've got an entirely new layout.  There are quite a few lots planned, enough that you could play for quite a while without ever crossing a bridge to another island!

Like the farming island, there will be vignettes of interest. One I've planned so far is a lookout cliff with nothing in the distance but the open sea. Perhaps this is where the spouses go to watch for their loved ones to return. Another is the flagpole just beyond the main gate.  You can almost picture the color guard raising the flag each morning.  I really hope the base rabbit hole does play the music, even if it just the rug version!  It would really add to the atmosphere of the area.

Although the original sidewalk plan was scrapped, I am including sidewalks around the island since jogging is something you'll commonly see on a military base.  I look forward to making a small army of Sims with outfits planned around being in the military career.  There are 17 residential lots on base.  The first 11 are for enlisted personnel families, 2 for officer families, and 4 apartment buildings for single sims who've enlisted.  One or two of those may be 8 sim "townie" households to help the area feel more filled out.  In addition, I've planned a daycare lot, though it can be just a regular family plot if people don't want to play that household.

Here's a few pictures from in EIG, but keep in mind this is still really very rough as I haven't even really done the coastline yet. I'm debating if I want to add the cemetery to this region or not.  I may put a small on here, and another near the big town area.  Still deciding.

Planned lots for this area are:
Military Base (rabbit hole)
Hospital (rabbit hole)
Gym
Playground
Laundromat
Coffee Shop
Gatehouse
Grocery (rabbit hole)
Restaurant (rabbit hole or store items)
Daycare Center
School
4x Apartment
13x Residential lots
Science Facility (rabbit hole)
Business (rabbit hole)
Fire Station
Arcade/Comic Shop
Docks
Park

 I hope you like the pictures so far. Please leave a comment below to let me know what you think.  Have a great day, and Happy Simming!

November 10

Since I don't have a lot of time on days when I work (I work 3 12.5 hour shifts in a row, Friday-Sundays, and still need to sleep) I won't get much done on weekends.  With my limited time before work, I did some of the initial layout for the military base in Dragonwyck.  The surrounding area is still really rough, and virtually none of the terrain painting is done yet, but it will come together over the next several days.

First, what is that next to the road? I used one of the railroad crossing barriers to mimic an entry gate. Next to this will be a small gatehouse/guard station.  On the opposite side will be a parking area since the paths on base are sidewalks. Beyond those concrete barriers the path changes to cobblestone and leads to the parade grounds, then the main building beyond that.

I also started the initial layout of the residential area.  This has 11 residential lots, each 20x20, and a playground lot. These are perfect for those who choose the military career, but still want to raise a family.

Planned lots for this area:
Gym
Military Base (Rabbit Hole)
Grocery Store (Rabbit Hole)
Hospital/Clinic  (Rabbit Hole)
Coffee Shop
Parks
Apartments
Officer's Club
Bistro/restaurant
Laundromat
Warehouse
Arcade/Comic shop
Small Single Family Homes
Medium Single Family Homes
Apartments

November 9th

One of the things I'm doing to create interest and depth in Dragonwyck is to create vignettes in several spaces that help to tell the story of the world.  As I get close to finished with the world, some of these points of interest will be spawner locations for various collectables or good fishing spots.  Others are intended to expand the visual area of a constructed lot so they don't feel boxy, but instead feel like the overflow into the world around them.

Here's one example, where I'll have a digsite spawner.  I hope that since people will see the old truck, they may get the idea that there could be other hidden treasures.

This is the area I'm working on right now. It's a small beach area I've named Stargazer Beach. The finished beach will have a pier with telescopes, and lots of starfish under the pier.  The trail leading to the beach from the road is a sidewalk, so pathing should be consistent for Sims, and the sidewalk itself may be switched to invisible by the time the world is released to give the illusion that it's just a well-worn path.  Just beyond the beach is a small open area where I'll create another vignette just before the bridge while I finish the landscaping at the other side of the path.  Likely it'll be a nice little spot to fish.

Behind the rocky area is a decent sized flat spot where I had planned to put the Equestrian Center, but that may end up being a few more houses with the EQ center on a smaller lot using the rabbit hole rug. The links for those downloads are really old, so if they're no longer available I may need to zip the rugs into a download here, giving credit to the creators of course.  Otherwise I'll just provide links.

Dragonwyck Lots

This list is not complete or finalized until the world is released.  Not all lots will be included, some are merely here for brainstorming and tracking purposes.

Key
Green - Lot placed
Blue - Lot built
Purple - Lot description complete
Red - Not started
 

Community

Stargazer Beach
City Hall/Police 
Military Base 
Community Garden (Park)
Apiary (Park)
Bookstore
Bistro
Criminal Hideout
School
Grocery Store
Stadium
Gym
Office Building
Hospital (clinic?)
Science lab
Graveyard
Theatre
Spa
Library
Waterfall Fishing Spot
Festival Lot
Restaurant
Bakery
Gas Station
Fire Station
Bar
Playground
Art Gallery/Museum
Nectary
Equestrian Center 
Aquarium/Community Pool
Bowling/Arcade


Residential

Farming 25x35
Farming 64x64
Farming 64x64
Farming 30x30
Farming 30x20
Farming 50x40 (may become EQ center)
Farming 30x20
Farming 50x30

Brainstorming Dragonwyck

Below is a list of random ideas and notes that will eventually comprise the world of Dragonwyck. Though some may make total sense, others will be obscure or simply reminders to myself.  I'll make notes as ideas are used or discarded.  That being said, things change as a world develops. Nothing on this list is guaranteed.

Theme: Industrial, Rustic, Islands, some boats

Lush with plants
Rocky cliffs & coastlines (non-routeable)
Overgrown beaches (not tropical)
Muddy, subdued color scheme
Monte Vista lighting?
Detailed forest areas
Multi-sectional park in town
Add effects - birds - splashes
Include pet items throughout world and community lots
Toddler potties in public restrooms
A misty/foggy lake retreat area (fishing, swampy)
gentrified industrial zone as residences & apartments
Military base with housing and gate
Rabbit hole rugs (will revelry play?)
Community garden in a greenhouse
Some housing backed to sidewalk alleyways instead of to roads
Bicycles
Jogging trails
Waterfall?  Added
Golf at the lake?
Small farming zone (include EQ center?)

Starting a new world

I've been drawn back to Sims 3 over the past few days after a long break. I tried to get into Sims 4, but I just can't. The game doesn't have the same depth possible for building and creating that I got with Sims 3 and Create-A-World.  So, here we are, on a large flat map with a world of possibilities ahead.
The last world I was working on, Lorewood, I was making for a dear friend of mine.  Sadly, that friend passed away and I haven't been able to bring myself to work on it again since.  Perhaps eventually I'll be able to go back and work on it, but for now, it sits in a folder untouched.

I decided that this world would be a bit more contemporary with touches of industrial and rustic. First, I started brainstorming some features I want to include. I'll put those in another post (check for the Dragonwyck Brainstorming tag) and welcome feedback and input. I don't even know that very many people even download worlds anymore, but I guess we will see what happens.

I decided to start with the small farming area. Though I normally love huge farming zones, this time I'm keeping that in check and limiting the size quite a bit.  Once I started, it took shape fairly quickly.  The farming area will feature a handful of residential lots, two parks (an apiary and a community garden), a few fishing areas, a little beach, and a waterfall.  It's much smaller than my normal farming spaces!

The next zone I'm going to work on will be the military area.  Growing up a Navy dependent, I lived on a lot of military bases and I don't think I've ever seen a Sims world with a large military area.  So, I guess someone had to be first.  So, welcome to the first glimpses of Dragonwyck.