Hi everyone, here's the latest blog. It's Assistant Producer Mike Zamora talking all about The Sims 3 Seasons...Enjoy!

Hi Simmers!
Up until now entire seasons such as spring and summer were featured in previous dev blogs and demos. But today I’m thrilled to finally talk in detail about one of the holidays that we’ve added to the game. Before I get started I wanted to clear up some common confusion regarding seasons and holidays that I’ve seen on Twitter and message boards. By default the game has four seasons, each transitioning seamlessly into one another. Within each season there is a single day that the game designates as a special holiday. These are days where Sims all over town are drawn together to congregate and participate in the day’s spirit and activities just as in real life.
I’m really excited to tell you all about the fall exclusive holiday in The Sims 3 Seasons that we call Spooky Day. What’s not to like about a day where you’re encouraged to dress up in a costume and ask for free candy?


Spooky Day has arrived!

While playing in the fall season it will be tough not to notice the visual transformation of your once familiar town. The weather will begin to cool down and rain and fog will often blanket the skies. Red, orange, and yellow becomes a more dominant color in town as deciduous trees begin their transformation for the colder climate. This dark and eerie feel really sets the stage for Spooky Day.

You can expect holidays to occur close to the end of each season. This gives you time to prepare your Sims and decorate your house for the upcoming celebration. Once Spooky Day arrives, more Sims will gather at the town festival. You will notice that Sims in general will be more mischievous; choosing to scare one another over a simple greeting or “hello”.



Go for it, carve that pumpkin!

Pumpkins have been added to The Sims 3 Seasons and it’s the most versatile harvestable to appear in The Sims 3 yet. Pumpkins  can be used to make the delicious new pumpkin pie recipe, used as an ingredient in other meals, or even be used as a fancy home decoration. As mentioned in the fall dev blog, pumpkins can be planted in your garden, picked from the festival’s pumpkin patch or picked up from the town’s store.  But what really sets pumpkins apart from other harvestables is that your Sims will be able to carve them into Jack-O-Lanterns. Whether you fail or succeed in carving out the desired pattern you can choose to light it and put it on display for everyone to see. You’ve always been told to never play with your food but for pumpkins it’s perfectly fine. Unfortunately once you’ve carved up a pumpkin it is no longer valid as food. However, the seeds pulled out of your pumpkin can be planted and used to grow more pumpkins.  Now that you’ve decorated your house let’s move over to get your Sims dressed and ready for Spooky Day’s festivities.



Costumes

Ah yes, we’ve added new costumes to The Sims 3 Seasons for Sims to dress up in during Spooky Day or any time of year. Costumes are available in the “everyday” category in Create A Sim so if wearing a hot dog suit year-round is what you’re looking to do, you can do it!

Costume Parties

We’ve added four new parties to this pack but there’s one that’s closely tied to the fall season and Spooky Day which are costume parties. With so many fun, new activities to do in fall there’s a chance that you may forget to throw your own party. Don’t worry because there’s usually something going on in town. If you’re lucky you might be invited to a neighbor’s costume party. Accept the invite and go but it’s never too late to arrange your own Spooky Day themed get-together.



Costume parties are like house parties except that your guests will arrive in randomly chosen costumes. There are a good number of costumes available so every party always looks unique and is quick to offer some instant laughs. I threw a party once and saw a chef dancing with a hot dog.



Trick or Treating

The ability to go Trick or Treating is unlocked one day prior to the official start of Spooky Day. For children and teens there will also be an available interaction to quickly switch into a preset costume. You may also go into Create A Sim if you would rather choose your Sim’s costume. Now that you’re dressed for success let’s get to work. To begin, click on a residential lot anywhere in your town. You will have the option to go by yourself or in a group by choosing Sims on your lot. Your Sim or group will now go from house to house gathering treats until they’re too exhausted to continue or until curfew strikes.  Here’s a little tip of advice, have an adult join your group if you want to bypass curfew restrictions.



If you’re lucky enough to visit a house where people are home, you or your group will be greeted at the door and handed a treat. Most of the time your treat will come in the form of candy but there’s always a chance of getting an item such as the ultra-rare and seasonal specific Cracklin Nackerbell gnome.

For not-so-nice Sims, visiting an unoccupied house can spark up their inner rage. Lawn decorations, garbage cans, and Jack-O-Lanterns beware when these Sims leave empty handed.



Now that you’ve conquered Spooky Day it’s time to go home to reflect and enjoy the fruits of your labor. After a long night of Trick or Treating you’ll likely have a fair amount of tasty candy to enjoy. Candy is quite irresistible but make sure to practice self-control as eating more than your fair share is likely to end badly. That amount of sugar will have you running around the house for sure.

“Hey quit eating all the candy!”



That wraps up Spooky Day and the fun, new activities your Sims will be able to do. Hope you enjoyed reading this blog and keep a look out for more updates on The Sims 3 Seasons to follow shortly!

-Mike Zamora, Assistant Producer, The Sims 3 Seasons

Hey Simmers, here is the latest blog from Seasons producer, Graham Nardone. Enjoy!

Hey everyone, I’m Graham Nardone – one of the producers on The Sims 3 Seasons. Hot on the heels of The Sims 3 Supernatural, we’re bringing another creature to The Sims 3, the frequently requested and mysteriously absent alien! Long-time fans of The Sims will recall that aliens last made an appearance in The Sims franchise way back with the original release of The Sims 2. With The Sims 3 Seasons, we have designed aliens to interact with weather in unique ways, but to be completely honest, all of us here at The Sims Studio were fed up with not having aliens in our games and wanted to include them in this EP! Considering the limited role they played in the past, aliens were the perfect creatures to bring back and dramatically improve. We’re happy to say that aliens in The Sims 3 Seasons will offer great new moments that you’ve never experienced in The Sims before!



So just how do your Sims discover that they aren’t alone in the universe? If your Sim is oblivious to the existence of extraterrestrial life, their day-to-day routine will continue uninterrupted, for the most part. As your Sims sleep, aliens will sometimes visit the world on intelligence gathering missions, scanning objects to record data on your planet and occasionally leaving behind clues of their presence. Should you see sparkling anomalies in the sky and hear a sound akin to shimmering wind chimes, chances are there’s a cloaked UFO hovering above an alien that’s visiting the world.



As aliens become bolder in their mission to explore your planet, the time may come for experimentation upon live human subjects. Sims may find themselves awoken in the middle of the night, inexplicably drawn outside, suddenly abducted and taken on an intergalactic flight. Nobody knows exactly what occurs during this time, but subjects find themselves returned home with a foggy memory and an acute case of paranoia. Surely that squirming sensation in your Sim’s tummy will resolve itself after a few days of recovery!



Sims who desire a close encounter of the fourth kind can engage in certain activities that will attract an alien’s attention. Studying the stars through a telescope or collecting space rocks that appear in the world will not go unnoticed as the aliens monitor Earthling activity. Sims who seek out paranormal activity tend to harbor a curiosity for interacting with these beings from the sky, and as aliens continue to visit the world, your Sims can begin to form friendships and possibly even relationships with them. As these bonds strengthen, an alien can ultimately be asked to join your family, allowing them to assimilate further into your society and continue working towards their primary directive.



Of course, data collection goes both ways, and Sims desire to learn more about aliens as well. The military is prepared to spend generously to acquire intelligence from any alien that is willing to betray its own kind. Furthermore, the scientific community is very interested in potential biological advancements that could be developed from examining aliens . Any alien is more than welcome to sign up for a career as a test subject at the Science Facility, which is new to The Sims 3 Seasons.



Once you actually have an alien in your household, you’ll discover that aliens have a wide range of telepathic powers at their disposal! Want to know more about your cute Earthling neighbor? Perform a mental scan on them and learn all about their traits (In the picture above, Gobias is looking especially attractive with his chrome dome). Did an object in your home break? Recombobulate it by using waves of mental energy until it’s as good as new! House looking a bit messy? Why not invite a friend over and make them your mental servant? Command them to tend to the cleaning while you kick up your feet and relax. Running low on cash? Use controlled bursts of mental power to transmute precious metals and gems to increase their value or even completely alter their geological composition, rapidly accelerating the natural process of heat and pressure that typically takes thousands of years. Then there’s my personal favorite; players who have The Sims 3 Ambitions installed will be able to use their aliens to look to the celestial heavens in an exhausting effort of mental fortitude and summon a meteor to fall at their targeted location with devastating results.







Of course, all of these new powers come with a cost; each one requires precious mental energy to perform. Aliens have evolved to the point where they no longer need to replenish their bodies with sleep each night, but they do have a new Brain Power motive to tend to. Thankfully, restoring their gray matter is as simple as taking a moment in any relaxing location to meditate. If an instant shot of power is required, an alien can always keep space rocks on hand to consume for a large boost. Aliens have advanced means for taking care of their other motives as well, and they can establish telepathic links to other nearby Sims – either to drain the Sim of his or her motives, transferring a variety of benefits directly to the alien, or to boost another Sim by sacrificing their own motives.



Clearly, aliens are powerful beings all on their own, but you can unlock some of their more powerful abilities through the use of their UFO. A UFO is an alien’s preferred vehicle for zipping quickly around town, but it’s much more versatile than a simple vehicle. As they pilot the UFO, aliens can abduct their friends as a practical joke, although the abductee may not find it quite as funny (perhaps probing them afterwards would lighten the mood). UFOs can also create violent storms in the world by flying into the atmosphere and seeding clouds to create precipitation. Aliens are still honing this aspect of their technology, so watch out for freak snow storms in the summer.





UFOs can also be upgraded to unlock additional functionality. Strap rockets to your UFO to give it the ability to travel to deep space over the span of mere hours and visit far off planets, zoom through asteroid fields or even take a quick jaunt to the moon. Your alien will return with tales of their adventure and perhaps even some special objects they picked up along the way. Alternatively, you can add laser cannons to your UFO and terrorize the local denizens. Invade various locales in your neighborhood and watch as the Sims below you go from awe-filled to horrified as you fire laser beams in every direction while they run for cover.



Aliens are one of the most packed and intriguing creatures that we’ve ever added to The Sims! On a personal note, this was my first time getting to work directly on one of the creatures and I’m so thrilled that we’re going to blow away players’ expectations and deliver a type of character that has over-the-top fun in spades. This blog was just a taste of what you can expect when you play with aliens; there are more big secrets we’re leaving for all of you to discover when The Sims 3 Seasons blasts off this November!

Hi again, we hope you enjoyed the guest blog from ehaught58 last week. Here’s the next one from ruthless_kk. We’d like to give a big thanks for these two guest bloggers sharing their experiences with us. We look forward to hearing more of your stories shared with The Sims 3 Supernatural. Happy Simming!

Usually I build houses in The Sims but as life imitates art, I have recently found myself building a house in real life.  Tons of packing, details, unpacking, more details and headaches.  I wish painting was as easy as it is in The Sims.  Don’t like the color? Click and it is gone.  Want a different sofa?  Click…how about this one…or this one?  Decorating in the game is much more fun than in real life. In this midst of this moving chaos, The Sims 3 Supernatural Expansion Pack came out.  Arrgggh!  What torture!  I wanted to do nothing but build, build, build with all of the lovely new things that come in this expansion.  Sim makers have so much to play around with…witches and fairies and werewolves, oh my!  Story makers get tons of new interactions.  And builders….we really scored.  The items in this pack are so atmospheric and inspiring that it is easy to get ideas for new lots.

One of the things I love the most about the new build/buy items is the clutter.  Usually clutter is a bad thing, but when you want to make your Simmies’ homes feel more realistic, clutter is a great way to do it.  The piles of books in various sizes are so detailed!  Don’t be surprised if every house I build from here on out has several piles of books.  I can see using the elixir jars for many things as well…spices in the kitchen or perfumes on a dressing table.  The antique basin is adorable!  Every item in miscellaneous décor is an individual work of art. 

And speaking of art, I can never get enough art for the walls.  I was tickled to see a whole slew of new wall art including another collage called Timeless Memories.  One of my favorite store items is the Jazz Me Up photo series and having something along the same lines in an expansion pack is great.  Almost every house I have ever been in has a photo collage on the wall, so more of these, please!


Tons of the furniture items in this pack are ideally suited for cottage or Victorian style builds. Every Victorian home ever built has been waiting for this pack…the tables, chairs, beds…all of it with so much detail and style.  The new Centennial fencing that looks like traditional gingerbread trim?  LOVE it!  Kind of wish I had this from day one. The Majestic Rest bed is so dramatic.  The clever corset chair with lacing up the back is perfectly at home in my Witches Hat Victorian dining room, which got a complete re-do with The Sims 3 Supernatural objects.  Check out that lamp and the grandfather clock!






 What witch wouldn’t love digs like this?

One of the things I like to do when I am playing around with new objects is to see how they look with different finishes and textures.  For a run down, aged look try the crackle paint finish.  It comes in two sizes to fit bigger and smaller items and it gives a fantastically grungy and time worn look. The wicker finish can make a chair feel more relaxed and casual.  Or to make things look more modern and chic, you can try a metallic finish.  I thought the shape of the new Twigs ‘n Sticks end table was sculptural and when I switched out the wood for a shiny chrome texture, it took on an entirely different vibe.  Many of the new build/buy items seem to work that way…they can be traditional, Victorian, or even modern and chic depending on how you use create-a style.  Perhaps your vampires want a sleeker, contemporary look in their home? There is plenty in thispack to make them happy. I took one of my favorite moderns, Danaus Modern and gave it a re-do. 



The Professor’s Rocking Chair has clean dramatic lines that work wonderfully in a modern setting along with the new fire place.  I was so pleased to see several of them in this expansion and that they came with different colored chimneys as well.  One step closer to CAS-able chimneys!  Did you notice that potted plant to the left of the loveseat?  It is a harvestable garden plant.  What a clever idea this is!  In the plant section there are three new planter bowls that will allow your Sims to grow harvestables indoors.  Just use the cheat “testingcheatsenabled true” and then “buydebug” to open up the debug menu of plants and place any harvestable in the planter.  Viola!  Your Sim can garden indoors.  Not only that, but you have a whole new set of house plants to decorate with.


So if you like to build as much as I do, This Sims 3 Supernatural is an expansion pack that I highly recommend. It is easily my new favorite and could go on and on about all of the great build/buy items…but I still have a ton of boxes to unpack and I don’t have a mouse to magically click things into place like my Simmies do.  Lucky little pixels.

Hi Sim Fans, we invited two guest bloggers to write up their experiences with The Sims 3 Supernatural thus far. They are both big builders and even have some of their own screenshots to show off. Here’s the first one. We’ll be featuring the second one on Wednesday, October 3rd so look for that to come soon.


The Sims 3 Supernatural: A Builder’s Perspective by ehaught58

When a new expansion pack is released by EA, I am always anxious to see what new build/buy objects and actions are that come with the upgrade.  I was fortunate enough to be invited to review The Sims 3 Supernatural Expansion Pack at The Sims Community Day on August 1, and I had a blast checking out the latest new objects and gadgets that make this expansion a builder's must.  Most of the build/buy mode objects are, in my opinion, some of the best added to the game so far! 

I was anxious to test everything, so I built a house in the new neighborhood, Moonlight Falls, and called it Warlock Mansion.  It was made using many of the new build/buy objects to create a great place for wiccan minded people that love to party.  I put my favorite Sim, Ed Meister, in to test all of the new objects and game play.  Once I had a handle on how everything worked, I set about delving into the world of alchemy and witch craft and created many elixirs that, when ingested, have some pretty hilarious results.  When Ed Meister earned his witch’s stripes, the world of spells and magic opened and added a whole new twist to the game that was quite entertaining.  Though I have always considered myself a builder first, I have never spent so much time playing with the Sims, rather than building.  It was a lot of fun.

WARLOCK MANOR:
http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=6386620


I would like to share with you some of the things that I liked most about The Sims 3 Supernatural, and some things that I discovered while building and playing.  I really loved the new windows and doors, especially the Priorities Mega-Window and Topper.  They make great windows for making a church, green house, indoor pool, library, etc.  One of the many objects that I was glad to see added to the game is the Planter Bowl.  It gives you the ability to plant a garden indoors, allowing you to create a greenhouse.  I did this in Warlock Mansion using the Priorities Mega-Window to create a two storied greenhouse attached to the back of the mansion.  I was happily surprised to find that zombies do not enter buildings, and so my indoor garden was safe from being devoured by them when they attacked my house.  I found that zombies are always tired and they are drawn to the new rocking chair that I put on the back porch.  Maybe if I put several rocking chairs around the outside of my house the zombies will choose to sit and rock rather than destroy my outside garden… hmm.   Another object that I was happy to see added was the Sliding Bookcase Door.  I used it to create two secret rooms attached to the attic study.  One room is used for the Alchemy Table and storage for the elixirs.  The other is the magic room where all of the magic wands, brooms and witch’s paraphernalia are stored.  There is also a small room off of the study where Bonehilda resides.  She is the live-in maid for the house that keeps everything clean and spotless.  I noticed that she liked to stop and warm her “old bones” by the fireplace whenever she entered the huge ballroom.  This is where Ed Meister throws some pretty outrageous parties.  The new twisted columns really add some nice detail to the fireplace and balcony that overlooks the ballroom.



There are so many new objects that I could go on all day talking about, but the items I talked about in this blog are some of my favorites from The Sims 3 Supernatural.  If you would like to see some pictures of them in use, you can visit my picture thread for the Warlock Mansion here:

http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/0/588355.page#9454122