Sims fans never cease to amaze us with their creativity. From the amazing stuff in The Gallery to the mods and Custom Content, we’re constantly amazed by what people do with The Sims 4. This week, we talked to clever Custom Content creator, Cinderellimouse, who recently made waves with some shockingly quick work on a famous dress.
How long have you been a fan of The Sims?
Since the very beginning! My best friend and I loved to tell stories about this cast of characters we had invented, and The Sims was the perfect game for us to make those characters come alive! We were so excited to get the base game, I can still remember staring at that box art and working out who each Sim would be. I absolutely love the brand! What appeals strongly to me is that it allows people a lot of freedom to be creative and do different things: there are builders, people who enjoy making Sims in CAS, storytellers, modders, and custom content artists. I see the game as a tool for people to use their imagination and get creative! It’s interesting seeing how other people play, because Simmers really make their game their own.
What do you like most about The Sims 4?
The Sims. That sounds really silly, but as someone who has played so many versions of the game on PC and console I find the TS4 Sims so real. They are so expressive and funny to watch, the animations are brilliant! I find myself taking so many screenshots of their faces. I’ve been making the same set of Sims since the very first game, so their personalities are quite fixed in my mind. The TS4 version of my Sims really seem to have those personalities, the way each Sim acts suits them so much! My tough soon-to-be cop moves and acts much differently to her flirty, artistic sister.
I’m a big fan of the emotion system, too. I love how you can just look at a Sim walking down the street and tell what kind of mood they are in! And how a Sim might be doing the slouchy walk, but you can look at their face to see if they are tired-happy, or tired-sad. Sad dancing is so adorable! <3
A few weeks ago, the internet blew up about #thedress and, and you quickly made it as Custom Content in The Sims 4. Why did you decide to make it?
It was a bit of a joke really. I’d had a bad day, and I was annoyed at the dress for confusing my poor tired brain! I thought, “I’m not going to let a dress dictate colours to me!” and I took control of the situation by creating the dress for the game in a variety of colours. If I say the dress is red, then the dress is red! Hee hee!
How was the reaction to your #thedress?
It was hilarious! My notifications on Twitter blew up with people crying “Nooooooo!!! Why would you do this to me!?” People really feel passionately about that dress! XD
Unrelated, but… which color did you see?
Red. 😛
It was weird, I was looking at the images of the real dress while I was creating the Sim version and the dress kept changing colour! I think the colours you see depend on what you have been looking at beforehand.
Do you have any tips for people interested in getting into making their own custom content in The Sims 4?
Yes! Grab one of the free third-party programs that are available like Sims4Studio or TSR Workshop and check out one of the many tutorials that are available. Mod the Sims is a great place to find tutorials on creating Custom Content. Keep an eye on my blog site, Sims in the Woods, because I’m planning on writing a series of tutorials there soon and will be happy to answer any questions! You can also poke me on Twitter if you need any help @Cinderellimouse.
I’d say when creating any kind of custom content that there is a learning curve, and the more you do it, the better you get. I used to make clothing for TS2 but I’m a bit rusty now and could do with a bit more practice. Try not to expect too much of yourself at first, we all have to start somewhere and we all have epic fails! I recently managed to put an image on the BACK of a t-shirt! I was confused as to why the image hadn’t shown up in game, until I spun the Sim around in CAS and saw the mistake! XD
But being able to take control of the game and make your own content or mods is incredibly satisfying! I’d recommend everyone give it a go. ^.^
