Behind the Scenes: Wrongway Legacy, 5.4
Oct. 28th, 2014 11:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beanstalk_simsI said I had some stuff I wanted to write up in regards to this chapter, and who knows, maybe it'll actually be interesting to read! To be fair, a lot of the techniques I used to stage scenes in this chapter were "stolen" from other legacy writers. Because, you know, I'm not going to turn down free staging advice.
Anyway, there are definitely spoilers here if you haven't read the chapter.
Now I'm sure a lot of you probably want to know stuff relating to that end scene, but I like to do these BTS posts in chronological order, following the order of the chapter, so you'll just have to wait a little bit longer before I throw some explanations at you for that scene.
First things first, I've been trying a lot harder lately to make the backgrounds of pictures interesting, but I had no idea how much hard work that would be. Or if it's even paying off. It took me half an hour (maybe longer) to clutter up Kimberly's magic room, and I still don't think it was cluttered enough. There was also a few things I put in for reasons - like the black roses, they can be used for magic in TS1: Makin' Magic, and I've always thought that was neat, so that's why the bouquet is there.
And that little picture frame on its side by the back of the table? Well, it's my headcanon that Kimberly pushed her family away in favour of magic, which is why Kimberly and Sam are in Belladonna with no family. The reason for Sam's absence will come up in a later chapter (maybe in the next one, I need to doublecheck my outlines), but essentially, Kimberly has pushed everyone away for dark magic.
I got a lot out of putting a photoframe down the back of a coffee table, didn't I? Sometimes I wonder if I overthink these things.
"Hi Ralph! It's nice to see you!"
"Is is?"
Hex and Ralph! Do you know how hard it is to make Hex look angry when you need him to?
Now, it's been established that Ralph has been trying to change his ways a little bit after a generation in banishment, but of course no one's going to settle for than excuse quite so easily. Redemption is hard, and it's going to be really fun working through that with Ralph.
Oh, and in case anyone is wondering...
"ANGRY SMOOCH."
That animation where Hex grabs Ralph's shoulders is from the smooching interaction. You have to time it just right. I learnt this from reading one of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
peasant007's BTS posts, and thought I'd give it a try.
I didn't think it would amuse me as much as it did.
Maddie & Tank's "First Date"!
This was something I'd been planning for awhile, because I've been gently prodding the two together for the last few chapters, and it's time to speed things along. In terms of actually playing the game, Maddie wasted no time in getting herself knocked up, so in order to keep ages in sync with a character who appears in the next chapter, Maddie's going to have to be pregnant soon.
I guess that's the real reason I sent them on a date. But it was also nice to seem them doing cute things together, and being a couple for a reason other than emotional turmoil. Or whatever.
Again, fully aware that woohoo would be too soon between real people after about a week of knowing someone. But this is the sims, and they do fall in love in one day and have a family started by the end of the week in actual gameplay.
I felt bad using the "let's drink and then sex" cliche, but it totally necessary in terms of moving things along. I didn't plan the timeline of Maddie & Tank meeting and Maddie starting a family very well. Better luck next time, I guess.
Also, Hex and Ariel turned up to the bowling alley, and decided to settle their differences over a game. And it hilarious - Hex is TERRIBLE at bowling.
Which, naturally, Ariel finds hilarious.
The dinner scene! I'm glad this will be the last one I have to stage for a little while, as all kinds of weird and wonderful glitches happened this time round.
Like this. Maddie's elbow got stuck like she was holding a plate, so it really does look she's the sloppiest of sloppy sims (she has 6 neat points, no excuse!)
Tank's elbow and Lance's elbow got stuck in the same positions, and I ended up having to reset them all. It was a minor inconvenience, but an inconvenience that has made me want to avoid dinner scenes for the time being.
And they're very good at snapping out of their facial overlays. This is the lower table's reaction to the news of Lance's engagement. Only Tank looks pleased for them!
It just amused me, is all.
The spell. I've been planning this scene for a really long time, and it's great that I've finally managed to get it done.
It took a few practise runs before I got the staging right, really. I always use the "witch transformation" option on the Apartment Life box for sims who are having spells cast on them, as there's three different stages to the magic: light sparkles, pointy beams & then a massive overwhelming light.
I've kind of come up with different uses for them all - the sparkles, as seen above, are for minor, non-fatal magic, like when Ariel took Fiona's voice in the previous generation. The overwhelmingly big light I use for things like banishment.
And naturally, I use the evil transformation for dark magic, and the regular transformation for light/neutral magic.
That's why I went for pointy beams for Lavender in this scene. It seemed to fit better. After that, it was deciding on an angle. Seeing Lavender from the front during the spell just wasn't sitting right with me, hence why I used a completely different angle in the shot.
Plus the facial expressions were a bit off, and a backview hides them nicely.
I'm still struggling with getting someone to collapse without looking stupid. Lavender's passing out from the heat, from the seasons box, which was okay. I think I read somewhere that the waking up from too much heat could also be used, and I *think* Orikes used it in her turn of the BRRL. Not sure.
Anyway. What I was happy with was getting my sims to crouch and look appropriately concerned. Combing for seashells, Bon Voyage box! I love it.
And that brings us to here, my favourite picture in the entire update. I don't know what I love about it, I'm just really happy with how it turned out.
I also want to point out that this was my plan for quite some time, though originally I had Hex in Lavender's position here. I realised I need Hex for something later on, so I switched it and moved things around, which worked really well actually as it meant I could fit another one of my ideas in quite easily.
I really can't wait to get started on the repercussions of what happened here.
That's all I have for this time, let me know what you think!
And hopefully you enjoyed the chapter, despite everything.
Anyway, there are definitely spoilers here if you haven't read the chapter.
Now I'm sure a lot of you probably want to know stuff relating to that end scene, but I like to do these BTS posts in chronological order, following the order of the chapter, so you'll just have to wait a little bit longer before I throw some explanations at you for that scene.
First things first, I've been trying a lot harder lately to make the backgrounds of pictures interesting, but I had no idea how much hard work that would be. Or if it's even paying off. It took me half an hour (maybe longer) to clutter up Kimberly's magic room, and I still don't think it was cluttered enough. There was also a few things I put in for reasons - like the black roses, they can be used for magic in TS1: Makin' Magic, and I've always thought that was neat, so that's why the bouquet is there.
And that little picture frame on its side by the back of the table? Well, it's my headcanon that Kimberly pushed her family away in favour of magic, which is why Kimberly and Sam are in Belladonna with no family. The reason for Sam's absence will come up in a later chapter (maybe in the next one, I need to doublecheck my outlines), but essentially, Kimberly has pushed everyone away for dark magic.
I got a lot out of putting a photoframe down the back of a coffee table, didn't I? Sometimes I wonder if I overthink these things.
"Hi Ralph! It's nice to see you!"
"Is is?"
Hex and Ralph! Do you know how hard it is to make Hex look angry when you need him to?
Now, it's been established that Ralph has been trying to change his ways a little bit after a generation in banishment, but of course no one's going to settle for than excuse quite so easily. Redemption is hard, and it's going to be really fun working through that with Ralph.
Oh, and in case anyone is wondering...
"ANGRY SMOOCH."
That animation where Hex grabs Ralph's shoulders is from the smooching interaction. You have to time it just right. I learnt this from reading one of
peasant007's BTS posts, and thought I'd give it a try. I didn't think it would amuse me as much as it did.
Maddie & Tank's "First Date"!
This was something I'd been planning for awhile, because I've been gently prodding the two together for the last few chapters, and it's time to speed things along. In terms of actually playing the game, Maddie wasted no time in getting herself knocked up, so in order to keep ages in sync with a character who appears in the next chapter, Maddie's going to have to be pregnant soon.
I guess that's the real reason I sent them on a date. But it was also nice to seem them doing cute things together, and being a couple for a reason other than emotional turmoil. Or whatever.
Again, fully aware that woohoo would be too soon between real people after about a week of knowing someone. But this is the sims, and they do fall in love in one day and have a family started by the end of the week in actual gameplay.
I felt bad using the "let's drink and then sex" cliche, but it totally necessary in terms of moving things along. I didn't plan the timeline of Maddie & Tank meeting and Maddie starting a family very well. Better luck next time, I guess.
Also, Hex and Ariel turned up to the bowling alley, and decided to settle their differences over a game. And it hilarious - Hex is TERRIBLE at bowling.
Which, naturally, Ariel finds hilarious.
The dinner scene! I'm glad this will be the last one I have to stage for a little while, as all kinds of weird and wonderful glitches happened this time round.
Like this. Maddie's elbow got stuck like she was holding a plate, so it really does look she's the sloppiest of sloppy sims (she has 6 neat points, no excuse!)
Tank's elbow and Lance's elbow got stuck in the same positions, and I ended up having to reset them all. It was a minor inconvenience, but an inconvenience that has made me want to avoid dinner scenes for the time being.
And they're very good at snapping out of their facial overlays. This is the lower table's reaction to the news of Lance's engagement. Only Tank looks pleased for them!
It just amused me, is all.
The spell. I've been planning this scene for a really long time, and it's great that I've finally managed to get it done.
It took a few practise runs before I got the staging right, really. I always use the "witch transformation" option on the Apartment Life box for sims who are having spells cast on them, as there's three different stages to the magic: light sparkles, pointy beams & then a massive overwhelming light.
I've kind of come up with different uses for them all - the sparkles, as seen above, are for minor, non-fatal magic, like when Ariel took Fiona's voice in the previous generation. The overwhelmingly big light I use for things like banishment.
And naturally, I use the evil transformation for dark magic, and the regular transformation for light/neutral magic.
That's why I went for pointy beams for Lavender in this scene. It seemed to fit better. After that, it was deciding on an angle. Seeing Lavender from the front during the spell just wasn't sitting right with me, hence why I used a completely different angle in the shot.
Plus the facial expressions were a bit off, and a backview hides them nicely.
I'm still struggling with getting someone to collapse without looking stupid. Lavender's passing out from the heat, from the seasons box, which was okay. I think I read somewhere that the waking up from too much heat could also be used, and I *think* Orikes used it in her turn of the BRRL. Not sure.
Anyway. What I was happy with was getting my sims to crouch and look appropriately concerned. Combing for seashells, Bon Voyage box! I love it.
And that brings us to here, my favourite picture in the entire update. I don't know what I love about it, I'm just really happy with how it turned out.
I also want to point out that this was my plan for quite some time, though originally I had Hex in Lavender's position here. I realised I need Hex for something later on, so I switched it and moved things around, which worked really well actually as it meant I could fit another one of my ideas in quite easily.
I really can't wait to get started on the repercussions of what happened here.
That's all I have for this time, let me know what you think!
And hopefully you enjoyed the chapter, despite everything.
