SMagazine Issue 9 by SMag

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You can do wonders with a small garden and a small budget Getting your Sims a garden for less

welcome

to issue 9 Hello and welcome to SMagazine Issue 9. This issue is so important to me, since not only is it debuting my new format for SMagazine, it is also the anniversary issue. The idea that I’ve been doing this for one year makes my mind boggle - it feels like so much less than that!

I have so many people to thank for the success of SMagazine, because if it didn’t do well, I don’t think I’d be doing this any more! There’s far too many people to list here, but I promise that I love every single one of you! I hope you’re as excited for the anniversary as I am - and, as always, I hope you’ll enjoy reading this issue as much as I’ve enjoyed putting it together. GEORGE B Editor

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contents

06 White Paradise by ung999 16 Got Garden? (Ask Dan) 22 Kitchen Inspiration 24 Sandstone by Peskimus 36 Queen’s Meadow by Tom 42 Eye on Mods 48 Woodland Aluna by Will 58 Kitchen Notebook 60 Bathroom Notebook 62 Windsor Creek by Alex 76 Verity by Deligracy 88 Quick Faves 102 One Year... 110 Special Thanks 112 SimGuruSarah: exclusive interview 118 Copyright & Important Information 120 Contact information

this issue’s interview

SimGuru Sarah page 112

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In this issue weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re starting by looking back at the best from the past - and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re starting with one of our favourites from Issue 3. The White Paradise set by ung999 is not only a great piece of CC, it also had a great room layout in the screenshots on The Sims Resource.

white paradise by ung999 7

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drifter Driftwood is a great material to use for houses and interiors you want to have a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;beachyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; vibe.

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DOWNLOAD

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got

garden?

To: askdan@smagazineofficial.co.uk Subject: Garden S.O.S. Dear Dan, My boyfriend and I into a tiny little in Willow Creek. I really canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stand

recently moved modern house love it, but I the garden!

I need you to help me do up my garden! We have a tiny budget so we can only afford the bare essentials, but surely you can work your magic and make our garden a whole lot nicer? Thank you! Nancy

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ell Nancy, this certainly was quite a job! Considering your tiny budget, I think we did a great job. It look a lot of hunting around for the best deal and a lot of careful planning, but your garden looks great now!

Our first job was to try and find ways to reuse as much of your existing furniture as possible. We took your original cheap bench and gave it a fresh lick of paint doesn’t it look better already? The Design tool might not be create-a-style, but it’s a good idea to take a look through all the swatches for the cheaper furniture. We also used items from the same set for your dining chairs - they were really cheap! The bench was called the Must Be Loveseat and was only $150, and the two dining chairs were called the Brock Metal Dining Chairs, which we got for $85. The barbecue is probably the most expensive part of your garden setup, and is the Incendiator by GrillMania which we found for $1,300. There is a basic easel which you can find in most good craft stores, and there’s also some green space which will work for gardening or any other outdoor activities you feel like. Also, don’t forget that your garden gnome has also stayed in the garden! •

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youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re basic Remember that even the most basic pieces of furniture can look great when you use the right swatch.

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stuck for ideas? hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s some great inspiration for kitchens.

thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s simspiration and more on our website smagazineofficial.co.uk 23

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sand stone by peskimus

This is a truly beautiful modern house built on an Australian beach. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s high ceilings and open plan rooms create a great flowing feeling around the house, and the fusion of light and dark colours create a clean, beachy feel throughout the house. Peskimus also takes advantage of the beautiful sea views (this lot is located in Roaring Heights) by almost covering one of the walls in glass. 25

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greenhouse For modern builds a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;glass wallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is a great idea, especially if you have a good view.

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proudest of ”

“the house I’m

We asked our team to tell us about the houses that they’re proudest of, in The Sims 3 or The Sims 4. There were some really interesting responses, and our first one comes from The Sims 3. QUEEN’S MEADOW By Tom

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om again bringing you another design in The Sims 3. This house was built as a collaboration by the amazing InfamousSecondDaughter. Her house builds are absolutely stunning and you should definitely go follow her, and subscribe to her channel. This task was to just pick out my favourite house that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve built in either The Sims 3 or 4, and so I picked The Sims 3. The overall design of this house is that it is an old, large, Victorian home, and I think the interior design really reflects that. I used a lot of wood textures and paneling on the inside, as well as a lot of objects from sets like the Deliciously Indulgent Bakery [link]. I also incorporated things like wardrobes and a pantry area in the kitchen. My favourite room in the house is the living room as I think it feels cosy, and well lived in. I struggled at first trying to make it look okay, but in the end I think it turned out just fine. I really hope you like this house, and as I said, the InfamousSecondDaughter is one of the best builders I have seen so be sure to check out her channel. I hope youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re all enjoying The Sims 4, and I will speak to you all, next time.

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mods eye on

SIMPLY MODERN DINING ROOM BY ANGELA

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FRAXINUS LIVING BY ONYXIUM

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MODS TO WATCH 46

MOVEOBJECTS ON MOD BY TWISTEDMEXI

ADVANCED DEBUG BY CLOWN

RED BY S

DUCED TOWNIES SHIMROD101

TOULON DINING BY ANGELA TEEN CAREERS FOR ALL BY PLASTICBOX

BUILD/BUY UNLOCKER BY SCRIPTHOGE 47

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words and la

ayout by will

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KITCHEN

notebook The kitchen is a focal point of your home, so it’s important to make it one of the best rooms in the house. • It is always important to ensure that you have the right layout for your kitchen. However it’s important to make sure that not only does it work aesthetically, but practically as well. • One solid bank of units can ruin the appearance of a kitchen, so consider breaking your kitchen into two with the use of counter islands. • Extractor fans can make a statement, believe it or not. Nesting your oven into a kitchen island and putting an extractor fan above it can do wonders for the look of your kitchen. • Don’t let your counter islands go to waste! Consider putting two or three barstools along one side of the island to make a breakfast bar of sorts. • Every surface has storage potential at the end of a unit. This makes a perfect place for spice racks, utensils and smaller appliances like microwaves or coffee machines. 59

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BATHROOM

notebook Everyone needs a bathroom so you might as well make it look half decent! • A vintage claw-foot bath can make a great focal point for your bathroom. Paint the bath using some waterproof paint and give it a two-tone colour scheme we went for a black and white scheme for our bathroom. • Candles can provide great ambient lighting for your bathroom. Keep them beside your bath so you can have some quick and easy lighting if you’re looking to relax. • Just because it’s your bathroom doesn’t mean you can’t decorate it properly! Keeping some potted plants works really well, but don’t put them on counter tops. • Always use the full height of your walls. Keep a towel rack above your toilet or squeeze some storage above the door. • Sticking to two or three colours for your bathroom will always work a charm. Don’t let the palette get too overwhelming and you’re on the right track!

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Design and layout also by

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quick tips Did you know you can use shelves to create the effect of exterior blinds on a window? In The Sims 4 you can place shelves on a window without having to use any cheats, and you can also easily move them up and down walls when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in walls up view - press alt for more precise placement. To create the effect of exterior blinds, just put lots of shelves that span the full width of your window close together. Not too close, though - you need to get some light in!

Modern Concept by DutchSimsMaster

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VERITY BY DELI Our next house was by someone we interviewed in Issue 6, Deligracy. Her house Verity is a perfect example of how powerful constrainfloorelevation can be, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s truly a house you need in your game.

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powerful

CFE was a very powerful cheat in The Sims 3 - we need it back in The Sims 4 asap!

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Where do you get your inspiration for your builds?

“I get inspiration from houses surrounding where I live, as well as Tumblr, fashion blogs and design magazines. I also like to create ‘Sim clients’ who I build/renovate houses to suit what I imagine their personalities to be like.” Deligracy, Issue 6

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faves QUICK

ISLA PARAMANSION BY THESIMSUPPLY

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MODERN CONCEPT BY DUTCHSIMSMASTER

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THE LOFT BY GEORGEISHUNGRY

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MODERN HOUSE (FURNISHED) BY NASIFEJ

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quick tips Here’s another quick tip - just because there isn’t CFE in The Sims 4 doesn’t mean you can’t split level! In The Sims 4 it’s easy to create split levels (on the ground floor). Here’s our quick guide to making split level houses!

Step 1 Build a room. It can be any shape; as long as itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on foundations.

Step 2 Within that room, create another room. This will be the lower down part of your room.

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Step 3 Using the sledgehammer tool, delete the floor inside the room you just built.

Step 4 Now you can delete the rooms surrounding it! Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget to add stairs, of course.

Discuss

Welcome to SimNation Discuss, the new community home for SimNation and SMagazine! On SimNation Discuss, you can join fellow Simmers and share your creations, chat Sim, SimCity, Cities Skylines and a lot more. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s free to sign up, too! To sign up go to

discuss.simnation.tv

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Photo by DutchSimsMaster

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e n o ear... y

As we celebrate the one year anniversary of SMagazine, our editor George B takes a look back at the crazy year itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been, whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s made all this happen and some of the very best moments of this whole crazy experience.

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It all began... It all began on October 16, 2013 when the very first issue of SMagazine was uploaded. Looking back now itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an absolutely shoddy excuse for an issue of SMagazine but it did just fine for me then!

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DECEMBER 2013

Then it took off! The Christmas 2013 issue of SMagazine was the first issue that really took off. To this date the issue has gotten over 3,000 views!

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JANUARY 2014

A lick of paint... With Issue 3 came the new look for SMagazine. The new diamond logo and the relaunched website are still in use today (at least, for now!)

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FEBRUARY 2014

Recognition! On the very same day we released Issue 4, The Sims official twitter noticed us - they gave us a follow! Issue 4 was also the debut of the now regular feature Ask Dan!

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APRIL 2014

Team-building With Issue 5 also came the debut of our first team member Zeeanna. She was in charge of the Sims 2 vs Sims 3 feature in each issue! Unfortunately sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been really busy lately so weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had to miss out her feature for a few issues.

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SEPTEMBER 2014

SimNation Issue 8 was the debut of our partnership with SimNation.tv. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re still very happily partnered with SimNation and their forums SimNation Discuss, and we hope itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll remain that way for years to come!

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NOW

1st birthday! And now weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re one, and this has been an amazing year. It wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be done without all of you, but some of you in particular...

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Thank you all for being so amazing and supportive of SMagazine. I honestly wouldn’t keep doing this if there wasn’t such a vocal and lovely community like you’re all a part of, and I really am thankful to EA for creating this amazing game that everyone can come together over. You’re all so amazing, but there are some people in particular I’d like to thank...

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special thanks BuildItFilmItM for being my first interviewee BeyondSims for being so supportive after Issue 1 and being interviewed in Issue 2 Rachybop for being interviewed in Issue 2 TheSimSupply for creating so many astounding houses (which are featured in almost every issue) and being interviewed in Issue 3 Zerbu for being interviewed in Issue 4 Curtis Paradis for being interviewed in Issue 5 Deligracy for being super friendly and being featured in

Issue 6! DutchSimsMaster for being interviewed in Issue 7 CaithlinSims for being super patient whilst she was busy (and I was pestering her) and being interviewed in Issue 8! The team for being so amazing, every single issue SimNation for giving me the amazing opportunity of partnering SMagazine with SimNation SimGuruSarah for taking part in this issue! SimGuruZera for being a godsend sorting out the interview so much red tape to get through! 111

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

SARAH HOLDING 112

“Hi everyone! I am Sarah Holding and I’m a Producer on The Sims 4. I’ve been with Maxis for 9 years and I’ve worked on games for The Sims 2, The Sims 3, and MySims. I love cats, coffee, and chocolate. I’m a big fan of SMagazine. I’ve been reading since the first issue!”

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What does your job involve at The Sims Studio? I’m a producer and we do a little bit of everything!

What’s your favourite - and least favourite - part of your job? My favourite part would be that I get to “wear a lot of hats.” Every day as a Sims Producer is different! We give design feedback, we write text, we test, we play, we help coordinate all the disciplines (Animation, Engineering, Modeling, etc…) that are needed to bring a feature to life, we run meetings, we organize late night ice cream runs… the hardest part of being a Producer is scoping features. That’s when we look at a feature and we look at how much time it will take to implement everything, and then we look at how much time we actually have. It’s a tough, but necessary part of the game development process.

What has been your favourite project to work on? The Sims 2 Open For Business! I was in QA, so I was pretty much testing/playing the game all day every day. OFB is so much fun and there are infinite ways to play with the systems. I love running bakeries and retail stores. I once built a store that sold nothing but Sir Bricks-aLots : )

What’s your favourite thing about The Sims? I love creativity through storytelling. I love playing with my Sims and telling their stories through gameplay. I like to create a structured story in my head, and then let the randomness of non-controllable Sims take hold and take

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The giant plumbob light in the EA lobby also lets you know you’re in the realm of The Sims. Image credit: @SimGuruRachel

Did you know that there’s a mural with the logo of every Sims game on the wall at The Sims Studio? Image credit: @SimGuruLyndsay

“My favourite part would be that we get to ‘wear a lot of hats’. Every day as a Sims producer is different!

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;My best memories all involve my coworkers. Once, there were only a few of us in the office, so we turned the computer speakers up really loud and we sang along to the musical Rent whilst we worked!â&#x20AC;?

The studio is covered with The Sims artwork. Image credit: @SimGur

A massive thank you to SimGuruSarah for taking part in this interview, and also a thank you to SimGuruZera for sorting out the more honorous parts of the whole interview (a lot of red tape to get through and not much time to get through it!).

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my story in interesting directions. My Sims lead very dramatic lives!

In terms of Build Mode, what’s your favourite thing? I love landscaping gardens! Hedges, fences, lots of flowers, winding garden paths, fountains…I love to take a really big lot and build a tiny house with a massive garden.

When did you first play The Sims? I discovered The Sims (the first one) on the PS2. I was quickly addicted and within a week abandoned my console game so I could play the PC version with the expansion packs.

Do you have any tips for aspiring game designers? Get involved in creative pursuits! If your school has a club that makes games or films or anything creative get involved and get that creative team experience. Also, learn some basic code. Game design isn’t all coming up with awesome ideas – a lot of it is implementing those ideas, and understanding how your game engine works. Having even a rudimentary background in engineering is very beneficial.

ruSarah

What’s the best memory you have of The Sims Studio? Be sure to double-check you’re following Sarah on Twitter

@SimGuruSarah

My best memories all involve my coworkers. One of my favorite memories is coming in on a Saturday during The Sims 3 Pets development. There were only a few of us in the office, so we turned up the computer speakers really loud and we sang along to the Broadway musical Rent while we worked. •

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Important information EDITOR GEORGE BISHOP THE TEAM Content curation George Lot specialist Alex Lot specialist Will Interior specialist Tom Writer Zeeanna Distribution George Media & Marketing George Web Writer Raquel JOIN US If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re interested in joining the SMagazine team, then send the editor an email george@smagazineofficial.co.uk COPYRIGHT SMagazine is not endorsed or funded by Electronic Arts, or itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s licensors, in any way. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Creations featured in this magazine are all available for free and we do not gain anything by sharing any lots. The lots shared in this publication are not used for commercial gain by SMagazine, or the creator of the lot. All creations inside this issue are shared with the belief that the original creator would not object to the sharing of their creation. If you are a creator and you do not wish for us to share your creations, please tell the editor via email.

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Contact information EMAIL THE EDITOR GEORGE@SMAGAZINEOFFICIAL.CO.UK @smagazineofcl

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pintrest.com/smagazineofcl

SMagazine

SGaming

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Keep drawing blanks? The new look SMagazine website is full of real life inspiration for your next creation.

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