At long last, every last image featuring Amelia and Cory's old hairstyles has been replaced! These hairstyles improved both of them so dramatically, it's been a lot of fun recreating these shots. I've greatly enjoyed getting to see both their glo-ups and getting to give myself a little pat on the back whenever I see that I've outdone the original. Here are some final comparison shots to celebrate:
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While it has been a very long time coming, all images in Courage & Resolve featuring Amelia and Cory have been updated up through Part 1.12 - News in the Dead of Night. This is a much needed change that replaces their original rather unfortunate looking hair with the updated models the Sims Team released for these hairstyles a couple years ago. Here are a few shots that showcase these improvements: The final 3 parts might take a bit more time, as they are much more involved in terms of sets and Sims I need present, many of which I did not save and have to reconstruct. Part 1.15 also requires me to redo several images that I spent a while editing. Regardless, I've finally made meaningful progress on this change, and having every last image updated is on the horizon.
Josh confronts the Sanchezes, and they reveal why they need him, and what their plan is. Meanwhile, Kiara dedicates herself to becoming more independent, and Max fears for the future of the Renegades.
An Explanation Hey all. Long time, no see. I realized a couple days ago that I hadn't updated a story here in over a year, and throughout that period of time, I'd barely realized that such a significant amount of time had passed since I last wrote a Sims story. I recognize that it's been much longer for many other stories, especially stories like Summertime Haze, which haven't seen an update since 2020. When I announced Reborn from the Ash around two years ago, I said that it was the story I was the most excited to write, largely because it was a story that wasn't written with the framework of Sims 4 gameplay in mind. It allowed me to be more ambitious with the narrative, characters, themes, and world building, and looking back at everything now, that holds more true than ever. Many of my other stories have a tendency to meander, and characters that don't end up marrying into the family either ended up very lacking in development, or fell by the wayside because they were never intended to become permanent fixtures in the story. Reborn from the Ash and first generation of Courage & Resolve with Amelia Brown are unique in that regard. For reference, and because I always find it interesting to hear about how a story came to be, here is how these two came to be:
That's why when revisiting things now, I chose to return to Reborn from the Ash, even though it's the story the least in need of an urgent update. Writing this story in particular brings me such a great deal of joy, because it didn't fall into many of the pitfalls my earlier works did in sticking closely to what's doable in the Sims 4. And joy is something I need right now, especially when it comes to reigniting my love for creative writing. That isn't to say that I don't love my other stories. I truly do, I just feel as if they might need significant work to become something I can point at and say "I'm proud of that, and I want to show it off the world" again. Deep Thoughts on Each of my Stories To just spitball here, more so for myself than anyone else, here is my current thoughts on what each story might need. Spoiler warning for each of these stories, but I will be limiting my spoiler content to only what has been written so far. Just Starting Out faces the issue of an incredibly mediocre beginning. Not much happens throughout the first few chapters, as I was incredibly faithful to how I played as these Sims, as they were my first Sims family ever. I feel as if I mishandled Malcolm's character, especially in relation to John, and I have actually adjusted some text in the story related to that within the last week, as it was probably the aspect I hated most across all of my Sims stories. John and Kayla don't face enough conflict throughout the story, and don't have much of a stake in the conflicts they do experience. I am, however very pleased with everything related to the Goth family and Nancy Landgraab. Cassandra in particular is a highlight. And, finally, staying vague here, but I'm not thrilled with how the next generation handles the Generation 1 cast, or how Generation 2 moves into Generation 3. Dreams of Fame is campy. It's something I both love and hate about the story. These Sims are the family I played alongside my younger sister, and we kept things over the top constantly. Zoe Presley did indeed keep Giovanna, the first random person she met in a park, in her basement to create paintings she could sell, and Liberty did fly off to space and befriend an alien. Summer also could not stop using bars autonomously, and my sister and I constantly got Zoe Presley and Zoe Patel's names confused. It's a story I find fun, and I adore the cast and think they are all, for the most part, well written and well realized, but a lot of it also feels very unreal and sudden to me. This trend continues on into the next generation, which, spoiler warning, features time travel, a reality tv show, and secret agents. I feel like more work needs to be done to convince both me and the reader that any of this story is feasible within the laws of its own universe. Summertime Haze is probably the best of my first three works, but only for one key reason. The Baxter family. Toby wrestling with his feelings for both Hayley and Henry is very compelling, so much so that I fear he completely superseded Henry as the protagonist in the part of the story where I stopped writing. To me, this means that I failed developing Henry. I also feel as if I failed to do Jordan's character justice, and her relationship with Bennett was incredibly undercooked. Hope and Paolo also feel rather pointless, as they both lack goals and motivations of their own, which is glaring with the two of them being as prominent as they are. Ellen is also in a bit of a weird place with me. I feel as if I succeeded with what I wanted to achieve with her character so far, but I also dislike that very same character arc. I adore the first generation of Courage & Resolve. I think some wording could be adjusted to be less on the nose, but I find Amelia to be a brilliant protagonist, and Samson a realistic antagonist. As it moves into the second generation, however, I'm met with an abundance of concerns, the majority of which I can't yet get into. A big one, however, is Carter Reyes. He was the original protagonist of Courage & Resolve before Amelia was expanded upon, and the original Sim I played as that this save was centered around. As a result, the second generation does an awkward job at balancing Carter and the Brown family. I'm also not fond of much of Carter's early conflict, especially with Amelia, and will likely be overhauling it. I also still need to update Amelia's afro, which is something I only put on pause because I realized just how daunting it was to redo every last image the protagonist of the story appears in. Mai Legacy is where I started to write Sims stories, and let's face it- it shows. It sticks very firmly to my original gameplay, with house parties occurring at the same time and with the same Sims present, and James resolves his two biggest personal conflicts within the first 7 chapters. Susan falls for him too quick, Jacques is built up to be threatening, yet barely has an impact on the story, and there are so many characters orbiting James and Susan that almost none of them are fleshed out or feel meaningful. The story also shifts to focusing on Seth and Leah entirely too quickly, and James and Susan quickly fade into the background until the chapters leading up to James's death. To speak positively of some of it, Joaquin is still a favorite character of mine, and I think a large part of why is he had a fully realized arc and backstory, and was a regular presence throughout much of the first generation. Many of my other stories also draw some basis from Mai Legacy, as so many characters ended up circling James and Susan that there was some overlap. This is why Akira, Salim, and Penny are all categorized under other stories. At the same time, however, this has made establishing a cohesive timeline somewhat of a headache, but that isn't an issue that stems entirely from Mai Legacy. If I could redo this story, I would expand the first 7 or 8 chapters into 20 chapters, actually utilize Jacques, and create lasting angst between James and Susan. I also feel as if the whole legacy thing is kind of cumbersome and bizarre, and while I've gone in and added text to Victor's explanation of legacies multiple times over the years, they still don't feel as if they make logical sense in universe to me. There's a lot of work that would need to be done on this one. Here's a fun one. Lies and Deceit has yet to see a single chapter released. It's been featured on the banner for years, Judith-Noelle, a protagonist, popped up in Courage & Resolve, and Olivia Santiago, an important figure in Generation 2, is in the background of the first chapter of Reborn from the Ash. It's a story that had been fully planned out for years, and it was originally going to see a release following the completion of the first generation of Courage & Resolve, but to me, it just feels like more of the same. It's in line with Just Starting Out in that it starts out entirely too mundane, and once the plot finally starts rolling, some events feel so unfounded in reality or logical thought for a given character that they're reminiscent of Dreams of Fame. Of course, I haven't actually begun writing this story yet, and I could see it starting to click more in my mind once the characters start to live and breathe, but for now, it is a story that makes me doubtful, which is why I put it on hold to move onto Reborn from the Ash. Reborn from the Ash has sort of become my favorite child. Each of the characters feel incredibly real to me, there is not a single character that feels as if they're there for the sake of being there. If a character feels hasn't yet had much to do, believe me, they have so much more ahead of them. Even Ulrike, Ivan, and Ronnie, for instance, who are mere cameo characters that appear in Parts 7 and 8, have clear goals, histories, and opinions even though they will not continue to play a large role in the story. If anything, my biggest concern with this story is what comes next. The initial generation is so intricately constructed that I fear that moving on to Kiara's children is going to be a downgrade, especially in comparison to what I have planned for the other stories at around the same time, but that's a bridge I'll cross when I come to it. It's telling to me that this is a story where my biggest concern is something that isn't concrete and far ahead of me. A lot can change before then. Finally, one last thought about magic, religion, and the occult as they feature in this shared universe. It gets messy to me, because Summertime Haze is currently the only story that gets into the belief system of the primary religion, Dreams of Fame is responsible for aliens, and Just Starting Out gets into vampires, yet all of this is supposed to be relevant to every story. Going over the religion in each story feels stupid, yet expecting every last reader to have read Summertime Haze to get it feels even worse. I also just can't pretend it doesn't exist in every other story. Dropping magic and vampires into a story like Reborn from the Ash is going to feel as if it came from totally out of left field, but it's supposed to happen at some point. In Conclusion Anyway, this ended up getting way longer than I expected. I was originally intending on making this a three paragraph thing where I explained why I was only updating Reborn from the Ash, but I really got rolling. I don't know if this post will even stay up, to be completely honest, as I feel I said too much now, but I just wanted to let you all know that I am thinking of each of these stories, even if I'm not currently working on them. I want to improve upon all of my work, and while it will certainly take time, I'll get there.
- Cade Part 1.7 of Reborn from the Ash out now!
In this chapter, while Kiara has a gathering with friends new and old, Antonio begins to execute his plan to bring her back home. In order to do so, he ropes in a familiar face... |
AuthorCade loves playing the sims, hanging out with his friends, and traveling. He grew up in the American Southwest and studied Game Design and English in college. He writes as a hobby, and after looking at the sims he's played with over the years, thought it'd be cool to release dedicated stories about all of them. Archives
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