so after a year of creating a custom save file from scratch, oakridge is finally ready to be released !

so first of all - welcome, i'm burdie and i create cozy sims content.

this save file was randomly started during a heatwave in may 2024 and i'm so grateful for that random tuesday😂during the creation of oakridge i've received so much love and support and had so much growth on my channel as well as personally. words can't describe the gratitude i have for all the positive comments and hearing how excited everyone is for the save makes me wanna cry🤧

but enough with being soppy, let's talk✨oakridge✨

🦫about oakridge

oakridge is very heavily based on oregon, life is strange and the 1990's because i'm nostalgic for a time i wasn't alive for💀

this save file has a lot of references to the 1990's/early 2000's through fashion, music and the lots in the save. however, feel free to fully lean into this grungy setting or bring it up to speed ! once you download it, it's yours to do whatever your heart compels you😽

my thought process when creating oakridge was (selfishly) based off how i like to play the sims and that's rotationally ! altogether there are 9 households for you to play with, they all have their own homes personalised to them - although there are 3 empty lots for you to hop straight into game with a fresh sim from cas ! i really tried to make this as dynamic as i could and to compliment all play styles !

there are also many community lots throughout the world that lean into the lore within oakridge, some are even owned by the households but there should be plenty for your sims to do ! for example, there is an arcade, comic shop and much more (and a woohoo hotel but we can ignore that🫣)

since oakridge is based on and around oregon, i did my very best to recreate that accurately. therefore, oakridge has the national animal which is the jackalope from outdoor retreat (not quite a beaver but work with me lol) we also leaned very heavily into the architecture style which is mostly farmhouses, classic craftsman, vancouver specials etc. there is also some street art dotted around which, to the best i could with vanilla items, represents the salish style sported up north.

thank you so much to friends who told me about the architecture and art in pnw towns

🌲storylines

as mentioned before, there are 9 main households in oakridge as well as multiple townies. every single one of those sims has their own personalities. all sims created (some by friends which is greatly appreciated🥰) have a story, i made sure to give all sims skills, lifestyles, careers etc. and of course relationships because you should know your neighbour ea !

anyway, many of these storylines are purely from my imagination, and some are inspired from media. for example, toni baxter is a teen sim in an r&b band with her friends who have dreams of touring the country (inspired by the amazing lauryn hill) or gloria thompson who is a successful business woman who is now struggling to establish herself romantically after an already failed marriage (purely from my head ... i'm pisces what can i say)

something that was extremely important to me was ensuring that oakridge was as diverse as i could physically make it. honestly the amount of hours i've spent simply researching different cultures and types of real life people is insane😂i hope i've managed to create sims and storylines that represent everyone that plays and that there's something we can all relate to !

here's a link to my patreon post to download the save:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/welcome-to-128457084

and my youtube channel where i documented the creation of it and am now playing it !
https://www.youtube.com/@burdie773