Whooha, I have just noticed I missed this question - sorry for not replying earlier!

I get the background images of all the families from a package inside the hood' folder named Thumbnails. I extract them all at once with SimPE.
I do the same for the Sims portraits - each picture is located in the Sims file, I use SimPE's Sim browser to find the right one. I resize them to 25% and store them for further use.
Icons I got them from some package or another, I don't remember which one because I extracted them long ago.
And then I put them all together with Gimp.

Waaait
Which map are you playing xD

One called "Sedona". Yes, I'm that unoriginal when it comes to naming my hoods xD

I'm not sure if it's a Maxis one or I have downloded it. Roads look like this but it's not in my downloads list here at MTs...

that's the maxis terrain titled Sedona LOL

And I have just finished another rotation so it's time to write another chapter of this story

Vilma Zadra-Atkins dated the paperboy, Alon Raymond. It was a nice date but Vilma should know this relation was no future.

Why? Because Alon was about to go to college.
Yes, college!
He has been the paperboy since the hood was created, so I guess it's time due to get a new one. Hence Alon gets to spend all his savings to get a higher education.

There are two more new students at the campus, Laern Durant-Dukrarn and Vivian Zadra-Atkins. They are friends so it seemed a good idea to get a house for them. (I have not played them yet and they definetely need a make-over, I'll take some pics when I do.)

And there they are likely to meet Christian Walker, who has saved up enough to move out the dorm and rent a house with a double bed. Because he thinks he can give a double bed a good use...



His relation with Klaav is getting definetely serious and she takes it as a reason to go ahead and propose.

Btw she has already moved out her parents apartment and her plans include Christian moving in with her as soon as he's done with his studies.


And there is another new teen couple: Prid and Kliive had a wonderful date and fell in love. As expected.




And now about love and deception!
Arvian Zadra-Atkins seduced Dagmar Gilmore, one of the landladies. Always risky because Eleanor might catch him at any time in the building.


But what actually happened was that he was flirting with Eleanor, and Ray Mayhew (her fiancé) caught them!!



This is probably the worst moment for a break up!
In fact Eleanor was quite ready to get married - mostly because she was absolutely broke and it was time to pay the rent, so it's either marriage or getting a job. What's she supposed to do now?
Well, she decided to seduce J'Sapp Daeli (not a great idea because he's married) and failed miserably.


There was also quite a bit of slapping between Martha Smithers and Derrick Lowe.
Former lovers and still next-door neighbours in an apartment building, something happened which certainly killed whatever good feelings they had towards the other.

Martha is decided to not let it ruin her mood and have fun with her friends!


Not all unhappines though. Most families carry on pretty well.
The Palmers left their tiny house and decided to spend the money into renting a larger luxurious apartment. Renting will allow them to live way more comfortably. (Lucy is now a child, with a colourful dress which makes a funny contrast with her mom's black outfit. Unfortunately I have no close-up pics.)

The Maces also moved into a new larger house because their tiny apartment would be too uncomfortable for a family of five - btw Herbie is now a child and looks quite handsome.

Another Sim I forgot to take pics of is Jess Walker, child of Roger and J'Kepp. It's a pity because she has inherited her grandma Carol angry eyebrows, haircolor and eyes. (I love genetics!)
The Freemans kids are also growing up, and were lucky enough to receive a visit from the matchmaker - who left them a mysterious oil lamp. They got a little extra money from the genie, although that also meant a visit from a burglar

And I think those were the most important events.
For some reason I'm missing pics I was quite sure to have taken, I must be getting senile XD

Nice to see an update on your Neighborhood Amura


Oh you count the rotations, I don't and I am not sure how many I have done at this point. I guessing that it is around 5 or 6.

Your girl Vilma that had the date with the paperboy, is she heading to College any time soon?

Of the pictures that you took, they are good pictures. I know how it is when it comes to missing pictures. Although I have been trying to do better lately.

Eleanor should just get a job and then later try to see about getting married.

I am eagerly looking forward to your next update on your Neighborhood after the next rotation is done.

I'm only on my second rotation omfg
I though forget to count days
Better begin that
I think I meant to not do the the first few rounds to have everyone in different ages though

My actual rotations are rather short - only one SimDay per session, because I usually can't play longer than that - so I take in consideration "rounds" which happen to be SimWeeks. Now I've started playing #07d, that is, the fourth SimDay of the seventh SimWeek.

Vilma is likely to go to college soon, yes, now that it is avaliable. Her sister Vivian is a fresh(wo)man and I recall there was not much different in age.
I'm not sure whether Alon will remember her though. He seems to have lost all his memories of previous lovers (and even rolled a first-kiss want).

And Eleanor is a Romance Sim... with no interest so far in working nor creating a family. So at this point she would only choose one of those things in order to avoid the other xD
If she gets a job she won't need a husband to pay her bills, if she gets married she expects him to bring money home. And in any case she will try to keep her romancing on.
(Unless of course she rolls an stray want for either thing.)

How long have you been playing the hood?
//stupid question, too lazy to math

If you meant Sims time:
6 full weeks + 4 days, that's 46 SimDays.

If you meant RL time:
Since February.
First rotations were quite fast, because the population was very small and they all lived in the same house. As they left the barracks and started marrying and having children it got a bit slower. But even so I manage to play at least one household most days.
I would like to finish some buildings, but the me-builder is not strong enough to beat the me-player lately XD

Meanwhile I'm a builder and not player so I really have no patience to wait for things to happen xD

I am definitely more of a player than a builder, I only build occaisionally. My rotations take a long time, in real time usually something around 15 hours or so. Sometimes I might play longer before ending the rotation. Heh this is why my posts are so long, I do a lot per rotation. I end rotations based on achieving a Goal, usually sending my teens off to University.

I sometimes get in a builder rut and get a lot done.
I like building, specially when I want some sort of very specific house/apartment. I can't stop building until it's finished.
Then I playtest it... and I keep playing as usual for a while, until I feel the urge to build again.
Right now I have an unfinished building, but I lack the inspiration for the last apartment and the wilpower to stop and think about it for long enough xD

My rotations are time-fixed: 1 SimDay per household.
That's 30 minutes each top (large families usually take longer than 1-person households) so the whole hood takes probably less than 10 hours.
Fast? I don't know, because I usually don't play several households in a row, so those ours may be divided into many days.

I began on the 1 day thing with my own neighborhood though with smaller households I have noticed I forget the time (7 in the morning) xD
Ugh

But it's a fine idea, special when the neighborhood is growing

I think your way of playing is cool, even if I don't play that way.

Anyway I wanted to note that I like building as well, even if I do spend more time playing than anything else.

I have several community buildings that I have built because I really love to create new unique businesses and I have built some houses from scratch. Also I like to remodel, so I might start with a Maxis design or I might start with something that I have built already and remodel it.

Well, my playstyle has changed a lot over the years.
Because my lifestyle has changed too.

That's one of the great things about TS2 - you can play however you want, it does not force you to play this or that way.

That's so true! :lovestruc

I'm still having fun reading about your sims, @Amura !

Here I come with another chapter of this story :D

Let's start with my favourite guy, Steve Palmer.
I recently mentioned in lortyger9's thread that Pleasure is the aspiration I like less, but even so some Pleasure Sims turn out great - specially because of their secondary aspiration, or because they end up tangled in some sort of love polygon as they usually don't care much about loyalty. In the case of Steve probably a bit of both are true.

What happened to him this time, you wonder? Well, he and his family were invited over to the Gorge-Mayhew's. Everybody seemed to be having a great time, and all of a sudden the landylady (who is likely to be one of his many former lovers) decided to flirt with him right in front of his wife Tina

Not surprisingly she was mad at him, and some slapping and some shouting after that, they were really angry at each other. Love is coming to an end.

If that was not complicated enough, Vaklin Gorge had also invited over Martha Smithers, who also had a thing for Steve. She though than since now Steve was probably in the brink of getting divorced again, he would be open to new relationships.

Do you think Martha would be interested in becoming the fifth Mrs. Palmer?
Maybe she was maybe she was not, but it soon was over because the flirtatious landlady attacked again

And all that happened while they were not being played at all! These Sims of mine hardly need my interaction anymore

Steve has 2 ex-wifes (Chloe and Vilkaa, both happily married again) and has widowed once (poor Adriana was killed by a lighting), but his marriage with Tina seems to be a bit more long-lasting.
Love has died indeed, but they have a little child (Lucy) to take care of and a huuuuuuuuge mortgage that does not allow any of them to move out. So. No divorce this time. Yet.

And btw Gretchen, the flirty landlady, also got involved with Derrick Lowe, another womanizer in this hood.
Not the only one though, there are several Sims in this Sedona of mine who are not looking forward commitment.
Take for example Arvian Zadra-Atkins, handsome guy and also the first alien hybrid in town. He's known to have seduced more than a woman, and in this rotation it was the turn for K'Mepp Daeli to fall in his arms.

K'Mepp has also been seen in company of her fellow J'Sapp Daeli, who seems to have a kinda open relationship with his wife Carol.


There are two Sims I would not have expected to be unloyal or dislike commitment, but they are enjoying college time way toooo much.
One is Christian Walker. He is engaged to Klaav Gorge-Mayhew but that did not stop him from flirting with fellow student Laern (who is the other flirty one), former neighbour Rivia (who rejected him) and proffesor Tiffany (who seemed uninterested but did not say no).






As Isaid, the other one is Laern Durant-Dukrarn, who is trying to meet as many guys as possible, and other than Christian she is also sentimentally involved with Alon Raymond (former paperboy whom she used to date in high school).


Btw she got new clothes because her roommante Vivian went shopping the other day (both their clothes were awful and did not fit their personalities).

Vivian is mostly interested in getting good grades so she can opt to a good job and earn a lot of money, but when her very good friend Ray Mayhew broke up with Eleanor Walker (last rotation he caught her with Arvian) she decided to make a move. Oh, yes, and her very first kiss was for him!

I'm not sure Ray is ready to commit again, but we'll see if Vivian is willing to wait for him.

Btw Vivian's youger sister Vilma has just moved into college. She will be sharing a room with Vilma, hence living with Laern, but they hope to save up for a larger house soon enough.
This leaves Vradia Zadra and Callista Atkins alone at home, now that all the kids have moved out. I wonder if they will feel lonely and will want to eventually move with any of their four children, as Sophie Walker has just done.
Because Sophie has moved into the Heritage Manor (the retirement home her firstborn Charles runs) and gave away the rest of her possessions to her other children as an inheritance.









The Heritage Manor is working fairly well, and Sophie's income was welcome too. They have paid a little bit more of their mortgage.

Eleanor Walker was economically much worse, and although the gifts her mother gave her are she can't even sell them living in such an small apartment
So she finally decided to get a job. At least she won't have to accept any guy's hand and she can go on living her life the way she wants. More or less.

Marjorie Walker btw asked Rannh Dukrarn (now an elder) out, and seems to have had a good time although love has not sparkled yet.
She has no time to lose, because she would love to have maaaany children and see them all married, so she's seriously wondering whether she has already found the right guy or she should be meeting other men just in case...


And Roger Walker has one child of his own (Jess) and two step-children from his wife J'Kepp (Jappung & Pekkung) who are now children and have a growing good relation with their step-father's family.




Talking about children, the Maces toddlers (Celeste and Brody) are cute and cuter everyday!


And last but not least we had a birthday in this rotation: Haern Dukrarn is now an elder.

She did not throw a party although there was a friend invited.

Oh my there was a lot of Flirting etc. going on this rotation. Looked like a lot excitement and such

Great Pictures, and I really enjoyed this post.

Thanks!

Yes, there was a lot of dating, flirting, kissing and even whoohooing :D
Usually happens when I have a bunch of single adults (or young adults) looking for love. Although there is not such an event as "going steady" for adults, I consider that many of them are looking for a monogamous relationship and when they find love they usually stop looking elsewhere (usually Romance/Pleasure aspiration Sims are the exception to this rule).
As they get engaged/married they usually focus more on their family (if they decide to have children) or their career. So less overall flirting.
Unless of course some reminiscence from the past sparks an old flame and a non-playable brings havoc as Gretchen the landlady just did.

Now I think I'm gonna take a short pause from playing until I finish this apartment building I'm working on. I would like to playtest it, and I think there are several young couples who might benefit from it.

I will await your next update, when you get to it. Your updates are always very interesting and fun.

Wow, I can see trouble brewing in this hood. Lots of hormones in action!
If you are interested in committed adult relationships, there is an Adults Go Steady mod -- supposedly updated for Apartment Life -- on the MoreAwesomeThanYou (MATY) site. I'll leave a link, but the site is currently down. http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s...hp?topic=4465.0

MATY is down o_O
That left me a bit ominous feeling, I hope it's just manteinance or something.

Thanks for the link btw.
There are plenty of things I have modded in my game - and that I would be willing to mod if I find something that suits my playstyle - but I think I'm fine with this aspect. (I will check it out anyway, quite often I think I don't need something then I read the description in detail and I change my mind.)

I have set some simple rules, and they work well enough.
Once an likely-to-be-monogamous Sim is in love, they are not dating anyone else. (If it's only a crush they may.)
Even when I'm playing another household, Sims pursuing love (or casual relationships) won't ask them out or flirt with them or have any kind of romantinc interaction.
That's pretty much it.

Even if it's not a proper in-game status, I consider them "going steady" and my hoods are small enough to keep track.
It's has happened to me in the past to forget about some of those... and well, the story had some unexpected drama. Which is always welcome anyway XD

I'm a true romantic at heart and I like the idea of my Sims being monogamous. While I mostly play monogamous, I'm trying to be a bit more adventurous in my play style. A little bit of cheating adds to the game's realism because, sadly, in the real world there are cheaters galore.

I'm of a deeply monogamous nature.
So I used to play loyal couples, who usually had children and cared a lot of them. Very happy neighbourhoods where everybody wanted to be nice to everybody.
Honestly it was very boring. I used to give up each hood before most of them even became elders.

I've changed my playstyle a lot.
Now I like having a Romance Sim here and there, hoping for havoc. Nothing spices a hood as a little bit of drama!
It's not how I live my life, but I have life for that - I play TS2 to have fun ;D