Yet another month has passed and you may aks what has happen during the last weeks.
I recorded a short video for you to give you an impression of my current work on Times Square.
I finally managed to make animated adverts - like the news ticker at One Times Square.

Pretty amazing, don't you think?
I really hope you can apologize that progress is made so slowly, but it takes a lot of time and effort to realize my plans for Manhattan. I promiss that a second beta will come - I just can't tell you when it will be.

Keep checking my blog regularly and have a good time!

Best Regards
Horus

How time flies...

It has already been a month since my last post... How time flies!

Unfortunately, working on details takes a lot of time until you make recognizable progress.
I am still very busily working on this project and made some new photos for you to see what I am currently doing.

I spend most of my time redoing things that weren't done carefully enough in the beginning. There are many deco buildings with rather ugly textures that ruin the atmosphere of the city.40 Wall Street is a good example. Here you see the original building that comes with the first beta:



Textures look blurry and you can't see any details.
As we play the game mostly from a perspective not too far away, detail is important, espacially for the ground floor, where stores are suspected to be.












 And here is my current attempt to retexture:

The blurry parts belong to the original texture and the sharp parts are new. One can easily see a big difference, right?

The roof looks more wheathered and the windows can be distinguished from each other.
The new texture is twice as big as the old one. Increasing texture size does of course demand more power from your machine, but as I can't recognize any impact on my system right now, I will keep doing so. I really don't have a good computer, so don't worry too much about performance.


I have also continued to add detail to the streets. What would a city be without newspaper kiosks?

 Last but not least, I have decided to add the new World Trade Center into the game.  In my opinion, it's the best to refer to the city as it currently looks. Here are 2 pictures of One World Trade Center, former called the Freedom Tower. The memorial plaza in front of it will be added next.

 Also don't forget to check the gallery to see some new shots from the Bronx!

Please be patient regarding another beta, as I can't say when I consider it done. And please keep giving feedback!

Thanks!

Horus

Finally some news!

Hello everybody,

first, I want so say that I am very sorry for not posting anything here for quite a while now.
Lots of things have asked for my attention and this project is definitely not dead or stopped in any way!

The contrary is the case! I have been very active during the last weeks. Adding more nightlights to various skyscrapers and adding more detail to the scene was my major desire. I have started to add street detail like cars, mailboxes, seating in front of restaurants and other decorative objects to the world in order to increase immersion.
Those pictures are only a small excerpt:

My general plan was to improve the already existing parts firts, before I start working on the other boroughs, but as you know, plans change quite often.

So I also started working on the Bronx, which is coming along quite nicely.

Connected to that, I realised an idea which I like very much: A railway track along Park Avenue.

 

A third thing I am working on is a very detailed tutorial on how to make your own deco building creations. I felt the necessity to do so, because many people asked me how I did those deco buildings for the Big Apple. It will be released  here on this blog soon, so be sure to check regularly!

Horus

Thanks for over 1100 downloads...

Hello everybody,

I want to say thank you for over 1100 downloads(!) of the First Beta in only two weeks since its release. This huge attention encourages me to continue the project.
I have yet started to work on a to-do list for the second beta, which was created according to your feedback.

The first thing I am working on is adding nightlights to most of the buildings. It may be more a cosmetic issue than a truly game relevant one, but nonetheless, it has high priority.
Here is a quick snapshot of Financial District at night, showing the first results:

I will upload my to-do list on the blog in the near future, so you will be up to date concerning the progress of the project.
Thanks for all your feedback and keep checking for updates regularly!

Horus

Sims 3 Big Apple First Beta released!

I am proud to be able to release the first version of the Sims 3 Big apple today!

More than 6 month of hard work lay behind me and I really hope that you will enjoy the world as much as I do. Though it is still far from being finished, the release of the First Beta is another important step in the creation process of this world.

So here it is, the download link:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/p72g4eq9w245a14/Sims_3_Big_Apple_First_Beta.zip

Please have a look at the readme first. There you will find instructions on how to install the custom content and some other important information. I really want to thank all the people who contributed yet! You can find their names in the credits section in the readme.

I do now kindly ask for your feedback: Do you like the current layout of the city? Do you miss something? What do you like most?
I am always open for any suggestions or ideas and I would be glad if some people would actually contribute some lots to this project, as it would really speed up all the work.

Have fun playtesting!

Horus

Working on First Beta

Hello everybody,

two weeks of very relaxing holidays lay behind me. I have recharged my batteries and I am now ready to start working on the very first release of this project: First Beta.
Before I go into detail, there are some points I want to emphasize:

1. It will be a very early release and thus more a demo than a fully playable world. Please consider this! I don't want you to be disappointed.

2. The world comes along with a lot of custom content. This has always been my intention as I wanted to create a world that is unique in it's own way. Please don't complain if your computer can not handle it right or if you mess up your game, because you don't know how to install custom content. It's not difficult, though. Oh, it's likely that it will slow down your game. I have warned you ;)

3. This is maybe the most important point: I will provide a world that has yet taken an uncountable amont of my time, comes along with a hugh amount of custom made deco buildings and brings a totally unique experience to your Sims 3 game (hopefully).
In return, I kindly ask for your feedback! Please report any issue or any idea that comes to your mind at any point of time. Just write me an email or leave a comment here. Everybody that downloads the First Beta is my beta-tester. Please help me to get this project done.

If you want to contribute to this project any further, I invite you to take any of the lots in the world and design it with your own ideas. Decorate the pavement in front of the building, build a lounge or club inside or crown a skyscraper with an expensive penthouse. If you think that you have made a good creation, export the lot and send it to me. I will include it in the final version of this world.
By decorating and finishing the lots you really help to lighten my workload.

Before I can actually upload the world, I have to get rid of some small problems and make a test, so that I can be sure everything works the way I want it to.

Expect a release within the next two weeks! :)

Yours
Horus

PS: There are some new snapshots at the gallery, enjoy!

Spotlight: Subways

Thinking about a big city, one can imagine a lot of traffic. To avoid traffic jams (which are unfortunately not part of the game) your Sims should take the subway to reach their destination in time.

There will be subway stations all over the city and I am trying to place them according to real station's positions. For example you will find Times Square – 42nd Street, Rockefeller Center, City Hall or Wall street.