CHAPTER TWO: PLANNING AND RESEARCH

What will your world look like? That's the basic question. I don't always know. Personally I like to sort out the Road system and lot placements first. The actual shape of the world will work itself out. This way, the shape is not too regular like a square or a circle. I feel randomness enhances a natural look. Plus I don't really plan where there would be hills or valleys until I start sculpting then I just go with my guts. 

Here is my Rough sketch of the central part of my town, my starting point. It doesn't look like much, yet. Now I will show you how I came up with it.

Decisions decisions

1. Island or landlocked - I suggest island for beginners since it is easier to shape
2. Lush or desert - If you are going for realism, this determines the type of houses and plants/trees. But this is sims, have fun with your imagination.
3. Rural or Urban - Are you aiming for a small town like Sunset Valley or a bustling city like Bridgeport. This also determines how big your city is because a town with many big buildings can't be too big, while a town with few houses and farmlands can be very big. It all has to do with game speed and game loading. No point building a city you cannot play.
4. Fishing or farming - doesn't really matter, but it determines how many lakes or ponds you want to squeeze in.
5. Real or Fantasy - As I said earlier, use your imagination, but if you are aiming for realism, I would advice you do your homework and use pictures of real towns and terrains for inspiration. Otherwise, just have fun, your sims won't mind.
6. Playability - This is key. Your world must be playable. I have tried alot of custom worlds and no matter how beautiful or real they are, the ones that take ages to load are just not worth it. It just becomes frustrating. So try not to get carried away even if you are copying a real city, scale it down.

I decided on 3 main Islands, lush, small urban town, some fishing/farming and a wild life park of sorts in honor of pets plus I believe in being Green. :D

What's going in?

At this stage, don't worry about the fishes and bugs and spawners and effects yet, they are easy to deal with. First thing is first. Make a list of Community Lots and Rabbit Holes that you are going to put in. I know this is tedious, but it will save you a lot of stress later. You also need to get the basic lot sizes.

Here is my list. I decided to put everything so that all the career options are available except for the movie studio.

RABBIT HOLES
s/N	NAME	SIZE	LOCATION
1	CRIMINAL HIDEOUT	25 X 25	OTHER
2	BISTRO	15 X 15	CENTRAL
3	BOOK STORE	10 X 15	CENTRAL
4	CITY HALL	50 X 25	CENTRAL
5	HOSPITAL	35 X 30	CENTRAL
6	OFFICE BLOCK	25 X 25	CENTRAL
7	POLICE STATION	20 X 25	CENTRAL /DOWNTOWN
8	SCHOOL	40 X 25	UPTOWN/DOWNTOWN
9	SCIENCE LAB	35 X 25	DOWNTOWN
10	SPA	20 X 15	UPTOWN
11	STADIUM	64 X 64 LN	DOWNTOWN
12	GROCERY	20 X 15	UPTOWN/DOWNTOWN
13	MOVIE THEATRE	20 X 25	CENTRAL
14	RACE TRACK	40 X 40	UPTOWN
15	DINER	20 X 15	DOWNTOWN
16	MILITARY BASE	4 X 45	CENTRAL

COMMUNITY LOTS
s/N	NAME	SIZE	LOCATION
1	LIBRARY	20 X 30	CENTRAL
2	MUSEUM	30 X 30	UPTOWN
3	POOL	30 X 30	UPTOWN
4	BEACH	ANY	OTHER
5	GYM	20 X 20	DOWNTOWN
6	GRAVE	50 X 50	OTHER
7	MAIN PARK	40 X 40	CENTRAL
8	FISHING SPOTS	ANY	OTHER
9	CHILDREN PARK	30 X 30	UPTOWN
10	CONSIGNMENT STORE	20 X 30	CENTRAL/DOWNTOWN
11	LAUNDROMAT	20 X 30	UPTOWN
12	JUNKYARD	20 X 30	OTHER
13	TRAINING GROUNDS	30 X 40	UPTOWN
14	FIRE STATION	20 X 30	CENTRAL
15	SALON/TATTOO	20 X 30	UPTOWN
16	DIVE BAR	20 X 30	OTHER
17	FUSION LOUNGE	40 X 40	UPTOWN
18	EXCLUSIVE LOUNGE	40 X 40	CENTRAL
19	DANCE CLUB	30 X 30	DOWNTOWN
20	POOLSIDE CLUB	40 X 40	CENTRAL
21	NECTARY	60 X 60	OTHER

For Residential lots, just a list of the Number you need and their sizes. (You can make up this list as you go) I never know how many I'll need. More of the 20 x 30 lots, and less of the 64 x 64 sizes. But it depends on what will be in your world. If it is a farming community, Large lots are preferable. It all depends on you. This list is not set in stone, amend as you will. If you are like me and you build lots and probably have some laying in the bin, make a list of the ones you want to use and include them in your list of Residential lots.

Families

This isn't my strong point. I am okay with just putting in families from the bin that I have made or are EA made. But for those who like stories and connections, I suggest you make your families and their houses so that you can fit the lots in you residential lots list.

Putting it all together

So now you have made all these lists, how do you make them work together? This is where your sketch comes in. 

• The simplest way to go about this is by grouping. Create groups of lots that will be near each other and then fit them in your sketch. Generally residential houses form a group, Work places form another group, recreational spots, fishing spots, beaches, farm lands, etc. 
• Usually there's a city centre which has the most buildings and then the outer layers which have fewer buildings. 
• Plan out wild areas for your sims to explore
• Think of rivers or lakes, hills or mountains if any. Never build a completely flat world.
• Think of an uptown or downtown area, wealthy and poor neighbourhoods
• If you are completely clueless, Start with a Main Street, City Hall, Hospital, Business district, etc Fit in the parks and work your way out to the residential areas.
• Picture your sims driving around town and the sights you want them to see. Is it open fields, farms, buildings, trees?

With all this information, draw your rough sketch and label where your rabbitholes and community lots will be. This is very important. You don't want to finish your world and then discover that you forgot to put in a School.
Here is a sketch of the last world I did, Port Jones.

Custom Stuff

I am not going to use any custom stuff in the world building. But I will use for making lots. But if you are feeling adventurous and want to make your own rabbitholes and terrain textures and road textures, well now is the time to do it. But that is another kettle of fish. The only 'custom' thing I plan to do is the roads. Which I will simply do by using the EA terrains in CAW to make the different types of roads I will require. More on this when we get to laying down Roads.

That's all for this Chapter. Next we will move on to laying Roads, Lots, and Sculpting. Thanks for reading.