Not so much of a Brownie legacy thread

[LilSparrow]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to this site as well as telling stories with the Sims 4. I used to film machinima but I found this way a lot less time-consuming (and more fun!). This thread used to be called "Ariana Goes To School - A story about high school life", but things happened and I found out I want to share my legacy with everyone. So, now this thread is for the Brownies and their adventures!

To make it short: The Browns are a legacy I started long ago, just for fun. I have been recording all of the generations as screenshots. I thought, why not share them with everyone? This is also a fun way for me to dive in the story more!

If you have any tips on how to improve my storytelling (I know I'm a newbie to this whole thing), please share them! I want to learn to be a good writer so people can enjoy my Sims and their stories.

Chapter's links will be put here!

[Joria]

Welcome to the forum~~!  I'm sure you're going to love it here.  I'll be reading your story so good luck and most of all, have fun.

[LilSparrow]

Thank you so much! I hope my story is enjoyable!

[LilSparrow]

Chapter 2 is now out! Comments on how to spice up the plot are most welcome!

https://lilsparrowsite.wordpress.com/2016/03/14/1-2-first-days-of-school/

Poor Ariana. Not really, she did well on her first days. Worse is to come...

[LilSparrow]

Should I post the chapters here?

[LilSparrow]

Third Chapter is Out!

https://lilsparrowsite.wordpress.com/2016/03/15/1-3-friendzoned/

[experience]

Hi @LilSparrow  ! Welcome to the forums. I started reading Ariana's story. Very fun stuff! Looking forward to more.

[LilSparrow]

@experience Hi!

Thank you so much for reading the story! Unfortunately I deleted the story's save file... At the moment I have a major writer's block. I will be back with new stuff when I get my studying done! :')

[experience]

That's unfortunate. I'm sorry to hear that. You took such pretty pictures too. Just something to think about and what I've learned: Just because people aren't commenting, doesn't mean that they aren't reading. Your writing has a very smooth pace that I enjoy. Looking forward to when you get back!

[Playalot]

@LilSparrow Sorry to hear that. I guess blog stories tend to get fewer comments as the action is all happening elsewhere, but I hope you'll try again with another story. 

[LilSparrow]

@experience Thank you so much for your kind words! I will derfinitely be back with a new story soon enough. And yeah, I have noticed that most of the activity takes place in this forum. So I should really try and post my stories here? It's just that the screenshots I take are all .png format, and I should turn them into .jpeg one by one. I find it much easier to post them in a blog :-D

@Playalot I will be back sometime!

Do you guys have any ideas what I could try out? Like, some short challenges or such?

[Playalot]

How about a teen runaway challenge? That way you could have Ariana as your main sim again as she is just so gorgeous... and still use the school mod. Might give you just enough structure that it would keep you inspired with your story. The teen runaway challenge is really flexible so you can play it however you want or make your own rules/additions etc.

I know what you mean about changing .png's to .jpegs. I'd imagine using a blog just cuts out all the fuss. I use the program that Carl suggested. I now that I've got my head around how it all works it mostly works out... minus user error! Keep using your blog if that is easier for you... people will be reading and the comments will happen as the story progresses. It's always difficult when it feels like you're not getting feed back but your writings is fab and will speak for itself.  Let alone your gorgeous sims!

[experience]

I don't really know what to suggest in terms of what direction you should take. I don't own, nor have I played the sims 4 so I don't really know what it offers other than a fantastic art style Do whatever YOU want to do. It's hard enough writing for you. It's even harder writing for others especially if you don't care for what others want.

Also I have found it best if you know where your story is going, how it will end. Figure out your beginning, middle and end and let your sims fill in the rest.

Playalot has very good ideas and please keep Ariana! She is stunning. Reminds me of Jennifer Lawrence's long lost redheaded sister

[LilSparrow]

@experience @Playalot

Thank you for your kind words! I, myself, am quite fond of Ariana! Even I think she's one of the cutest Sims I've ever created. Wow and she does look like Jennifer Lawrence! Lol, I had no idea I have saved her on Gallery so although I've deleted the story game file, she is "safe".

I made the mistake of not planning the story as a whole. I should have; I had no idea where I was going with the storyline.

Thank you for the ideas! The runaway teen challenge sounds like fun! I will have to give it a try when I've gotten rid of the entrance exam for uni. Still two months left... But yeah, I'll check the challenges for Sims 4. I was thinking of the princess challenge where the princesses try to win the prince's heart, and the one who ends up marrying the prince is the winner! I think I could manage a short challenge. It would be a fun way to alter the gameplay once in a while!

If I've played Sims 4 lately, I've mainly been concentrating on my legacy. It's already the 7th generation! The family tree is so large... Lol, the Brown family has taken over Willow Creek xD Seriously, one of the neighborhood consists of three families of the Browns. And they started to conquer the rich people's neighborhood lately. The 7th generation kids look so freaking adorable! I will have to post something about them on the blog! I have been taking screenshots of every generation. I think I could try and write their story since I have all those some hundred pics... I love the Browns! Ah sorry, this was off-topic! :')

By the way, what is the program Carl suggested?

[Playalot]

Ooo.. a legacy! Thats sounds great and you're at gen 7 too. I gave up after gen 4 or 5 I think it was. If you do put up pics of them make sure to '@' me or PM me so I can go check them out!

I'll find the link to the program Carl suggested and edit this post. For some reason I can't seem to find it!
*edit: I really still can't find the link but I'll ask MrsFlynn our Community Manager as she has been very busy tidying up the forum... I think it's like when I tidy my desk, takes me a week before I can find anything again! 

Basically Carl suggests using IrfanView to convert the pngs to jpegs. It took me a while to figure out all the settings but now that I have it literally takes me seconds to convert a batch of 25 screenshots as I process them in 'chapters'. After that I just upload them to photo bucket and take it from there.

-- How To: Use IrfanView
-- Download IrfanView from Cnet.com