Question about the Building Contest

[norenegonc]

So, I was working on my entry for the Broke Family Building Contest, and a few questions… Oddly enough, this is my first time building on a budget, I usually just do whatever I feel like, and those of you who have seen my buildings might notice I tend to shy away from starter homes. Thus, sorry beforehand if my questions are dumb hah.

In any case, I am freaking out a bit because there are two days left and I am about 10000 over budget. I had finished the three main buildings with 20000 left and was feeling good about that as the furnishing budget. But then I started working on two smaller foundation structures and all of a sudden I was way over budget without realizing how. I start deleting bits of the foundation and it just costs extra! I read Twinmum’s thread about foundation costs but I do not know what to do. I would delete the entire foundation structures… but they are just so beautiful I cannot bring myself to do it.

So here is what I did to reduce costs so far. I deleted as many extra walls as I could. Again, those of you familiar with my work might notice I tend to wall curve a lot, so after wall curving it is ridiculously difficult to augment or reduce the size of your structure without ruining the entire form of it. For those of you unfamiliar with wall curving, basically it would almost be easier to start over from scratch than reduce the size of a building that has been wall curved. For instance, if any of you have seen the building of mine titled Gout de la Musique, in order to reduce the size of the guitar, I would literally need to rebuild the entire thing. But now, there is not much time to rebuild the Broke Family Manor from scratch. After deleting as many walls as I could, I started using the free floor tiles for… everything… literally everything. I also used the least costly wall covering with redesigns, and I used the free wall covering as well, at least where I could without making it too ugly (why does the only free wall covering have a small border around it and lines down it sigh, you cannot even recolor it into an even design!). I also started deleting single tile areas of wall for doors… that way I saved on the cost of the door as well as the single deleted tile of wall hah. I used all the least costly furniture I could. I even used the free flowers and grass statues to landscape. I took a look at the other buildings already listed in the contest, and my structure does not seem bigger than any other, so I am really clueless as to why it would cost so much.

In any case, my questions are threefold. I understand they might be difficult to answer without seeing the building, but of course no showcasing beforehand hah. Also, if any of these questions are not allowed by the rules, do ignore them. I reread the rules and did not see anything but just in case.

First, does anyone know how to reduce the cost of foundation. Or maybe ways to reduce cost that I did not mention already. I did read the thread about building that was created by Chuckles and I cannot use those techniques.

 Second, and I know this is likely a resounding no, but are we allowed to toss in extra model furniture and stuff like a car for image taking and then delete them or should everything in our images be included in the total cost.

Lastly! If I cannot figure out how to reduce the cost by 10 grand by the 23 Feb, might I be allowed to submit the building to showcase but not be officially in the contest due to overbudgeting. I understand it would not be in the voting, but it took a fair chunk of time to create so it would be nice to showcase it. I know I could just delete stuff to get it to below 100k, but, as most of you other builders must know, it is just so hard to delete something you created that you like. My last creation sits at 950k so for me 110k is quite the achievement anyway hah.

As always, thanks for taking the time to read that!

[Pam]

I'm sure samoht04 will be by soon to address your concerns, but I can probably help a little now.

Second, and I know this is likely a resounding no, but are we allowed to toss in extra model furniture and stuff like a car for image taking and then delete them or should everything in our images be included in the total cost.

As you guessed, the answer to this is no.  Any images submitted for the contest must be the final version of the house with no additional items.  The voting is sometimes based solely on the images you provide and having something in the images that's not really part of the house defeats the purpose.

Lastly! If I cannot figure out how to reduce the cost by 10 grand by the 23 Feb, might I be allowed to submit the building to showcase but not be officially in the contest due to overbudgeting. I understand it would not be in the voting, but it took a fair chunk of time to create so it would be nice to showcase it. I know I could just delete stuff to get it to below 100k, but, as most of you other builders must know, it is just so hard to delete something you created that you like. My last creation sits at 950k so for me 110k is quite the achievement anyway hah.

You are welcome to upload your building to the Swap Shop.  You can include the standard 10 images in your Swap Shop topic, plus you can include a link to the Gallery to show more images.  Other than a Swap Shop entry, though, you won't be able to showcase your building in its own thread.

I hope this is helpful. 

[Gogowars329]

You are welcome to upload your building to the Swap Shop.  You can include the standard 10 images in your Swap Shop topic, plus you can include a link to the Gallery to show more images.  Other than a Swap Shop entry, though, you won't be able to showcase your building in its own thread.

Actually, you can still upload more but you can't link. I did that and lily told me that one of the rules is to only have 10 images and no links to more. It adds to the challenge.

[samoht04]

Norenegonc, I have no idea why the house is causing a budget like that. One idea I do have is whether saving it to the bin, then delete the original to then place ti down again. I say this because sometimes the price does change/drop after doing that. I had a House worth $99,989 once for the Contest, then when I either did that trick earlier or moved a Sim in the value had decreased by $2,000.

As for the Images, You may use a Model if you wish, however you can not add any additional items. The maximum number of pictures is 10 Screenshots. You may only link to a Gallery if you do not have more than 10 Images in the album which display your entry. Say you put two in your post but link to the other 8 in the gallery, that would be fine. If there were 12 files in your Gallery it would not be allowed to link to it.

What do you mean by the Showcase? Do you mean submit it into the Contest Thread even for it to be disqualified? I'd rather you posted it into the Showboat Thread in the Building and Construction Board. Otherwise it would just be more images in the thread that can take ages to load for some people. That's where I put my attempt.

Mine came in at 120,000 unfurnished, Lol. Who knows though, I might be able to chuck one out in time, as well as my Abstract entry. 

[norenegonc]

Ah thanks for answering guys!

So I saved my house to the library and the cost went down by about 4k… weird hah, but okay. Yet overbudget though. I think I figured out why. I guess this belongs in the suggestions thread but I might as well discuss it here.

I just realized how costly walls are and I also realized how many “decorative” walls I utilize when curving walls. As you might know, curving walls requires extra stories to cover curves or foundation height sections to create the actual curve. What I mean is, the actual square footage of the building is similar to a house half its cost due to a ton of extra walls being utilized just for the creation of curves. My question or rather suggestion is if there is any allowance to negate this. For instance, in the current contest, we are building a house for seven, and so there is little extra budget to mess around with wall curving. I guess what I mean is that it creates a sort of deterrent to wall curving. I sent samoht and lilygirl an image of my contest entry to show what I mean. The curved areas (both above and below the residence) cost a deal extra but do nothing for the actual square footage of the residence. By their very nature you usually cannot make curved areas habitable as they are usually too low for sims to walk in. In any case, sorry for the long reasoning. I guess what I am asking is, looking through all the contests back to the first one, I can see that this was never an issue before. But as the builders on the forums learn and utilize new techniques, is there anything that can be done about extra costs due to wall curving.

My only suggestion would be to create suggested budgets. By this I mean create a value you would like contests to be around. Working with a budget for the first time, I can say that trying to reduce costs is a lot like editing a journalism article to fit in the exact designated area of the layout (one of my least favorite tasks as an editor). I find myself starring for hours at the same house wondering what else I could delete, when really you are much more inclined to furnish and color some more instead hah.

I do say though that for the most the contests are a ton of fun. The tasks are very cleverly created and I find myself building things I would not have thought of otherwise.

[Pam]

Actually, you can still upload more but you can't link. I did that and lily told me that one of the rules is to only have 10 images and no links to more. It adds to the challenge.

I didn't mean to link to the Gallery in a contest entry.  I only meant it for a Swap Shop entry that didn't make it into the contest.

What do you mean by the Showcase? Do you mean submit it into the Contest Thread even for it to be disqualified? I'd rather you posted it into the Showboat Thread in the Building and Construction Board. Otherwise it would just be more images in the thread that can take ages to load for some people. That's where I put my attempt.

My interpretation of "showcase" is to create a special thread just for this one house if it doesn't make it to the contest.  The only way we can "showcase" a house is to put it on the Swap Shop.

But as the builders on the forums learn and utilize new techniques, is there anything that can be done about extra costs due to wall curving.

My only suggestion would be to create suggested budgets. By this I mean create a value you would like contests to be around. Working with a budget for the first time, I can say that trying to reduce costs is a lot like editing a journalism article to fit in the exact designated area of the layout (one of my least favorite tasks as an editor). I find myself starring for hours at the same house wondering what else I could delete, when really you are much more inclined to furnish and color some more instead hah.

If someone comes up with a way to reduce the costs of wall curving, you can certainly use it as long as it's within the set rules of the contest.  But there's no special allowance we can give for something like this.  As for the budget in a contest, it's part of the strategy to make the required house within the limits of the budget.  I don't really see the point of having a value for the contest to be "around".  To keep a level playing field for everyone, it's got to be a specific set limit.

[norenegonc]

I think I miswrote earlier. I meant showcase as in submit the entry in the contest thread but not officially enter, not create its own unique thread. Sorry about that, I did not realize showcase took a colloquial meaning here.

In any case, I understand about the budget stuff. I guess it is just difficult because I would reduce the size of the rooms but after I create the structure I cannot just use the drag wall function or build new walls hah. I guess I can use this contest as a guide about what to do in future. For now, back to making small tweaks to see if I can work out that 10k hah. Thanks

Edit - I thought of another suggestion in reference to this subject. I was thinking that one easy way to make the budget fairer is to set a budget for both unfurnished and furnished. This might balance things between those whose talents are in interior design and those whose talents are in exterior design, while yet maintaining a fairness since everyone would still use the same budget. Doing this might also allow you a ton of flexibility in the kinds of contests you create. For instance, currently I believe there is a contest for an abstract build, which is meant to be a shell. This of course would not be interesting to someone who excelled at or enjoyed interior designing (furnishing, coloring, arrangement of items, etc.) but rather is geared towards those who excel at exterior design (structure, landscaping, etc.). Setting both the furnished and unfurnished budgets allows you to detail just how much focus you would like to be on the shell versus how much focus you would like to be on the interior design. It also might allow those of us who do not have a clue how to budget a better understanding of how to start. For instance, if a contest called for a huge budget in furnished and a small budget in unfurnished, I would know to focus less on the structure and maybe finally learn how to decently furnish hah.

In any case, even if this idea is not feasible for every contest, it might yet be an interesting idea for some. We already see a contest that calls for a shell, which is clearly unfair to those who are much better at interior design. This way you can balance this with a contest geared towards interior design without resorting to building the same shell for everyone to furnish (although this is also something that would work but just is a bit of an extreme on the side of interior design). Anyway... I might be starting to ramble so now I am going to go back to building hah. Thanks again!

[samoht04]

The Budgets won't change. They're fine as they are and you've got to plan around them, it is perfectly possible to create an entry under that budget, you just have to adapt to the challenge.

I think I miswrote earlier. I meant showcase as in submit the entry in the contest thread but not officially enter, not create its own unique thread. Sorry about that, I did not realize showcase took a colloquial meaning here.

I don't see the point in you posting in the Contest Thread anyway, it's pointless to enter if you already know you'll be disqualified. You can put it in the Swap Shop or the Showboat Thread if you wish to share it.

Any other suggestions you have can you put them in the correct thread for it. We don't do anything without a reason so I wouldn't start complaining about the current contest and who it favours.   

[norenegonc]

The Budgets won't change. They're fine as they are and you've got to plan around them, it is perfectly possible to create an entry under that budget, you just have to adapt to the challenge.

I don't see the point in you posting in the Contest Thread anyway, it's pointless to enter if you already know you'll be disqualified. You can put it in the Swap Shop or the Showboat Thread if you wish to share it.

Any other suggestions you have can you put them in the correct thread for it. We don't do anything without a reason so I wouldn't start complaining about the current contest and who it favours.

I think you misunderstood what I meant. I understand why the contests need budgets, and I do not mean we should change the current contests, which would be very unfair to those who already entered of course. I also was not trying to criticize the current contest. I am totally rubbish at interior design, so for me a shell contest is excellent news hah. But I know some members of the board really like interior design so I was trying to offer an idea for a contest that they might like, one where the unfurnished budget is low and the furnished budget is much extra.

I know of course that is it difficult to make it so that every single contest is fair to everyone no matter where their talents are. It is really nice to see so many contests this year though, it allows everyone a great variety.

In any case, sorry if I caused any offense. It is easy to see that you two throw in a lot of time and effort to create these contests, just as we do to create the entries, and that I admire. Like I was saying earlier, the contests force me to build things I would never have otherwise. This current contest has actually taught me a ton about budgeting that I never knew before. Thanks!

[Twinmum]

Like I was saying earlier, the contests force me to build things I would never have otherwise. This current contest has actually taught me a ton about budgeting that I never knew before. Thanks!

That's the great thing about the challenges and building contests. The challenges often have us playing in ways we sometimes are not accustomed to and the building contests often restrict us in ways we are not used to, making us rethink how we do things. It's great to have the ability to build wonderful mansions that are beautifully decorated, but it's also good to be able to drop down in price and still build something.
Personally, I think having a max budget for a contest is great to get people really thinking about how they approach a build.

[norenegonc]

Quick news in case anyone is following – After a bit of craziness, I managed to cut down the cost to 100,500ish!! Now I am literally combing through everything to see where I can cut another 500 dollars hah. I know it does not seem like much, but when one of your bedrooms literally only has a single item of furnishing (the bed…) it can be tough. So if anyone has some crazy suggestions about budgeting in general or tricks to save some cash, much obliged.

I think my next tutorial might also be on budgeting. I never really thought of it as a building skill until now. Here is what I learnt so far –

As Twinmum discovered, foundation is so weird. Deleting bits creates extra walls, making it extra costly, however one way to (somewhat) negate this is to cover the inside of the foundation with the free wall coverings. Foundation wall covering seems to cost quite a bit, so while there is no real way around avoiding those extra walls when you delete foundation tiles, at least you can save a bit on the wall covering cost. On this note, a nice way to save some money with foundation in general is to cover the entire inside with free wall coverings.

I also noticed when you build stairs in a foundation, it makes the foundation wall around it normal walls. This is cool because then you can delete the walls around the stairs (inside the foundation) that no one sees and save some money that way.

Are you too broke to afford doors hah. A great way to save money here is to just delete the tile of wall where you would like a door! Then you save not only the cost of the door, but the cost of that tile of wall and the wall coverings!

When curving walls, although it might look a bit weird, a great way to save money is to not build interior normal height walls. This does leave slanted floors and weird wall sizes in the house, but you can fence these areas off! Given that certain fences cost a lot less than walls, this can save a ton. Or you can forgo the fences altogether and save extra!

When using single tile walls to create a column like structure, often you can delete one to two sides of the room to save money while maintaining a cool column look.

And lastly (for now) if you find yourself digging in your couches for nickels because you cannot afford rugs, recolor floor tiles for a cool ruglike design! This can be even more flexible than using actual rugs as you can create unique designs with half floor tiles.

In any case, thanks again to everyone here!

[Neashaleigh]

I feel your pain in this one. I started a house for this competition too, but got WAY carried away and now the house is around §300,000

I was thinking of showcasing it in the other forum, but for some reason I couldn't even upload it to the Exchange! So I'm not sure if I should. I hope you managed to resolve your issues (of which I have no answer to). I didn't realise the foundation cost so much!

I'm still a relatively new builder I guess. I'd love to know how you do your curved walls, though. They look cool.

[norenegonc]

I feel your pain in this one. I started a house for this competition too, but got WAY carried away and now the house is around §300,000

I was thinking of showcasing it in the other forum, but for some reason I couldn't even upload it to the Exchange! So I'm not sure if I should. I hope you managed to resolve your issues (of which I have no answer to). I didn't realise the foundation cost so much!

I'm still a relatively new builder I guess. I'd love to know how you do your curved walls, though. They look cool.

Hey Neash, thanks . I did manage to reduce the cost to exactly 999,995 hah! Quick note there, smaller things to do cost less all the time… Capital City Skyline Drawing… 2300 dollars!!!!!! That thing was gone before you could say delete. I threw in a nice 250 dollar thing instead hah.

Another strange thing, I later moved in a family to take images for the contest and behold the cost went down by another 3500… This game is so strange. By then I was too tired to go back and use all that extra money though hah. However, that is another idea in case you are looking to reach the budget.

As for wall curving, I did write a few tutorials on the subject. Let me see if I can find them. Maybe I can request a sticky for them so they are easier to find in future and so members can ask questions about clarifications. I was told the tutorials are a bit difficult to understand though, even the basic one, so I might write a tutorial on the very basics of the CFE tool soon. Right after the budgeting tutorial… So much to do.