Designer’s Blog: Take Your Sims to the Movies

Designer Alan Copeland writes in detail about the latest venue – Le Cinema Plumbob – available on the Sims 3 Store on March 7th.

It seems like every town has one of those great old places to catch classics from the silver screen.  You may have seen these movies dozens of times on TV, but there is just something about seeing them in that environment that really makes the experience especially memorable.

It’s particularly trendy right now for some theatres to provide more of an upscale environment, serving drinks, having loveseats to snuggle up with your date and providing a bit of VIP exclusivity.  This is the type of experience we hope to emulate for your Sims with our latest venue, Le Cinema Plumbob.

This new theatre comes with a gorgeous set of related Build/Buy objects and three new Premium Content items.  The first is the flashiest and most obvious one… the movie screen!  At six tiles across and using every inch of height from floor to ceiling, this thing is massive.  It also dims the lights automatically and has a set duration, providing some great entertainment for your Sims very quickly.

There’s a variety of movies to select, from romantic comedy, to drama, action, adventure and so on.  Each one provides a ton of fun, and a buff that not only helps your Sims mood, but may also inspire them into different interactions.  So for example, if you take your Sim to see a romantic movie, they might be more inclined to be more romantic for the rest of the day.

But the objects I’m really excited about are the brand new ticket machine and turnstile.  This new system allows you to restrict rooms based on… well, just about anything you can imagine.  The most obvious is by tickets!  You can buy different colors of tickets at the ticket machine and have the locks on the turnstile to only allow Sims with that specific ticket color.  Each ticket has a limited duration, so when it’s about to expire Sims are pushed to leave and will need another ticket if they want to go back in.

What’s really exciting is if your Sim owns the lot, all of the money for those ticket sales is yours!  This opens up a whole new avenue of business gameplay in The Sims 3.  You can build buffets, exclusive clubs, gyms, casinos or arcades… basically anything that you would want an entrance or membership fee.  I’m genuinely excited about all of the different applications this can have.

You can also set locks for just about anything else you might want as well.

 Tired of those pesky zombies?  Set the lock to forbid all zombies or any other life-state.  Want to throw a party for only the hippest elders in town?  Set the lock based on age.  Or gender.  You get the idea.

You can even mix and match these locks for even more unique combinations.  In the theatre you might have a lock that only allows YA and older with a red ticket.  Or let’s say you want to throw a party that only allows teen boy vampires, you can restrict the door to only allow them in. (Please have a cheap stove and at least one vamp with a low Cooking skill.)

While I primarily wanted to focus on the different applications for the new Premium Content, the venue has some really cool areas to catch a drink after the show, with more of an art deco vibe than what we normally see in The Sims.

Thanks for reading, hope that you enjoy the Le Cinema Plumbob!

-Alan Copeland, Designer for The Sims Studio

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