It's been a busy week, but I wanted to take a few minutes to say hi - especially to all the people who've sent me Friends Requests.

We've been meeting with the media, doing lots of interviews about Showtime and (in case you missed it) did a live chat & demo for the community yesterday. Here's the link if you'd like to see it (or watch it again):

http://www.ea.com/1/the-sims-3-showtime-live-chat

It's been exciting getting a chance to show off Showtime and help get fans pumped about all the cool new stuff in the expansion pack.

Unfortunately, I have lots and lots of work to get done right now, so I have to make this a short one.

Talk to you soon!

Aaron

Screenshot of The Complete Home - Steampunk Revelation 

*Click the image and/or text to be taken to the Lot on The Exchange.

As I have never built a large Steampunk home before I thought it was a perfect time, so I could enter a contest hosted this month by AznSensei on this Forum  but I needed to research first so I could get a good feel to how it should look. Of course I have seen a few builds on the site before but I wanted mine to be different from everyone else's, so it would stand out and not be a copy. As the internet is a great place to find information and Pictures, so as usual Google Image search led me to some useful images to help me mainly with the furnishings and decorating but the buildings were harder to find. I came across game screenshots and artwork from the game 'Myst' and they were so unusual I decided to use them for my main inspiration.  Then I decided to build on 'Sunset Valley' this was my starting point, next to have a close look on Map View for a perfect plot to build on. Well I came across 'Crystal Springs' and saw all the Rocks and the small lake, instantly I could see the buildings fitting into that area, all thanks to the 'Myst' pictures. One of the drawings had very unusual trees with golden yellow leaves so I used new fantasy trees EA had given us recently.

Before I could start building I do some sketches myself as a guide how I want the buildings to look close to the rock and also to create my own patterns using the 'Create a Pattern Tool'. I made a large selection to use. On some of my builds I build the construction and then decorate the outer walls, doors, windows and landscape as well. But with this one I built the home and just changed the rock's colour a little here and there with light soil . Next I placed most of the objects on all the builds levels as I had taken my time in deciding where certain rooms would be, and checking with the notes on my sketch. The picture from Myst helped as the building out of the Three I chose for the main part of the home, had windows overlooking the water and would be a suitable livingroom with the kitchen/diner behind. I chose the beautiful large windows from the 'Vegas' set as they are a vintage style, also will give great views of the lake and building opposite. The two colours of metal I used were a silver and gold that I dulled down a little and these were then used on the railings, doors and spiral stairs for all the buildings. I used the same metals on the panels covering all of the buildings outer walls. As this was a Steampunk home I thought there must be water and pipes into the home and decided to make use of a small swimming pool under the main building. Round pipes were needed and the only way I know is to use the 'moveobjects on/off' code to take a fireplace flue apart in sections, then add those in the buildings bathrooms and kitchen for the effect of water being pumped through them. The pipes next to the pools edge I used two mini time machines from 'buydebug on/off' and 'Moo' to join them together as they look like working machines pumping the water up the pipes. The main workshop would be the building opposite and it needed to look like inventions were being used for the home. I added the two full sized time machines from 'buydebug' at the back of that building and used 'Moo' to push them half into the wall so the dials would show on the inside. Two solar windmills would give the impression of machines moving so they were also added to the machines on the outside. Then was the many hours/days I spent decorating and recolouring, adding a small harvest garden area with 'buydebug' plants and making the lake more attractive. I wanted space left for children to play and room for people to add items they may want for their sims. My next project that will be Steampunk themed is a 'Flying Home', it will be slightly Shiplike without sails but I am not telling you everything as it would spoil the surprise.

Watch Nittens' latest machinima, The Sims 3 - Hurricane, and post a comment on the video. We look forward to more awesome TS3 movies from him!

Hi all! My name is Theresa Chen and I'm a producer for TheSims3.com. Our team works hard every day to provide you with new features and ways to share and connect with others in our awesome Sims community!

I love it when people add me as a friend on TheSims3.com, especially when those friends leave me messages. We have so many awesome and helpful fans of The Sims™ 3 game. Seeing the profiles of those that add me as a friend reminds me of how many of you guys really support this fun and diverse game.

But what I find especially fun is when I find out the friends I know outside of TheSims3.com community happen to be avid players of The Sims 3 too! It’s great being able to connect with them about playing The Sims 3.

We at The Sims studios created a feature that will allow you to find friends through Facebook and ask them to join you on TheSims3.com. Here’s how it works: 

1. From the Community Page, in the left-side column, click the “Add Friends via Facebook” link. 
2. If you are not already logged in to Facebook, a login window will appear. Once logged in, a window with the message, “Be My Friend on TheSims3.com!” will appear with a textbox above.
3. Feel free to add your own personal message in the textbox and then click Share. This will make a post on your Facebook Wall asking your Facebook Friends to come visit you on TheSims3.com.

Give it a try! Did any of your Facebook friends surprise you by being The Sims 3 players too?