The Pettonta family - head of Town of Galucca

At this time, the very first community settlement (the market near the harbour) has been expanded to cover 6-7 blocks. Today I'll tell you more about the Pettonta family...

200ya (=years ago), Baron Gustavo Pettonta, youngest son of the Count of Faraway, was rewarded by the King for his military heroic efforts. He got Galucca county near the river Gal, a yet unpopulated area with a coastline protected by the Ucca island.

From that day Baron Gustavo Pettonta was known as Count Gustavo Pettonta of Galucca.

When Count Gustavo and Countess Eleonora moved here with their 3 children, a good handful of craftsmen joined them. A small community was formed (today's Old Town), and a small harbour was built. Shortly the craftsmen moved further up Gal River, and Old Town was filled with oversea traders and finer families who moved here to search for new success.

There exists only a couple paintings of the first Pettonta family, one of them is a main attraction at today's Historical Museum :-) .

Count Gustavo Pettonta carried his title with pride, but still his household lived more or less like the others. Being the youngest son of his father, he didn't inherit much, and needed to build up a fortune over time. He loved animals and was often seen on his horse inspecting the local progress. He organized Galucca's developments and he naturally made sure to gather values and control taxes, and he also made money from the oversea trades.Countess Eleonora was shy and eccentric, she loved to read and she was probably the one who brought magic into the family.

I did some research on how the children of a Count and Countess would be titled. It seems common to give all daughters a Lady title at birth, and the oldest son would be given a title below Count level, ie Baron. The other sons would not get a title at birth but would be titled "the honorable". I assume they would move up in rank if needed.

So, in this case, the 3 children were, Baron Jonathan, Lady Esphella and the honorable Maurice. It was clear from the start that Jonathan would become the next Count of Galucca. Lady Esphella inherited the eastern part of the countship (aka Moon district), while Maurice inherited the area vest of Gal River (aka Gal district).

(both pictures actually exist as paintings, but I couldn't be bothered with looking them up for a snapshot in game)

Baron Jonathan Pettonta

170ya, Count Gustavo's first son, Jonathan Pettonta, inherited the main part of the county, including Old Town, the area for future town expansion, Ucca island and the northern Farmland area. Some land near Old Town was already sold to pioneer business families.

Count Jonathan was even more ambitious than his father, he used his title more often, and socially he took a step up from the general community. He loved playing with new ideas for Galucca. He wasn't as greedy though, but he married Rosanne Brugster, a wealthy business man's daughter, who made sure to handle their possessions well.

Rosanne and Jonathan had 2 children; Baron Gustavian (born 170ya) and Lady Dora (born 165ya).


Lady Esphella Pettonta

Count Gustavo's daughter Lady Esphella moved east, to Moon district. This area contained of hills and valleys, and was not really of any greater value, neither to business men or farmers. The Moonster family already resided there, making a living as Anglers.

Lady Esphella was said to be into magic, and the district was gradually occupied by persons attracted by that kind of business. One night Esphella was captured and thrown into a deep well, some said it was done on orders from her father, Count Gustavo, in order to stop the magic.

Officially, there exists no painting of Esphella except the poor family portrait where she was a teen and can hardly be seen to the right (see top of this post). She never married but she had a daughter, Luphelia (born 165ya), with some sailor. Luphelia was a teen when her mom died, and heir to the household.


The honorable Maurice Pettonta

Count Gustavo's youngest son, the honorable Maurice Pettonta, settled in Gal district 160ya. The craftsmen were already established by then, and there was a significant production taking place. He organized more industry and the craftsmen families became his workers.

Maurice built a good house near the bridge, and married Rita Brottington, daughter of another wealthy, local family. Maurice was eccentric, he had strange missions for the region, and he didn't waste a Simoleon. Workers had poor conditions, while the industry owner made good money.

Rita and Maurice had 2 children; Stevo (born 155ya) and Ellen (born 150ya). Stevo was intended to inherit most of the industry, but 115ya he drowned when the ship he worked on was attacked by pirates, and his dead body was later found on a beach. This left his sister Ellen to be main heir of this household.

Arts Academy and Pettonta Castle

I planned to tell you about the Arts Academy. In town of Galucca, there will be some sort of an artists school, with equipped studios for painting artists, sculptors and probably photographers... not decided all details quite yet. There will also be exhibition rooms, where local artists can bring their work to display (hoping that is still possible in game, technically).

Anyways, Galucca Arts Academy was founded at this time (= 150 years ago). The two founders were just settled in Old Town, next to the old market.

The build is of course tiny at this stage. This is where the artists live and work. The tiny exhibition in the hall is not really public yet, but consists of their previous works from another town.

The main room is the atelier where they work when not being out on location. The guy at the easel is Cluedo van Hutch, he specializes in painting from local busy spots such as the market. The blond guy is Andrew Portoille, he focuses more on portraying locals (mostly those who can pay, of course). The atelier already contains a few requisites he will use to create variety.

Ah... isn't Cluedo a real talent? The horse that Mr. Jonathan Pettonta is riding on the painting, looks extraordinarily 3D, don't you think? (it actually happened!) The richest family, Pettonta, has ordered a few works from the Market in old town, so now both Cluedo and Andrew spent a few days there. Generally most of their paintings are trashed - too often creativity makes it impossible to see what they actually painted, not suitable for historical paintings that will hang in a future Historical Museum.

Many more families were moved into temporary houses, and they are rushed through marriages and births. The only furniture in most homes these days is a double bed :-) . They all get engaged and married through game play (just maxing their relation level to save time), but no wedding parties, sorry!

On the picture above Aurora Heisserclump is marrying to Hupert Wooming. (I love the Heisserclump name! Hoping nobody in real world is named that). They both are of decent families, and Hupert founded a science facility near the Gal River bridge, not far from where they live. They now have 3 kids. I use a huge spreadsheet to keep track on who to age up etc, and I use a dice to decide when each couple should have more kids or not.

The Pettonta Castle is far from ready, but the first story floor plan is done, and the Pettonta family has more or less moved in, leaving their old town lot to a future townhall. I think the Disney roof must go, and maybe less pure white walls, too. Will need to tweak it a little.

In the next update you will meet the settlers and the current noble Pettonta family - stay tuned! :-)

Some planning, triple painter and the Old Town Market

It's quite the job to build up a full world and to populate it! But I love this kind of work, planning, adding, tweaking and making up the history both in advance and along the road. I've tried not to make the story too complex, but still there will be a few details that you won't get to know until revealed by locals in the future.

So, I'm currently having an exciting journey 200 years back in time. I've placed the main households who founded Galucca back then, and also some worker families for the industrial area. From here I'll slowly work my way through time, and (addicted to details, that I am) underway I'll have some local painting artists do some paintings for the future historical gallery/museum.

The house to the left is the home to Maurice Pettonta. He was the youngest son of the founder couple, and he inherited the Gal district (craftsmen's area west of Gal river) and became the head of the mining and industry. He didn't succeed, but more about that later :D

To the right, the portrait painting is on! This is on the lot where I just built what is supposed to be a castle, but because I'm not happy with it, and far from done, I'll save pictures for later. To speed the painting up, I moved in a top skilled painting artist from my sims bin (I've used him in previous projects too, a skilled painter often comes handy), I moved him in not only once, but three times :-)

What a pain those artists can be! Some times their creativity makes a portrait totally useless. Well, he (they) got a few good works eventually). Paintings will be stored in the castle until a museum opens in the future :-) . I also plan an Arts Academy in town, and probably the home of some local painters 150 years ago will start it off, small scale.

I've now completed the work in CAW, and I've started to build houses that were there in the beginning. Skyscrapers in the modern City region will have to wait :-)

Along the way, I keep an eye on the first settler families, and will add a few households as the town grows. This way, many residents will come with family trees of 4-5 generations once the story has reached year zero (now) :D

Project this weekend is the old market near the harbour.

This place can be pretty busy, local craftsmen come to sell their products, and ships from distant towns come here to buy and sell.

On the picture to the right, the noble Pettonta family is visiting the market. They control most of the trades, and the elders are the actual founders of Galucca. Their son (light blue top) just took over the leadership as he inherited the main areas, and married. They reside near Old Town, where the town hall will be built in the future.

The small buildings are along the harbour, but facing north instead of facing the ocean. This way the builds also protects the outdoor area from the chilly winds :D Later on the row of builds will of course face the harbour, can't wait to see the line up of small shops etc.

The builds will be replaced by slightly bigger brick stone builds, I assume the first builds would be wooden as they cut down lots of trees, but 150 years ago or 50 years after the town was founded, the mining activity started, making stones easier available to house building. The market will later become a park and festival grounds.

Ah, all those details, it really makes it interesting to build up a town from scratch :-)

Early progress

At this stage I really can't wait to start a game in the completed world, but well... I could have said it's not that important to have all those details perfect, so how come I find there's more and more to be taken care of? Drives me nuts, really!

Like, I've known from the start exactly where to place the Bed & Breakfast, but where to place the school? And the hospital? And the Police station? I know where the Town Hall will go, that's pretty much all :-)

It hardly shows on the map, but I'm practically done adding street lights, signs, traffic signals, fire hydrants, trash cans and you name it. I'm currently making sketches to plan where to put the school, and more :-) The upper region is the city, the lower region is old town with the harbour.

I've not got a chance to build anything yet, but I'll show you the town areas from ground view.

This is the harbour, between the Old Town and - well, the ocean :-) Thanks to the test-sim standing there feeling silly, the area looks much bigger than intended :-o  Perspective is really quite the challenge in CAW.

There are 9 (I think) lots lined up along the harbour, plenty of possibilities. I plan a couple storage builds at the ends, an overseas travel terminal, a tattoo, and a few outdoor servings. A sort of promenading path would be nice, but I don't think I would make sims walk there anyway.

To the left is old town, and the town hall will go about mid picture. I might change the street texture here, even if it can be rather modern (older paths/arches between builds on lot will preserve enough history), I think it would be better with ie just asphalt without the lines though. Not very important, and I don't know how many street sets I can use before game performance is affected (I probably reached that limit already).

On the second picture is a view from the city district, facing south to harbour. Will place a few tall apartment builds in this area, along with rabbit holes and more. The testsim is standing on a tiny area, and I can't decide whether I should place a community lot there or not. All you can see now was put there in CAW, it kinda works, but as soon as the world is completed, I won't be able to adjust any of this. :thinking:

The world still needs many builds to come to life, but I think I will also need to place more shrubs and trees. I kept it down because it's a large world and you know - loading times etc, but I think just a little more is needed. But all spawners and lamps and other town features are done. No street/lot tears that I'm aware of. Routing mostly tested, too. Need to add addresses to lots. And those few plants. Then the building will start shortly :-)

Galucca comes with its history, and the polluted industrial area is not exactly what they brag about. But it never was stated whether someone was responsible, or if it actually could not have been avoided, like most locals seem to believe. Tragedy hit 90 years ago, and there's still some cleaning up to be done, it seems.

First picture shows the old bridge that originally connected the Gal district to the town. It fell down at the same time as the pollution was a fact. A new bridge was built farther down. The second picture shows a testsim inspecting the more or less abandoned industrial area.

Btw, I placed the fog emitter here, to give the area a misty feel, but the CAW fog thing is actually not working as I expected - when standing outside the fog emitter radius, no fog can be seen, but when standing in the area, it loks like the rest of the world is foggy... which it is not supposed to be... hm, what to do about that...

First impressions - ha-ha!

Just starting off this blog with posting a few early pics from the Create A World (CAW) process. Mind that this progress took place more than a year ago!

I love the CAW tool, it's powerful, yet quite easy to use once you get the grip. I've created several worlds in the past, periodically it's actually more appealing than playing the game itself. And all projects do have a rather boring beginning, though - not much to get excited about here:

In progress, never suited a project better... haha.

Only problem is that I keep thinking too big, so I went for the largest possible world size. I've started to paint groundtextures, and most streets and central lots are placed. A few more roads in the farm land, and many more residential lots will be plopped down shortly.

Did I mention Old Town...? Sure, I think big, so there had to be an Old Town region near the harbour, and a newer bit City-like region a little back from the coast. I simply couldn't deal with just one commercial area in this world... Sounds like this suddenly turned into a two-cities-world project, instead of just a referring point for my Greench Farm legacy!

I then spent hours on re-sculpting the world, and it hardly shows. It will be better when I paint more of the ground, not to say when trees and shrubs are thrown around with the wind. Also had to download and test lots of textures, as I lost my old library (didn't use the CAW tool since lots of patches and reinstalls).
Ehem, note the seagulls, they will be VERY essential for a certain Bed & Breakfast in this world - I love detailed plans! :-) At this stage I already wrote down the headlines of 200 years (future) history of Galucca.

***

I've planted trees etc all over the world - if not completed the job, at least there is enough vegetation to start the project. All seems to work well so far.

Just realized there is no road leading out of the world, even if a town can be seen in the distance ;)  Can I just imagine that they get there "somehow", or do I really need to build a road? I know I might regret not adding the street later, but then I'm very good at imagine stuff :-)

Updated look of the world. Turned fog off for the pictures, so the water has no reflection, giving a weird impression, but the land and details are easier to see.

The history of the Gal River district is what fascinates me the most, typically as far away from the Bed & Breakfast as possible. This area was the first to be developed, in addition of the first little harbour 200 years ago. Craftsmen and their families settled along the river to produce their stuff. Further up at the ponds there was heavy mining activity (which formed the ponds, mostly). Unfortunately the area was heavily polluted over time, and current residents with a solid bank account would choose to reside elsewhere. Fragments of this story will be told through the future population - hang on!

And this shows that my building activities will not be completed anytime soon. I will also populate the world manually by creating each and every individual (always do that), so there's a long way to walk!

Town of Galucca - a The Sims 3 project

Hello, and welcome to yet another TS3 blog.

I'm building up a new town from scratch, all done in the wonderfull game The Sims 3. Galucca plays a role in my old story about the Greench Farm family, and because this distant town got more and more references, I decided to actually build it!

Instead of just creating a new world and then develop all the lots in a hurry, and finally adding a population, I wanted to follow the place's history through 200 years! From a Count and his Countess settled in a yet not touched landscape, they obviously brought a few workers and craftsmen, and from then the town developed through generations! This means that the current population will mostly come with a rather unique story!

Well, the world's journey through time is almost completed, and posting here will actually be a backup for the project. But if you like to follow the progress, it should still be quite interesting! I will post at least one chapter per week, and I will of course comment on any feedback.

Hang on! :)