It sucks that the Create-A-World tool was not released on December 10th like EA Germany had mentioned, but it’s still on track for a December release.  The producer of the tool – La Shawn (aka SimGuruRain) stepped forth with a new blog post detailing more information on the program.  The more I hear, the more I like!

Hello Simmers!

I’m La Shawn (they call me or Rain) and I am the main producer of The Sims ™ 3 Create a World-tool – Beta. I hope you will be excited with the launch of The Sims 3 Create a World-tool – Beta as I am! There are a few people who like to hear more about this, so here goes.

The Sims ™ 3 Create a World-tool Beta (also called “CAW” by the team of developers) is the tool that our team used the game to create cities that you find in The Sims 3 (such as Sunset Valley, Riverview, China, France and Egypt). We wanted you, the community, to have something really cool to show. Therefore we have adjusted our internal tool, so everyone who has registered The Sims 3 or The Sims 3 World Adventures can use it totally free!

With The Sims 3 Create a World tool you can create new cities, so your Sims will have even more new adventures to experience! You can:

  • Create, form and landscape your city.
  • Paint certain structures and terrains, such as grass, sand and stone.
  • Place roads and sidewalks.
  • Plop Neighborhood Objects outside of plots (like lighthouses, lakes and trees).
  • Add visual effects (like rainbows and waterfalls).
  • Create ‘source’ places, so your Sims can collect various stuff in the game (such as seeds and butterflies).
  • Drop Lots and create places where you want!
  • Adjust height and texture maps for the area to import (and export).
  • Upload your worlds through the exchange so they can download other players to play with!

CAW is a major tool. You can really use it to build your own favorite neighborhood in The Sims 2, to your town, or even the moon! You can even have a picture of your best friend via importing a picture into the landscape! I can not wait to see what you all have in mind! We also offer a number of simple maps (land area with paint). One of River View and the other of Sunset Valley.

I’ve got some questions about CAW:

Why is it a Beta-tool?

We wanted to make available to the community the program as quickly as possible and we want to get the tool tips in the future to improve. We have used the tool internally to the worlds you encounter in The Sims 3 to create, but we understand that the community may have different needs than us, so your feedback is very important!

Who is The Sims 3 Create a World-tool for?

CAW is primarily a tool for hardcore-makers, filmmakers, and storytellers who want to have exactly the right environment. It is also interesting for players who like to design their own equipment and like it for some time to invest in building an entire world.

How long does it take to build a world?

It depends on how large and detailed of a world that you want. If you make a small world that is not very detailed (such as movie set) then you’re a busy for a few days to one week. But if you want to create a highly detailed world (such as Sunset Valley or River View), then you have one month or longer.

Do you have tips to share worlds?

Absolutely! Here are some useful tips when you want to create a world that you want to share with The Sims 3 Exchange:

  • Consider an interesting story in your world and try to follow when developing. This will create a coherent whole, which is fun for other players.
  • Make sure you first test your world on your own computer, so you have a good idea of what others expect it how to play (all in a world that is very large). Do this for the world you are uploading to the Exchange.
  • Make sure you make a nice screenshot of your world, so you can use as a global picture (a picture is worth a 1000 words). In this way, other players from the community will see a good image of the file to download via the Exchange.

If you are creative, like to create your own world and like to build things (like me), or if you find it amazing to think of your own unique stories, then The Sims 3 Create a World-tool is not to be missed!

Greetings,

Rain

Props to World of The Sims for uncovering this information at the Dutch Sims 3 site.

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