May, 2010

  1. Todays Motto…

    May 31, 2010 by rachybop

    Gee, your animation smells terrific!

    Category Motto | Tags: ,,,,,, | 4 Comments

  2. Starfish Journey

    May 30, 2010 by rachybop

    Another screen grab from my upcoming short film ‘Starfish Journey’.

    Category Starfish Journey | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,, | 1 Comment

  3. How To Recognize the Symptoms Of Appendicitis

    May 28, 2010 by rachybop


    How To Recognize the Symptoms Of Appendicitis on Howcast

    Category Howcast Animations | Tags: ,,,,,,,, | No Comments

  4. Five Miles Out

    May 27, 2010 by rachybop

    a film i worked on a couple of years ago http://www.film4.com/videos/article/film4-shorts-five-miles-out

    Category Short Films | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,, | 1 Comment

  5. How To Visit the Baseball Hall Of Fame

    May 27, 2010 by rachybop


    How To Visit the Baseball Hall Of Fame on Howcast

    Category Howcast Animations | Tags: ,,,,,,,,, | No Comments

  6. How To Plan an Educational Summer Vacation

    May 24, 2010 by rachybop


    How To Plan an Educational Summer Vacation on Howcast

    Category Howcast Animations | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,, | No Comments

  7. How To Pack For Summer Camp

    May 24, 2010 by rachybop


    How To Pack For Summer Camp on Howcast

    Category Howcast Animations | Tags: ,,,,,,,,, | 1 Comment

  8. How To Get Treatment For Kidney Stones

    May 18, 2010 by rachybop


    How To Get Treatment For Kidney Stones on Howcast

    Category Howcast Animations | Tags: ,,,,,,,,, | 4 Comments

  9. The Sims 3 Ambitions Expansion Pack

    May 15, 2010 by rachybop

    I was lucky enought to be selected as one of the winners for the EA games competition to go down to London and play The Sims 3 Ambitions Expansion pack at HMV gamerbase in Trocadero before its release last Monday.

    See the trailer for the game here: http://www.eagames.co.uk/videos/c70a402b09497210VgnVCM1000001065140aRCRD

    I only received the e-mail that I had won the competition on the Friday before and it was up to the winner to get themself there (they were very clear about that in all the competition rules, etc so that was my own fault for entering!).

    I made it anyway…and quite cheaply!

    I live in Bridlington so getting to London is usually quite expensive (£150 on train).

    I went to my Mothers, who lives in Leeds, to stay with her and my sister the night before. A train tickets to Leeds from Brid (open return) was almost £30.

    Then I got the megabus down to london on the monday at 5.50am! that was £8 each way.

    Took about 4.5 hours each way but the times fitted in with the event and it was the cheapest way to get there.

    The event ran 12 till 4.

    The trocadero was real easy to find. Cool place too, with heaps of squashed penny machines (Ihad to limit myself to three for my collection!).

    The megabus stops at victoria station so i just got the victoria line to green park the switched to the picadilly line to picadilly circus and i was right there.

    Don’t forget your Oyster card!

    Btw, the megabus from leeds to london does make a stop at a service station for you to get food before you reach london. Also, if you buy from macdonalds saver menu when you’re in london rather than getting a meal deal or whatever you will save heaps.

    Anyway…onto the game!

    We pretty much got four hours playing the game, with a break when the producer, Grant Rodeik, popped in to show us some cool stuff we may find when we get deaper into the game, and also to tell us about new stuff they’re going to be offering as free downloads in the near future even without buying the expansion pack.

    I didn’t spend too much time setting up my characters, I just wanted to get into the game!

    There were a few new traits to choose from. The main one I can remember is the Eco-friendly trait.

    This was quite a cute little feature. You can add recycling bins to your sims homes. If your sim rides a bike they get happy, if they take a car alone they get sad because they would much rather car pool!

    There was also the washing of clothes to be done! An eco friendly would hang the clothes on a washing line. This was a suprise to me, I just saw my sim put some clothes in a machine and wondered what the heck she was doing! Don’t really see much point in washing there clothes seen as they don’t seem to get dirty but maybe there’s more to that than what I saw.

    Please excuse the randomness of this post, I am just trying to right things as I remember them, if you have any questions about the game or anything I have covered please ask and I will be happy to answer.

    The game is released June 4th 2010 in the UK.

    I saw someone letting their sim ride a chopper!

    There were heaps of new careers (ambitions).

    They were Interior designer, Private Investigator, Tatooist, Fireman, Stylist, Inventor…hmmm, think that was it.

    I chose my sim to be the Private Investigator.

    It took me a while to realise, but I did not have to wait for opportunities to pop up, i caould go to the police department and pick up work whenever I wanted and do stakeouts. The format is very much like when you go away in Sims 3 World adventures.

    You can also register self employed now.

    This makes life a little easier becuase you can work when you want, sleep when you want, etc.

    When you do a stakeout your sim will crouch down in the place you have selected holding up two small bushes to conceal themselves… Grant Rodeik said this idea came from a guy on Fishermans Wharf in San francisco (where he lives) who hides behind in a place where there is no other foilage just to scare people!

    This ambition was pretty cool, searching through peoples things! It wasn’t long before I was promoted to a new, more preofessional looking, uniform.

    When Grant showed his Private Investigator he made him break into a home to get some information…but he got caught…by a burglar!

    The girl next to me had a sim that was a firemen, that job looked alot more exciting. You have to maintain your fire engine to get to fire’s quicker, you can carry people out of burning buildings and when you’re chatting someone you can say “I’m a Fireman”!

    The interior designer job looked pretty cool too when he showed us. You can have proper drawing boards, measure up rooms and the artwork shown on the boards is actual sims concept art for the sims 3 game which is a nice touch. How this works is, the buyer gives you a budget and you buy things for their room accordingly (and arrange it and decorate of course) and they say whther they like it (depending on their traits) and pay you.

    As well as your pay for these jobs (and all jobs taken) you get job points, which add up and these give you promotions.

    The inventor is also cool, you can invent a time machine and go back to the past or forward to future. Unfortunately you cannot go with your sim (maybe this will be another expansion pack in the future).

    While your sim is in the time machine the UI will give you updates on things your sim encounters. They’ve put some pretty cool stuff on their, refernces to meeting people from Mass Effects, etc.

    When the time machine opens you much get a gimpse of some dinosaurs, etc, so be sure to be there to see that.

    You can also woohoo in the time machine…just so you know.

    The inventor can also invent a robot.

    This robot is then its own character with its own needs and moodlets, it feeds on scrap from the junkyard.

    The whole game is set in a new town btw, complete with junk yard. Oh and a new hillbilly family that live by the swamp!

    There’s a new game that the sims can buy for their garden too. Can’t remember what it was called but the sim has a bunch of things lined up then has to throw things at it…quite fun. The reason I mentioned this is because when my sim played it I swaer she spoke in English…she said “here we go” before she threw…watch out for that. I prefer simlish myself.

    Hmm…what else.

    There is a new UI (User Interface). Collects all the pop ups together. Makes everything a little neater.

    You can make your own tattoos, with your own images….limitless.

    They are releasing a pattern tool which is as deep as photoshop but real simple to use! That’s coming free for everyone too, you don’t need to buy the expansion pack.

    They interviewed me and another girl before we left, filmed us all playing and took a whole heap of photos so once those appear online I will add them to this post.

    Think that’s all I can remember for now. Ask me questions and I might remember some more. Hope this helps some of you out anyway.

    Inconclusion, I love the game and I will certainly be making a purchase…oh wait, I already pre-ordered! Woohoo! (but not in a sim way :) )

    A few more things to add in response to forum questions:

    I am afraid I know nothing about the consignment store. I’ve seen a few things about it on the web but, as far as I am aware, this wasn’t covered in the event.

    The only new interaction I know about is the one where you can say “I’m a firefighter” to a potentional love interest to get them to woohoo with you. We did ask grant about this too and that was the only one he mentioned.

    The time machine can take you to the past and to the future, and sims can bring back items. He did say something about the magic gnomes and them featuring alot more.

    I don’t know how many sims can fit on a motorcycle, the one I saw only had one sim.

    The garden game had a name but I really can’t remember it. They were like little stone statues that you throw rocks at or something.

    There was heaps of new objects and outfits, like the draught boards for example in relation to the interior designer.

    Apart from the robot and the time machine I don’t know what the inventor can invent. There are plently more though. Grant had an inventor in his house and he had heaps of stuff he had invented. I think he set a bomb off at one point too  :shock:

    I really didnt notice the furniture, sorry.

    The stakeout was not in a car.

    I didn’t even notice the security cameras either!

    The trampolines were like those big ones you get. Not netted. And I was a little disappointed with the animations on them (maybe thats just me being an animator). My sim didnt jump very dynamically…she just….jumped. Dull.

    Don’t have any pics, we were’t allowed to take any. The oraginsers took loads though, and videos, but when I looked on the website for EA games they weren’t there. AND the last ones for world adventures weren’t put up until the release date of the game!

    Hope thats answered a few more questions.

    Just rembered!

    There are also earthquakes and meteorites!

    I don’t know exactly how many new traits there are but from browsing through the list I would say at least five.

    Noticed a whole lot of new stuff but think I’ve mentioned it all.

    I don’t think there is weather.

    I didn’t see the burb family so I can’t confirm that they are there or not.

    I didn’t get to experience the earthquakes or meteorites. Grant talked about them a little but all he really said was that the camera shakes and it’s pretty cool.

    There was a whole heap of places you can put tattoos, all over the body. Not the face though.
    I didn’t try the doctor career.

    I don’t know about the 2 new music genres.

    Didn’t notice any new voices, CAS sliders, makeup, or favorites but i didnt spend hardly anytime setting up my sim.

    What’s a moon bounce?  :oops:

    I don’t know if children can play games on the trampoline. It may just be because I am an animator that I thought the animations on the trampolines were bad. It just really bugs me when they don’t put a little bit of anticipation in to make it a bit more dynamic and believable. There was no like slow up, fast down jumpin, was just up down up down. There were a few flips I think.

    I don’t know if children can  fall off the trampoline and break a bone, making them go to the doctors.

    I don’t know if athletic sims do flips and show off on the trampoline.

    I don’t know if adults and elders can go on them.

    I didn’t ever see anyone choke at the bistro. So I don’t know if they use the heimlich manuver. All I know is that Grant said about the doctor being able to save people in situations like that and coming out a hero.

    Category Reviews | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, | 89 Comments

  10. How To Keep Compost Worms Warm and Healthy

    May 14, 2010 by rachybop


    How To Keep Compost Worms Warm and Healthy on Howcast

    Category Howcast Animations | Tags: ,,,,,,,,, | 1 Comment

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