Even though The Sims 4 has been out for nearly seven years now, the thought of building can sometimes feel overwhelming. I guess you could say that it really comes down to what kind of build you are wanting to create.
I’ve never been the best builder, in fact I hated building in earlier The Sims games and would just add random shapes to already built houses until something would work. I have memories of some very abstract looking builds from The Sims and The Sims 2 era. Thinking about them now makes me laugh, but also feel a little embarrassed if I’m truly honest. I do wish I had some pictures that I could share with you, but you can probably imagine or relate to this yourself.
When I first started building in The Sims 4, I followed a similar kind of pattern. I would just add more square rooms to the pre-made lots in game in the hope that something would work together. Eventually I got fed up with my own builds looking boring and mismatched and decided to take to YouTube to watch a number of tutorials and speed builds to help me.
The build below is one of my earliest builds that I have saved in my Library from when I first started trying to learn how to use the Build Mode in game properly. My aim was to create a very simple starter home to a budget of $20,000.
It’s still very blocky and also had minimal furniture, but it was a start. The terrain painting, well let’s not talk about that. This was around the same time that I also started to use the MoveObjects cheat for the first time. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.
A couple of months later and after some more practice I made a little woodland themed cottage, and I was starting to feel a bit more confident with how my building skills had developed. I wasn’t just thinking about the shape of the build or the interior and the different rooms, but also the landscaping. I even ventured into creating some custom fountains to double as a pond. There wasn’t these big vacant spaces or mismatched rooms, but instead everything seemed to flow together more than before.
Looking back at the build now, there are definitely things I would change, but I can see the progress that I made.
I found myself pushing myself more and more out of my comfort zone, but still gaining more confidence in what I could do using the Building Tools in The Sims 4. I tried to create more than just residential builds and tried to create café’s, parks, schools and libraries a real mixture of different builds. I can’t even begin to think about how many hours I spent just experimenting with different ideas.
I actually dug through some files on my old external hard drive in search of some screenshots from earlier on in The Sims 4’s lifetime. I found a variety of different gameplay screenshots, but not so many builds. The ones I did find brought back memories, and it was kind of strange seeing them again after all this time, but also seeing the progress I made as a Builder.
It was around the time that The Sims 4 Get Famous was released that I finally felt happy with where my skills in building were. I started developing my own little style and found myself creating more modern builds and more recently tiny homes thanks to The Sims 4 Tiny Living Stuff Pack. Even now, I still surprise myself with some of the things that I do, and I’m always learning from other creators and players.
Throughout all the years of building in The Sims 4 I always reminded myself that when I was building that I wanted to have fun. There will always be challenges along the way, things won’t work or go together as expected and that is completely okay you’ll figure them out!
Looking back over my older builds and thinking about the progress I’ve made has been fascinating and has actually got me excited about jumping back in and building with more recent packs as well as the upcoming The Sims 4 Cottage Living.
Before I round off this post, firstly thank you for reading this post. It’s been fun exploring and writing about something a little different. Secondly, I want to leave you with a few Tutorials that I found helpful when I wanted to improve my building skills. Some links will be for individual videos, whereas some will be a part of a bigger playlist that you can follow. This is not a definitive list, as there are so many videos out there that will provide you with a variety of tips and techniques for building.
- Build Tutorial + Tips– Yorkie
- Builder’s Bible– LilSimsie
- The Sims 4 Build Tutorials– James Turner
- Building & Furnishing Tricks & Tips– Marmelad
- 10 Landscaping Tips & Tricks– Eva Rotky
- How to Build a Good Starter Home– Sydney Macoretta
Building is about having fun and creating a variety of different builds from Tiny Homes to Spectacular Fantasy Castles and everything in between. There is so much you can do when it comes to building that the possibilities are endless!
Don’t forget to share your latest builds, tips, tricks and tutorials with us over on social media or in the comments below!
