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ARTIST SHOUT-OUT Sunday, July 16, 2023 "Metahuman + Deepfake" by Celso Filho

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How to Create a Simple Wood Crate Material in Unreal Engine 5. Watch Now: https://youtu.be/V1s88d4PKyY

I have to say, getting started with The Sims 4 Historical Challenge has been very challenging. To start I was focused on simple immersion with visuals to help create the feel of the time period. I began with the lot design and coverings in place of clothing. 

The lot design was fairly straight forward especially with live edit objects debugged and useable thanks to @twistedmexi. That is until my characters started walking through rocks and boulders! I spent so much time level building a valley for Wa and G’Ra to start their journey only to find I needed to go back to the drawing board to brainstorm a playable level that honored game mechanics in a creative yet invisible way without building modern walls.    I chose to use terrain modifications instead of natural fencing. I added mounds too tall to walk up forcing a reroute around to the paths I carved out. It’s not perfect as it stands but it is working.

Livable space was limited from the start as I started on the small “Oasis Springs, Water Landing” lot because it goes along with the storyline I am developing - look out for some interesting timeline benders and flashbacks -  having to add mounds only further reduced the space as controlling land manipulation with Maxis tools carries a great learning curve be it on Console or Computer. 

 I don’t want to spend too much time reworking a finished design though. After all, I already spent my 5,000 simoleons and placed all needs based items as best I could with zero privacy due to lack of walls because my starting character’s lack of handiness knowledge to build anything. I still have some areas to close up if my Sims are ever going get their hygiene up and not release their bladder on themselves. 

The Finished Valley Lot

I am not worrying with starting over because, it feels authentic to have blunders. I bet prehistoric civilizations had to work through many challenges that required creative problem solving, observing nature and trail and era.  Plus, there will be more other lots to do a better build on and showcase my development as a game level designer as I progress. For now I have my very first V1 pre-historical level build. 

Coverings... Not Clothing

My other focus was the coverings, without power, skills and memory of how they arrived where they are, it goes without saying that clothing shouldn’t be jeans and sneakers in this pre-historic era. I wanted something loose and thrown together. I used Naked and Afraid survivor as inspiration since finding pre-made cc hasn’t been easy. Also me spending hours window shopping the internet for coverings is a real simulation immersion breaker.   

I got to work putting together some re-colors with leaves and vines. The process started as terrible as the first human civilizations must have had it. Items didn’t fit correctly, none of what I tried looked good either, it was perfect. After painstaking trial and era, I finally landed on something I feel the characters can move forward with until their skills (and mine) level for more complexity. 

I know most people doing the Sims 4 Historical Challenge go for animal hides but Wa and G’Ra don’t have the skills or tools yet to go after animals. All they have are the trees bushes and problem solving skills. Trust me it even bugs me that they have a bed. I feel they should be resting on the ground on leaves until they have the Handiness Skill to build from trees. But I ask for your suspension of disbelief for now, please. 

I will end with this note, the Stone Age level is very difficult, especially on the Bladder. Players beware! While this challenge isn’t new, I will not be the last player to attempt it. I am giving fair warning. My sims spend most of their time trying to eat 20 pieces of fruit to fill up then, embarrassing themselves on the ground part way through their meal. I have them eat next to the bladder bush now.

There is barely time to level skills let alone their aspiration. Survival is finding food, feeding themselves one fruit at a time and getting sick from Living off the Land negative Buffs. I have the “Living Off The Grid” lot challenge turned on because why not? I don’t need my sims checking their phone or video playing games when they can’t even autonomously feed themselves.  

Assassin's Creed Odyssey is a stunning 3rd person action RPG video game and is the 11th major installment in the Assassin's Creed franchise.

Overview -

Every Assassin's Creed game made was set in different locations and era, featured diverse cultures and great characters and Odyssey is no different. The game is set in ancient Greece with its historical story set in 431-422 B.C.

Ubisoft took a different approach to the beloved Assassin's Creed franchise with the development of Assassin's Creed Origins, leaning more towards the RPG style of gameplay. Assassin's Creed Odyssey features a massive open world, one of the biggest (biggest in the franchise) open worlds that, much like Black Flag, puts a lot of emphasis on traversing by sea.

Gameplay -

Assassin's Creed Odyssey has a ton of content for the players to engage in. The main campaign takes just over 40 hours to complete plus the game has a lot of additional content that sums up to and over 100 hours. Assassin's Creed Odyssey hosts a ton of side quests, conquest battles, arenas, fishing, hunting and a beautifully designed massive open world just begging to be explored, keeping the players engaged for days or even weeks (if you love exploration like I do).

After a tutorial masked as the prologue ends, players are provided with 2 playable characters to choose from with both the characters having the exact same story.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey is a systems heavy game with a lot of systems complementing each other, striving to provide a great experience.

Leveling system:

Players earn experience points every time they fight, for every quest completed, every location discovered and completed, every conquest battle won and more. These experience points help players level up. Leveling up increases the player character's health and damage and provides them with a skill point that can be used to unlock skills. Higher the level, stronger the player character is making the combat easier.

Skills:

Players can unlock skills across 3 categories; Hunter, Warrior and Assassin. The skills in these categories increase the damage stats for hunting, combat and assassination or stealth abilities. Each of the categories also have various abilities that can be unlocked, upgraded assigned to the ability wheels that can be used in game.

Abilities:

Assassin's Creed Odyssey has a plethora of abilities that can be unlocked and assigned to ranged and melee ability wheels. Players can equip up to 12 skills at any time, split between 2 melee and 1 ranged ability wheels (4 slots per wheel).

Abilities can be swapped by accessing the abilities menu.

Ranged ability wheel can only consist of Hunter Abilities and they are as follows -

Multi-shot.

Devastating Shot.

Predator Shot.

Spread Shot.

Rain of Destruction.

Overpower Bow Strike.

Ghost Arrows of Artemis.

The two melee ability wheels can consist of the following abilities -

Warrior -

Bull Rush.

Sparta Kick.

Second Wind.

Shield Breaker.

Flaming Attacks.

Ring of Chaos.

Battlecry of Ares.

Assassin -

Venomous Attacks.

Vanish.

Rush Assassination.

Call to Arms.

Hero Strike.

Slow Time.

Shadow of Nyx.

Players also start with some basic abilities that are upgraded automatically when certain conditions are met. The baseline abilities are as follows -

Summon Phobos - To summon Phobos, the player's horse.

Meditation - Allows players to rest and moves time forward.

Eyes of Ikaros - Ikaros, the eagle can be used to tag locations and enemy targets.

Assassination - Allows players to assassinate targets using the Spear of Leonidas.

Leap of Faith - Allows players to smash the ground and stun nearby enemies without taking any damage.

Whistle - Players can whistle to attract enemies.

Man at Arms - Allows players to equip a second weapon from the inventory.

Defensive Maneuvers - Provides players with the ability to dodge or parry right before an attack hits.

Recruit - Allows players to incapacitate and recruit enemies to join the crew of the Adrestia.

Ship Upgrades:

Players can upgrade their ship to increase the ship's health, arrow damage, ramming damage, javelin damage and the ship's armor. The following upgrades increase the previously mentioned properties -

Arsenal - The Arsenal upgrades increase the number of consecutive throws and damage of Javelins and Arrows and also increases the fire buildup and fire power segments of Braziers.

Weapons Damage - The Weapons Damage upgrades increase ramming, arrows and javelin damage.

Ship and Crew Endurance - These upgrades increase the ship's armor and health along with the crew's armor and also increases Rower Stamina that helps use the boost ability a little longer.

Special Lieutenants - Recruiting, hiring and assigning special lieutenants helps increase some properties of the ship.

Ship Cosmetics - As the name suggests, players can customize the look of their ship.

Inventory System:

Assassin's Creed Odyssey features an inventory menu that allows players equip armors and weapons. Player’s equipment are available in 4 different categories; Common, Rare, Epic and Legendary with Legendary equipment being the most powerful. Armors and Weapons are available upon looting and completing quests and they are assigned level numbers. Higher the level, the stronger they are. Players need to be at the same level as their weapons and armor in order to equip them. Armors and weapons can also be upgraded to the player's current level by visiting a Blacksmith. Blacksmiths also have weapons and armor available for purchase and allows players to engrave their equipment that provide special benefits.

Ship upgrades, engraving equipment, crafting arrows require various resources that can be found around the game world, such as; Olive Wood, Iron, Leather, Obsidian Glass and Precious Gems. Most of theses resources can be looted while wandering around. Leather can be acquired by looting hunted animals and fish.

Equipping the right weapons and armory helps increase the following stats of the player -

Health.

Hunter Damage - Increases damage dealt when using the bow and Hunter abilities.

Warrior Damage - Increases damage dealt with melee attacks and Warrior abilities.

Assassin Damage - Increases assassination damage and damage dealt with Assassin abilities.

The inventory menu displays the basic stats mentioned above and difference in stats when equipping a new equipment. It also has an option to view the detailed stats of the player character.

Modes and Extra Content:

As established earlier, Assassin's Creed Odyssey hosts a ton of content players can engage in. I'd like to refer to them as modes and they are as follows -

Conquest Battles:

Conquest Battles are an important means of players establishing dominance in the Peloponnesian War. These battles are available as part of the main story and as side missions that can be undertaken while players explore a region. Players can pick sides while taking up Conquest battles, where the winning side conquers that nation. Conquest Battles are available only when the Power of a Nation is lowered.

Mercenaries:

Mercenaries are powerful enemies wandering around the world. A bounty is placed on the player every time a crime is committed, making the mercenaries hunt players down. Players can avoid being hunt down by paying off all bounties in the Map.

Defeating mercenaries raises the mercenary rank of the player. This information is displayed in the Mercenaries menu. Players can spend hours hunting down the rest of the mercenaries to be the best mercenary in the whole of Greece. Although it should be noted that some mercenaries can be found and defeated in Arenas only.

Combat -

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s combat system is more complex than the previous games of the franchise up until Origins. Players can use the equipped weapons to fight enemies, attack enemies from a distance and perform stealth attacks on enemies or assassinate them. The various abilities and skills add variety to the the combat and help deal more damage and help get out of tough situations (depending on the abilities equipped). The game also features a parry and dodge mechanics that help parry and dodge incoming attacks. When the attacking enemy has a red glowing outline, it is advised to dodge as they cannot be parried. There are 2 versions of dodge that can be achieved by wither pressing the dodge button or holding it. The player character upon pressing the button, performs a simple dodge by stepping backwards and holding the button makes the character roll away in the intended direction completely avoiding the attack.

The combat mechanics of the ship are the same since Black flag with changes to the machinery used (due to the change in era) to attack rather than controls or mechanics. Cannons are replaced with arrows and heavy shots with javelins. Although mortars and swivel guns are no longer featured in the game.

Verdict -