Hi Simmers!

How do you plan to play with resorts? One of our main goals when developing resorts was to make sure that it provided plenty of diversity in gameplay and customization. We recently held a development team “play day” and it was really great to see the many creative ways that people played with resorts. We had an engineer who decided to open up a small yet successful family-operated bed and breakfast. Another team member was on the fast track to running two five-star mega hotels in Sunset Valley. For some players, resort management was just a little too stressful and felt that having their Sims stay at a resort was a much more enjoyable experience.

I thought that one of the best ways to talk about resorts is to tell you about the one that I’m currently building. After discovering an uncharted island, I decided that it was the perfect place to break ground on my new resort. Using the blueprint mode, I quickly went from zero to well…bare minimum (at this point I’m fighting the urge to just use the money cheat.)

Tip: Blueprint mode is intended for players who want to get their resort built quickly so that they can jump into gameplay right away. However, if you choose to do so you can use Build and Buy tools to build your resort from scratch. Required objects for resorts are: the frontdesk and at least one resort tower rabbithole. In general, the resort tower is required as a place for guests to fulfill their motives as well as manage resort worker population. A new Buy Mode sort was added to display amenity objects that make the most impact to your resort quality.

Funds were low so I had to start small. It was a good thing that my Sim family was up to the task because keeping employees on the payroll can get quite expensive for an upstart business like mine. Daily tasks included making sure that the front desk was always covered and resort guests were treated to delicious drinks at the bar. I decided that since my Sim does not have a fulltime job, he’s going to have to cover both day and night shifts. There’s never a dull moment when running your own resort. Just like residential lots,things can get dirty or break. I’m just glad that my resort is small enough to where I can get the job done on my own. All looks well so far!

Tip: We wanted to make sure that players can run resorts by using only their active Sim family if they elect to do so. This allows you to choose your level of involvement with resorts. Simply disable shifts on the front desk, bar, or food stand and the amenity will remain un-manned for that specified time period. You might have noticed from the screen shot below that my Sim is operating a professional bar. If you have Late Night and Island Paradise installed you will be able to place professional bars on your resort and have it count as an amenity. You will be able to operate or hire employees for these bars as you would other amenities on your resort.

As my resort grows in popularity so does the maintenance required to keep things running. I’ve slacked off a bit and now things have gotten completely out of control. Trash is everywhere and now I’m told that we have a full blown roach infestation. Resort guests are starting to vomit from the sight of this filth. What a mess! The next morning I checked my resort’s star rating and it’s gone down one full star. I might be in trouble here.

Tip: Poor upkeep can tank your resort’s quality rating that in turn can result in fewer customers. Each piece of garbage or broken appliance will be reflected negatively in the resort reviews panel. And yes, roaches. When I queried the team and asked what best represented a poorly maintained hotel, the unanimous answer was “roaches”.

I really needed to clean this place up fast if I want to continue to stay  in business. I hired a few maintenance workers to help me tidy up. I also took advantage of my Sim’s handy skill and upgraded a few of my toilets to not break.

Tip: Maintenance workers are the key to keeping your resort clean and presentable to the public. You have the choice of hiring up to three low, medium or high quality workers. Low quality workers are cheaper but have a greater chance of slacking off whereas high quality workers will always use their time wisely but come at a price.

Resort quality is finally restored and business is good. With a little money on the side, it’s finally time to class things up. The first thing I decided to add was some private VIP rooms for my guests. Blueprint Mode was perfect for this as I’m able to stamp down multiple rooms at once. After going back to Live Mode, I immediately assigned door locks to the rooms to allow the resort system to assign them to guests.

Tip: VIP door locks are exclusive to resorts. Resort owners can select any build/buy door and assign it a unique key number.If a guest chooses to check into a VIP room they will be handed a key that corresponds to the number that is assigned to a door. If there are no VIP door locks set on the resort, guests will be sent to the rabbithole to sleep and freshen up.

Resort owners are automatically checked into resort tower rabbitholes but will still need to check into VIP rooms in order to reserve the space.

What’s a resort without a place to eat? I decided to plop down some resort buffet tables and a food stand to add even more amenities to satisfy my guests. I sent my Sim over to the food stand to get a nice refreshing drink.

Tip: The resort buffet table is exclusive to resorts in that your staff will be responsible for maintaining the food. As an owner, you will be given the option to choose what type of food to serve and the quality. Higher quality food will require a higher upkeep cost but will better satisfy your guest. Check the reviews panel regularly as they can clue you in on what type of food your guests are craving. Sims with high relationship to one another will often choose to dine together at the buffet.

The resort food stand serves up new food such as fried plantains and drinks in pineapple or coconut cups.

I’ll put the final touches on my resort by customizing uniforms for my staff. I wanted to go with a beach casual look so selecting one of the available presets will work for me. However, we thought it would be fun to open up the customization even further. You will actually be able to go into Create-A-Sim and customize uniforms (hair, makeup, and clothing) for each one of your employees. All installed content from EPs, SPs and The Sims 3 Store that are valid for career uniforms and can be used to outfit your Sim.

My resort is definitely on the right path to success. I’m not really sure where to go from here. Perhaps I’ll find the next great location and do it all over again. Maybe take my family to someone else’s resort and check out what they have to offer.

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy playing with resorts this June when The Sims 3 Island Paradise becomes available. 

- Mike Zamora (@SimGuruMike), Assistant Producer for The Sims 3Island Paradise

Check out what Designer Alan Copeland has to say about the Baby Dragons he created for The Sims 3 Dragon Valley! For more information about The Sims 3 Dragon Valley, and the Red Baby Dragon, click here. 

The Sims has such a rich history of cool content that I’m sure I’m not the only person who’s sat around dreaming of my favorite items from a previous Sims edition that I’d like to see make an appearance in The Sims 3. Baby Dragons are one of those things that I’ve wanted to see since my first day on The Sims 3 Store team. 

I loved how you could influence the temperament of your Baby Dragon in Makin’Magic by how you treated the Dragon Egg, and I wanted to keep the flavor of that while reimagining it for The Sims 3. So depending on how you talk to your egg, you can impact the chance of that egg hatching into one of a variety of different colored dragons, each with its own temperament, personality, moodlets and powers!

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be going over each of these little beasties in detail, but today I want to focus on the one that made the biggest impact during The Sims Live Broadcast in Dragon Valley teaser trailer, the Red Baby Dragon.

Red Baby Dragons pull their powers from fire and their personality reflects that, being impulsive and full of energy. They are the most physical and quick-tempered of all of the Baby Dragons. Much more of a chaotic troublemaker than evil in any way, Red Baby Dragons are great to have by your Sims side if you want to torment other Sims. Each Baby Dragon has a special Summon ability, so it’s no surprise that the Red Baby Dragon can summon a fireball attack that will leave your enemies Dragon Singed or smite your adversaries with Fiery Torment.

Each Baby Dragon is born with ancient wisdoms and your Sim can increase skills by talking about those things that interest them. For example, talking to a Red Baby Dragon will give your Sim insight into the Athletic skill. 

Also, there are benefits just to having a Baby Dragon around. With the Red Baby Dragon, your Sim will get the Mark of the Red Dragon moodlet that lingers even after you’ve put them down or tucked the dragon in your inventory. The Mark of the Red Dragon helps with Energy and Hygiene, making it amazingly beneficial for working out longer.

There’s a bunch of fun interactions that all of the dragons share, and we’ll discuss all of those in the coming weeks, but the first one (and perhaps the most important) is naming your dragon. Naming your dragon creates a bond between the Sim and the owner. It keeps other Sims that are not in your household from wandering off with them. Once that bond is formed, Baby Dragons are content hanging out on your shoulder or around your home.

I’ll be back next week to discuss the next Baby Dragon, but in the meantime, contact me on Twitter at @SimGuruCopeland with all of your Red Baby Dragon questions.  

-       Alan Copeland

Check out what Producer Kelly (@SimGuruKelly) has to say about the Double Down Poker and Roulette Bundle, releasing in The Sims 3 Store on May 2, 2013.