We’ve heard it so many times: why isn’t this game from 2003 meeting modern standards and needs? Why does everything feel like it was designed 17 years ago? Well, apart from the fact that it was, we decided that enough was enough and it was time to bring the game into the modern era ourselves.

We’ve heard complaints that the motive system is too “antiquated” and “boring”, and we heard you LOUD AND CLEAR. When you get ingame, you’ll see a whole new system awaiting you – you’ll find everything has been flipped on its head! As all good UX designers say: completely switch up the meaning and layout of everything, and your users will be more “engaged”. :relieved:

To spice up your lives a little, we have added fire to the game for the first time! Yep, definitely haven’t done this one before. If you’re having trouble getting a tan these days, imagine what standing on a rug can do for you in FreeSO.
Doritos have done it, Nandos have done it, now we’re doing it too. You can order a new type of pizza via the phone: “Pizza Roulette”! Will it be ice cold? Will it be hot and spicy? There’s only one way to find out! This is a great, original new idea that is definitely new this year and will never come around again. No siree.
We are now building the game on Azure Pipelines! That’s not a feature, I just wanted to mention it somewhere.
Ever felt that outfits in TSO are too “grounded” for your tastes? Who wants to still be in their pajamas when they get out of bed? Nobody wants to be reminded of the tortures of real life, so we’ve added a convenience feature that can switch you into your desired outfit without any user input. How does the game know what your desired outfit is? That information has been patented – sorry.
We’ve also added more hats to the game! That’s really all there is to say on the matter. :tophat:
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And finally, you read it above, we’ve added one of the most desired objects to the game. An experience that before you could only get via custom content or shady ass servers running 10 year old game versions. It’s here, it’s OFFICIAL. Love it, run to it, destiny arrives all the same.
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Log in today only to receive your prize!

It’s that time of the year again! The FreeSO awards are here for the third year in a row, and we all know what that means! It’s time for everyone to vote for who they think deserves one of our 22 prestigious awards this year. Don’t hesitate to vote, because the ceremony is fast approaching. Mark your calendars because the awards are being held on February 9th at 20:00 UTC!

If you win one of the 22 awards, you can show it off to everyone on your lot by placing it wherever you like! Don’t forget that there’s also awards for lot categories as well. The awards are split into three categories:

  • Players: Awards for outlandish personalities of FreeSO players.
  • Lots: Awards for outstanding builds and designs in the Sunrise Crater. Note that voting for anyone who lives on the lot will count towards the lot’s total votes. The trophy goes to the lot owner.
  • Special: Awards for specific milestones, achievements, or distinctions.

As always, you must be nominated for an award to win it. You can nominate/vote for other players on the following page – https://awards.freeso.org/

Instructions:

Click anywhere on the page to open the voting box, choose a category to view its description and you can then type in a Sim’s in-game name (not case sensitive), with an optional reason for why you voted for them. Don’t forget to press the vote button!

You will need to log in with your FreeSO account to be able to vote. You may only vote for each category once per account.

We hope to see you at the Town Hall on the 9th of February at 20:00 UTC!


Starting today (October 24th), you can participate in this year’s Halloween event! This year brings about a new kind of event, where you all have to work together to get the prize! :scream: You can now go trick-or-treating at other lots to receive lots and lots of delicious candy :yum:. But watch out! There are zombies running amok in Sunrise Crater! Defeat them quickly before all your precious worldly possessions are broken! Vanquish them to receive even more candy! But don’t worry, you have two whole weeks to gather up enough candy and bring it to this year’s event lot; The Hallowed Village, conveniently located in D.A.M.N.

Better put on your best costume and start trick-or-treating and or zombie vanquishing, event ends November 6th!

Getting some Candy

 

The best way to get candy is to trick or treat around player and community lots! There are two timers governing candy: A global timer for one candy every 5 minutes, and a bonus candy the first time you visit that property each day. Jumping around trick or treating everywhere is obviously the most effective, but you can still hang out in the same spot and get a piece every 5 minutes. It’s up to you – but don’t try to take candy too often or you’re in for a… shock.

When a candy bowl is in a lot, however, a zombie will eventually show up! This horrible monster will attempt to break a random object on the property… but you have the power to stop it! Together with a group of ideally 4 people, you can banish the zombie for a large candy bonus. This requires a lot of people though – with only one or two, the zombie may have already destroyed a few objects by the time it works! If you own a property and don’t want the zombie around, you can always bribe it to leave… but then you lose precious candy. :'(

Donating Candy

 

Got enough candy from bowls and zombies? Head on over to the well at The Hallowed Village. You think there’s something in there? Nope, no way. It is a perfectly normal, empty well. Throw your candy down without looking, and watch the community total soar sky high. (or increment by one, if you are terribly selfish)

As they’re met, we’ll be announcing new milestones and object ingame and on discord, so keep an eye out over the next two weeks! There are some really crazy objects we have lined up for you.

Even after donating candy, you can keep track of how much you’ve contributed by checking the candy entry in your inventory. We’ll occasionally be announcing the top donators on Discord, and there may even be personal milestones and awards offered by Madge Cal herself…

Halloween Items

The candy counter in The Hallowed Village will unlock new objects for everyone when you hit set milestones… but what are they? Well, that’s a cool surprise so I’ll just divert the question – what do we have apart from these?

We have some all new halloween items in the catalog, thanks to S1ndle, AOG, Raeven and Alex. Among these is a really cool cauldron stove with some really cool custom scripting. Find them in various sections – they won’ t be there forever!

Are you a big fan of the halloween items from previous events? You can get another chance at them at The Hallowed Village… but it won’t be easy!

Since the last blog post, we’ve been busy adding a ton of object types to the collection of upgradable ones. This has enabled a ton of objects to be used for greening that were not usable before, and allows for much more freedom in designing themed properties. Here’s a list of everything we’ve covered:

  • Beds
  • Fridges, Stoves
  • Baths and Showers
  • Fun Objects (PCs, televisions, bubble maker, pool table, basketball… etc)
  • Chairs, Armchairs and Sofas
  • Some “fun” upgrades. Not the category, just ones that do weird things…
  • Drivable Cars

Wait – you never announced that last one! Oh, but we did… on Discord! That’s right, the blog fell behind again, but better late than never.

In this post I’ll be talking about what drivable cars mean, and about some new tools I’m introducing to Volcanic to help content creation in the future.

(the accessory and animation in the above picture are not an actual thing we will be distributing (pls no sue disney), though it is inevitable that custom accessories will make it to the game at some point!)

Continue reading “Avatar Content Tools and Drivable Cars!”

Yes, the upgrades system is finally ready for public testing! “Silently” debuted during our world emoji day… event… the upgrades system lets you pay additional money to upgrade eligable objects when purchasing them or even afterwards, on the same panel that lets you return objects to inventory. These upgrades can make the object match more expensive versions for motive gain, benefits and even add some extra functionality the object never had before! Our emoji day example was a thinking emoji that spins when you upgrade it, but the real targets are more… practical than that.
Today, we’re debuting the first set of functional object upgrades that aim to free house builders from only using a small slice of the catalog. Soon, it will all be viable. 😌

Continue reading “Introducing Upgrades! (new category each weekend!)”