What is TEENAGERS FROM MARS???

Hi. My name is Dave Kearney. I was inspired to purchase The Sims 3 and start this blog after reading the fascinating Sims 3 story blog by Robin Burkinshaw, Alice and Kev. It was a wonderful illustration of the creative possibilities available in the game and I was anxious to get in on the fun.

The Sims 3 is a computer game, published by EA, which depicts a simulation of real life. You design the characters, what they look like, what type of personalities they have, where they live. Then you set them free and watch them interact. You can give them total freewill by just watching them like an ant farm. Or you can step in at any point and direct their behavior.

This is my experiment with playing the game, taking screen shots, and then writing stories around the resulting pictures.

Originally, I planned to do a story around two martian children stranded on earth and trying to survive on their own with nothing but their wits to depend on. I created the infant named, Baby, first and gave her the traits: Brave, Genius, and Inappropriate. Her slightly older brother, Bro, would initially have to do most of the work to keep them alive. So I gave him the traits: Ambitious, Mooch, and Inappropriate.

I was ready to begin playing when I received a message from the game saying that I had to have an older family member to form a household. That was when I decided to create Mama. I decided to give Mama the traits: Flirty, Daredevil, Schmoozer, Computer Whiz, and (just for spice) Evil.

I began the game with these three characters. But soon I found myself wondering how and why a single martian mother with two children, would end up in Sunset Valley. That's when it hit me. They were fleeing an abusive husband/boyfriend. Then I thought how interesting it would be to bring him into the story as a potential adversary. Since I planned for him to be the villain, I created Papa with nothing but bad traits: Slob, Grumpy, Evil, Mean Spirited, and Inappropriate.

Now all four characters have been set free and are acting mostly under their own free will. I am very interested to see where their lives will take them. Hopefully, you are too. Please feel free to comment with any of your thoughts and observations on this unfolding story. Thanks for reading! -Dave
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Update. Sunday August 9, 2009

As you have probably noticed, the story has had some dramatic developments. Although it can be fun to sit back and watch your sims do their own thing for a while, eventually I get the urge to tinker. And as I realized the incredible, creative, opportunities presented by the game's dynamics and it's freely movable camera, I could not resist developing a story with these characters.

I've named the project, TEENAGERS FROM MARS, and the tale is a combination of ideas that have come to me, mixed with the strange, quirky, unexpected behavior of the sims themselves. I hope you are having as much fun reading, TEENAGERS FROM MARS, as I am writing and producing it. Thanks so much for reading, and thank you for your great comments!
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