Thank Grog It’s Firday!
Yes. This is one of those weeks when a nice large vessel of grog is going to be needed to launch the weekend. The world is coming unglued…and my mind and town are cluttered with what the media and EA are shoving at us. I can turn one off…but, I am still left with the unbelievable task of figuring out where to put all of this Halloween stuff!
Yes… EA gave us another huge (and randomly placed) chunk of land. But, when you do the measurements…if you buy even one of the large Premium items, you have scant room to decorate, much less save room for the upcoming Mummy Invasion.
I get it. You want your Multipliers. You want to reach 30% or even 40%, and so you are tapping and crafting your little fingers to the bone.
But, here’s tip number one...and it’s a big one…you don’t really need a huge multiplier to “Get it All.” In fact…if you are like me, and logged in every 4 hours at least 4 times a day, you likely already have She-Wolf, or will get her over the weekend.
So…what is the real challenge of this update??
Where in the hell (I use that word with broadest reference to Halloween), do you put all of this stuff, and still keep your design looking good??
Well…you kinda can’t. Unless you just don’t play by the rules…or go for a pretty generic layout.
I’ve visited tons of neighbors, and almost all of them are some variation on the same stuff, shuffled around to meet some design ethic.
Our “Gold Standard Designers” Ebron and SuperBeast (yes Tippie, you can take a drink now), have both opted to just “go off the grid” and place the Halloween stuff wherever they want…undoubtedly with a ton of Sprinkles dropped, to keep up with the game.
Ebron’s is predictably cool…using all sorts of past items to decorate. But…She NUKED…isn’t playing “on the grid” so is now an “outlier.” Sorry…
SuperBeast’s is gorgeous…but again, his penchant for putting events on an island in the middle of water is cool…but, is “off the grid.” Making him another Event Outlier!
ZenGlen is “Playing by the Rules” but is clearly showing what happens when you try to fit everything into the allotted space. Good luck with the Mummies Glen!
So…if you ask how I have dealt with this stuff…and still maintained continuity? The answer really comes from the land they plopped…adjacent to the Amusement Park and Zoo. Yes…this zone is rapidly becoming almost as big as the rest of “Springfield Proper.” But, I do think that making “Halloween Land” just another segment of this sprawling entertainment complex is really the only way to do it.
I have mine butted up with the zoo and Itchy & Scratchy Land…with it’s own entrance. But, I have no room for Mummies…those will have to go off near my Museum Pyramid Land…at a later time.
There is also the question of “How Many Castles Can you Have??” knowing full well that the correct answer, if you want to stick to a “Canon Version of Springfield” is NONE.
Yes…you can argue that castles did show up in a handful of TreeHouse of Horrors episodes. But when you watch the opening show sequence, to get a picture of what Springfield is supposed to look like, there is nary a castle to be found. I currently have 6…with a ton of other “Castle-Like Structures” hanging around from Stone Cutters and Clash of Clones. I din’t buy Frankenstein’s Castle. Just too many to remotely deal with. Sorry.
I have loads of castles…and castle related stuff…from Halloweens past, and other events that featured stones, ruins, and singing runes. But you can see how out of place a swirling building looks, next to an ancient cathedral. So…yes…I have some revamping to do…
As does GT Brooke. Castle. Cathedral. And the silly Teen Lit building...it’s Clutterific at best. I know he’s just plopping…waiting for design time. But, man…this pic really shows the disparate design we are dealing with on this event…and we haven’t seen pyramids yet! 
So…I solved a few of the issues…by placing them where they seem to belong…and NOT BUYING THE TEEN LIT BUILDING…which seems completely out of place for this event.
More Swamps and Scary Woods? Those belong right next to “AmericaTown.” Nothing says scary and swampy like today’s political landscape.
And, I admit that I love the Crossroads and other “Road Fixtures.” I am building an addition to my English section…because the Butchery and the Stitch and Hem seem to belong there…I’ll adorn the streets, now that I have time…with 5 more days until Act III hits and I have to deal with Mummies.
To be clear…I have liked this event. I really have. I know….nothing scarier than me in a good mood! But, yes…the event is prone to clutter and a lack of space unless you go “off the grid.”
Bottom line… Just Have FUN! There really are no rules. And if you log in every 4 hours 4 times a day…you are golden in the “gotta have it all” club.
Have a great weekend! Go Ducks!