Titan Architect Taffissimo

TITAN ARCHITECT

While the winter festivities are over and we have crossed over into the promising New Year, it is with great pleasure we are welcoming Taffissimo Builds as our Titan Architect for the first issue of 2022!

Welcome, let’s begin with a brief introduction. I would love to find out more about you as a person, what is your name, age, hobbies, where are you from, what is your star sign and you biggest pet peeves?

My name is Simon and I am told that I’m a very sensitive Cancer, which I am not sure how to feel about…! I live in Germany and aside from design and architecture I love movies, ranging from Hollywood classics, and international arthouse, to indie and auteur films. Pedro Almodóvar and Wong Kar-Wai would be my favourite directors, to give you an idea of what I like. I am a decent cook, and you can find me doing HIIT and yoga from time to time. My biggest pet peeve would be miserly people. Not tipping and being unwilling to split the bill are immediate dealbreakers to me.

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Let’s talk a little about the past year, how was 2021 like for you? Have you achieved everything you had planned for it, was there any curve balls and obstacles or was it mostly a smooth ride?

2021 was alright for me overall. It feels kind of wrong saying that considering there’s still a global pandemic going on, and political turmoil which causes many people to suffer. It feels so insignificant to reminisce about my achievements this year, when there are so many big events happening in the world right now. But for what it’s worth, I did achieve some personal goals, which I am pretty happy about. I finished my MA degree, which included a film project that demanded most of my energy early this year. Shooting had to be put on hold for a while due to the pandemic but editing turned out to be the real struggle. Despite all hurdles the result was very satisfying and marked a great ending to my studies.

Talking Sims and my related social media channels, I reached a big milestone when I surpassed the 10K followers mark on IG. It only happened a few days before completing the 1st year of @taffissimo_builds, which was the goal I set myself. And with the algorithm limiting reach and trying to keep you small, it really didn’t look like I’d get there in time, so I couldn’t believe it when I actually hit that number. Now I only wish my YouTube would do better, but that’s for 2022 I guess!

Do you have anything big planned for 2022? Is there anything that you have not tried to do that you would love to try out in the new year to learn new skills or take up a new hobby?

I started getting acquainted with 3D modelling this year, and would like to work on that skill further, and maybe even get into animation down the line. Some of my novice level 3D modelling efforts I even shared on IG and reached a new demographic outside of the Sims community. So it’s definitely something that’s worth putting some effort into.

As for the YouTube channel I’d like to diversify my content a little bit by creating tutorial videos with building hacks, since the market for speed builds and stopmotion build videos seems to be very saturated at the moment.

You are a very popular Sims 4 builder in the community, your builds stand out with the bright colours and unique shapes. Can you tell us a little about how you started The Sims journey? (E.g. How did you come across the sims, which game was the first game you played? What about it you liked most and least?)

colour and shape, and try to push myself by building different and unusual things that keep my content exciting. So it really means a lot to me that you feel this is my signature and how I stand out in the community.

My Sims journey started back in 2000 when my older brother brought home TS1 from a friend, and I was immediately hooked. The dollhouse quality of the gameplay really spoke to me as a kid. I loved Playmobile and Lego and this was like a digital version of that, taking it to the next level. TS2 was very crucial to me, because that’s when I really got into the game and even started sharing some builds on MTS. I developed other interests when TS3 came around, but I did play it a couple of times, I just wasn’t very invested. And that was the case for early TS4 too, until I got back to it a few years ago, fell in love with building, and eventually became part of this amazing community.

Who are you outside of the sims, is interior design and architecture something you do for a living? Where do you get your inspiration from?

While I was always interested in design and architecture, media and advertising are the fields I’ve been working in. Interior design is one of those roads that I sometimes think I could have taken, but through The Sims and putting my builds and content out there, I make up for that missed opportunity a little bit.

I get inspired from anything really. Real life places I visit, films I saw, researching different styles, a distant memory of something. It only takes that little spark of inspiration, but then it usually leads somewhere far away from the original vision. I am very open in the creating process and love the feeling when I try out a couple of things and then suddenly everything comes together and makes sense. It’s really about reaching that aha-moment, and then everything falls into place. I guess it’s that mindset that makes me confident in tackling new architectural styles and designs that are out of my comfort zone, because I know I’ll work it out somehow. I wish I was like that in other areas of my life!

If EA was creating a wish list by sending out a huge survey to all The Sims players asking them what they wanted to be added to the game in 2022, what would you say? What is a major element that is missing in the game for you?

My main interest is building of course, so my wish list is really only concerned about that. But I do hope that game players, who are the ones being neglected the most by EA, get what they ask for finally. To me as a builder, it is important that TS5 goes beyond the build mode of any other Sims game and breaks away from the grid, predetermined sizes, and many other limitations. Paralives demonstrated what I ask for perfectly in the previews of their game with the unrestricted placing of walls and the seamless sizing of objects. If TS5 doesn’t follow suit, they could potentially lose their most satisfied group of players to another game. I hope they are aware of that and develop a less restricted build mode that opens up the possibilities of creating amazing architecture.

If given a choice to only be able to play with one Sims 4 pack forever, or at least until Sims 5 comes out, which one would you pick? Why?

Again, this is from my perspective as a builder, and that’s why it’s probably no surprise that I’d choose Eco Lifestyle. Aside from a decent addition of furniture, the pack gave us many great decorative items that are perfect for manipulation (with T.O.O.L. mod or not) and creating architectural features that we weren’t able to build before. It opened up so many design possibilities and is probably the one pack that I use in every build. Spa Day is a close 2nd though.

Now a little bit of a controversial topic, what do you think about all the new kits that have been added to the game? Where do you think EA is going with the new kit system? Do you think there is a better way to add more content to the game?

Kits are a cash grab. While most kits add decent content to the game, none of them offer enough to justify being sold separately instead of being part of a larger pack. I wish EA would show more respect towards players and give them something substantial in form of a fully fleshed-out pack which is actually worth its money.

The refresh we got for Spa Day was an amazing way to add new content to the game and I hope they give other packs the same treatment. But it is clear to me that free content updates are not corresponding with EA’s economic interests, so the focus will either remain on pushing out more kits, or on finding other ways to get players to pay money more frequently.

All critique aside, I do enjoy the roll-out of new kits. The artwork is always stunning, and it is truly interesting when they let the designers and artists talk about the content they created for the game. For bigger packs the scope is too large to spotlight a single set of clothing or furniture and shed light on the intentions behind it. So, it’s really nice to get this insight for the content of kits. Not worth 5 bucks still.

Regarding the latest announcement of the AI patent that EA has filed, to be able to create real life look-alike in the game from a photograph. Do you think it is a step in the right direction of progress or are you more concerned about certain issues this may bring with it?

From reading that article and considering that none of the technology is directly linked to the Sims franchise, I wouldn’t be surprised if this technology might not even be made accessible for players but will only be used by game developers to create 3D models for EA games in general. FIFA and other sport games immediately come to my mind, which rely heavily on creating 3D models of real-life people, and technology like that would advance that process immensely.

If it was part of a future Sims game and at the disposal of players, it would probably create new excitement around the franchise and draw in new players. But I assume the technology requires better hardware than the casual gamer usually has, and casual gamers make up a large portion of Sims player, so I’m not really on board with the idea that this will be implemented in TS5.

Finally, would you like to give anyone a shout out who has helped you throughout your Sims journey or has been your inspiration lately?

Yes! I’ve gotten to know so many creative, and talented people along the way and I am so glad to be part of such a positive, supportive, and inspiring community. I would like to single out two fellow creators however, who are not only an inspiration but have also been a great help to me with their advice and insight into their content creation. For one there’s @Larisandei, who has the most beautifully curated Simstagram profile I know. I reached out to Larisa very early on my IG journey and asked for her advice on the editing process. She happily shared her process and experiences with me, and she’s been super supportive ever since.

The other creator is @Paszerine, who is my biggest inspiration when it comes to YouTube videos, and she too was very helpful when I asked for her advice on improving my video editing. I am still aspiring to make stop-motion videos as

beautiful as Sharina’s, and maybe I’ll get there someday. But I believe I do not have the dedication and finesse with which she creates these beautiful masterpieces.

Thank you so much for being here, it was a pleasure getting to know you. To our readers - you can find Taffissimo Builds on Instagram https:/ /www.instagram.com/ taffissimo_builds/

Other social media/website links below:

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ taffissimo

Twitter: https://twitter.com/taffissimo

Sims Gallery: taffissimo