Random Thoughts

Happy Birthday Barimen Legacy!

On October 10, 2009 (two years ago today), I wrote my first blog entry for the Barimen Legacy and posted it to the now defunct sims3legacy.com. At that time, I had no idea it would take on a life of its own and occupy my brain with a story that begged to be told.
I had previously written a number of PBeM (play by email) RPGs, most notably as “Captain Shays” in a Star Trek themed game. I also wrote as GM for my own PBeM based upon Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber. Fans of Roger Zelazny will note quite a few elements borrowed from the Amber series, including many of the names and some personality traits from his iconic characters.
In order to celebrate two years of the Barimens, and to thank all those who remain patient as I plod through my story, I have put together a few images that were omitted from the story. These are all original screenshots that I’ve saved since the beginning. What can I say? I’m a bit of a pack rat… just ask my wife about “the comic collection”.

Even though this scene was early in Chapter 1, David was already born in-game. You can see him here catching a few rays while his parents act out events for the blog.

When I was first writing David's chapter, he was dating Ciara's sister. She met an untimely demise at Yuki's birthday party. This event actually drove the whole story behind Ciara's tragic family history.

A rare picture of Kacey's "real" mother, Tori Kimura with Kacey and David in the background. I honestly do not know where the gray hair came from. Kacey's family tree shows only Tori as her mother.

Mark's story originally pitted the "good" sister against the "bad" sister, with Mark eventually going back to Charlotte at the end. Then an innocent trip to China changed the whole plot when I found Mei (not her real in-game).

Melissa Checking out Mark while her new boyfriend tries to get her attention.

The real reason Mark went missing in Chapter 4. I had to think of a way to write him out. In the long run, he was too important to the story, so I erased a good bit of game play and went to a backup of the game from before he was blasted.

A church scene I cut from chapter 4. It felt a little bit too "preachy" after reading it a couple times.

Faith and Jimmy Christmas smooch.

Doc and Hope. I never used these, because they show Doc with his "dirty" hair.

Dadgum meteors! Nobody got hurt this time.

Another image that did not make the cut. I like it, because it shows how Father Gerard had been using the church as a shelter.

First shot at Ben's birthday dinner. I did not like his hair and clothes, so I re-shot the whole scene with a different look for him. The new look definitely suited his personality better.

Maria giving some nurse the hairy eyeball. Nope, Maria wasn't Evil, but she sure had a look that kills.

Chapter 7 presented some challenges for me to represent visually, what I had in my head. Some of the screenshots were done on a green background then superimposed over screenshots from a game called "City of Heroes"
 And last, but not least (well, age-wise, perhaps)…

William Edward, born August 15, 2011

10 thoughts on “Happy Birthday Barimen Legacy!”

  1. I just read your entire story over the course of today, I literally could not ‘put it down’, so to speak. It was brilliant. Definitely the best legacy story I have ever read. I absolutely cannot wait for the next installment!!

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  3. It seems you have a lot of meteors in your game, I’ve only had them once or twice! I love bloopers though, and some of these were really good.
    I liked seeing how you use a green screen, you really put a lot of effort into this story, and it pays off. 😀

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    1. Just those two for the Barimens. I have another game I play in Twinbrook for fun. A meteor actually hit the school and killed off a bunch of the kids of the town (including the one in my sim family) 😛

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  4. Thank you for the laughs! Those pictures and your comments are hilarious!
    I agree with Marissa up there, you put a lot of efforts into this legacy, and I applaud your hard work with this while being a father and husband.

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    1. I have a few others too. I’ll have to do another one of these posts. Bloopers are always fun 😀

      Aye, I barely find the time to take screenshots and post. But I do love the writing aspect of it. We are very involved in Boy Scouts and a huge chunk of my time is devoted to both Cub Scouts (where I am Cubmaster of our unit) and Boy Scouts (where I am having to kick my oldest in the pants for him to work toward finishing his Eagle).

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  5. Interesting bloopers and ‘behind-the-scenes’ All those were definitely original and made me have a good laugh. And well of course, congrats on the 2 year anniversary! Gotta love the Barimen’s!

    Auburn
    ps. There’s a new chapter on my blog and it’d be real cool if you can read and comment on it. Thanks

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