Fourteen years ago, on October 10, 2009, I began a long and self-expressive, creative journey by depressing twelve keys on some bygone keyboard in a deliberate and oddly specific sequence, “Meet Julian.”
At the time, I had become fascinated (if not entirely engrossed) by an extraordinary new installment of the Sims franchise, The Sims 3. It was a groundbreaking open-world life simulation that breathed vitality into the neighborhood and each individual sim. To say I poured a thousand hours into the game over several years is no exaggeration. One thing led to another, and I discovered an early iteration of “Twitch” streaming with a community that chronicled their Sims 3 gameplay and combined it with blogging (also a relatively new concept at the time). It was called a “Legacy Challenge”. Unable to resist the lure of creative writing and playing the Sims 3, I entered the legacy challenge fray with “The Barimen Legacy.”
The story was a true epic in my mind, with an ending that led directly into the beginning. The first in-game screenshot was of Moira McAllister, who travels to the past and owns the story’s final lines. Moira is the focus of my current creative outlet, a visual novel titled “Nash Must Learn.”
The Barimen Legacy opens with Julian, a rather dubious sim described as “…a scoundrel, thief, petty criminal, and letch; an opportunist of the worst kind.” Years have passed since the Barimen family bid us farewell, but I still occasionally reflect upon it with nostalgia. The Sims 3 may be gone and uninstalled from my workspace. But it is not forgotten. To celebrate the anniversary of the Barimen Legacy, please enjoy these new renders of the Barimen Legacy founder crafted and rendered in Daz Studio.
Stories by Zoxell 