sabinky
Boutika Site Owner
Posts: 3054
(8/14/02 7:35 pm)
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Ophelia
Interviewed by Boutika Emily:
To start with, how did you get involved with the Sims? With creating things for it?
Before I started working with The Sims, I did some texturing, and 3-d modelling & skinning for Quake 2 & Q3. I used to run a site (now gone sadly) called The Quake Female Skin Archive, devoted to skins & models for female players. (The gaming community was WAY more heavily weighted towards guys back then & it was hard for a girl to find a skin that wasn't based on a stripper!) And I play around a lot with cg art in general. So when the Sims came out and I started playing, it was just natural that I started digging around the files & playing with things. I remember how exciting it was when the Transmogrifier was invented... it was pretty much an addiction from there on!
Why did you start a website?
Well, I've always had fun tinkering with websites (I generally have 2 or three in various states of "under construction" at any given time.) I started the Sims site when I figured I had enough work to share. Which is one of the best things about the Sims, and why Maxis took off so well, that ability to customize and share, and the huge community that's grown up because of it.
What are some of the most enjoyable things about running a site? And on the flip side, the worst?
I like the creative process of making things. I love hearing what visitors have to say, and seeing what houses they've used my downloads in. I like it when people are inspired to get their own ideas for objects from something of mine they saw. And of course I love the web-design aspect. I would have a new site menu every week if I had the time! The worst thing I guess would be the web hosting collapse a couple years back (remember when anyone could just get a free site, and all the free bandwidth they needed...) That really shook the community in general. Not that it's so bad now or anything; everthing is starting to balance out again. But a lot of Sims sites got lost in the shuffle, and it's a whole different dynamic now. I guess another peeve is I also have a hard time trying to find the bottom of my inbox 
Do you have any advice for people looking to create their own website?
Go for quality over quantity... a couple nice high quality objects & skins will impress people more than re-colored flamingos in 512 shades of green. Don't be afraid of having "too few" things to start a site. Start small & simple & build from there. Don't try to bite off too much at once... you run the risk of taking on more than you can handle & giving up out of frustration. Also, take weird emails with a grain of salt, and don't get discouraged. There are what... 6 million copies of the game I think? You are bound to have a few flakes emailing you with flames for no particular reason other than that they have figured out how to click your email button. (It's so sad when sites close because of people doing this sort of thing to them.)
Where do your ideas for your creations come from?
I tend to go for a certain moodyness and feel. (As you may have noticed I'm a big one for the darker side of things.) I take inspiration from Art Nouveau, Pre-Raphaelites, Gothic, and Medieval themes. Movies are also a great source of visual inspiration... like Moulin Rouge, Sleepy Hollow, Amelie, The Others, LoTR, Shadow of the Vampire... and books, especially of the sort of overwrought gaslight-melodrama the Victorians produced, like Wuthering Heights, Great Expectations, Jane Eyre and such. And of course some objects are born just from me needing a certain something or other for a family I'm playing.
Do you prefer making skins or objects?
Hmm... If I had to pick I'd have to say objects. I am an utter 3-d junkie. I love doing both though. I am happiest doing little detail work that keeps me up till 4am. Love a-channels. HATE z-channels. And I wish the Sims had closer zooms. It's so frustrating to have to shrink them down... you lose so many details!
What other hobbies or interests do you have when you're not busy with your site?
I do a lot of non-Sim art, both on the computer and off. Watch a lot of cinema. I read tons of books... with a selection that would have to be called eclectic. I like to crack the top of a creme brulee with a teaspoon. I like to learn how to do new things. I am also a pop-culture addict. I am always getting these brief obsessions with some new big thing. Oh yeah, and I occasionally play The Sims
Is there anything else you'd like to mention, about yourself, the site, random happenings, etc?
I'd just like to take a moment and thank everyone who visits my site... without the Community, none of this would exist!
Regards,
Sabinka
sabinka@boutika.org
Boutika Sims
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