So, you’re killing it at storytelling and now you want to partner with another simmer through a collab. That’s awesome! If you want to have a successful collab, these steps will help you.
1. Figure Out Your Story
You probably want to do a collab because it makes sense for your story or for a certain character. Before you start looking for another simmer, understand what you want out of this collab for your story or character. Maybe you want your story to have conflict with another country or maybe your character needs some friends or a love interest. Either way, it helps to know what you’re looking for ahead of time.
2. Find a Collab Partner
This can be hard for many reasons. Maybe you’re shy or you’re not sure who’s open to collab. Luckily, there are many opportunities. Royal simmers often have marriage collabs or events. You might even see a bachelorette challenge looking for sims. These are good ways to get started.
For more in-depth collabs, it helps to get to know people. When you collab with a mutual, you both feel more comfortable and you understand each other’s styles and stories more. It’s definitely a good idea to collab with people you trust and are friends with.
3. Ask to Collab
You know who you want to collab with, now what? This part can be nerve-wrecking because now you need to interact. But here’s a pro-tip for you, it’s not the end of the world if someone says no. Don’t take it personal or feel discouraged. There are many reasons why someone might not want to collab like not having the time or the character to participate.
Now, one approach you could take is posting on your page or on discord. Let people know you want to collab. Give them some details and a way to reach you to talk it through. Or you can go directly to that person you had in mind. You can say, “hey! I have some ideas for a collab. Would you be interested?” or “I love your blog/sims and wanted to know if you collab with other simmers.”
4. Identify the Collab Type
We’ll start by identifying what kind of collab you’re participating in. This can help you have a good collab from the start and clear up any confusion. There are four common types of collab we see on Tumblr.
1.The One-Timer Collab - Think of your bachelorette challenges or small events. Normally your sim is only featured briefly or for a few posts. Typically, you’re responsible for the character development (personality, background, etc.) and the host uses your sim to make their event happen. You probably won’t have a lot of heavy lifting here and it’s genuinely agreed upon that a lot partnering or approval is not required unless necessary. Check out this hosting events guide that might help you with this type of collab.
PRO-TIP:This goes for all collabs. It’s best not to alter the appearance of another person’s sim. If you need to for your collab, consult with them first. This also goes for using sims in ways that’s not previously discussed. Remember, this person is entrusting you with their sim.
2.The You Develop My Character Collab- In this instance, you might have a sim who you’ve done some basic character building for, but they don’t have a story. So, you might collab with another simmer to allow them to put the sim in their story. In terms of heavy lifting, it can vary. It’s important to establish early on how involved you want to be or how involved your sim is in your story and theirs. The other simmer may want to consult you on your character or even have you approve posts before they go up. Make sure you establish how or if you’d like that to happen in the beginning. For more info on how to send sims, read this guide.
3.The I’ll Develop Your Character Collab - This is similar as #2, but you are asking for someone’s sim versus giving a sim away. You’re going to follow things similarly. Understand how involved the other person wants to be, share your ideas with them, and if they’d like share progress before posting.
PRO-TIP: The more you know about the character, the better. Ask questions. Get to know the other simmer’s story. This will only help you in the long run.
4.The Let’s Develop Together Collab - Okay, we’re going all out. This is the collab where both partners put their all into it. This may be a multi-post, cross-featured story that spans across both or more blogs! These collabs often take a lot of time and commitment, so make sure you’re ready. To be successful with a heavily involved or long-term collab, here’s some tips:
Establish time commitments. Everyone’s schedule is different and some people have more time for sims than others. Try understanding everyone’s availability before collabing, so you know what you’re getting into before you start.
Understand what you want for your story. What are you trying to accomplish for your story or character?
Understand what each person wants for their story. It might help to organize your ideas in a google doc so everyone is on the same page.
Establish how you’re going to plan together. Maybe you have a group chat on discord or a document you both share. Either way, make it easy to communicate so you can give your collabs all the love and attention they deserve.
PRO-TIP: Sometimes collabs don’t work out for various reasons: schedules, creative differences, etc. And that’s okay. Just be sure you understand going forward how things leave off. Especially if you’ve already started posting the collab.
Hope this helps! Happy Simming!
I’ve been enjoying this series! Although the audience for these have been for royal simmers, I think us regular simmers can benefit too lol. Check out her other posts like How to Host an Event and How to Send Your Sims.
My two cents on this… I’ve been in a handful of collaborations throughout my sim life and am currently in one now. Some were good and some not so good. I think the most important element to collabs is COMMUNICATION. Clear communication is the key to a harmonious collab. If you’re not on the same page, you’ll be in for a rocky ride, so make sure you state your intentions clearly and also how much time you can commit to the collab.
Excellent advise for story tellers who are thinking about collabing
This was so much fun to playtest for @haziesims. She’ll be releasing this beautiful botanical haven for Simchella very soon. I can’t wait to get more of my sims in here to take some pics.
One of my lovely readers requested this so here you go! I’ll be working my way through all the packs (in between story stuff) so keep an eye out for that
I absolutely adore the lucky mix eyes by @softerhaze so I converted them from facepaint to non-defaults to make things a lil more convenient & figured I’d share!
swatch + extra info can be found in the original post linked above - everyone say TY NOVA <3 <3
✧sojutrait’s hot girl guide to utilizing the club feature in ts4✧
~huge shoutout to @its-opheliasgarden for giving me the idea to make this guide like an hour ago and i immediately had to jump on it sdjkd~
i’m sure everyone who has get together is somewhat familiar with the club system and the general basis of how it works but trust me when i tell you it is the most underrated part of ts4. i get a lot of asks about how i pull off certain aspects of my gameplay and 9/10 it’s clubs so here’s a (not so) small guide to help out!
