We had several hilarious and bizarre entries in our scifi Sims contest, where we asked you to create a science fictional scenario in the Sims game. Now we've got the winning scenario for you, plus a cool runner-up.
Our winner was Kielen Marquette, who wrote this story with illustrations. About the story, Marquette wrote:
Everything was done ingame, and the screencaps are all unretouched. I used a mix of readily available user content, and some of my own as well. Most of the poses were from pose object hacks, and well, pretty much everything else was just lots of decorating and fiddling.
Click through the pictures to read Maquette's winning story, and to find out about our runner-up.
They hadn't even made it to the appetizers when the shooting started.
"Tell me again why you brought me here!" Alise yelled over the noise of gunshots and shattering glass. "Is that hard to have a date somewhere that isn't going to get shot up?" She peeked around the edge of the table top and fired off 3 quick rounds, just barely ducking back before an answering salvo took off the edge of the table. Next to her, Jareth grunted.
"Look, how is this MY fault?" A blaster came sliding across the floor, dropped by the guy at the next table who hadn't gotten quite far enough behind cover. Jareth grabbed the blaster, and pointing blindly over his head and past the table edge, opened fire. "This is a nice place, Alise. Or, well, it was." Yanking his hand back down, and crouching down a little farther, he glanced around. The room was riddled with holes and little fires were smoldering in tablecloths and drapes. "Not so nice now, I suppose."
"You suppose?!?" She smacked him. "Seriously, this is the last time you pick. This is the fourth time this month we've done this. Can we go now?"
Jareth glanced around. "Go where? There isn't exactly a great way to get out of here."
She glared at him. "I'm not really picky. Just somewhere with less shooting. "
He waved a hand at the trashed room. "Well, any ideas on how to do that? It's a bit busy out there right now."
She glanced around the edge of the table again, and fired off a few more shots before ducking away again.
"Do you have anything that blows up?"
He turned and looked at her. "What?"
She sounded out each word clearly. "Do you have something that will blow up?"
He gave her a dirty look before turning and firing a few shots around his edge of the table. "Why do you just assume I carry around explosives? Just because I'm on a bomb squad doesn't mean I carry around grenades all day. What do you think I am, woman?"
"Look, Jareth. I happen to know you're carrying a grenade, ok? You really shouldn't slouch like that. Your shirt rides up and I can see all the stuff tucked in your waist band." He turned bright red, and reached back to yank his shirt down.
"Fine. " He handed her one of the grenades. "Stop whining and blow something up." She gave him her sweetest smile, pulled the pin and flung the grenade over the top of the table. He rolled over, tucking his arm over her head.
A huge blast shook the restaurant, and shards of wood and metal flew everywhere. After a few moments, he moved away, and peeked around the edge of the table. Most of the debris had missed them, and instead of the squad of mechs that had been there before, the floor was littered with metal body parts.
"I think we're good. You all in one piece over there?" She sat up, shoving her hair back from her face.
"No thanks to you." She stood up and started brushing herself off. He stood up and scowled at her.
"No thanks to me?? Who had the grenade, missy? You'd be full of holes right now if it wasn't for me." She stopped fiddling with her jumpsuit long enough to return the dirty look.
"If it weren't for you, I'd be home right now, not standing in a shot up restaurant."
He snorted and started walking towards the back door, detouring around broken chairs and tables.
"You'd just be sitting at home, staring at a blank screen and thinking about how bored you were. Shootouts are better than reruns, sweetheart."
She followed him through the room and through the double doors to the kitchen. It was deserted. They headed towards the back, Jareth snagging an egg roll from a plate as he passed.
"Maybe I like reruns." Alise commented as they pushed open the back door. Jareth laughed.
"No you don't. You like being with me. Blowing things up, getting shot at, wreaking havoc, those are way more fun." She wrinkled her nose at him and slipped her hand around his elbow.
"Could we maybe just once have a quiet date, Jareth? You're right, it gets the blood pumping and all, but really, I'd like to just have a normal date every once in a while. No robots." She sounded a little sad. "Is it too much to ask?" He sighed.
"I guess not. Tomorrow night then?" She smiled up at him.
"I'd love that." They came to a stop in front of a telephone booth. They turned to face each other, and Jareth leaned down and kissed her.
"I'll see you tomorrow night then." He said quietly.
Stepping into the phone booth, he picked up the handset. "End program."
The dark street faded, along with the phone booth, Alise, and everything else around him. He was standing in a cold, black room, his hand on the only visible panel. He pressed a button, and the door next to him swished open. He stepped out, and started down the hall to his quarters with a quiet sigh.
"Damn holodeck."
Our runner-up was Darth Angelus, whose machinima series "Chronicles of Humanity" incorporates some movies from the Sims, but also from several other games. So he couldn't quite qualify for our contest, which required people to use only the Sims. But here is a great piece of Darth's series: