For Writers: Fun Option for Visualizing Settings

I would like to start off by saying I decided to use this method of creating a setting because I am a very visual person and awful at art. The irony is I am legally blind, just a side note. I enjoy gaming and particularly this series. This series is the Sims 3, which has the most flexibility in creative mode for building and decorating. I attached a very old video of a book I had worked on that had a lot of setting details that just writing them down, would make it difficult and I didn't just want a rough diagram of boxes either. Using the creation I made ended up being a great resource to reference through the writing when I would forget certain aspects to describe even to keep on point about directional importance.

What I did was start from the ground up. I did create a list of rooms I wanted to implement into the design prior to starting the project which I recommend. With the Sims 3, you are able to move walls which helps if you feel you need to adjust a whole room without messing the whole thing up too much. I blocked the rooms out first in the way I wanted my characters to move around in it, which is pretty streamlined which you can see in the video. I then went to decorating the rooms to represent how I wanted the characters to use them. Sometimes the game did not have the object so I would use an alternative structure or item to use in its stead.

Overall, this is a fun and easy way to keep your settings organized and may even give you extra ideas of what to add to a story you may not have thought of while creating your setting. You can even create a whole town manually if you want. My example is strictly in one place so it is one building, but if I wanted to expand it I could have.

You can also choose other similar games like Minecraft or other Sims generation games, but I would recommend 3 just because of how flexible it is and diverse in its options it is.

Just remember to have fun and enjoy creating!