Painting Gameplay Rebalance

Painting is one of the biggest money exploits in the game. Sims can buy a cheap easel immediately, start a painting for §100, sell it for profit, gain skill at the same time, and keep scaling up in value, all without ever leaving the house.

The result is predictable: sooner or later, every household becomes a painting household. It’s simply the easiest way to make money, unless the player deliberately restrains themselves. And humans are famously bad at self-imposed restraint.

My rework addresses this in a few ways:

1. Painting now takes longer.
   Duration is randomised, but small canvases no longer take just an hour. Creating art should feel like time investment, not instant cash conversion.

1. “Sell to Collector” is locked behind the Painter career.
   If you join the career, you regain the ability to sell directly from the easel. No career, no instant collector sales.

1. Paintings can no longer be sold directly from inventory.
   If you want to make money from art, you’ll need to use one of the more involved selling systems.

Most of those systems are tied to DLC (Plopsy, City Living street sales, Retail, Small Businesses, etc.). That’s where PlumbArt comes in.

I built an entire online art community accessible through the computer under “Social Network.”

Through PlumbArt, Sims can share their work, gain Fame, browse other artists, chat with the community, and, most importantly, take commissions.

The chance of receiving commission requests increases with your Sim’s follower count. In other words, you’ll need to build an online presence by consistently uploading artwork before you have a real chance of selling through commissions.

Higher-quality paintings attract more Followers and Fame, while lower-quality ones won’t grow your audience as effectively. Reputation matters.

The mod also introduces a “Scrap Painting” interaction, available on completed paintings. It includes a confirmation prompt and allows you to discard practice pieces your Sims create while levelling up the skill, without cluttering the house or relying on selling them for profit.