Thank you for the size upgrade
...and just to be crystal clear here: It's the style, not the era we're going for?
An 1830's "Southern Baptist" style (with the tall columns across the front) is NOT the church you're looking for - you want the Gothic Revival "Cathedral" style building building (like what is usually found in older cities) Right?

Not sure how to answer that question Catherine. I googled '1830's Southern Baptist church' and found a few that would work and a few that would not. I'm mostly looking to see a tall bell tower on one side, a steep roof, and a fancy stone or brick front. This is the type of church I've seen as all types of denominations in hundreds of small older towns across the Midwest/not quite Eastcoast. If it looks like it could be a bank or has greek columns in front, you've probably taken a wrong turn.

Here's some more examples:

Now I feel like a superhero because I fit it all on the 2x3 with room to spare for a courtyard and a mini-cemetery! :D

YAAAAAY ! I'm upgrading the lot size ! that's perfect because I forgot the space for the parking-thing and I was feeling so bad since I like what I've built so far (even if my game crashed in the middle of a saving and I thought it corrupted my lot, but everything seems fine :-))

Got it Thanks!
(NOT this, this or, this)

Yes, steer away from the neoclassical versions

Guess what? They look like South African churches :D

Before you go too crazy with grunge decorating, you might want to post up a floor plan pic, while you might have been able to fit everything on my tiny stupid lot, don't forget about the next phase, and I want to know that you'll have enough space for the conversion. You could be our first to submit for City Inspection.

Just to be sure : only the church need to be grungy / in an abandonned style ? Everything that is owned by the city (like the streets, public phone, parking, outside lights, etc)... can look modern and clean, or does it have to be grungy too ?

I'm almost finished with the shell. However, I'm not really confident. I'm from Portugal, so obviously I have never seen a church built in this style - churches here are mostly baroque, with some romanic and gothic as well. I also think that the sanctuary might be too big. Thanks for that, Mosteiro de Tibães! (It is a very big monastery near my house, and baroque, which also doesn't help with this lot!) Joking aside, I like my façade, I think it is close to what it's supposed to look like. The rest of the lot, I don't know, as I wasn't very succesful with my googling.

If you guys are nervous about building, I'm starting to get nervous about judging. -_-

I'll try and get some floor plans up tonight. Like I say, there's some space to expand back if needed. CFE ate a fair amount of real estate, too...

That is a huge relief to wake up to. I had resorted to doing strange things to my lot to get a reasonably-sized church in with a parking lot.

xmathyx, yes, the rest of the street the city owns and has cared for, but the church parking lot and anything a few tiles away from the street is on church property, so it's all in sorry shape.

I honestly wouldn't start grunging everything up until you pass City Inspection, otherwise you'll have to pull up all those weeds when the building shape needs to change.

Seriously guys, this shouldn't be stressful, that's why we have this extra almost 'pre-judging' where I'm looking over your lots. Nothing you submit is finalized until things go to the judges (in 2 weeks), so throw up some pictures and I can be like 'yeah that's totally working' or 'no, you should prolly rethink that part'. You can do this as many times as you need to, I'm here to help.

Thank you for the clarification !
Well, this is what I've got so far. The inside is not determined yet that's why it's not divided (I think the nursery will be on the "greenhouse" part and the sanctuary/graveyard in the backyard) but basement + ground floor + first floor (+ under the roof part) seems quite enough for me to place everything.

[edited]

Here's what I have so far. I'm not quite done yet, because I'm still not entirely happy with the tower...

xmathyx, I love where you are going with this, I'm a little worried it might be a bit small for the next stage. I'm also concerned about your graveyard (at least I think it's a graveyard?). While I love it and it looks awesome from what I can see, I think that space could be better used (maybe scoot the church forward and put another building in the back or something to help give you more space). But the bigger reason it's a problem is because in the next stage, the new owners's aren't going to want a cemetery in their front yard, so you are left with desecrating holy grounds - and that's just bad juju all around. This is exactly that type of 'building yourself into a corner' that I'm going to try to prevent. Remember the judges are going to pick to most likely buildings to succeed in the conversion, so handicapping yourself with an awesome cemetery might not be worth it. I do absolutely *love* the bell tower and the buttresses and all your weeds! Great start!

Also, btw everyone, a parking spot in a parking lot only needs to be 3 tiles wide.

ForeverCamp, photobucket takes forever to load for me and down the road this thread will be filled with broken links, can you please attach your photos to your post just like xmathyx did? Thanks!

Phaenoh : Thank you ! I'm going to rethink the space, and if a parking lot only needs to be 3 tiles wide (I took the NL driveways as a base to calculate the space, but I admit I thoughtit was a little big), this is going to be easier :-)

Also I have another question. I've be on a CC hunt to find some grungy things, but most of what I like are made with extracted textures from other games (like Half-Life), and I know MTS don't allow uploads with contents extracted from other games, so I can easily suppose that this kind of CC are not allowed here, am I right ?

Done! The more I look at the lot, however, the more displeased I grow with it. There's now a St. William's Church 2.0 sitting right next to this lot...

It's been ages since I've looked over the specifics of what is and isn't allowed to be uploaded CC-wise, maybe one of the active mods can chime in on this one?
If you can't upload it, you can't use it in this contest.

Pixelhate has a ton of amazing grungy stuff, so try his stuff, and while you are there, don't miss our joint project Floor Overlays! Who else knows where to get great free grungy stuff?

Forever, I'd spend a bit more time looking at the example churches. These tall towers don't generally have anything in them except a staircase to the top and bells up there. The front entrance and the tower are usually separate. Since you are starting over anyways, I'd def use the larger lot size. Don't spend any time on the decorating until your build passes. Also, in the future, can you take larger sharper images? MTS has a great guide to taking good images. I hate to have to squint to see things in floorplan photos.

I think I downloaded Pixelhate's entire stash ages ago - I love them, especially the wall and floor overlays (did you spot them in the courtyard, Phae? ). I also have the dilapidated sets you linked earlier (Guatla's Broken Bathroom and Broken Kitchen sets; they also have a Cracks "windows/doors" and construction set that I've used in the above lot). Buggyboo's Shakerlicious and Kitchen Basic sets do a decent job with different recolours. I feel like I downloaded a few additional sets from off-MTS sites... *runs off to check*

Yep. I have a set from Sim Design Avenue (which seems to have gone defunct in the years since I downloaded them), some sets from Around the Sims 2 which I use for varying amounts of antique/grunge/clutter feel.

So, I moved the church up to the front, and to the left side too, and extended the building at the back. Maybe this is better for the next step ?

Ok. Question. Is this supposed to be an abandoned church? Because if so, I feel like a lot of the stuff wouldn't be there. Unless there was some sort of apocalypse and everyone left in a hurry I'm just trying to figure out how I should furnish. Obviously, pews and stuff would more than likely still be there, but office furniture probably wouldn't be. Or maybe it's just old and not in great shape but still in use and the church just wants to sell so they can move to a better location. I just need to know where I'm supposed to be going here.

Im a lil confused too, we dont need to fully create the rundown part yet? Just floor plan?

Essentially, think of the shell rounds as 2 parts, the first is just show me a basic facade and floor plan and I'll tell you if where you are headed will work, once you get the go ahead from that (passing City Inspection) you should decorate it to your heart's desire (the second part) so it is ready for the judges. You could do it all at once, but if you went the wrong way, you'll have a lot more to redo.

These buildings have been sitting VACANT for years, and the City has repossessed the property. Looking rundown is a small portion of the scoring, and it's in there mostly for 'flavor' - nobody renovates nice looking buildings. Decorate it however you want, just not 'nicely'. It would be helpful to use some of what would have been the original furnishings in each room just so the judges can guess what is going on (they are judging on if you have all the listed areas), but that isn't necessary either. Maybe there was a fire, or maybe someone stole everything, a graffiti gang broke in, a homeless person has been living here, etc. The building has no owners anymore and has been vacant for years.

xmathyx, your lot is looking good now, nice and big, and the direction of your architecture seems right, keep doing what you are doing! Still concerned about that hole in your front yard, but you do you. Assuming you don't completely start over, you are the first to pass City Inspection! /me pops a champagne open and pours drinks for everyone!