What We Know So Far

[Boggy1 45]

There has been so much rumour flying around lately, that it has been difficult to know what is true and what is not.

Many people are overreacting (greatly I might add), and many others are taking things too extremes.

So, do dispel any falsities, this is what we know so far.

1. The screenshot is old. Very old. Possible a pre-alpha screenshot. This comes direct from Chris, the leading DEV.

Quotes:

• * *cough*old*cough* screenshot

  *  don't judge on one screen shot

  *  one website has one 'impression' with one *cough*old*cough* screenshot.

  *  don't judge it on one screenshot.

  *  Don'd judge by one screen shot

  *  Chris's message was and is "don't judge it on one screenshot.”

  *  Don't let the one screenshot cloud your total judgement.

  *  Chris says don't judge it on one *Cough*old*cough* screenshot.

Source:

Chat Room logs

2. The title 'Sim City Societies' is a working title.

Quotes:

* As the working title implies...

Source:

Chat Room

http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3160151

3. It is a city simulation game.

Quotes:

*  So I must make it crystal clear that, like all SimCity games, this game is a city-building game. It is a city-building simulation. It is a city simulation. It is an urban simulation game. It is a game in which you build cities. Its focus is not on realism and detail (but that's not to say it lacks those things either).

*  still a city simulator game

Source:

http://www.tiltedmill.com/forums/showpost.php?p=158090&postcount=267

Chat Room Logs

4. The Tilted Mill team is going to be working with the fans, that is us, closely.

Quotes:

*  davidbeebe entered the room. (David is one of the leading DEVs and has been in chat a lot)

*  I came to listen and read up on some posts.

*  I can talk about Sim City 4 and I can read what you guys are suggesting

Source:

Chat Room

5. Tilted Mill is working closely with Maxis on Sim City Societies.

Quotes:

*  For anyone out there interested in the facts: though I cannot say much about the game itself, I can say that of course Tilted Mill has been working closely with Maxis on it.

*  working with maxis closely

*  lotta sentiment on these boards mrlee about how TM just went willy nilly and why isn't Maxis working on it. Chris just wants you all to know we're in clsoe communication.

*  working with Maxis

* Tilted Mill has been working closely with Maxis on it.

* Hi everyone! Many of you many have seen our new SimCity game on the cover of the Gamers for Windows July issue. This issue will be hitting the shelves soon and we hope that you guys can check out the article. We're very excited about this upcoming game and we'll be sharing information with all of you shortly. Welcome back SimCity! - The Sims Team

Source:

Chat Room Logs

http://simcity.ea.com/bbs/messages.php?threadID=f905f408545751f7d60f85b7ffff36d1&directoryID=261&startRow=1&openItemID=item.261

6. Tilted Mill can't tell us much about the game at this moment. Legal reasons etcetera.

Quotes:

* First off, I want to say flat out that I am unfortunately not at liberty to say much about the game, and I'm sure you can understand how difficult that is for me and the team. The danger of course is that if I say anything, it is incomplete, and therefore likely to be misinterpreted. This also applies to partial information that has been made available by other sources. Please understand that neither I nor anyone at TMill can engage in any significant discussion about the game at this point.

* can't talk about the game yet

* can't talk about it. ;-)

* i cannot talk about the game.

* i can't talk about the game. trust me. i want to brag.

* can't talk about the game. :-)

* can't talk about the game just yet.

* i'm not here on any official capacity. I can't talk about the game.

* I'll be back later to not talk about the game

*  again. i CANNOT talk about the game yet.

* can.not.talk.about.the.game

* i can not really talk about the game yet. i cannot answer questions.

Source:

Chat Room Logs

http://www.tiltedmill.com/forums/showpost.php?p=158090&postcount=267

7. It looks like the zoning aspect of Sim City has been taken out, to be replaced by one where you plop buildings. At the start of the game, only 15% of buildings are ploppable.

Quotes:

* The mere fact that you can now select and place all the buildings (rather than watching them spring forth from your zoning) sets the stage for a major metamorphosis.

* With only about 15 percent of the buildings unlocked from the get-go, that's a lot of game to wade through.

Source:

http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3160151

8. No longer do you have to lay down pipelines and powerlines. There will be no manual emergancy response, and no individual building funding.

Quotes:

* no pipes to lay, no power grids, no manual emergency-response funds to disperse, no individual building-funding.

Source:

http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3160151

9. The city advisor system has been replaced with a goal system.

Quotes:

* The standard SimCity "adviser" system is gone.

* Goal-oriented sandbox gameplay: Instead of giving you a handful of typical scenarios, this SimCity awards new buildings and bonuses for meeting certain goals during the course of normal gameplay.

Source:

http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3160151

10. The game will focus much on social choices to determine the way your city works and runs, what sort of buildings you will unlock, etcetera.

Quotes:

* Societies aims to communicate your city's well-being through goals and the city's overall atmosphere -- and your citizens' behavior.

* Your actions in the game -- what you choose to build -- will also influence the kinds of goals the game presents. Head down an Obedience path, for example, and the game will start giving you goals to usher your progress in that direction.

* The game introduces six "social energies" (such as Wealth or Obedience) that influence your city's look and feel.

* they're replaced with a wide variety of social-engineering experiments that present would-be mayors plenty to play with.

Source:

http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3160151

Feel free to add more as more information arises.

[MsD 0]

This is great to know. Thanks for the information.

[ianpaschal 77]

Chris also said that it's about building cities, and isn't a simulator. I wish if he didn't have any straight fact's he just be quite about it, or that he'd be more clear about it is (since he gave like 5 definitions now of whta it is, all a bit different).

[Boggy1 45]

Scipio: Take a look at the link I posted to the Tilted Mill forum post by Chris. It clears up some missunderstandings. I think a few people on this site overreacted and missunderstood his comment.

[ianpaschal 77]

I've read that on another thread here boggy. But I mean this part:

This game is a city-building game. Okay. Got that.

It is a city-building simulation. So it DOES have a simulator, but what is the building simulation?

It is a city simulation. So it simulates some part of a city. Is that the same is a city-building simulation?

It is an urban simulation game. How is this different than a city simulation.

It is a game in which you build cities. Okay, does that mean that's the simulation part or....?

Its focus is not on realism and detail. So then what does the simulator do?

[Spinmaster 75]

1. The screenshot is old. Very old. Possible a pre-alpha screenshot. This comes direct from Chris, the leading DEV.quote>

I never complained about the game based on the picture. I did say the picture itself was unimpressive, to say the least, but I didn't apply it to my opinion of the nowhere-near-finished game. I do think it's unfortunate though, that so many people did pre-judge based solely on what was (even without Chris saying it) quite clearly a very very early screenshot.

2. The title Sim City Societies is a working title.quote>

I hope so. If it's a sequel to Sim City 4, then call it Sim City 5. Or 5000. Or V... or ... well not Sim City Societies. That really does sound like a spin-off, intentional or not. Just my 2 cents. Maybe others like it. To each their own, I suppose. I don't really care what it ends up being called, in the end it'll either be Sim City, or it won't be (I'm truly hopeful it will).

3. It is a city simulation game.quote>

This was 80% of the outcry. 100% from me. The original, admittedly misunderstood quote was ... well I won't repeat it. I'm over that now. Thank you so so much, Chris!!!

4. The Tilted Mill team is going to be working with the fans, that is us, closely.quote>

Thank you so so much, Chris!!! (there is no "bow in humility" smiley )

5. Tilted Mill is working closely with Maxis on Sim City Societies.quote>

I posed a hypothesis to this effect in another thread, but to summarize... I thought so. I don't mean "thank God Maxis is in it" ... I trust TM - EA wouldn't have chosen a bunch of hacks to work on one of their flagship products. I just mean, the second guy to successfully climb Mt Everest didn't do it without at least studying how the hell first guy did it.

[Boggy1 45]

Scipio: I believe (but don't quote me on this) that Chris is saying that Sim City Societies is a city/urbam simulator. As in, it simulates cities and/or urban areas. Obviously, simulations are just that; simulations. They do not, and can not, take into account every single possible factor in real life.

[gstommylee 6]

I read this in the TM boards

Tilted Mill has been working closely with Maxis on it.

[Pixelrage 34]

Originally posted by: gstommyleeTilted Mill has been working closely with Maxis on it.quote>

while this sounds nice, it doesn't alleviate my concerns, since Maxis didn't seem to care enough about the series during its latter half.  Looks like they're too busy counting their Sims earnings right now.

[simcity4crazyguy 24]

Breaking news, a Maxis posted on the SimCity website!

Confirms point number 5 that Tilted Mill is working closely with Maxis.

{By MaxisKB)

Hi everyone!

Many of you many have seen our new SimCity game on the cover of the Gamers for Windows July issue. This issue will be hitting the shelves soon and we hope that you guys can check out the article. We're very excited about this upcoming game and we'll be sharing information with all of you shortly.

Welcome back SimCity!

- The Sims Team quote>

http://simcity.ea.com/bbs/messages.php?threadID=f905f408545751f7d60f85b7ffff36d1&directoryID=261&startRow=1&openItemID=item.261

sc

[Lambtropolis 0]

I was wondering if anyone here has received a copy of the magazine Games for Windows? According to some sources, the magazine should be arriving today. If someone could scan and post some new screenshots, that would be great.

[patriots_1228 51]

i feel a tiny bit better now

hopefully they change the name lol

[Boggy1 45]

Oh, cool, thanks for that sc, that looks really promising

Slightly ironic that they post a comment on the sim city site after it's been ignored for a few years, but ah well.

[Micah 16]

hopefully they change the name lol quote>

Ah yes. Simcieties (simcity societies).

(edit) Boggy: Where are you seeing this comment?

[Boggy1 45]

Where am I seeing this comment? On my computer screen...why?

[Micah 16]

(Replies!)

You little smart.... nevermind.

No, where on the simcity.com website do you see that message?

[Edit: Nevermind! That simcity4crazyguy posted the page.]

[Boggy1 45]

is smart =D

I see it at http://simcity.ea.com/bbs/messages.php?threadID=f905f408545751f7d60f85b7ffff36d1&directoryID=261&startRow=1&openItemID=item.261

You have to login to get at it.

And simcity4crazyguy saw it before I did, so all credit to him

Oh...so now you see his post and link

[Micah 16]

Well, he edited it and I didn't see the edit until now. I didn't refresh the page before I replied. I should have. :S

(edit)

So annnnnnnnnnnnnnyway....  Let's talk about that topic.

[simcity4crazyguy 24]

Originally posted by: Micah (Replies!)

You little smart.... nevermind.

No, where on the simcity.com website do you see that message?

[Edit: Nevermind! That simcity4crazyguy posted the page.]

quote>

That simcity4crazyguy?

What if I'm a gall?

sc

[AngKH1982 1]

Forget about what we know so far! Check out the latest SCS screenshot from 1up.com. URL below:

http://www.1up.com/do/media?cId=3160082&sec=IMAGES

[Braxton 0]

Originally posted by: Boggy1 Scipio: Take a look at the link I posted to the Tilted Mill forum post by Chris. It clears up some missunderstandings. I think a few people on this site overreacted and missunderstood his comment.quote>

That post by Chris is pure damage control.

[bixel 1,223]

The new screenies are not terribly bad... at the industrial stuff looks good.

[zzsim 3]

Well it has now been confirmed that there will not be utilities or zones or a lot of different transportation networks (I only see roads in the screens, and the rest of the info comes from a 1Up preview linked in antother thread). I must say I am highly dissappointed and although I have defended TM, these new screens and information are a complete slap in the face to the Sim City fans.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I suspect none of us wants to play City Life.  They had them make the wrong game.

[AngKH1982 1]

You suspect? Well, let me confirm your suspicions. I never liked CityLife or "social engineering". Let the city planners enjoy their city planning and leave the social engineering to politicians.

Any politicians who likes "big brother" type of society manipulation, this one is for you.

[Boggy1 45]

Ah well....I've updated my original post with some new information..

[aaaaa 1]

From information posted above and other postings of Simtropolis and Tilted Mills forum site,

I guess that SimCity : Societies is NOT THE sequal of SimCIty 4.

SimCity : Societies is just new spin-off game of popular SimCity series.

The SCS game described above shares virtualy no resemblance or commonality with SimCity series as we know it 

except that it bears SimCity in its name, belongs same city simulation genre (but with complete different focus), 

and published by same publisher (E.A.). 

EA may hope to milk some extra money from their prestigious SimCity name brand. 

I can not find any indication that SCS is the sequal of SimCity 4 in the words from  EA or TM regarding SCS.

They deliberately avoid using word  SimCity5 or sequal, and call it specifically "SimCity Society".

So, we have absolutely no reason to feel sorry about SCS, TM or EA,

We should better to welcome and embrace SCS as new cousin of our loving SimCity family.

With some luck, the game may turn out to be as well-made and enjoyable as SimCity series.

I also hope and guess that EA/Maxis will announce real successor of  SimCity 4 within a couple of years. Please, be patient until the day come.

[Boggy1 45]

aaaaa: Thanks, that is one of the best posts I have seen concerning this issuse. If only more people could have your mindset, I think there would be much less anxiety and division in the community.

[Pixelrage 34]

I'm hoping what aaaaa said is right. I just wonder why TM has never said anything about it not being the next game in the series, though.

[LivingInThePast 364]

I hope so too. Taking out the power grid? Why, power's been in since the original!