Simtropolis 1000

[Spanky357 0]

Just found this post, may I offer a place for you all to hang out and chat and organize. This posting is a sloooooow way to communicate and move forward. I have a teamspeak that you all could use at no cost and it is up 24/7. If you like the idea then pop on 208.100.49.150:6706 . My name in there is Canadian I am the main admin you will see me in there and if I am away just hang there and I will catch you. If another person with SA pops in channel they can also help, just let them know that Canadian invited you

To make it simple pick a nickname then put -SimDev behind eg Tim-SimDev, this makes it easier to sort people out. I will also make any channels needed and do what is needed if you guys choose to take advantage of this

[J900 0]

Here is some art I made in SnagIt Editor on a 'Roadway Wizard' which could be used in the finished product!

(Put in your Address Bar)

But with Fancier Graphics but you get the idea lol...

[Robstersfive 0]

to be honest why not just mod the simcity game we want in SCS i thought was susposed to be fully moddable, sad part of SCS its not bad game its just gameplay that makes it sucks, we could just mod the simcity gameplay with this game and start adding classic simcity buildings into scs and create 3d simcity we've always wanted, most the work has been done, this is not impossible either, modding has a better sucess rate. any half life fan will know what i mean...some truely great mods that become games and sell in shops later

[bryceb 0]

Just a thought.... Is anyone familiar with second life?

Since the demise of simcity 2000 network edition and its short lived life, I have wished that simcity would create a new network game It would be cool to be able to drive your car into someone else's city and see what they have built or jump on a train etc. it would be nice to see the possiblility of a region play game networked online.....Just a thought.

[djf3591 1]

I was just wondering if anyone has approached another gaming company with a proposal like this. There may be a few companies out there who might want to get involved in a project like this. As long as we all know what we want in a game, there shouldn't be an issue, and if that company knows that this is what people want, they will have an easier time deciding whether this is a good idea to pursue or not.

EDIT:  I also wanted to add that I have a small little media group here in New England where I could do promotional stuff.  If you guys want, I can work on getting together resources (like other companies?) so we can get started.  I have no experience with animations and that stuff, but I would love to help with administration, advertising, etc.  Let me know what you guys think about getting other companies involved, because I'll start looking if you all would like.

[TV-VCR 14]

Originally posted by: djf3591 I was just wondering if anyone has approached another gaming company with a proposal like this. There may be a few companies out there who might want to get involved in a project like this. As long as we all know what we want in a game, there shouldn't be an issue, and if that company knows that this is what people want, they will have an easier time deciding whether this is a good idea to pursue or not.

EDIT:  I also wanted to add that I have a small little media group here in New England where I could do promotional stuff.  If you guys want, I can work on getting together resources (like other companies?) so we can get started.  I have no experience with animations and that stuff, but I would love to help with administration, advertising, etc.  Let me know what you guys think about getting other companies involved, because I'll start looking if you all would like.quote>

You can't think you can just waltz in to some company and they would be happy to create a game for you. Actually a lot that I know of don't want ideas. Heck they don't even have a sign outside to keep employees from being badgered on the way to their cars by pedestrians and so forth ("Hey hey I have a really like cool idea for a game you guys should like make!!!!!11"). And trust me, that's the truth. HOWEVER, I can assure that once you have something going, if one of those companies catches wind of it and realizes how much money they could make from it, you can bet they would be more than happy to start developing it... even if they have to take the reigns forcefully.

[djf3591 1]

That's what I was trying to say. But also, it may not have to be all on them. If we had a group of people that were working on it and looked into a company to help by providing resources or working on smaller projects, it would help relieve the burden on both the company and us. If a company didn't have to put too much energy on a project that has a good amount of support behind it (it's not like this is one person going "Look at me, look at me! I have the greatest idea ever!!", it's a group of dedicated people who could possibly make the game themselves), they may look at it seriously, especially if it's a smaller studio that's not totally on its feet. Having a relationship with a small studio on this project will help put the project in a centralized location (one of the issues previously mentioned) and would be a good collaboration. If we want to go in that direction, I think that we should figure out exactly what we want in this game and what steps may be needed to make it happen so we could go to a few studios and be like "Hey, we have this idea and a plan and we would like your help..." It can't hurt to ask and if they all say no, it still could help us organize ourselves so that if we need to do it on our own then we could more efficiently and effectively.

[bryceb 0]

Here's an idea guys. One of the greatest tools is money ...so would everyone be willing to pay 40$ for a game that does the things WE want it to do? There is 250,000 registered users on simtropolis alone. That is HUGE buying power.

 I also like what what rodent1989 said about promotional companies and plug-ins. This is the new generation of things to come, the advertising industry is trying to figure out how to keep the product in front of us, this makes it an extremely large market for us to sell product placement to. Everything in simcity develops so there is HUGE posibilities for product placement from every type of industry from manufacturing, farming, retail, real estate even travel. How many of you have a McDonald's or Crispy Cream in your city, a Best Buy, a Dell manufacturing company.

So Let's say we can pre-sell games to maybe 10% of the users here thats not taking in to consideration the users of other sites. I know that is a large amount of people but that is 1,000,000 dollars.... thats real money. and lets say we can sell another million in Promotional product placement.  We have developed planes, trains and automobiles that represent almost every type of vehicle manufacurer out there, and we are already promoting all of these companies let make them pay for it, because they will.

We build these highly  accurate maps of cities and destinations so lets take advantage of that. States and Cities pay huge bucks to promote vacationing and travel.

This is simply a start but I don't think it would be hard to find a gaming company that we couldn't hire to produce a game like we want. Sure top notch games cost 10 to 15 million to produce but the majority of that is in research and development not the actual creation of the games. Most of our research and development is already done, we have people on here who have produced great technical programs for designing and tweeking lots and buildings. We have great artists that have spent hours producing buildings and landmarks. Most of it is done. We need a company that can make the simulator. 2,3 or 4 million is a pretty good start to building just a simulator. I know that makes it sound simple but it is not to far off of reality.

Product placement could lead us to eventually produce a game that is open source and just as expandable or even more expandable than simcity4 ever was. An open source game that you can plug a product into ... pretty amazing I think.

So what do we want to do?  Make it happen.... or sit and spin our wheels...?

[djf3591 1]

I like that idea. I have a question, where are do most of the people who are going to work on this project live? I only ask because we should try setting up a centralized studio (maybe have it be more of a permanent gig for those who want to?) in a location that the most people can get to, and those who can't get there can send their parts to one person who will add it to the main project. I do agree that it should start out at $40. I also think that we should make the game very adaptable, so that it can be improved upon over time (people could create updates that the consumer could download to improve the game) and that should help keep the price elevated (maybe around $20-25?) since there wouldn't be a new version to supercede it and deem this version worthless. My only concerns is that people aren't willing to prepay and what would be the best way to do promotion (like do it now to get money for prepay or what until we are done?). If we go with the first option, we need to work on promotional content, advertising, and we should probably have the game cover done. What I want to know is what can we do right now with what we have? Once we know that, then we can decide on the money issues, promotion, etc., and then finish off the game.

About rodent's idea, I have been thinking that and that should be what we focus on rather than prepay.  But to make that happen, we need to organize ourselves into an actual group of people and create a single identity.

EDIT:  I also wanted to add that those who prepay can be viewed as investors in this project.

[Something_started 5]

I will be more than willing to Photoshop up a cover for the game. and/or compose background music for the game.

[simmaster07 1,220]

This project is pretty much dead and is stuck in the planning phase. How I really wanted to see this come true.

[borntoboogie 15]

Hello there, I come in peace as a representative of SimMars!

this sounds like a BRILLIANT idea but remember we would not be able to use the BAT to create any models, it says so in the terms and conditions, and it seems we would be unlikely to get the source code from EA, but certainly worth a try I suppose. I'd love to help build custom content but I am useless with GMAx. I am highly proficient in AutoCAD but don't seem to be able to import my models into GMax so I havent been able to release LOTs. If we find a way to use raw DXF files in the game then that would be fantastic, and GMax users can export to DXF too!

if this project starts to get off the ground PLEASE PM me! I'll be happy to help consult for the leadership (I am in the upper echelons of SimMars of course) and as I said I'm a dab hand at 3D modelling in AutoCAD

b2b

maybe I should comment on other things...

there is no way we will get money from prepay, because at such an early stage NOBODY will invest in a project.  a comprehensive business plan must be drawn up, and then conceptual idea.  That is where you can gain funding.  There is no point in talking about this project until some things are done.  ideally we need people already creating a platform ready for the custom content guys.  when we have a platform and some custom content then funding may become avaiilable.  If any of the leadership would kindly PM me I have knowledge of project management which may be of some use

b2b

[simmaster07 1,220]

this project could get a head start by using the source code for Micropolis as a base. or maybe Lincity. if it's possible, let's use both. when this project gets into the development phase can i make a website for it?

[LivingInThePast 364]

Well, it seems there was a website at dev.simcities.com, and apparently the project is dead for now. I remember getting a few emails on it...and nothing. What is the status, now, again?

[simmaster07 1,220]

this project remains in the planning stage. any chance of moving this project to sourceforge? (http://sourceforge.net) Because then you can recruit some developers over there.

Edit: Project has been revived by SmartRoss1 and can be found in the "Simtropolis: The Game" thread in this same forum, at SourceForge or on a hosted website. There's still a chance of a community-created game happening!

[Kelburn 0]

Hi,

This sounds like a great idea.

Just a question, has there been any developments with the game or is it still at dreaming up stage?

[simmaster07 1,220]

This project has been, still is, and probably will continue to be stuck in the planning stage. I don't believe Joerg has been on recently. Even if he has recently visited, this thread has existed 1 or 2 years (I believe) and no active development started ever since.

[doorknob60 11]

I got two ideas:

1. CROSS PLATFORM!! I want to be able to natively play it in Linux

2. If it's for Linux, I'd like to be able to type (for example) 'sudo stex-get install networkaddonmod' and it installs the NAM (like apt-get) and all the dependencies that it needs, that would be really sweet. Any of you who've used Ubuntu know how helpful that would be

[Ntq€310 1]

hmmm i still feel that there has been little community involvment and support for this. Look at nam, they have offical forums, they have loads of people supporting them, adn in the beggining like this they were just a idea, to make simcity 4's transportation better. Unfortantly unlike nam this never got off from being a simpile idea, it still is, and until it can actually get the support it needs it wont be anything more.

[CCFC 0]

Aww, it's sitll in the planning stages? It feels like it would be good.

[castironpigeon 1]

A lot of folks that would love to see this happen don't have the time, the skills, or the time to learn the skills to contribute to this in any meaningful way. Having Cities XL just a few years away is also pretty discouraging to any community game since CXL will probably be released before this would even start beta testing.

[bryce_n_danke 0]

this sounds like it would be an awesome game.  SCS is not a good game at all.  SC4 is an ok game but t has too much rules on it and the cities are too small if u made this it would be awesome!

[simmaster07 1,220]

nice sixtuple post?

[JBear 0]

Why don't you start small? I hate how graphics is the most important feature of a game. Anyways, to get this project off the ground, don't shoot for the stars but maybe just build a pop rocket and go from there. You have to make sure your physics, and everything is correct (for example, your sims taking the highway instead of sidestreets), and worry about graphics when you start to make some return on this investment. Is there a website dedicated to developers? idealists and theorists? testers? etc?

[Deep Thought 0]

I wrote in another thread an idea about a game where you could create and/or download new systems (In style with for example social values, but your way), apps (Like new disease system or better interface), buildings etc.

This will lead to that you will all play the same game, but still not. A little bit like the Linux of city simulators.

[simmaster07 1,220]

Originally posted by: Deep Thought I wrote in another thread an idea about a game where you could create and/or download new systems (In style with for example social values, but your way), apps (Like new disease system or better interface), buildings etc.

This will lead to that you will all play the same game, but still not. A little bit like the Linux of city simulators.quote>

I'd like to remind you that you haven't developed anything there... and this project is still in pre-development.

[The_sanderson 6]

Hmmm....

I can model something,but im really nooob in 3dmax.

But i have still nice ideas that i take from some simcity foruns in orkut (used highly by brazilians)...

I can translate something,but it´s really big.

Where can i put these ideias?

The post dont have space....

I can work something,but i dont have any relevant computer abilities.

Can i do something?

Edit:I posted in somewhre place that i forgot.

And i read this topic.

In my own opinion,we have to stop dream with milions dollars and come back to reality:we live in really different place.

Suppose that all the most important developers of this concept game lives in the usa.

For first,if they work highly in game,they would have a "wage" (translated by google this word,it´s the money that you win in your job...),and,for sure,a big wage....

For second,the usa is big.Obvilous,alll here lives in many different cities,so we can´t make a central.

If we work,it will be in the enthernet....No chance to a studio:no possibilities.

For third,making a studio needs some money...

For fourth,who will invest in this game with one,two or three milion in a basically a dead project?

Put your foots on the ground,and start the project as a small enthernet project,not as a big project.

Have a free game for start is a good idea.

If you alll have creativity,maybe alll can make a good game without high costs and fantastic graphics...and if it makes goood sucess,so alll you can make a version 2 with one,or two or three milions dollars,than you can beat easily simcity 4.

You can say "The_sanderson,you are crazy,this is not the best way...".

And i say : "This is not the best way,this is the single way.".

Start to think:WHERE do the ST1000 guys will get one,two or three milions of dollars?

First,show them what you can do,after,do!

This is my thought.

[mr.skyscrape 1]

Just to say, I totally agree with The_Sanderson. But this projects seems to be stuck and it needs a big push. Im sure there are loads of people on this site who could make a really great looking game but graphics isnt everything is it?? Lets start getting the basics for a game.

Firstly what are the chances of getting the SC4 source code off of E.A.?? Not high im guessing.

So maybe a code from scratch would be a better idea.

I'd also like to say that i think it would be a good idea if any programmers on this site who would like to volunteer to help produce this game to put there names down here so we can get started. We will need people to start this game and thats whats its been missing. SO if there are any programers. 3D or sprite artists w.e. on here who would like to contribute big or small i think here is a great place to start.

[The_sanderson 6]

It´s dificult,mr. skyscrape,because rarely someone go here...

They only, say,say...

It really have forum for this project,i dont remember adress,but it´s all stopped (the project...)....

No work,simtropolis 1000 is in 0 or 1%!

Let´s start,if we only plan,plan,we don´t go far away...

I propose to start with the ideias that we have,making models...

Start to plan and programming...

In my own ideia,we can make a simple game with a + or - graphic,but we will have only good chance to make sucess,if we use details for gamming,a nice geography system,and make detail by detail,and,for last,make some stages of difficult,make a really hard game or a simple to make only a pretty city will nice.

I don´t know if i sad,but i have a complete ideia book about this.

Guys,a sc game with elections (translated by google english,it´s means the time that you go vote in persons to "take care" of the state,or the nation,or only the city) is a dream!

If we use ideias like this,and,of course,make possible to the player disable these things if he want,will make a game with a high cool gameplay,anyway with low graphics,or as SC4 graphics,it will be nicely.

We have to make the central of all the gameplay,we are not all professionals,only someones here.

If we want really to do,we have to start now and stop talk...

EDIT:

It´s here,some information:

https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=367&threadid=99645&enterthread=y

[simmaster07 1,220]

I'm pushing this type of project right now, making PHP code so the game can run through a web server without installing clients on a desktop. Once I get the base done I'd be happy to post the source code.