Cities Unlimited

[City2TheMax 3]

Am I right in guessing that CU will have a multicultural aproach? The first two screenshots were obviously set in Great Britain, and other screenshots seem more American (in my opinion). This game looks really promising. I would enjoy seeing more transportation-option screenshots if possible (I know that CU is in its early stages of development).

[dasilva 3]

Hi City2TheMax,

You're right, we think it is important that everyone can at the end build the city he wants. We cannot guaranty that all cultures will be present when the game is released otherwise you would have to wait way longer before getting your hands on the game (creating buildings takes a lot of time ;-)).

However, as we stated previously, diversity in buildings is something important to us and I can't tell you how we'll do it but be sure that we'll listen to you as we are right now.

[Nardo69 51]

Philippe, if you know you knew my question before:

What about Mass Transit in general but especially all kind of railways in CU. I am a RL traffic engieneer, and I do love especially the possibilities o f SC4 when it comes to all type of mass transits.

I confess I am a railway fan. But when you look around - especially in Europe and here especially Paris - railways formed big  parts of the cities in the 19th and 20th century.

And as a railway fan I ask you the (rethorical) question: will there be railways as a part of a decent MT system?

Seeing the work of North Country Dude or Kendworth and Royal over at Simforum.de and knowing that a lot of great CJers have experience with RRT2/RRT3, MSTS and Trainz I would regard this question and especially your answer rather important ... 

Bernhard

[dasilva 3]

Hi Nardo,

I'm sorry but I really cannot tell you much more on mass transit options... All I can say is that it's a point we are currently looking at... :-)

I don't speak german so I didn't involved myself as much as I did on other community websites, but I've been following Simforum.de closely too (thanks google translation tools :-) ). I actually saw the other day that you posted a message in the Simcity forum there talking about CU.

I still contacted directly Andreas to see if he would be interested by any information regarding CU and he told me that the community was mainly focusing on Simcity and the Sims but still open to getting some information on CU.

We'll solve soon this language issue and the German communities should hear from us more often on their mother language ;-)

[Sap59 3]

I really hope this turns out to be a true city sim and not a social based sim.

It would be great to see a game pick up where SC4 left off with all the elements (transportation, economy, road building, etc.) but with updated content.

Social based sim games just dont appeal to me.

[Kevin 101]

Originally posted by: Sap59 I really hope this turns out to be a true city sim and not a social based sim.

It would be great to see a game pick up where SC4 left off with all the elements (transportation, economy, road building, etc.) but with updated content.

Social based sim games just dont appeal to me.quote>

I doubt that the game will focus entirely on social issues, but the fact is social issues are something that real life cities have to deal with, and to ignore them would mean having a less realistic city building simulation.

While I agree that Simcity 4  is great... to simply pick up where it left off would leave us with nothing more than a glossy version of the same game.

[Sap59 3]

Originally posted by: Cheese89

Originally posted by: Sap59 I really hope this turns out to be a true city sim and not a social based sim.

It would be great to see a game pick up where SC4 left off with all the elements (transportation, economy, road building, etc.) but with updated content.

Social based sim games just dont appeal to me.quote>

I doubt that the game will focus entirely on social issues, but the fact is social issues are something that real life cities have to deal with, and to ignore them would mean having a less realistic city building simulation.

While I agree that Simcity 4  is great... to simply pick up where it left off would leave us with nothing more than a glossy version of the same game.quote>

 

i guess i would have to agree with you there about being just another glossy version.

my point being was i hope more emphisis will be on the city building part then on the social issues part, though technically i agree they are both needed in a sim game.

[Nardo69 51]

I do understand that you cannot give away details - I just wanted to stress that this is a pont of mayor importance (not only) for me.

The last and final disappointment of SC:S for me was "we have busstaions and subways but they are not important". Four our both sake I do hope that MonteChristo won't make the same mistake.

As for SimForum.de, yes we are mainly focused onm SC4 - we have permanently some custom content under development, in addition to this SC4 is available, CL never played a big role - I started it not yet two weeks ago as I started before -  and CU as well as SC:S aren't available now ...

Andreas is rather busy (as do I  am) but I have some personal interest in CU.

So if you need a contact person within the German community I can offer you to contact me here or over simforum.de via PM as I won't post my email in a public forum. If it is fine with you I am able to keep the German community informed of your progress.

Bernhard

[City2TheMax 3]

Philippe: If you want to I could help translate some stuff for you, since I'm a semi-native German speaker (I grew up with it along with English at home). Anyways, I really appreciate how you are communicating with different communities to understand what we want in a good city-simulation game. It's something companies, in my experience, don't do very often (correct me if I'm wrong).

[Nevets13 27]

Originally posted by: City2TheMax It's something companies, in my experience, don't do very often (correct me if I'm wrong).quote>

No, companies do not do this very often, if fact I can't think of any that have gotten so close to the communities so early. Most will try to get close to the community with about 6 monthish before the release. Thats the time when most the development is done, and it mainly finalizing stuff. Most the stuff the communities suggest doesn't make it into the game until the first expansion.

[rctshack 182]

You mentioned the building of many buildings and I always thought that there MUST be a way for the game to build buildings on its own. Well more of taking shapes and details and a lot of textures and creating its own distinct look. I would love to set certain types of architectural styles for cities I am building and the rest of the buildings being built will pull from that style and so on, so the new city that you just started would look different than someone else's. A big drawback to realism in all the sims games is the fact that none of them are different each time you start a new city, you can arrange things differently, but the buildings are always the same.

I look at spore and see that the cities that get built take form from the creatures you make, so the look of the city is dependent on what the user creates. That wildly intrigues me because it's almost making your own social aspect, instead of choosing from 5 or 6 that are provided. This could also help move the game into different worldwide markets because those people could choose the features they think they like, like pagoda roofs or brick homes. This would be wildly hard, but I think wildly successful if done correctly. Just throwing that out there.

Would that be plausible?

[Nevets13 27]

Originally posted by: rctshack

Would that be plausible?quote>

I don't see why it wouldn't be. Like you said, spore is doing something similar and they are doing it with a lot more than just buildings.

If its not in the inital release it would make for a good edition for an expansion. Man this gam has so many possibility for expansions....and we really don't even know what is in the initial release yet haha.

[rctshack 182]

i hope they don't go the expansions route. I find it wildly annoying and it is one of the main reasons I don't like EA. If it wasn't for the idea behind the games that EA has, no one would sell into the idea of expansions. It's mean.

[City2TheMax 3]

I think that the first release should have the main stuff, and when people want more they can get it through expansion packs. However it is a hassle and sometimes a waste of money.

[Nevets13 27]

Originally posted by: rctshack i hope they don't go the expansions route. I find it wildly annoying and it is one of the main reasons I don't like EA. If it wasn't for the idea behind the games that EA has, no one would sell into the idea of expansions. It's mean.quote>

I couldn't agree less. Yes EA is horrible in this department, they make expansions where they add a couple things that a decent modder could do and charge $30. But there are companies out there where expansion extend the replay value of a game exponentially. Most games always seem to be missing something, things most the community wants, a good company will try to please their fan base by adding these things (most the time it is something modders really can't do). The fans win by getting what they want, and the company wins by making money. Also with everything we want in CU it would take them years and years to make it, personally I would rather get a base game relatively soon with a lot of the stuff we want most. and then monte cristo can work on getting the rest of the stuff we wanted.

and I hate to break it too you, but Monte Cristo is and expansion company. They came out with world edition already and recently annouced City Life 2008. There will be expansions for Cities Unlimited

Not all expansions are bad, a lot of them can add greatly to a richness of a game, It really depends on the company tho.

EDIT: also it would be cool if developers went back to making games like sim copter and streets of sim city for the modern city simulation.

[rctshack 182]

well, as long as the expansion adds more than 30 objects... then i would maybe think of buying it. I would have to add A LOT of gameplay value... because for half the cost of the actual game... I better get half the amount at least of the actual game added on.

[Sap59 3]

i agree i don't mind paying for expansion packs as long as the gameplay value is there and another positive would be it keeps the game alive longer then if there was no expansions at all IMO.

[dasilva 3]

Come on guys! Let me just remind you that the game is not out yet... ;-)

The game developers and artists will do all they can to put in the game as much as possible before the game is release. However, we also know that some ideas may not be reachable in the first release or some great ideas could come after.

I hope you already understand through my dedication that CU is not a fire & forget marketed game: we will go on supporting the game and the community way longer than the usual. :-)

[Sap59 3]

that sounds promising. 

[rctshack 182]

Originally posted by: dasilva I hope you already understand through my dedication that CU is not a fire & forget marketed game: we will go on supporting the game and the community way longer than the usual. :-)quote>

You always have the right things to say. We need a candle lit dinner and a glass of wine right about now.

The expansions talk wasn't geared towards Monte Cristo, I have never played any expansions that MC has released, EA just seems to release them on a monthly basis with like 3 pieces of furniture, a new outfit and the ability to frolic around a new object and it somehow equals $30. I find it wildly annoying. And while the game hasn't been released yet, it would still have to be in the preplanning if there will be any expansion packs and what they would include and so on, so hopefully you guys will not do these two things.

1) Not include major things because you want to add them as expansions. Rush Hour was hard for me because reports came out that a lot of what was included in rush hour was made before the initial release but wasn't included purposely, and that ticked me off. It was a semi-sizable update, but most of it was just excess they hadn't included originally... including some features that were very much needed to make the game work properly in my opinion.

2) Themed expansions... is a no no in my head. If someone will shell out $30 for an update (expansion) then I hope it updates the whole game. Rush hour was great, I loved that the transport options were updated, but they sort of neglected other things that should have been upgraded also, and i am guessing they planned to get to them in other expansions, but they didn't and the game and players were left high and dry. I would like it if expansions would update every aspect of the game with something new and better... right? It's funny also because EA had hundreds of wish lists laying around on the internet and just like with SC:S it seems that they are blind to it. I know a lot of things wouldn't be feasible, but I can guarantee many things on those lists can be done easily. It just shocked me that many parts of the game were forgotten.

OK... enough about that... I am jumping WAY ahead of where we should be.

I really want to know more about what you mean when you say "supporting the game and the community way longer than the usual. :-)" because that is the magic words we all want to hear. The sims wouldn't be as big as it is if EA ignored it after it's release, although it sold massively well and made a bunch of money, but the players like that the company has a proactive role and keeps making the game better and more in depth. My guess is that you will be continually updating this game??? Maybe... will it be connected to the internet in any way and have downloads continually? I don't completely know where you are going with that comment, but i like it.

[dasilva 3]

I really cannot give you much details now, but rest assured we will satisfy this need with you ;-)

[Elaclairee 0]

What is with you people and bashing EPs? Honestly, if MC were to release this game, then come out with... say... a Hong Kong/Asian EP that added an entirely new building set of asian lots, buildings, and services... I'd snatch anything like that up before it hit the shelf. I'd do the same if they came out with one that added new climates or even just a bunch more buildings for the tilesets already out there. Theres quite a few options. And honestly... every single one of you here knows you'll buy CU, and you KNOW you'll buy any EP with CU title on it. Stop kidding yourself.

Also... please please please... tilesets and zoning would make everyone here love you so much. Think about it MC.

[Zimpe 0]

I do really like the screenshots I have seen so far. But I would like to know more about the roads. I remember then I tried City Life,

I built this big city with 19 millions inhabitants and to one area I had a 3 line road. One thing that annoyed me was that City Life do not have highways. Other people might think it is very unneccissary but I do not.

The graphics of this game seems great. As many people have said I did also as a SC4 get a bit annoyed by the ploppable buildings. I think that zoning is better.

According to my opinion MC should make and include a Building Editor to CU and make it very simple.

I would also like to see some more screenshot and perhaps a video once you have come so far in the development.

I hope that this is something that MC will take into account.

[dasilva 3]

Hi Zimpe!

You can bet on it! Stay tuned either in this website, or in the upcoming October official website release. We'll put there all the information we can share all along the game development.

[Elaclairee 0]

Ah... on that note. Would you be willing to say when the website might be launched? Early October, late October? Just curious.

[Zimpe 0]

Wow, That was a fast reply Phillipe. I didn't even believe I would get a response from Monte Cristo.

Anyone intrested in making a UC website btw? This thread really got my programming fingers going. Anyone intrested do not hesitate to contact me.

[dasilva 3]

I'm working really hard so you get it as soon as possible. It's coming along nicely but I'm still unsure on when I'll be able to get it online exactly. I'll share with you all the release date as soon as I can.

Zimpe, why wouldn't you?... I'm here just for that: talking to you and inviting you to join us creating Cities Unlimited. :-)

[Zimpe 0]

Well that is the first developer that actually does. I have never seen a post from a employee of EA's. That is really reassuring. That means that MC really cares about the public. It seems that all that EA can see is price tags and figures. The only posts you see from EA is announcements in their own forums. You do obviously try to make a really good game and by looking at the SCS videos. I get the sandbox feeling of it. Playing around putting down houses and watching cars go by. I would like to know if you can share anything whether the buildings in CU will be ploppable or if you will be required to zone areas, where you want a specific kind of buildings as in SC4.

[Elaclairee 0]

Keep your customers up to date and show that your company is looking out for them and cares, you're more likely to get their money. Its simple really, but its very nice. One of the few sales tactics that I truly like, but rarely see.

[patriots_1228 51]

dasilva-i have never played city life and i never intend to, but you can be sure that i will be first in line for Cities Unlimited. It looks spectacular, and the disaster at Tilted Mill only makes CU look better. Keep up the good work Monte Cristo!