The alternative of the future - Opencity

[Nesnej 0]

Recently we have seen many bursts of outrage against Electronic Arts' decision to start developing Simcity into a more casual direction. Many have been asking for an alternative, which I am here to present. The name of the alternative is Opencity.

Opencity is, as the name suggests, an Open-source city simulation game. This means that anyone who is up to the task is free to contribute material. The catch here is, that Opencity is still in dire need of just that, material, as its 0.0.5 version has yet to hit release. A screenshot might be more descriptive though:

Having said and seen that, I'd still like to point out that opencity is the most promising open source project I have seen to date. Seeing how a fair number of people have been somewhat displeased with EA's manner of developing the simcity series, I'm sure Opencity might gather some attention here.

However, before you go and drown the Opencity forums in your ideas, suggestions and wishlists, please try to keep a few things in mind:

1. Simcity took several years, hundreds of people and millions of dollars to reach installment four. Don't expect Opencity to be a fully competitive game tomorrow 10:00 PM.

2. More than good ideas (I'm sure the developers already have more than a fistfull) Opencity needs people to implement these ideas. From what I've read, especially the transportation department could use some help.

Simtropolis is, however, the home of several individuals skilled in the art of computer code and I'm sure even a few contributions could give the project a welcome boost. BATters also have a big opportunity to chip in, because frankly, Opencity is a bit oogly at the moment and could use a fair share of new models. (The style is a bit different, with opencity being full 3D, but basically this boils down to less detailed models and more detailed textures.)

Those who are interested in this game might want to check out the website, forum and wiki of Opencity.

[Godzillaman 21]

3D sim city classic!!! least it has more stuff than scs!

[LivingInThePast 364]

Do I see...RCI meters?

[crazyarchitect 7]

quite interesting

[baertooth 330]

Both OpenCity and Urbs Urbis are great directions for community driven Simcity. Thank you very much for posting this. The project needs to get more advertising for awareness and hopefully get more contributers.

EDIT:

I just wanted to add that I think it would be great if somehow the two projects could get together so both could receive contributions at the same time, and the community has a working city simulator while Urbs Urbis is being programmed.  In the end there would also be one game working to push the limits of computing power while there is still a game that will play well on lowend machines.

[thecross21 3]

Great Job! Just keep working hard and it'll be a great game!

[SimRabbit 48]

Nice pictures, at least it is better than simcity societies

[Poetic 0]

This game definitely looks very interesting and I hope it takes off. However, we shouldn't count SimCity Societies out yet.

Before we get into the city itself, the biggest news today is that the game will ship fully customizable. While Tilted Mill wasn't talking about some of the features they would be including to make this easier for some players, they did say that players would be able to customize anything in the game. That includes buildings, decorations, citizens, and rules.quote>

http://pc.ign.com/articles/804/804046p1.html

A representative from Tilted Mill told me that the game will be incredibly modable. Those proficient in C# and XML will have easy access to every asset in the game, and basic tools will be provided to the community for building creation. An official website is planned for the exchange of buildings, much like the way unofficial content is supported by publisher Electronic Arts' The Sims site.quote>

There's still a lot of mod potential in SimCity Societies. Although it may not be open source, it definitely sounds like it won't be too far from it. Keep our fingers crossed... also this should be in the gaming section, not SCS section.

[Nesnej 0]

I just wanted to add that I think it would be great if somehow the two projects could get together so both could receive contributions at the same time, and the community has a working city simulator while Urbs Urbis is being programmed.  In the end there would also be one game working to push the limits of computing power while there is still a game that will play well on lowend machines.quote>

As far as I've understood, not a single line of code has been written for urbs urbis yet, so in my opinion it might be more beneficial to combine forces with an already existing project than to create two projects with a common aim. I've also voiced this opinion of the Urbs urbis forum. I can't see how this would restrict anyone from carrying out their vision, because due to the nature of Open source, if the programme isn't developing like you'd want it to, you can always do a fork. Same goes for graphics. With the game being open and rather modular, you can always adjust graphics performance by adjusting LOD and effects. CPU performance can likewise be adjusted for by using e.g simpler pathfinding algorithms on weaker machines.

The main benefit of a merger would be that Opencity already has the core parts written, so you don't have to re-invent the wheel to get somewhere.

Originally posted by: Poetic This game definitely looks very interesting and I hope it takes off. However, we shouldn't count SimCity Societies out yet.quote>

Trust me, it wouldn't even cross my mind. Opencity and Simcity Societies are works of completely different time perspectives. Societies is developed by a company and slated for launch later this year. Opencity is developed by a community and might reach a Simcity 3000 level of sophistication in 2-6 years. Not only are we comparing apples to oranges here, but the oranges are from the supermarket and the apples from a tree in your back yard, if you get my drift.

The point here is that as for the oranges, you take what you get.* The apples, however, have development potential which you can control yourself. It requires patience and hard work, but the reward is the most perfected apple, or in this case, the most perfected city simulator to date.

* Bar modifications, of course, but I'm somewhat skeptical of how much we are allowed to tinker with the gameplay mechanics of SCS. We might be able to switch out every building into custom ones if we like, but the game will probably still focus on social energies rather than zoning, infrastructure and finance. And if someone is able to go far enough to change that, well, that's already pretty much a new game.

[DARKO 3]

.....yeah that looks so much better than scs......

Get real people.

[star.torturer 0]

the chances of combination between UbsUrbis (UU) and OpenCity (OC) are prety slim as OC has been made by 1 person and in centered around his wants and needs, where as UU is compleaty different being an open comunity. this has been voiced by some people over at UU so unfortunatly there wont be a combination anytime soon

[Ocram's Razr 963]

Have you heard of LinCity? It is in version 1.1.3 and is about sustainable development in addition to city building. It uses tech levels to decide what can and cannot be built and how efficient certain buildings are. It has low, med, and high density housing with 50, 100 and 200 people per building accordingly. Higher tech levels allow more modern housing with 2x the capacity.