What Do You Think About Cities XL?

[dasilva 3]

You are right to say your lazy reading posts It has already been mentioned several times by other members and us

We already answered that we have a realistic economy running behind cities. On the development blog, you should see a some information about this import/export point and we should come up in the coming weeks with another blog entry on this topic.

[rct3twins 14]

@dasilva: I heard that you worked hard to eliminate the building repetition problem. How does that work? Like will there be 2 identical buildings in a region?

and another question is, I've heard of the mass placement tool, but is that the only way of building buildings or we can plop down buildings?

Thanks, this game will rock!

[dasilva 3]

Hi rct3wins,

Regarding the building repetition issue, there are not many ways to solve that, only one: provide as much buildings as possible so that it occurs the less in one city. We are aiming to deliver a high number of buildings right on release and we are commited to deliver even more after release.

The Mass Placement Tool is actually the tool we will give you to either zone or plop buildings: you decide through the tool what tags (building type [i.e. residential, commerce, factory], style, size, wealth...) or directly the buildings you want to either grow (private buildings) or plop (public buildings)

[aking88 7]

That sounds great dasilva, so we will be able to choose style, size, wealth etc on a zone-to-zone basis, that realistic I think. A very clever solution you came up with.

[Soviet779 1]

Well as a rather dissapointed simcity 4 player and an abandoned simcity fan im really exited about this game! The two videos ive seen address two things that always ticked me off about simcity, the grid iron road patterns with square blocks (citites arent built anything like that anymore) and tunnel/bridge placement could somtimes be a pita so im glad to see cities XL resolve this. The game seems to be awesome so far and i believe the future of city simulation now lies with monte cristo.

EA have ruined c&c for me, theyve trashed simcity, dungeon keeper, theme park, and many other franchises. I hate that fricking company but im glad other devs are taking up the gaps left in the market and producing quality games.

So to top that partial rant off, im very exited about cities XL and will be following the development of it along with starcraft II and diablo III. Its a good time to be a pc gamer

[Fluffyvito 40]

I had just finished watching Part I and Part II of the "Road, Bridges and Tunnels Construction" videos and I have to say I am amazed. Its as if almost all of our gripes with SC4 were resolved in one fell swoop. Before I hadn't been all that interested in the game; mainly I thought of it as another Sim City clone. Now I am extremely excited about its release as I don't have much faith in EA in releasing a proper sequel. I am also re leaved to hear about the implementation of an import/export system as well; something that was extremely important in other games in the genre such as Zeus and Pharaoh from Impressions Games. I will keep an eye on Cities XL in the comming months. ......I should probably get a new computer.... Well Ciao!

[kenkoo1987 0]

*just a bit tongue in cheek*: i reckon the easiest thing for Monte Cristo to do would be to make BAT-ing easy and perhaps have a way of organising custom buildings into folders...and the community would create thousands of new buildings thus saving thousands in development costs

[toxicpiano 125]

Hi Dasilva, do you think there will be an SDK? Or just some tools for getting 3ds models into the game?

[un1 41]

Originally posted by: toxicpiano Hi Dasilva, do you think there will be an SDK? Or just some tools for getting 3ds models into the game?quote>

 

To addition to that is there anyway to mod the game without having to to go into the .exe?? 

-un1

[simcityperron 2]

Looks good.  Definitely inspiring.  If the finished product is worthy, I would immediately begin the creation of Eddiesville in Cities XL. 

[Eʟᴇᴍᴇɴᴛ 273]

Originally posted by: un1

Originally posted by: toxicpiano Hi Dasilva, do you think there will be an SDK? Or just some tools for getting 3ds models into the game?quote>

 

To addition to that is there anyway to mod the game without having to to go into the .exe?? 

-un1quote>

 

I don't know but if there isn't, there might not be a Cities XL ST-Exchange

Ah well never know...

[Framling 1]

First off: I am definitely getting Cities XL (for WinXP ). Even if am going to be as disappointed with it as I am with Simcity 4, still work on such hard a category needs to be applauded and supported. I will also probably subscribe to Planet Offer and whatnot, I might even pay a fee for playing the game as such - this is a much better business model than just selling CDs off a retail rack

Here are my thoughts about what I've seen, heard and pondered upon:

1. Freeform roads are kewl, but to make an easy-to-use interface (if there are really that many options available) is as daunting a task, if not more, as making the options available to players.

2. Freeform roads are kewl, but what I am seeing are essentially rectangular lots. Grr... What I hoped SC4 could do when I saw the first screenshots is to place a (be it even rectangular) building on a lot of varying size (in CXL I hope for shape too), and fill the reminder of the lot with props, textures and all, as well as connect roads, pavement and such. A developer that convincingly accomplishes that can have my kidney or another body part of interest.

3. The SIMULATOR, not the eye candy, is what actually makes or breaks a game. I don't ever need 3D, it's distracting, I prefer isometric to keep track of stuff easily. What put me off SC4 is the rather crude simulator:

 - residential lots must have access to workplaces, but not the other way around (my C and I lots often prospered without ANY passengers incoming).

 - game creates huge residential buildings without appropriate employment

 - "too long commute" as a reason for abandonment - could decrease attractiveness, but still people do commute over one hour to work in RL

 - friggin offices requiring high traffic values. WHAT FOR???? The last time we were looking for office space, we skipped many attractive locations that turned inattractive because of heavy traffic (you need to get to work somehow)

 - haywire economics concerning business/industry development

The best simulator I've ever seen in a similar game is that built by the creators of Simutrans, an open-source/freeware game, which is obviously focused on transport, but their passenger routing mechanism should absolutely be an example to any city-builder game.

4. As concerns economics, the vague mention of "trade balance" is a big warning to me. I guess the model will be overly simplified, and the thought that to proser you must export more than import is pure mercantilism, which is soooo.... 17th century?

5. Different buildings are fine, but will I be able to zone an area with constraints concerning style, size, height and all? I'd have nothing against rows of similar/identical rowhousing when zoing small-sized residential districts. Look at RL - London surely wasn't built by people looking for diversity in residential lots People here go foot-in-mouth to create realistic areas like that. They key is not to have many diverse buildings, but buildings that look good together.

I am full of hope, but I guess this is going to be a development of City Life (which I have never played, but all descriptions abhorred me more than SCS), than Simcity 5, which is what we actually crave for

Still buying it. Where do I send the check, Philippe?

[Angus Mac Barca 0]

As is good to dreaming

[J D 1]

I'm worried that Cities XL will be difficult to control. With all these features and a demanding fanbase, I'm sure it's a challenge to keep the ease of gameplay at a reasonable level. I hope it doesn't turn out to be like the AutoCAD or Maya interface, holding Ctrl + Shift and clicking and dragging the middle mouse button just to change the camera view, etc.

[toxicpiano 125]

Originally posted by: un1

Originally posted by: toxicpiano Hi Dasilva, do you think there will be an SDK? Or just some tools for getting 3ds models into the game?quote>

 

To addition to that is there anyway to mod the game without having to to go into the .exe?? 

-un1quote>

That is the whole point of an SDK.

[simmaster07 1,221]

Just some additional clarification to what an SDK is:

An SDK (Software Development Kit) allows you to modify the .Exe file or any libraries (DLLs) it uses. An SDK usually consists of several tools and a documentation (manual) with code examples and modification help. One of the most popular examples of an SDK would be the Windows API SDK. The tools for the SDK allow you to make programs and modifications for Windows.quote>

[un1 41]

Thanks simmaster. I had no clue of what a SDK is or care to find out.

-un1

[Patricius Maximus 236]

there might not be a Cities XL ST-Exchange quote>

Don't be too sure. There was talk of having a seperate SCS forum and exchange, but it never materialized. Why? Because SCS was a disaster, and very little content was created for it.

CXL, on the other hand, may have a seperate exchange and forum here, or even another website (like Sporeum ). It depends on how popular it is, and how much content is created.

- Patricius Maximus

[un1 41]

Hello everybody and do I have a surprise for you all. I found another video!!

It might be small but it sure is powerful, shows you alot about future Freeways.

Video is here.

I think that any texturer would have fun with this network now should they??

I hope this helps your Freeway questions (exept for interchanges... )

-un1

[wishfulanthony 3]

I really want to see much more of what Cities XL will be all about... I mean, the videos look so interesting, I want to be one of the first to buy it!

[deathtopumpkins 43]

un1, that's an old video (from March), but still a good one.

You guys might want to check out the SIMphoni podcast with Phillipe and David on it, it's in the newest blog entry on www.citiesxl.com. It gives away some interesting details, including the ability to construct underwater tunnels.

And while you're at it come join the discussions on the official forums and the unofficial chat site (see my sig).

[un1 41]

Originally posted by: deathtopumpkins un1, that's an old video (from March), but still a good one.

quote>

 

Yes true, but some people have never been to CXL.com so I thought I'd link them. That is also why I didn't say it was a new video. Also, I already have joined quite a while ago.

New Blog/Podcast!!

As deathtopumkins has mentioned, the podcast is located here: Download The Podcast (English Only)

Like deathtopumkins, there will hopefully be underwater tunnels.

-un1

[aestiva 0]

No on has to sell me anymore, I'm buying; (HEAR THAT EA / MAXIS!)

[i74i 0]

Hope there is zoning that was the winner for me with the Simcities watching them grow this with the added new 3d engine should be awesome

[simcityguy 6]

what im most excited about is there taking ideas from simcity4 and expanding even further.i just want to know the offical release date

[jamezz_2005 5]

Cities XL looks really nice - I think we may have found our 'Simcity 5.'

Make sure to watch the Roads, Bridges & Tunnels Construction videos - AMAZING sutff! No more bloody buzle pieces! I can't wait!

[mcstennis09 0]

I dunno why, but the cities in the screenshots look small, maybe like... 30-ish houses and then a moderate-sized downtown area. Do you think this means that the game will be more difficult to manage than SC4?

[Harken 0]

The scenery looks the best, the buildings do not really look all that much better than SimCity 4.

As for crashing, none of the SimCity games I've had have ever crashed on me or my friends; I think the whole crashing thing is blown out of proportion.

As for how well CitiesXL looks graphically, comparing it to an old 2004 game is like comparing apples and oranges.

Wait until the newest Maxis city builder is offered and then compare the two.

[Harken 0]

The only thing that is better looking is the scenery, the buildings look almost the same in quality as SimCity 4.

It may just be me: but isn't comparing this new CitiesXL game to the almost 5 year old game like comparing apples and oranges?

Wait until the newest Maxis city builder game comes out and then compare graphics, if that is all that makes a game great.

Personally, I've been more concerned with how fun a game is, not how many new bells and whistles the program has.

[juranga 0]

wow.

thats all i can say about the roads video. i have been addicted to simcity since the late 80's when it came out and to see where simcity type games are where they are at NOW, it is amazing to me. i cannot wait for this game to come out!!!

i hope, as tgreliche pointed out, the micro-management is up to par with the graphics and new features tho