Cities XL: Bendy Roads!!!

[jacknite 0]

One of the things I'm really looking forward to is being able to create bendy roads!!!

The old fashioned 4 axis roads are fine if you want to create a grid city, but squiggly roads will allow us to finally create organic looking cities.

thoughts?

[kkdevaca 0]

That would be nice.

[awake_78 0]

That's the whole point...

If you would like to make Amrican cities then the grid of SC4 it's quite nice, but most european cities are web like layed, so CXL would be more conveniant...

The only problem is that buildings won;t fill the cornenr gaps...to create an attached block of buildings

We'll see

[jacknite 0]

yeah, if the ground plans can only be square then i can't see how it'll work properly

[jacknite 0]

awake, lol to your status... squatter. I used to be one in the 90's when I worked on sound systems in the london rave scene.

That'd be nice to see in a city sim game, derelict buildings getting invaded by squatters, or even vagrants if you don't have enough accomodation for R$ers

[gabry85 2]

Originally posted by: awake_78

The only problem is that buildings won;t fill the cornenr gaps...to create an attached block of buildingsquote>

Plus the huge 40x40m lots as a minimum size (including small houses and businesses)...

Hope they'll fix that ASAP among other things,

like regions (or a way to visually link up cities),

and terraforming,

and the (promised) Multiple Lanes feature,

and the mandatory city hall at start,

and modular airports,

and landmarks in SP mode,

and trains,

and management of utilities (drag powerlines, build water towers, etc.),

and non-controlled custom content,

and ...

and ...

and ...

[jacknite 0]

lol XL is getting bashed before it's even released. it's got to be better than societies though?

[gabry85 2]

Originally posted by: jacknite

lol XL is getting bashed before it's even released. it's got to be better than societies though?quote>

FYI, I'm a long-time member at CitiesXL.com and followed all the game's development since the beginning. Everyday. And it's not bashing the game if I plan to get it as soon as these (some of them promised) features will be included.

It's easy cheering at games screens when you look at what game devs want you to see... It's better getting some information before buying something, don't you think?

[briguy266 0]

i think bendy roads will have an alot less generic feel to it

[neoworld 0]

well i cant say too much gabry but not all you are lining up as missing is actually missing in the current beta and as far as i can say cities xl is way better then cities xl but its quite hard to compre with sim city 4 so i have some doubts that all too many hardcore sim city players ( and i count nearly all ST members as such if they still play a 6 year old game still ) will like the approach cxl takes.

Those to games imho cant be comprared.

CXL is different but in its own way it still is a hell lot of fun, but when you keep at comparision at sc4 i fear it will be bashed back to stone age but the comparision lacks a fairness in judging imho.

Edit: Imho if you see it as its own game and not as sim city 5, the game is good, for myself i can tell you for sure that i will play both games.

As much as i like custom content in sim city 4, most of the approaches been to extrem for my taste so i only used nam and a few region files from ST.

In the end most will stick at Sc4 for offline play imho, and play online with CXL i think.

And yes online play is fun

[jacknite 0]

Originally posted by: gabry85

Originally posted by: jacknite

lol XL is getting bashed before it's even released. it's got to be better than societies though?quote>

FYI, I'm a long-time member at CitiesXL.com and followed all the game's development since the beginning. Everyday. And it's not bashing the game if I plan to get it as soon as these (some of them promised) features will be included.

It's easy cheering at games screens when you look at what game devs want you to see... It's better getting some information before buying something, don't you think?

quote>

I agree with you. If even the interface is awkward to use it can ruin the whole game. Like on SC4, it's just a joy to play, the interface was so refined over the years.

That said CXL sound like they've learnt from the lessons of SC4 and built on the principles.

Unfortunately Societys didn't do this at all. I know they wanted to attract new users, but the main enjoyment of the SC games was the sense of achivement. In societys there was no zoning, while total control might sound like a nice idea, it didn't make for compelling gaming.

CXL will be combining zoning (with greater control, like building style) with pick and place building. IMO that's the ONLY way to make a good city sim game.

[awake_78 0]

Originally posted by: gabry85

Originally posted by: awake_78

The only problem is that buildings won;t fill the cornenr gaps...to create an attached block of buildingsquote>

Plus the huge 40x40m lots as a minimum size (including small houses and businesses)...

Hope they'll fix that ASAP among other things,

like regions (or a way to visually link up cities),

and terraforming,

and the (promised) Multiple Lanes feature,

and the mandatory city hall at start,

and modular airports,

and landmarks in SP mode,

and trains,

and management of utilities (drag powerlines, build water towers, etc.),

and non-controlled custom content,

and ...

and ...

and ...

quote>

Yes I don't understand how is it possible to be a city game without especially trains. Yeah for me here in Greece lacking of train services. doesn't make much of the difference, but I cannot imagine planning a city in CXL without predict space for my railway stations. Whay are we gonna do? leave empty voids to fill in later????

just curiosity!!!!

[DanVM 0]

I wonder if they'll allow mods like there is for Simcity 4

[punya 0]

Mods will be nice to have

[thepokemaniac 18]

I've played XL and the curved roads are really nice, especially if you have a rural community with farms.

[mayor_brando 8]

I wonder if the zones will be able to conform to the curved/bendy roads? That would be very interesting and neat. It would also be nice if they had some W2W buildings, for downtowns with straight roads.

[Cob92 360]

Originally posted by: awake_78

That's the whole point...

If you would like to make Amrican cities then the grid of SC4 it's quite nice, but most european cities are web like layed, so CXL would be more conveniant...

The only problem is that buildings won;t fill the cornenr gaps...to create an attached block of buildings

We'll seequote>

Only the old parts of American cities are grid based. The suburbs are just as chaotic and webby as any European city. The only difference is in an American suburb you need a car to survive.

[citiesxlfan42 27]

lolgood one with the suburbs. Anyway, yea, I've seen Cities XL have pretty square lots, but some that conform to the streets. SC: S. Do we mind not talking about that game. It was NOT a city builder. And if it was, it was BAD!!! 90 degree streets? Can't build various bridges? CAN'T BUILD ON A STINKIN' HILL!!! Oh, Man. Anyway, Cities XL= BENDY ROADS!!!

[beebs 129]

Originally posted by: awake_78

Yes I don't understand how is it possible to be a city game without especially trains. Yeah for me here in Greece lacking of train services. doesn't make much of the difference, but I cannot imagine planning a city in CXL without predict space for my railway stations. Whay are we gonna do? leave empty voids to fill in later????

just curiosity!!!!quote>

Trains aren't key to the function of many towns and cities.. personally, it won't bother me a great deal that trains are omitted (at the moment.. I wouldn't doubt that they will be included in an expansion pack, assuming the vanilla game is successful).

I will be looking forward to whatever custom content can be created for the game though.. a wide variety of custom buildings, textures, etc. can do wonders to a city building games' longevity.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

The new trailer really shows off the bendy roads. Monte Cristo already said that power lines and water mains are wastes of time but I have seen water towers in multiple trailers and/or screenshots, waste management has been mentioned in several places. Several sources mention 20x20, 20x40, and 40x20m lots in addition to 40x40 but other sources say only 40x40m. Some sources say that there will be trains other say that there won't. So far, I have not seen a single train so I will take that as a no. Some videos and/or screenshots look like they have 20x20m lots in lower density but I cannot be certain because I never laid my hands on the beta. Landmarks are in solo mode (or at least there are landmarks in limited edition). There is no terraforming mode, unfortunately and their terraforming has been mentioned to be very similar to SC4's mayor mode terraforming tools (expensive and not very powerful). The multi-lane tool would be very nice but I have seen that there are more types of roads in Cities XL than there were in SC4-Deluxe. I could not care less about modular airports being included in the base game as long as there are 2+ types of airports (I won't complain too much if there is only one), I am certain there will be an Aeroport GEM because there is demand; you might even be able to change the colours to something other than grey! If custom content was not controlled, then the honest players could easily be beaten by "money trees" zero-emission lorries, super oil rigs (oil rigs have been shown in one trailer so I am assuming that petrol OR fuel is one of the tokens), or magical power plants that use no fuel, coal, etc and deliver lots of cheap, clean energy. Well, we shall see when the game comes out.

Oh, and I hate the layouts of American suburbs in real life, my whole family got lost on our way to our house many times for the first 2 months after moving in and we still get lost sometimes at night. We practically need to use our Garmin to get to many places. Visitors oftentimes get lost to this day. Lastly, the nearest grocery is a mile away (and really expensive), the nearest cheap grocery is Korean and right on the highway, and is almost 3 miles away.

[bluemoose 223]

OHHHHHH BENDY ROADSSSS!!!

No... Im not gonna be bought over by that.....

as seattle said.... transport(rail) and management ....

if they include that and W2W buildings... then ill buy it!

[kevinj319 0]

The bendy roads are fun for five minutes, then you realize how much space you are wasting because all the lots are square.

[City Planner 121]

I'm talentless, so when I played the demo making bendy roads, what I found out was that when I attempted to add houses or business's to those beautiful bendy roads it looked less organic than it does in SC4 with a grid.

If the Lots weren't all 1" squares it might be different but they are so it isn't (for me). While I've played SC4 on and off since it was released, I've only now really gotten into it where I have GB's of plugins that make my city look pretty natural, as natural as SC4 can make it look anyway (for me again).

Overall, yeah bendy roads are nice at first, then I realize they really don't live up to all the hype, and when a square house is sitting on the curve of the bendy roads, it doesn't look so natural anymore. Just my opinion I guess.

[Cleaner475 150]

Bendy roads 'tis a highlight of CXL.

CXL has a much better road system than SC4

Richard

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

Originally posted by: cleaner475

Bendy roads 'tis a highlight of CXL.

CXL has a much better road system than SC4

Richardquote>

Lol! You keep believing that.

[Loney 22]

Originally posted by: cleaner475

Bendy roads 'tis a highlight of CXL.

CXL has a much better road system than SC4

Richardquote>

Until you realize that there is no mass transit systems to play with other than buses, and the zoning system is squared. Thn you realize that you are wasting large amount of spaces because the game can not take advantage of extra space.

If CXL had some kind of a "fill in with paint bucket" zoning system where you pick a type of zone and you fill a space encosed by structures or roads with that zone type. Then the curvy road system wouldn't be a waste.

[Cleaner475 150]

Originally posted by: Mr_Maison

Originally posted by: cleaner475

Bendy roads 'tis a highlight of CXL.

CXL has a much better road system than SC4

Richardquote>

Lol! You keep believing that.

quote>

I've lost faith in this game - A few months ago I thought it was going to be the best city building game ever - One thing that I always like is when the developer slisten to the community and take the feedback in account and incoporate it into their vision. They did so at the start but seem to have totally lost the thing that made them so great along the way.

Richard

[soldyne 111]

We have all gotten used to the style of SC4 having played it for so many years. once we start using the bendy roads of Cities XL we will get used to it and we will start to see great cities from great city builders and we will all be inspired by the new look. we just need to give it time.

I personally have been waiting for "bendy roads" for many, many moons and I am glad to finally see some one implement it in a modern game. I agree that having square lots makes bendy roads difficult to use, but, MC has the ability to alter this later with patches (at least I hope so). all games like this are a little rough at first, but, if we give it some time I am sure it will turn out very nice and easy to use.

[Attila464 2]

Here is the problem. Bendy roads are nice but really don't have a major effect on gameplay. On the other had no mass transit and no region play unless you pay 5.50 is a major effect on gameplay.