Demo version released ~ For all those that can't wait

[jim 546 43]

1. The demo replicates the online version of the upcoming game which will run in real-time, which means it cannot be paused.

2. Try to view someone elses city and you will get redirected

3. it requires either 10,000 or 15,000 population

[Anderson Xeyed 23]

As for me, I was able to play only the tutorials because the Game itself didn't worked at all. I was not even able to let a single road. But what annoyed me most was the need to link to Internet everytime I turned on the game, it was for checking for my registration, for any game patches, for choosing a world to play, for starting the game for..., for... Well, I unistalled the game and deleted it from my computer.

Now, the graphics is really nice and the avatar too.

[deanej 2]

Yeah. I think for the final game you will be able to go a certain amount of time without linking if you play single player. But still...

My thoughts for the demo are this: great potential, but needs a lot of work. The biggest issues:

-Different sized lots are very badly needed. One size does not fit all, and having just square lots can make zoning any shape other than a rectangle awkward. The street layout isn't very great either when zoning odd shapes. This does have the side effect of making it so that side streets won't get congested (like would happen in SC4 all the time if you just kept the default). But...

-It's impossible to upgrade roads when needed. Even when there is space for the upgrade, you have to demolish the old road and all roads that connect to it first. Even then, it will still complain sometimes. So basically if you need to upgrade a road you're looking at a lot of demolition and unemployment.

-You have to fence in a wooded park with roads. Why can't this work like zoning? Do they even do anything (they are listed under "decoration").

-I've heard some pretty bad things about working with highways. Haven't worked with them myself, though. The interchanges I have seen in screenshots are the ugliest and most unrealisting things ever devised.

-All in One's are handy but very unrealistc. Additionally, they are very expensive and you need to upgrade quickly.

-No ability to pause. Not sure how you're supposed to keep track of things while the simulation is running. Hopefully single player will have one.

-Lack of information when placing roads. Often the game will tell you that you can't place the road but won't give you a good reason why. Zone placement can be awkward as well, due to starting triangle shaped.

-The interface get's the job done, but it isn't great. Many things are locked but don't tell you what to do to unlock them. Additionally, if nothing in a menu is unlocked, you can't open the menu, so you don't know the options exist. You also can't have a data view open and place roads, etc. Would be handy if you could have the resources overly open while building the road to the resource. A way to see what zone a building is on and graphs, as well as an easy way to see what's needed (like SC4's RCI indicator).

Now for some good points:

-Overall the graphics look very nice. I especially like ground view. Unfortunately, better camera controls are needed for this.

-Pathfinding is MUCH better than in SC4. Citizens actually take jobs close to their house!

-The ability to place a bridge at any orientation (even curved!). Some work needs to be done to make them look better (pylons too close, long approaches). Their aren't many options, but it's in line with what SC4 had before Rush Hour. You can actually choose which type to build as well.

-Curved roads, but this can lead to odd intersections.

The game feels like it could be a great game if these issues are resolved and additional options (such as MLT, custom highway interchanges, and mass transit) were made available.

[deanej 2]

Hopefully there will be a pause button in single player. Are cities running constantly even when the game is not open? I can see that as being potential for disaster.

Thanks for answering my questions.

[DCMetro34 577]

Well, from the first post, I see more negatives than positives. This is not a great sign, but we'll see.

About the demo, let's wait for the real game. Some of this is nothing a few mods and smackaroos can't fix, right?

[Zebular 0]

Originally posted by: deanej

Hopefully there will be a pause button in single player. Are cities running constantly even when the game is not open? I can see that as being potential for disaster.quote>

Your cities also pause when you leave the city by either entering world view or exiting the game.  They do not run while you are not loaded into your city.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

 Threads Merged. 

[1of6Billion 0]

Is it only me, or is ther only 1 map in the Demo?? I get 2 planets, but both boil down to 1 map. Mountainview lake or something..

Also I am NOT able to put a farm anywhere. That's annoying.... Because the game keeps nagging about it...

[jim 546 43]

there are 3 maps, I've only seen 2 though. The beach comes with agriculture land, the lake with a water source, and another one which has oil (fuel).

[Ocram's Razr 964]

The lake comes with a LOT of water. The beach comes with quite a bit of agriculture and some "holidays"/tourism near the beach. The volcano comes with fuel, water, and agriculture. The easiest is the beach in my opinion.

[Mathew_MC 0]

There are 3 maps available in the demo: 

- Moutain Top Lake

- Volcano

- Beach

On the English language planets, most of the Volcano and Beach maps, if not all, have already been built upon. Though we'll probably add more soon, you can already try these maps out on the French and German planets if you wish, as there are still quite a good number of empty spots there.

As you can access GalaxyEN chat channel (where most discussions take place) from these planets too, language should not be an issue.

[Livin in Sim 83]

[1of6Billion 0]

Originally posted by: Mathew_MC

There are 3 maps available in the demo: 

- Moutain Top Lake

- Volcano

- Beach

On the English language planets, most of the Volcano and Beach maps, if not all, have already been built upon. Though we'll probably add more soon, you can already try these maps out on the French and German planets if you wish, as there are still quite a good number of empty spots there.

As you can access GalaxyEN chat channel (where most discussions take place) from these planets too, language should not be an issue.

quote>

aahh, nice. Thanx a bunch

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

  Thread merged. 

[soldyne 111]

will I be able to keep my log in name and account from the demo for the final released version or will the demo account name be forever taken and unusable after my 7 days are up?

[Mctittles 0]

My demo expired but I can still view the web page with my city information.

[soldyne 111]

this is true for me now as well, so that gives hope that we can continue to use our demo login for the main release. I would hate to lose the ability to be "Soldyne"!

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

  Thread merged.

 

[crazychickensc12 84]

Dang how many threads got merged into here lol

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Originally posted by: crazychickensc12

Dang how many threads got merged into here lolquote>

Oh about 5.  

[Rappit 0]

I have just tried the demo and the game looks great...just what i have expected from Monte Cristo!

BUT...there is a little something that kind of dragged me and i really really hope it gets fixed before the game gets released. When you get upgrades for residence or factories or shops you have to boldoz the low level buildings and then build the upper level buildings...it would have been much easier if we could have just zoned above the old buildings and new higher leveled buildings will just replace the old ones....

and i guess this applies to roads too...i'm not sure about roads but under road upgrades you can only choose between one way or 2 way road and can't upgrade it to wider better looking ones! or can you???

what do you think guys??

[Ocram's Razr 964]

You cannot upgrade to wider roads because there is not enough space. I wish they release a wide-sidewalked (from city Life and it would be even better if it had the beautiful globes street lights) road or one with street paring.

[Rappit 0]

these upgrade issues must be addressed to the developers, how can we do that?

[Rappit 0]

almost 350 views of this thread and only 1 reply...com'on guys...don't you have anything to say about this issue??

[Asheroo 53]

Nope.

I'm fine with it. They don't do that in real life. You don't see a house suddenly turn into a skyscraper, especially from a smaller lot. As for roads, yeah in life, they do just add on to it, which takes away the sizes of the lots on the sides, though computer coding restricts that for MC's engine. But roads they do not have any lot beside them, yeah, you should have the option to add more onto it (maybe the Multiple Lanes feature might allow that once it's released).

[SimFox 804]

Of all issues with CXL this is a definite NON issue. As Asheroo pointed this is pretty realistic. Although i always maintained that CXL could and should be compared to CS4, but definitely not in things like that . These are different games and it is only natural that they use different approaches. It would be silly and defeatist to just clone CS4. This could be considered a realistic city planning/growing challenge.

That said one must notice some bad choices made in the exact implementation of said approach. And this is where comparisons to CS4 are instrumental. Things like ergonomics of the game. And honesty of the producers and respect or lack of there of to the player exhibited...

One thing that is bad in CXL is that fact that MC keeps as for fools when it makes looney claim that game has no grid. Given that fact that they for sure know that it does makes it outright lie. Only a Jesuit twisting of definition may allow such a claim. Claim that is clearly misleading and subverting of the truth. Try to drug the road and you'll immediately notice the you can't really place it absolutely arbitrary. Instead it sticks to... wait for it... GRID. Difference with SC4 is that this grid is far finer and... INVISIBLE. so you can't really use it as a tool. What left.. is an obstacle.

So MC took the grid that is always there. Hid it and claimed that it is not there. What is it if not a deliberate lie designed to create falls impression of innovation at the expense of ergonomics. In other words attempt to derive a benefit for itself at the cost of the player. All the while hoping that players are dumb enough no to notice this...

So yes... some demolitions are natural growth process for the city. What is un-natural is that you always have to guess and eye-ball it... that is definitely NOT natural in urban planning at least not since stone age...

Another example of bad ergonomics is implementation of one-way road tool. The idea itself allowing player great control of the traffic flow on the roads is great but apparently people doing "ideas" in MC do not talk to people responsible for technical implementation of said ideas. As a result this great (as envisioned) tool/approach is utterly useless, unless you prepared to to do "blind tests" of direction of you traffic on one-way sections.

Problem with the game that these are not exceptions but rather a rule. Virtually everything you touch is done/implemented wrong, not though through. One gets an impression the MC wasn't making this game for 2 years, but started this spring and what we have is rough sketch, rather then de-facto finished product.

I'm leaving beyond the discussion here all the choices about basics for the game "simulations" and such talking purely about usability and ergonomics...

[Tropod 144]

...You don't see a house suddenly turn into a skyscraper, especially from a smaller lot....quote>

You don't see a vacant block of land suddenly turn into a house from nothing. No, it gets constructed, same with a skyscraper. But the backend stuff, like zoning, does take place such that it allows skyscrapers to be built where houses are currently situated. The Gold Coast is one such example. The zoning and building are 2 different aspects.

Personally, I say it is an issue. Because many players out there will find this aspect very frustrating to deal with, especially given that there is no density filter.

[morriswalters 16]

No implementation of any system is perfect.  Within the limits of what is possible, Monte Cristo has done pretty well with the grid.  Any 3d game has a grid, they have to. All the objects in the game are polygons.  But constructs in the game are not confined to any particular grid and it possible to build in almost any orientation.  This is demonstrable in the demo. Roads in the demo can leave an origin point and go any any direction in a straight line, and off any road you can build a house.  So it would be possible to build cities this way.  One limitation is that at the origin there is a limit to how many roads can intersect  there.  So in terms of the grid as represented by SC4, Cities XL has no grid. 

Stupid street trick.  On a flat spot on a map draw a small road acoss.  Below that road pick a point make a tee intersection with the tee pointed away from the road above.

-------------------------

             T

From the intersection draw a road upward past the horizontal road.  Delete the part between the t and the horizontal road.  Be careful not to delete the T.  Rinse and repeat.  If you have the money and time you can make a fairly good fan of roads. I got up to about 60 before I quit.

In terms of roads, out of the box in the demo there are 2 rural roads, 2 2 lane roads, 3 avenues, and a highway and their associated bridges. Each roads has propeties that can be altered.  However unlike Sim City roads these roads are 3d constructs.  In the demo create a tunnel, stop the tunnel without creating a surface exit.  Then go into the tunnel.  If you are careful it possible to look at the underside of the surface display.  Interesting isn't it.  The tunnel itself is a quantum leap forward in terms of what has been possible before.  However these roads come with some prices.  They are not upgradeable in terms of width.  Everything in the game is scaled, that is made to look the same at high altitude and on the street.  So a road taking up a width of 30 meters can't be expanded to magically to 40 or 50 meters. However all roads have dimensions so it is relatively easy to plan around these limitations. 

Now LordOscar has posted some pictures that are fairly amusing, the bridge is a killer, and I hope that they fix that for release.  The 4 lane road going around a building of some type is there to show how ugly curved roads are in the game.  What it actually shows is how forgiving the roads are in allowing you to do things that no highway engineer would comtemplate.  I have never driven on a road like that and would not want to.  In the game a small lot is 40 meters square and the highway is 45 meters wide(give or take I have uninstalled the demo).  So he has taken a road as wide as the lot around it.  So figure it for yourself.  Think of it like this.  On a switchback curve the curve has to have sufficient radius to allow the longest vehicle likely to be traveling on it, to make the turn without leaving the roadway. It also must be safe at the  expected speed.  You don't see sharp turns on limited access highways or interstates. Fortunately MC has given us a lot of freedom with the roads, even the ability to do impossible things.  The same thing can be said about leveling issues.

Enough fun.  Think for yourself , I do.

This is my very humble opinion and not to be confused with truth or the  facts.

[USA_Pride 49]

 I agree with you on the roads. SC4 is OK because it will allow you to build over, it will auto-bulldoze affected lots and resize them which makes the process not too time consuming, but does destroy your development. In CXL I was hoping that they would allow you to build roads that would leave room for future upgrades.

For example, there is road in Macomb County in Michigan called "Hall Road" and it's also known as M-59.  This road is 4 lanes in both directions, however, the median is wide enough to accomdate a future expansion of the freeway portion (which exists west of Hall Road).

Hall Road overview:

Hall Road with freeway (west portion):

Hall Road without freeway (east portion):

[Ocram's Razr 964]

I do not see the problem. You can make 1 ways and bridges can you not?