CXL2011 Screenshots & More

[Herdervriend 46]

The only thing they basically need to do is to enable more transport, create more buildings and cause mod to be allowed, that is actually all I am wanting right now.

After that I would love it that the constant crashes, the saving method, the timing method would be changed to, but that can be patched.

I can't wait for this game to arrive, even if it will cost 30 euro now, I will buy it.

[Damastius 5]

Guys, I think I saw an aeroplane in a picture.

-Go to the screens : http://www2.citiesxl.com/citiesxl2011/scr/

-Look for the one with the old England houses, and the mountain in the background

- Look at the sky. You also see it?

[GlobexCo 33]

Originally posted by: bixel

Prolly the entire content artist group was ported from MC to FHI - so I am very glad for the new content - they really need to open the foot prints of the buildings and get some modding action in there.quote>

Don't know much about developers, but 3d artists at the moment aren't at FHI... 

Originally posted by: warrior

Is it just me whos not seeing that much difference between CXL 2011 and CXL? Based on the info in that post and the screenshots it sounds like they've taken CXL modified it and then are going to resell as CXL 2011. This seems to qualify more as an expansion pack. Sadly the graphics haven't been improved or the lot system (the gaps between the lots and the slightly curved roads in CXL were terrible. i suspect this will have a very similar fate to CXL. And won't be buying it unless further info changes my mind which I don't think it will. Here's hoping to CXL 2012

EDIT: and there much more than 700 buildings in SC4 and the community.So saying that the collection is like no collection before is a vast overstatement

quote>

Yes, they took the old CXL and finished it. At the moment, from what I can see from screenshots, they didn't add everything new to the game, everything was already there, but locked and bugged.

Originally posted by: Damastius

Guys, I think I saw an aeroplane in a picture.

-Go to the screens : http://www2.citiesxl.com/citiesxl2011/scr/

-Look for the one with the old England houses, and the mountain in the background

- Look at the sky. You also see it?quote>

It's already implemented in-game. They called it "airway".

You build it as a road and then airplanes fly following that way...

Unfortunately at the moment isn't complete and it's bugged.

[pete1061 0]

This is good news, I'm just hoping that current owners of CXL will get some kind of a discount.

This isn't really a whole new version of the game, it's a more finished version of the same game.

I get the impression that MC was running low on money and behind schedule, but released CXL anyhow, though it wasn't finished.

Investors we're probably nagging them to put something out. But in the long run, it didn't save MC.

And there are still going to be flaws in CXL2011. My expectations are not high, I'm just hoping for an improvement on the original.

[IntoxiNation 0]

Originally posted by: warrior

EDIT: and there much more than 700 buildings in SC4 and the community.So saying that the collection is like no collection before is a vast overstatementquote>

SC4 had around 400 buildings in it, then Rush Hour added around another 100, so I don't think it's that much of an overstatement. Yeah there's a lot more when you consider all the custom content made for SC4 over the past several years, but they are talking "out of the box".

Originally posted by: mr-tom

The way I see it, there's four things that could be included in CXL 2011:

1 Mod tools

2 Tech fixes e.g. memory leak

3 Significant gameplay changes e.g. trade between cities

4 Moddable changes

If any of the top 3 are in then yeah, I'll probably buy. If it's just stuff that we could mod (and already have to a certain extent) then why bother?

quote>

Well your one point on #3 is already going in - trading between cities. They are also changing the taxing system, which was something I really wanted to see. From their release; "A more elaborated tax system will let all apprentice mayors adjust personal and local business taxes".

As far as modding, I',m not to optimistic on tools going into 2011. Instead what I could see them do is release the tools at a later point in time as downloads. Right now Focus is probably focused on polishing up what's in there, making it stable and getting it out to recoup some of the costs of the acquisition.

I'll admit that Focus has their work cut out for them. Basically they are taking on a product with a somewhat tarnished reputation because of all the problems and broken promises from the original CXL release. They need to work to bring in new customers for the game, and a big help for that would be satisfying more of what communities like this want (word of mouth is the best advertisement), and embracing the modding community would be a big help.

[mentarman 14]

Personally this is win-win as far as I see it. I already enjoy the game, especially with modding. I had hope this would come out but it was fading hope.

Now when this comes out I will snap it up and see what it adds. Hopefully some new content and some fixes. I hope it isn't too expensive and/or has a discount for people who already own CXL, but then again, I'm not on such a strict budget that I can't buy it either way.

In response to whoever, I don't think anyone has ever pretended this is a whole new game, it is a fixed up and gussied up version of CXL. Call it a expansion pack if you like, though I think it is hard to put a label on it as I think it is trying to do something that isn't commonly done. I'd say it's like a super patch of broken and unfinished things combined with an expansion pack.

Of course it is fair for them to make the claims about buildings. You're comparing apples and oranges if you are comparing the number of buildings with a game at release or after and expansion pack with one after 8 years or whatever that has had a thriving modding community for that whole time. Great for SC4 that it's had that but if you want to hold any future game to the standard that it has to surpass not only SC4+RH but also all the community developed stuff, you'll never see another game that meets your standards.

Some people don't seem to think it will be worth their money and guess what, if you still feel that way in October, you don't have to buy it.

On the other hand, I think some people here need to rein in their hopes. While I am looking forward to this, I also think we would have learned our lesson a bit about unrestrained optimism... I'd suggest chilling a bit on the expectations and just taking it as it comes.

[warrior 169]

My point is that there many many people who will make (likely better, I mean if you look at SC4 the custom buildings are better than the maxis one's 90% of the time) buildings themselves for free. So while the game should ship with buildings it shouldn't be a focus point.

[gmcausland 0]

Considering the number of hoops and smokescreens MC put people through on this product. I am a bit wary and sceptical with the 'new' release of this game.  I want to know a lot more of how committed the company is to develop this game.  We have seen all this before with the 'exciting' screenshots and promises, many of which never transpired or was manipulated in such a way to try and extract as much money out of the users as possible.  This approach seriously compromised the integrity of this company.

I would advice people not to follow like sheep again into buying into this again without getting assurances of what actual improvements and features will be in the update of the game.  Personally I don't think a few months development is nearly enough time to fix what was wrong with the game.  I would have preferred to hear an announcement of a new release for next year and a commitment to consult with the user community to help them shape the game for the future.

[blink471 0]

i never thought this would happen, and the game continue. Fantastic.

Cant wait to get a rail system going..

[theBrad 25]

I haven't seen any clarification - but the 'rails' that will be included on CXL2011 - is this a strictly heavy rail mass transit or is it also a traditional railroad (passenger & freight)? The picture so far looks like an above ground transit line, which of course is great. But I would hope we can also develop a railroad system to connect to the outside world to build up passenger & freight traffic for commerce.

Also of course, though I know it is a long shot - I would still like light rail.

[DCMetro34 576]

Well, this is one of the screenshots they posted. Typically, that kind of train is subway/el rail/light rail, but I could be wrong. None the less, it's a great shot, I will be keeping my eye on the CXL, like I did when I played the beta.

Actually, I am more confident about the future now that we have our new developer, the game looks great so far.

[LTParis 1]

I hope this pans out into something great. I got in on Cities XL and it was almost unplayable and I've just reverted back to SC4. Here is to hoping for at a minimum a complete product!

[Cob92 360]

Originally posted by: warrior

My point is that there many many people who will make (likely better, I mean if you look at SC4 the custom buildings are better than the maxis one's 90% of the time) buildings themselves for free. So while the game should ship with buildings it shouldn't be a focus point.quote>

Not everyone is a member of Simtrop or similar communities on the day they buy the game. If a city builder were to ship with too few buildings, it would annoy a lot of people who just want the game to be fun and varied right out of the box. SC4 was able to build up its modding community because it was a good game to begin with. If SC4 were replaced with City Life (which only had 2 or 3 styles of home for each culture and density), I doubt that Simtropolis would be the thriving online community that it is today.

[hert048 0]

The biggest problem for me in Cities XL was that traffic only went one lane at a time. I would rather see traffic go through each other then the one lane thing. So I hope they fixed this.

As for the rail picture. It actually looks like bi-level cars so its hard to say if its an el-train or not. But it does seem that we will finally get some sort of rail transit in CXL 2011.

[DCMetro34 576]

Originally posted by: jediger18

The biggest problem for me in Cities XL was that traffic only went one lane at a time. I would rather see traffic go through each other then the one lane thing. So I hope they fixed this.

As for the rail picture. It actually looks like bi-level cars so its hard to say if its an el-train or not. But it does seem that we will finally get some sort of rail transit in CXL 2011.

quote>

Yes, that's thankfully certain. The reason I originally said el rail was because it looked a bit like the default Maxis ones in Sim City 4. But, taking a second look, I could see how it could be something like a commuter train. It looks like one in New York; the same design as the Long Island Rail Road.

-DC

[soltangris 42]

Well, the idea for freight trains was included in the original CXL from the start. Remember that additional rail  freight link option which was inactive?

And from the screeshot we see something that definitely looks like a commuter train. I would say it's a more flexible version of the SC4 metro/light rail combo, since this one looks like it could go on the ground as well. And we already know that passenger trains were in development from the very beginning (those screens from two years ago).

My hopes are up!

[Stef42 0]

Those screenshots show just enough to make it interesting, indeed I still think that the scale of the bridges is to big.

Other than that, I thought that in the press release Focus sad something about subway's. Looking forward to that too.

Offtopic: It would be funny if Focus has planned the release date for Cities XL 2011 on 9th October (release date of Cities XL in Europe)

[kiwispanker 1]

i believe the el-train/subway is already fully-modeled in the original game; we just can't get it working yet. i really hope to see more images of completely new buildings. but i guess it's understandable that FHI has to debug MC's flaws like the memory leak, texture glitches, working transportation, before adding new content.

i'm also not getting too excited about advertising screenshots. you knows if they were touched up. do you guys remember MC's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBUQLi3PnRc? i wish we had moving trains with sparks coming off of the electrical cables.

[Aspire 3]

Originally posted by: kiwispanker

i believe the el-train/subway is already fully-modeled in the original game; we just can't get it working yet. i really hope to see more images of completely new buildings. but i guess it's understandable that FHI has to debug MC's flaws like the memory leak, texture glitches, working transportation, before adding new content.

i'm also not getting too excited about advertising screenshots. you knows if they were touched up. do you guys remember MC's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBUQLi3PnRc? i wish we had moving trains with sparks coming off of the electrical cables.quote>

at 0:54 of that movie theres a bug

a car is going into the triangle building lol i just noticed that

[DCMetro34 576]

Originally posted by: Stef42

......Those screenshots show just enough to make it interesting, indeed I still think that the scale of the bridges is to big......

quote>

Yes, the same as MC did for the beta and their release of the game, it looked very neat. Personally, I like this one better because it appears there is going to be more transit.

The bridges do look to big now that you mention it.....

-DC

[citiesxlfan42 27]

Wow! This is nice. Maybe my screenname can actually mean something. But I don't think it will be perfect. Just if the bugs are fixed and some of the things locked, bugged, and/or missing are fixed, I'm ok. And I agree, the tools should probably be enlisted as a seperate download, just like the Sim City LE and BAT.

[British_Petroleum 3]

I'm intreagued, hopefully my crappy chinese laptop will run this!

[newcrusader92 0]

This is good news. If CXL 2011 is not a mere add-on to the original, I will patiently wait to get the game.

The only question I have at the moment is this: would we have the ability to create our own maps and import them in, like we can with SC4? I like the idea of cities trading with each other, but I also like the idea of geographical continuity (at least as an option) - with 45 maps I'm not sure that's possible without the option of creating custom maps.

[DCMetro34 576]

Yes, it sounds good to the ear that CXL 2011 will be a completely new game.

@ CitiesXLFan42: I didn't know there was going to be something along the lines of BAT and LE for CXL.....where did you hear that?

-DC

[Msprintz 25]

Originally posted by: DCMetro34

Originally posted by: jediger18

The biggest problem for me in Cities XL was that traffic only went one lane at a time. I would rather see traffic go through each other then the one lane thing. So I hope they fixed this.

As for the rail picture. It actually looks like bi-level cars so its hard to say if its an el-train or not. But it does seem that we will finally get some sort of rail transit in CXL 2011.

quote>

Yes, that's thankfully certain. The reason I originally said el rail was because it looked a bit like the default Maxis ones in Sim City 4. But, taking a second look, I could see how it could be something like a commuter train. It looks like one in New York; the same design as the Long Island Rail Road.

-DC

quote>

Looks more like the cars that Metra uses, rather than those of the LIRR  ( LIRR is mostly comprised of electric MU trains ( M3, M7 ), with the rest comprising of a straight diesel and dual mode fleet ( DE/DM30AC ).  

[RegisterST2 0]

Originally posted by: gmcausland

We have seen all this before with the 'exciting' screenshots and promises, many of which never transpired or was manipulated in such a way to try and extract as much money out of the users as possible.  This approach seriously compromised the integrity of this company.

I would advice people not to follow like sheep again into buying into this again without getting assurances of what actual improvements and features will be in the update of the game.  Personally I don't think a few months development is nearly enough time to fix what was wrong with the game.  I would have preferred to hear an announcement of a new release for next year and a commitment to consult with the user community to help them shape the game for the future.

quote>

Good post.  I'm surprised people are so excited about pictures of things like trains considering we've already seen pics of things (like trains) that never came to fruition, but I guess eternal hope isn't the worst trait in the world.

Personally, however, I will wait to see a demo of the game.  Finished product first, then I'll get excited.

[Stef42 0]

Indeed, it's easy to get taken away by those new screenshots, while in the end it may only be the same (expect for that train-screenshot thing)

I think that we are expecting too much from the new company, just like with MC. Those 'promises' never came out, we all know that.

So, I believe it's better just to be more pessimistic about the game, so it might not end up like a disappointment...

[jeje71 6]

what people here tend to overlook is the fact that focus is a PUBLISHER, not developper and as stated on their home site:

CitiesXL 2011

Publisher: Focus Home Interactive

Developer: Monte Cristo

so, my guess is they got all the dev from MC before they closed, and it's not garanteed at all that they have made tremendous additional work on it, except myabe bug squashing.

furthermore, MC stated from the beginning that cities xl 2011 was essentially the corrected version of cities xl, so i don't understand why people expect 2011 to look different from cities xl, it IS cities xl (2011)

the october launch may have more to do with marketing placement than due to technical reasons.

i'm not pretending this is what WILL happen, but focus is more of a budget game company, it's likely that they will treat this game as a simple franchise they will publish having bought a finished product from mc and simply reselling it, with minimal maintenance and additional work.

if mc managed to finish it before closing, the game could be what cities xl should have been and that's good enough, but people really shouldn't expect new things and extended and continuous support and additions.

maybe if a new developper is associated to the coding aspect of the product, this could be revised, but is unlikely to happen in my opinion.

[IntoxiNation 0]

Originally posted by: jeje71

what people here tend to overlook is the fact that focus is a PUBLISHER, not developper and as stated on their home site:

CitiesXL 2011

Publisher: Focus Home Interactive

Developer: Monte Cristo

so, my guess is they got all the dev from MC before they closed, and it's not garanteed at all that they have made tremendous additional work on it, except myabe bug squashing.

furthermore, MC stated from the beginning that cities xl 2011 was essentially the corrected version of cities xl, so i don't understand why people expect 2011 to look different from cities xl, it IS cities xl (2011)

the october launch may have more to do with marketing placement than due to technical reasons.

i'm not pretending this is what WILL happen, but focus is more of a budget game company, it's likely that they will treat this game as a simple franchise they will publish having bought a finished product from mc and simply reselling it, with minimal maintenance and additional work.

if mc managed to finish it before closing, the game could be what cities xl should have been and that's good enough, but people really shouldn't expect new things and extended and continuous support and additions.

maybe if a new developper is associated to the coding aspect of the product, this could be revised, but is unlikely to happen in my opinion.

quote>

That's true, but there is also the fact that the game has life in it again, after months of very uncertain future. If reception of 2011 meets or beats expectations, then FHI would be more likely to go out and hire a studio to expand the game.

I think one of the big helps on this could be the fact that FHI is the publisher now. You can find their games at Gamestop, Walmart and Best Buy, so 2011 should (hopefully) get more exposure and the sales numbers go up.

[KeanoManu 42]

Interesting, Jeje71.

Will CXL 2011 be the final release of the game or does Focus Home Interactive (or someone else) plan to further build the game?

I never bought CXL but it does have potential. The problem is that MC clearly took the game in the wrong direction, something that many of us could see months before release. Their decision to create the game as an MMO was doomed for failure and if they still would have their old forums online it could be proven that many, including myself, predicted the closure of the Planet Offer and furthermore the bankruptcy of MC after just a few months online long before the game was released. If FHI only plan to release what was left to them almost finished but unreleased by MC and then leave the game behind I don't think it's worth to have any expectations at all for CXL2011. But if they plan to continue work on the game and add all those things that was highly anticipated but never included and also make the game easy to mod I can still see a huge potential in the project.

Have everyone forgot about the advanced road building feature that I have forgotten the name of? This would have allowed us to create the roads just like we would have wanted. Let us choose the number of lanes, let us choose what will be on the sidewalks (if any sidewalks at all) and also in the middle of the road. And also what type of road. I would really want to know more about what happened to that feature. Will it be available in CXL2011 or later?

No matter what, the game won't be as good as SC4 when it's released and that's why they need to make it easy to mod. If they would allow the community to help them to create a huge quantity of buildings available it would give a new dimension to the game. It would also allow a potential developer to focus more on adding new features instead of just adding buildings all the time. I would also prefer to have a map editor so it would be possible to create custom maps. It's not the same to build a city on a map that thousands of others also build on. It's much nicer to show my city if I know it's unique. Now when the Planet Offer thankfully are dead and buried it may open up for the possibility for regional maps too as the reason MC stated for not including regions was that it was hard to get it to work with the Planet Offer. Trade between cities will be available for SP which is good and a step forward.