The SimCity 5 Thread (Formerly "Is SimCity 5 Ever Coming Out?").

[noobiesnack 0]

I really doubt SimCity 5 will actually come out. It's been 8 years since the last true SimCity came out. Oh and Simaster07: http://www.squidoo.com/simcity5 Last paragraph of "Sim City 5 Replaced by Sim City Societies?"

Time has nothing to do with actually having another Sim City come out. I mean, look at Duke Nukem and dozens of other games, lets just pray it doesnt end like DN... Also, you have to remember that to EA, the last Sim City game was Nov 2007 when SCS came out... There is still time to keep it in the 4-6 year rule that had followed the previous games and the long delay could just be a result of them watching how SCS panned out. I think that if there will be one anytime soon though, its would be announced within the next year, provided they are even giving it a thought. Most of EA is also too focused on BF3 and marketing it to worry about SC for the time being, so maybe after all the hype dies down from that? and who knows what EA could be doing... They love to be secretive and worry about profit before customers...

Honestly, I think we will get one Eventually* as there is just far to much demand for one. It might not get called Sim City, but yeah... If Cities XL could get rid of the 'lot' zoning and put actual zoning in like SC did and add disasters, we would get closer...

  Edited July 20, 2011 by noobiesnack  

[jacksunny 741]

It could be called SC6, who knows...

[noobiesnack 0]

It could be called SC6, who knows...

That is true, it is EA... to them SC5 was SCS... (hehe... S = 5 in 1337 talk)

[dchotzen-hartzell19 34]

Reasons why I think SC5 is coming:

1. Everybody loves sim city

2. with games like CXL, they need something

3. If EA doesn't make it then why doesn't Will wright buy back the rights and make another SC game.

[K-os 30]

However it seems it may be a Facebook game? I hope not!

Are there any other EA brands that are a good fit for Facebook?

EA: FIFA and Madden have done very well. And Monopoly is doing well.

I ask as CityVille is huge on Facebook, and EA has a well-known City-based Sim game…

EA: Well, we have nothing to announce. But do note that I am smiling at your question.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/interview-jeff-karp-ea/082470

[Bipin 3,403]

However it seems it may be a Facebook game? I hope not!

Are there any other EA brands that are a good fit for Facebook?

EA: FIFA and Madden have done very well. And Monopoly is doing well.

I ask as CityVille is huge on Facebook, and EA has a well-known City-based Sim game…

EA: Well, we have nothing to announce. But do note that I am smiling at your question.

http://www.mcvuk.com...-karp-ea/082470

Good find! I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with this.

[Jamesrules90 133]

That was quite vague. It could mean anything from a new sims expansions to a EA facebook game. While it may be about simcity the answer and question are so vague that you can't really get much information from it.

[x493x 446]

I've kinda learned to ignore SC5 rumors, (not trying to de-grade your info here), there are so many SC5 rumors and hopes, until I get some real, solid, SC5 confermation I'm a doubter.

SimCity on Facebook, Bleh! Give us a game.

  Edited July 29, 2011 by x493x  

[lloydyboy232 12]

id still be happy with a simcity game for facebook

[jacksunny 741]

This is old news. Sims for Facebook is already confirmed and looking through the pages of news ST has, news about this was posted on May 27.

[RAMPO 2]

Meanwhile, we can sign here:

Petition for SimCity 5

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

id still be happy with a simcity game for facebook

Considering the way SC eats CPUs, can you imagine it embedded in a browser that already eats CPUs? Get real.

[jacksunny 741]

It's going to be just like Cityville. Completely 100% boring. No plugins to make the game better, nothing. Too much in the game and it won't be able to run like A Nonny Moose said.

But I am hoping that a lot of people will play. Maybe EA will finally realize that a lot of people want another Simcity and are interested in it and they will create a SC5.

[idcaf 65]

if there will be a faceboook simcity don't get excited just yet, because It would most likely look something like age of empires on facebook -> not that impressive.

So our only hope is that the one being interviewed actually meant that they are cooking a real game back in the office. Let's stay optimistic

[Mark Waybill 242]

Jacksunny 'But I am hoping that a lot of people will play. Maybe EA will finally realize that a lot of people want another Simcity and are interested in it and they will create a SC5.'

The popularity of Cityville shows people are interested in the game formula. In my Cityville friends (yes I play Cityville...) there are people from many countries, ages, etc and both males and females too. So that shows Cityville is popular with a wide demographic.

Now there is another FB game called 'My Country'. It is more serious, business oriented, and tbh quite dull. I love realistic city management, but My Country is like draining all the fun out of Simcity and making it harder and slower and a tad more like a strategy game. Cityville is playable because of the instant reward for effort. You collect 'rent' from houses and money from shops, so it's not very realistic although this could be thought of as tax more properly.

There are lots of whimsical decorations and 'special' offers and features like St Patricks Day items etc, and also 'citycash', the commercial side of the game, which I have managed to avoid using and yet my city is getting along rather nicely.

If Simcity were to become a FB/online game that in itself I would not frown at, as 1. anything is better than nothing and 2. if it does flop we can always make it ourselves finally anyway. However get ready for premium simoleon purchasing, holiday themed items and an easier laid back playing style and less realism. Also as A Nonny Moose so rightly noted, full 3d Simcity in Facebook? Yeah right. Think again. It will most likely still be pseudo 3d/isometric like Cityville, or be simplified to allow for full 3d if they do make that choice which I doubt they will.

Indeed Cityville which is hardly a cutting edge display of modern graphics lags a lot on my pc with larger cities, which would in reality measure one mile by one mile in size. Unless the issue of game performance is resolved a FB Simcity would be disastrous and only work on the best computers.

[Ceafus 88 1,929]

I hope they create a Sim City 5, but Sim City 4 stuff is compatible so we can still use everything we've worked our butts off to make

[jacksunny 741]

I hope they create a Sim City 5, but Sim City 4 stuff is compatible so we can still use everything we've worked our butts off to make

If they were to do that, SC5 wouldn't be 3D.

[LivingInThePast 364]

To make a good city game, they need to look at SimCity 1 again. It needs to walk the lines between the serious and the silly. It should allow for realistic city building: power won't magically appear. It should allow a realistic simulation ("The SimCity Planning Commission Handbook" has several ideas on how to simulate things that weren't in SC1, including hospitals and schools). And above all, it should be fun.

Back in the mid-1990s, Wright postulated that the future of Sim games was to have several games that had interchangeable data, like you could design a "house, car, or a city" and place it into a larger world, and focus on the things that you're interested in.

I can't imagine full SimCity 4 compatibility, maybe just importing the 3D BATs for use in the next city building title.

[Jamesrules90 133]

It would have to have a sandbox mode which would allow you to build a aesthetically pleasing city without having to worry about power and things like that.

[SS3K 160]

I hear your frustration guys! I've been playing sim city when it was on the amiga and loved it ever since, all those wasted hours building a city and going to bed and seeing those streets I created in my eyes when I close em hehe. I still waste my hours playing sim city 4 deluxe, I like playing that one more no idea why just do. I've got every single sim city game even still got the sim city 2000 for the amiga. Anyway my reason for posting on here is to give you some lessons I've learnt from another game I really loved playing and no long being made.

Sensible Soccer & Sensible World of Soccer was my favourite football game and still is, again I have every version both for Amiga and PC oh and Xbox 360. I have the pleasure of knowing Jon Hare and worked for codemasters, well when I say worked I mean I did some work for them for the SWOS XBOXLBA version. SWOS 96/97 is the most playable version from the series and guess what folks, we've all been waiting for 14 long years for an updated version. Whe the XBOX version came out it was the same version as the SWOS 96/97, now when codemasters asked for my help they asked me to update the game since they loved my data updates so I said yes thats cool and I told em a few things what will need changing for instance the la liga has 24 teams while now it has 20 teams and they said ok we'll take that on board. Did they buggery! It took me 2 months to update every single team in the database, I send them the team files in e-maail and guess what happend, they e-mailed me back saying we cant use this data even though it has fake names, we didn't get permission for licenses. So all that hard work for nothing! However I did go and get my name in the credits and meet Jon Hare.

So the point I'm making is this, the games we love to play are made by or brought by companies that love to suck the cash from us nothing else. They truely don't care about the fans desire of an updated version of the game, why you ask it's simple, not much money to be made from it that's why! As for the source codes to the games they own again they won't even release them due to the fear of loosing out and copyright issues etc.

If they do make a sim city 5 I would like to see more landmarks, maybe have main landmarks from every country. Yes I know that will make the game memory even more but it'll be worth it and will save us all having to make more buildings etc. Plus small things need to be updated such as scenarios like have terrorist attacks, tsunami, health brake out like bird flu or something. New missions like catch the one man/woman killer, do police raides etc. And say if the local football team or baseball team won a trophy they should have a parade etc.

Sim City 5 comes out like a true fan I'll buy it but I'm not waiting, never wait for games. Old games are the best anyway newer games I find a little too easy. Lemmings now that was a game of true hardship, pac-man was just plain annoying and would have been a damn site more enjoyable without those stuiped gay sound effects! SWOS is one word addictive while tetris was obsessive now I know were I got my OCD from hehe ;o)

[Frode789 70]

Now that Spielberg finally officially confirmed Jurassic Park 4 (I'm a JP fan too), I want the other thing on my list; Sim City 5.. :\ Though, judging by the signals from EA, it is very unlikely that we'll ever see another REAL Sim City game.

  Edited August 7, 2011 by Frode789  

[tranceplante 2]

I don't write on this forum much, but like every SC4 fan, I would love to see a new one. SimCity5 or SimCity 2012. As cool as this sounds, I think it might come. When? Maybe in 2 or 3 years, maybe even more.

When you think about it, there has been (about) 5 years between each releases of Simcity. Now they released simcity Societies in 2007 which in EA's mind was Simcity 5. I am sure! So add another 5 or 6 years to that for another release in that family. That brings us to 2012/2013

The sad thing here is that EVEN if EA releases a new simcity, I am sure it will suck. They have a way of making bad games lately, seriously i would be very surprised if they would stay ''true'' to the game. That game has full of potential and the possibilities are endless, if they really make a great game, even if it's a bit hard, it will be successful. (Look at blizzard). But i really doubt EA will put that much energy into SC.

In my view, an open source version is the only hope to ''keep it true''. But why would EA give away the code? There is no way that will happen. They will need this code eventually when they release some knock off version of simcity for your tablet, facebook or something.... They aren't giving anything away, forget it. Unless someone steals it or buys it, it will never happen.

[Mark Waybill 242]

Tranceplante 'The sad thing here is that EVEN if EA releases a new simcity, I am sure it will suck. They have a way of making bad games lately, seriously i would be very surprised if they would stay ''true'' to the game'

Which is why I say let's build a community built game from scratch, as all this waiting around for the promised land to arise is achieving nothing. There's nothing to be lost by trying. And with a concerted effort and the right skilled people we could make this dream happen ourselves. Personally I have no programming skills beyond GML but I'm sure many of us do or could learn.

And after all a game built by fans is a game of the people by the people. It's that or another rubbish Societies type game that pleases a small amount of us and a small amount of non Simcity fans. The series was very successful. I don't see why a community built game can't achieve what a company built one can. Sure they have more time, better resources and money. But if you do something for the love of it you won't be limited by that.

There's nothing in theory to stop us from making a game as good as Simcity 2000 in gameplay and as advanced graphically as 'Simcity 5'.

The first thing to do would be to amass a group of core experts. People in the know. People who have worked for game companies or know C or wtvr. People who understand how these things work, have enough time to contribute at a good pace to the project, and are passionate enough about the project to not give up or squabble. There must be some of us with programming knowledge/skills surely.

In the meantime i'm plodding along with Virtucity which is finally going 3D and when it is 3D it will have awful flight simulator type graphics, bugs galore and run slowly. So i've got all my hope in this concept of a community built Simcity 5.

[tranceplante 2]

Which is why I say let's build a community built game from scratch, as all this waiting around for the promised land to arise is achieving nothing. There's nothing to be lost by trying. And with a concerted effort and the right skilled people we could make this dream happen ourselves. Personally I have no programming skills beyond GML but I'm sure many of us do or could learn.

And after all a game built by fans is a game of the people by the people. It's that or another rubbish Societies type game that pleases a small amount of us and a small amount of non Simcity fans. The series was very successful. I don't see why a community built game can't achieve what a company built one can. Sure they have more time, better resources and money. But if you do something for the love of it you won't be limited by that.

There's nothing in theory to stop us from making a game as good as Simcity 2000 in gameplay and as advanced graphically as 'Simcity 5'.

The first thing to do would be to amass a group of core experts. People in the know. People who have worked for game companies or know C or wtvr. People who understand how these things work, have enough time to contribute at a good pace to the project, and are passionate enough about the project to not give up or squabble. There must be some of us with programming knowledge/skills surely.

In the meantime i'm plodding along with Virtucity which is finally going 3D and when it is 3D it will have awful flight simulator type graphics, bugs galore and run slowly. So i've got all my hope in this concept of a community built Simcity 5.

I am all up for it, unfortunately I have no programing skills. I would be glad to help out, but I doubt I could be much help. I would be ready to donate money, but that's all I can do. I think!

If I remember well, didn't they release the code for simcity 1. I guess you can start there?

[Mark Waybill 242]

Tranceplante'

I am all up for it, unfortunately I have no programing skills. I would be glad to help out, but I doubt I could be much help. I would be ready to donate money, but that's all I can do. I think!

If I remember well, didn't they release the code for simcity 1. I guess you can start there?'

Me too. All I know is Game Maker Language to a moderate degree. I suck at any complex math stuff. However I have found a 3d terrain engine that would be perfect if I could only integrate it with Virtucity. There is a game maker terrain script that uses Perlin Noise to make SC2000 type terrain which I have tried if one wished to make a nostalgic game but for sc5 this one I'm looking at now looks good. It has terrain like in 4 but full 3d.

Well the source code for Simcity Classic might be useful but as for Perlin Noise and so forth that's available anyway, and most of the concepts in the game have advanced to such a point that I doubt it would be of much use. Besides best to start from scratch if we're gunna do this properly.

What we really need are dedicated and skilled people to get together and work on this in collaboration... I tried learning C just so I could attempt something like this but... One person making such a video game with such a hands on code...

[tranceplante 2]

Tranceplante'

I am all up for it, unfortunately I have no programing skills. I would be glad to help out, but I doubt I could be much help. I would be ready to donate money, but that's all I can do. I think!

If I remember well, didn't they release the code for simcity 1. I guess you can start there?'

Me too. All I know is Game Maker Language to a moderate degree. I suck at any complex math stuff. However I have found a 3d terrain engine that would be perfect if I could only integrate it with Virtucity. There is a game maker terrain script that uses Perlin Noise to make SC2000 type terrain which I have tried if one wished to make a nostalgic game but for sc5 this one I'm looking at now looks good. It has terrain like in 4 but full 3d.

Well the source code for Simcity Classic might be useful but as for Perlin Noise and so forth that's available anyway, and most of the concepts in the game have advanced to such a point that I doubt it would be of much use. Besides best to start from scratch if we're gunna do this properly.

What we really need are dedicated and skilled people to get together and work on this in collaboration... I tried learning C just so I could attempt something like this but... One person making such a video game with such a hands on code...

Someone already stared something like that I believe. I am not sure how far it is, but I think that is the closest we will ever have to have a open source sim city. http://themetropolisproject.org

On a side note, I am not sure why people really want a full 3d engine. It would be cool, but seriously, if it's just for eye candy I don't care at all.

  Edited August 9, 2011 by tranceplante  

[Gringamuyloca 47]

Tranceplante'

I am all up for it, unfortunately I have no programing skills. I would be glad to help out, but I doubt I could be much help. I would be ready to donate money, but that's all I can do. I think!

If I remember well, didn't they release the code for simcity 1. I guess you can start there?'

Me too. All I know is Game Maker Language to a moderate degree. I suck at any complex math stuff. However I have found a 3d terrain engine that would be perfect if I could only integrate it with Virtucity. There is a game maker terrain script that uses Perlin Noise to make SC2000 type terrain which I have tried if one wished to make a nostalgic game but for sc5 this one I'm looking at now looks good. It has terrain like in 4 but full 3d.

Well the source code for Simcity Classic might be useful but as for Perlin Noise and so forth that's available anyway, and most of the concepts in the game have advanced to such a point that I doubt it would be of much use. Besides best to start from scratch if we're gunna do this properly.

What we really need are dedicated and skilled people to get together and work on this in collaboration... I tried learning C just so I could attempt something like this but... One person making such a video game with such a hands on code...

Someone already stared something like that I believe. I am not sure how far it is, but I think that is the closest we will ever have to have a open source sim city. http://themetropolisproject.org

On a side note, I am not sure why people really want a full 3d engine. It would be cool, but seriously, if it's just for eye candy I don't care at all.

Actually there's a thread along those lines at Simtropolis.. link is here...

[Cob92 360]

Tranceplante'

I am all up for it, unfortunately I have no programing skills. I would be glad to help out, but I doubt I could be much help. I would be ready to donate money, but that's all I can do. I think!

If I remember well, didn't they release the code for simcity 1. I guess you can start there?'

Me too. All I know is Game Maker Language to a moderate degree. I suck at any complex math stuff. However I have found a 3d terrain engine that would be perfect if I could only integrate it with Virtucity. There is a game maker terrain script that uses Perlin Noise to make SC2000 type terrain which I have tried if one wished to make a nostalgic game but for sc5 this one I'm looking at now looks good. It has terrain like in 4 but full 3d.

Well the source code for Simcity Classic might be useful but as for Perlin Noise and so forth that's available anyway, and most of the concepts in the game have advanced to such a point that I doubt it would be of much use. Besides best to start from scratch if we're gunna do this properly.

What we really need are dedicated and skilled people to get together and work on this in collaboration... I tried learning C just so I could attempt something like this but... One person making such a video game with such a hands on code...

Someone already stared something like that I believe. I am not sure how far it is, but I think that is the closest we will ever have to have a open source sim city. http://themetropolisproject.org

On a side note, I am not sure why people really want a full 3d engine. It would be cool, but seriously, if it's just for eye candy I don't care at all.

After playing CXL it feels like SC4 is missing something. When I have a nicely developed area, or even just a picturesque stretch of countryside, I want to be able to get down to ground level and see things from a Sim's eye view. I can't do that in SC4.

[Mark Waybill 242]

tbh full 3D is the one thing I did miss most in sc4. U drive it seemed like a teaser for something better to come, and it never did.

[johnsy 2]

Tranceplante 'The sad thing here is that EVEN if EA releases a new simcity, I am sure it will suck. They have a way of making bad games lately, seriously i would be very surprised if they would stay ''true'' to the game'

Can't say that. EA used to make great games back then, after 2003, they were all disasters.

Another franchise ruined for the cash is Need for Speed series. The original game aims for simulation-like racing while still maintaining all the fun. Then the simulation part was toned down a bit in series by series after the first game, until it feels just right in NFS 4: High Stakes and then Porsche Unleashed, and finally Hot Pursuit 2. After that, it went down into Underground series just like SC4 to SCS: pure gaming by dumbing down. It is just a fancy graphic for depicting real world cars, excessive customization, and silly physics.

Then suddenly in 2009, they decided to throw in the realistic version (NFS Shift) after the success of GT and Forza series. If anything embodies the true spirit of NFS, it is the Shift, not the continuation of its arcade siblings (Hot Pursuit). However, fans who jumped on NFS bandwagon nowadays are mostly from the Underground era, which undoubtedly attracted many new fans. And I see that some of them began denouncing the Shift series. EA has created a big gap within its major title fans. However, they are unlike SC communities, we are not going to jump into SCS or any other silly sequels EA trying to push. We are waiting patiently.