SimCity: Gameplay

[lobsterav 91]

I'd like to see them do a Q & A on the ST chat.

That is would be the most amazing thing that they could do. Get support directly from the community, and make the community very happy at the same time...... if only that would happen.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

I'd like to see them do a Q & A on the ST chat.

That is would be the most amazing thing that they could do. Get support directly from the community, and make the community very happy at the same time...... if only that would happen.

That would be very cool if they would.

[Mark Waybill 242]

I third that notion.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Rather than a free-for-all in chat, I think a Developer's Forum would be more appropriate, These guys are supposed to be working on the software not gabbing with us.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Actually gabbing with us is EXACTLY what the developers should be doing, in whatever shape or form that takes.

If the developers want to engage with the community, get their attention... and their feedback then a live chat session is one way they could do that. Another way is to have a developers forum, or to have a Facebook page, or a Twitter Account... or their own forum... or hand out free beta copies of the game... (hint hint)

If Maxis are smart then they should certainly use anything and everything at their disposal to ultimately sell their game... especially if it comes at no cost to them except an hour of their time.

Also remember in any 'selling' transaction, the 'ka-ching' is actually comes at the end... first the seller has to convince the buyer that it is worth getting out their wallet to make the sellers cash register go 'ka-ching'!

[Ocram's Razr 964]

SimCity now has an official forum. Their facebook page is now active. They did Reddit. I see no reason for new accounts on Simtropolis to be made. Monte Cristo did it because they closed down their official forums multiple times so they authorized Simtropolis as the official forums. I think that the developers should be more active on the official SimCity forums.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Actually gabbing with us is EXACTLY what the developers should be doing, in whatever shape or form that takes.

If the developers want to engage with the community, get their attention... and their feedback then a live chat session is one way they could do that. Another way is to have a developers forum, or to have a Facebook page, or a Twitter Account... or their own forum... or hand out free beta copies of the game... (hint hint)

If Maxis are smart then they should certainly use anything and everything at their disposal to ultimately sell their game... especially if it comes at no cost to them except an hour of their time.

Also remember in any 'selling' transaction, the 'ka-ching' is actually comes at the end... first the seller has to convince the buyer that it is worth getting out their wallet to make the sellers cash register go 'ka-ching'!

The reason I prefer a forum to a chat free-for-all, is that writing a comment/question at this end means that some thought has to go into it. I do agree that our user community is a huge resource for the developers and most of us are quite willing to contribute to it.

The reason I dislike chat is that it is hard to schedule for a world-wide audience.

Forums take less time from the developers than sitting at a terminal in a chat situation.

And, contrary to popular thought, I believe the open social networks are not the place for technical discussions.

  Edited March 14, 2012 by A Nonny Moose  

[hamsterTK 93]

If we did a Q&A on the forums people would make very long, verbose posts and statements that are hard to answer or are just requests/wishlists in disguise. The poor rep might have a hard time answering everyone's questions and might choose ones that are easy to respond to rather than the good ones.

I don't know how sophisticated our chat room is because I almost never use it, but would it be possible to make everyone merely observers and grant special "speaking" privileges to others?

A Chat Q&A could work where we first select certain people to ask certain questions, and everyone else just observes. Then the chat log would be posted and archived on the site.

[Cobraroll 138]

I think we should have a stickied, locked thread which ONLY displays information on the new game as released by the developers. A compilation of what we know for certain, accompanying the existing bunch of threads of what we want/think/hope will be in the game. Only editable by mods. It will be a lot easier to pick up on the conversation then. Right now, I have no idea what is official and what is hogwash.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Right now, I have no idea what is official and what is hogwash.

Actually very little is actually official. The vast majority of what is currently being talked about is simply peoples own opinions, speculation or expectations... which is fine to a point, but then some folks do start taking all that opinion, speculation and expectation as fact.

For example all the hysteria and hand wringing over multi-player vs single player... the fact is... we simply don't have enough information on that yet.

[Hamish 1,370]

I think in the comming months, we will look to start a thread that is confirmed information only, but at the moment there isn't really enough to start that.

While yes, it would be good to get it sorted quickly, I think its best to wait for a while until we get a big rush of official info, then the thread might make a bit of sence.

[jacksunny 741]

I completely agree. We should start such a thread when we get details about each thing, not just "the game has multiplayer and curvy roads."

[Tarkus 6,933]

Judging by what I've seen so far, they're just letting info trickle out. I wouldn't expect to see enough info to merit official threads like that for a good while still. We're still in Q1 2012. The game could come out any time between Q1 2013 and Q4 2013.

-Tarkus

[MINIggy03 227]

Amazon placed the preorders for Q1 of 2013. While that isn't any official announcement, we can assume they're pushing for an early 2013 release. But of course we know how games can get delayed/pushed back.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I truly hope that if such a thread occurs, it will be writable by very few people and readable by all. Since we are on a reasonable software platform (I hope), this should be built in. This thread will need to have a comment button that will take one to another thread.

[warrior 169]

So far they are only recommunicating details already announced. So we won't get anything new for a bit.

Given that they will be reading forums at some point if not already, the best thing to do is just to discuss the game.

[JanH 5]

A Swiss gaming page has been visiting Maxis, and they've published an account of their visit here:

http://www.games.ch/sim-city/artikel/vorschau-v123f65856.php

As it is written in German, here's a translation of it as well:

Sim City 5 From the clouds down to the streets of San Francisco

Preview: PC • 15 March 2012 • Benjamin (bk)

Will Wright once created something which would captivate us forever: a building simulation with charm and depth. There’s nothing more beautiful than building your own paradise of beauty and wellbeing, and then having it destroyed by a tsunami. And now, the legend returns: GAMES.CH has visited Maxis, the creators of „The Sims“ in San Francisco, explains the new modular lego-like-system, how much attention to detail is being paid by the new Glassbox engine, which lets you zoom from the clouds down to the streets of your city, and why in multiplayer two players will get a sudden flash of inspiration. “Sim City 5” – the preview!

(by Raychul Moore)

"Sim City 5" – the exclusive preview!

Is there anything more beautiful than painstakingly creating a city, with much attention to detail, a paradise of prosperity and wellbeing, and then destroying it through a natural disaster? There hardly is, and that’s why the time has come for the “Sims” creators from Maxis to unveil “Sim City”. As if the developers knew what we wanted to see, a mysterious dark van is parking in front of a shopping mall. The camera zooms in smoothly and without any stutter on to the scene. We watch some guy get out of the car, but then, what the hell? He takes a petrol can out of the car… and sets fire to a kiosk. Inside of it, there is a lot of paper, and within seconds, the flames are devouring the building, and are threatening the rest of the mall as well. Code Red!

Could somebody please call the fire brigade?

Immediately, the cursor moves to a nearby fire station, and just as before, we can marvel at the fantastic look of the new Glassbox-Engine of „Sim City“. Unlike its predecessors, we are not stuck somewhere at half height, but can zoom in extremely close. We pass children playing around, romping dogs, and a postman delivering parcels. As we reach the fire station, the sun is being reflected in the office windows. The big gate opens, sirens wail, and the first fire engines are getting under way. The love and attention to detail is incredible: We can even see the fire fighters behind the steering wheel, and if we peer more closely, we can see their colleagues sliding down the pole from the control room down to the garage. Fire Brigade No. 63 is racing towards the incident, with all other cars on the streets pulling over to let them through. As we can see, these scenes clearly demonstrate with how much love for detail Maxis is making the game. At the same time, things are more dramatic than ever: We see burning sims fleeing the mall, who are then rescued with the aid of fire blankets. Ambulances are racing at top speed towards the scene of the accident, brake, and release armadas of paramedics, who are then running around carrying their cases and stretchers. If we keep in mind that this isn’t “The Sims 4”, but still an economy simulation, it is clearly impressive to see how the fire fighters are rolling out hoses and trying to fight the flames.

Modular lego-like police stations

At the same time, their colleagues from the police department are called to the scene, as well. But damn, it is much too small, after all, the police is responsible for evacuating the building and closing down the surrounding roads. Clearly, we need more officers. You don’t get them by simply recruiting though, instead, Maxis has applied the good old Lego approach, where you were able to expand your police station as much as you liked. In order to make this possible, they’ve implemented a tool which allows buildings to expand quasi infinitely. At the beginning, you start with the main building, where the officers are doing their job. If we add a garage, the station gains cars and motorcycles. If we build additional parking spaces, we get even more cars. A helicopter is expensive, and the landing area needs to be kept clear, so you’d need a lot of space for it. Therefore, the idea is to have lots of small stations spread around, fighting the crime locally, while the helicopter, special forces, cell blocks, and similar things are all concentrated at police headquarters.

Drama, Drama Baby. But now, back to start

All right, after this atmospheric and technical blow-away-moment, it is Maxis’s turn to explain what happens in the starting phase of a new game: As is typical for „Sim City“, it is important to divide your city into different areas, after all, nobody wants to live next to sewage works, coal-fired power plants, or factories in general. On the other hand, commercial zones, where big enterprises like Simtech are building their futuristic corporate headquarters shouldn’t be placed too far away from the residential areas. After all, everybody likes waking up late and the longer a sim’s commute, the more his productivity decreases. All amenities your sims are needing should be placed near their homes: super markets, a big shopping centre, kindergartens, schools, a post office, police and fire stations. Very handy: European-style curves and cul-de-sacs are now possible, which allows for better utilisation of the available building land. US-cities, especially San Francisco are built in a gridded fashion; there are some main avenues running parallel to each other, which are crossed at 90 degrees angle by other main avenues. This is very handy for US-cities, especially as it meant that we couldn’t get lost in San Francisco, but for a „Sim City“ player, a city looks much nicer and more realistic, if it is able to spread organically, like for example in „Anno 2070“.

Massive focus on multiplayer: The fight for citizens

Over the course of time, citizens, especially the wealthy ones, develop demands for various things, which need to be satisfied. They might want better security, which of course means more police officers. Or they might crave for a gigantic multi-storey US-style shopping mall, complete with its own miniature railway, like “The Grove” in Los Angeles. If we don’t offer our sims these amenities, they simply leave for another city. “Sim City” wants its players to be online as much as possible, and forces the competitive aspect in a similar fashion to Ubisoft with their “Anno 2070”. The idea behind this sounds extremely interesting: There is a world market where everybody can buy things. Just like in real life, the price is determined by supply and demand. If everybody wants coal, prices soar, and a player who is mining lots of it can sell it on the global market and become really rich.

A nasty method of sabotaging others: Toxic waste

As usual, there are lots of possibilities to harm opposing players. Some of them are completely legitimate, like starting a marketing campaign for your city and raising one’s media profile, which of course necessitates attracting media headquarters to your city. The more the media is reporting, the more sims are attracted to our city. Alternatively, we could turn nasty, and build sewage works and factories in such a fashion that the toxic waste water is transported away towards our adversary. If his health care system is inefficient, his sims will get sick, perhaps even creating an epidemic. People are then gathering on a bridge that strikingly resembles the Golden Gate Bridge, which in real life links San Francisco and Oakland, and in “Sim City”, the city of our adversary with our own one. The sims are standing there for a while, protesting and holding signs. If our opponent doesn’t react quickly enough, his citizens simply migrate to the other side, and move into our city’s homes.

Conclusion

Back the roots and yet very modern. While “Sim City Societies” earned the disapproval of fans because of its “casualification”, Maxis now wants to replicate the golden days of Will Wright. In any case, the demo leaves you wanting more: Graphics are superb and incredibly detailed, with all the different citizens living their own lives. There are nursing homes, where pensioners are resting on park benches and kindergartens with kids playing on the swings. There are busy police stations, with officers constantly coming and going, assisting staggering drunks, or escorting thieves in handcuffs from the police cars to the cells. Multiplayer seems promising as well: We especially like the idea of a world market, as it creates the good old “I sell, who will pay me…”-feeling from “The Settlers of Catan”. It remains to see whether natural disasters, such as floods, volcanic eruptions, or even abstruse things like an alien invasion as in one of the predecessors will drag our lovingly created city down into the abyss.

Edit: Fix some errors

  Edited March 19, 2012 by JanH  

[Neotrezz 7]

If i wanted to play a ANNO game, i buy ANNO. I want to play Simcity.. a City simulator based on realism as much as possible. Why do developers always try to mix their brilliant game with another brilliant game. I mean.. 1+1=2 (overkill)..

Just leave that stupid idea out of the game. It is a city simulation game. First finish all that's not implemented yet.. after that add 'optional' game scenarios like this. I'm not going to play that industrial v.s. high-tech game anyway. Never...

[Mark Waybill 242]

"the Golden Gate Bridge, which in real life links San Francisco and Oakland"

Um no. It doesn't.

But aside from that it would sound as though the lego style modular building system and 'attention to detail' should be improvements. I believe in single player mode we wouldn't be connected with the global market simulation, and single player could be like a model railway's fiddle yard, in that we can build a city and then connect it to the simworld.

[Catmando 7]

But aside from that it would sound as though the lego style modular building system and 'attention to detail' should be improvements.

Have they addressed just how detailed the modular building is? Will it go right down to what we would consider props in simcity, like trash cans, street lamps, and such, essentially becoming an in-game lot editor but without the base and overlay textures editing, or is it going to be a lot less intricate? I haven't heard much about it other than the article above, and I'm really, really curious how Maxis is going to do it.

  Edited March 18, 2012 by Catmando  

[Mark Waybill 242]

Personally I'd like it if it was like an in game lot editor with building parts as well. So like the lot editor but with the ability to add floors and additional building extensions. From what I've seen it is uncertain what they will actually have.

[JanH 5]

"the Golden Gate Bridge, which in real life links San Francisco and Oakland"

Um no. It doesn't.

Don't blame me , I've only translated it. But you're right, they're probably somehow confusing it with the Bay Bridge.

I'm also a bit puzzled about the idea of building sewage treatment plants in order to harm your neighbours, after all the idea behind building them is to clean up the water, and not pollute it even more. But I guess the article's a bit too vague in that regard, and it's also a bit too early to really worry about things like that at the moment.

[Catmando 7]

I'm also a bit puzzled about the idea of building sewage treatment plants in order to harm your neighbours, after all the idea behind building them is to clean up the water, and not pollute it even more. But I guess the article's a bit too vague in that regard, and it's also a bit too early to really worry about things like that at the moment.

It may be that the idea behind the "sewage works" is to just dump the toxic sludge into the water. Or maybe it's something like the toxic waste dump, so it pollutes everything around itself but gives your city money.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I'm also a bit puzzled about the idea of building sewage treatment plants in order to harm your neighbours, after all the idea behind building them is to clean up the water, and not pollute it even more. But I guess the article's a bit too vague in that regard, and it's also a bit too early to really worry about things like that at the moment.

It may be that the idea behind the "sewage works" is to just dump the toxic sludge into the water. Or maybe it's something like the toxic waste dump, so it pollutes everything around itself but gives your city money.

The idea of dirty tricks is rather a matter for the Regional Police wouldn't you say? I'd like to see the establishment of such a force or a tribunal where fines for such things can be levied, as well as damages payable to the offended cities. No action should be without consequences.

[Catmando 7]

I'm also a bit puzzled about the idea of building sewage treatment plants in order to harm your neighbours, after all the idea behind building them is to clean up the water, and not pollute it even more. But I guess the article's a bit too vague in that regard, and it's also a bit too early to really worry about things like that at the moment.

It may be that the idea behind the "sewage works" is to just dump the toxic sludge into the water. Or maybe it's something like the toxic waste dump, so it pollutes everything around itself but gives your city money.

The idea of dirty tricks is rather a matter for the Regional Police wouldn't you say? I'd like to see the establishment of such a force or a tribunal where fines for such things can be levied, as well as damages payable to the offended cities. No action should be without consequences.

I think actions should definitely have consequences and it seems to me that's a fundamental idea of Simcity: you can do whatever you want, but you will pay for it, one way or another; add a ton of educational institutions, and be they higher EQ or massive budget deficits, consequences will occur. I'm not sure a regional police will exist or need exist, though. For example, that sewage works may make neighboring cities undesirable, but it may give you bad press as well. The article JanH posted above seems to put emphasis on the importance of media and attracting your citizens in a very direct way. If the media in your city is very watchful of you, they may harp about it. I can see it now on the news ticker: "Mayor [x] Blamed for Burgeoning Eco-disaster" or something very alarmist and... advisory.

[SimsCity5 1]

I am really Looking forwards to the new game to come out Because it will be really good and fun to play on. SimsCity 4 was a great game as well so they both might be the same but look different.

[meowza 230]

"Sim City 5" – the exclusive preview!

Is there anything more beautiful than painstakingly creating a city, with much attention to detail, a paradise of prosperity and wellbeing, and then destroying it through a natural disaster? There hardly is, and that’s why the time has come for the “Sims” creators from Maxis to unveil “Sim City”. As if the developers knew what we wanted to see, a mysterious dark van is parking in front of a shopping mall. The camera zooms in smoothly and without any stutter on to the scene. We watch some guy get out of the car, but then, what the hell? He takes a petrol can out of the car… and sets fire to a kiosk. Inside of it, there is a lot of paper, and within seconds, the flames are devouring the building, and are threatening the rest of the mall as well. Code Red!

...

I hope the article is accurate, atleast to some degree. Cause if it is... It is beautiful!

“Sim City” wants its players to be online as much as possible, and forces the competitive aspect in a similar fashion to Ubisoft with their “Anno 2070”.

^ This really worries me though..

By the way, thanks for the article JanH!

Shouldn't this be put on the ST homepage?

  Edited March 19, 2012 by meowza  

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I am really Looking forwards to the new game to come out Because it will be really good and fun to play on. SimsCity 4 was a great game as well so they both might be the same but look different.

The use of the past tense with respect to a living, vibrant game is rather premature. Old does not mean dead.

“Sim City” wants its players to be online as much as possible, and forces the competitive aspect in a similar fashion to Ubisoft with their “Anno 2070”.

^ This really worries me though..

I think you will find that the advantage of having a server-based system will outweigh the fact that you are connected. By the time this game hits the street most people will have broadband connections in North America and hopefully world wide.

I expect people expecting to run with WiFi may be at a disadvantage because of the additional overheads.

[meowza 230]

“Sim City” wants its players to be online as much as possible, and forces the competitive aspect in a similar fashion to Ubisoft with their “Anno 2070”.

^ This really worries me though..

I think you will find that the advantage of having a server-based system will outweigh the fact that you are connected. By the time this game hits the street most people will have broadband connections in North America and hopefully world wide.

I expect people expecting to run with WiFi may be at a disadvantage because of the additional overheads.

That's an important note to consider. But what I'm really concerned about is having limits with ingame moddability. If we want to revamp the economic mechanics for example, how are we supposed to do it if the prices of comodities are dictated by the game's global economy? I haven't heard Maxis specifically mention anything yet about true single player offline sandbox mode.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

^ I think that price controls are beyond the purview of a city administrator. The only thing a city can do is taxes. Prices should be driven by the economy of the region. The idea of a global economy might not be a bad base to begin trading, but should be adjusted over the region by the results of the internal trading. Only off-region trade should truly be affected by some sort of global market which should be variable and not fixed depending on how inter-region trading is going.

Inter-region trading has been vaguely hinted at by the very idea of a global trading/pricing system. Let the chips fall where they may and let us all do well while doing good. There is the implication here of a commodity trading exchange.

What do people think about a Regional Governor with a staff?

  Edited March 19, 2012 by A Nonny Moose