SimCity: Gameplay

[Asheroo 53]

But however, the many articles, interviews, previews and even the Game Overview page on the Sim City site and the specs on its product page show that you will always be connected and your cities/regions will always be affected. There is not one bit of information which suggests any kind of true single player where your city will not be affected by every single other city in the game's online global economy. As for banned players, where did you hear that (in a Sim City related article)? At the moment by the sounds of things, if a player is banned, then that's that for their game.

Anyways, I truly am still hoping sometime soon they will add a true single player that will allow for sandbox mode/cheats. I have never liked dealing with finance in city building games.

[Moory 7]

But however, the many articles, interviews, previews and even the Game Overview page on the Sim City site and the specs on its product page show that you will always be connected and your cities/regions will always be affected. There is not one bit of information which suggests any kind of true single player where your city will not be affected by every single other city in the game's online global economy. As for banned players, where did you hear that (in a Sim City related article)? At the moment by the sounds of things, if a player is banned, then that's that for their game.

Anyways, I truly am still hoping sometime soon they will add a true single player that will allow for sandbox mode/cheats. I have never liked dealing with finance in city building games.

You do realize that someone will develop a work around file that won't require any online connectivity? It won't happen right away but soon after release it will be available to download unless Maxis decides otherwise.

[Asheroo 53]

I'm pretty sure Maxis/EA would be straight onto that with their current 'online-only' stance.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

You do realize that someone will develop a work around file that won't require any online connectivity?

[moderator]They might, but we will not be discussing it here on this forum.[/moderator]

Please read this.

[Ocram's Razr 963]

Origin can be run in off-line mode. EA has released absolutely no games that don't work off-line.

/discussion

[Asheroo 53]

Well I guess they do now? We'll have to just keep waiting for further news about all this. I am still hopeful they will have some kind of offline mode. But however, as it is currently from previews and what the specs currently state on the Origin product page, Sim City is 'online only'. Best to wait than assume (but of course, we all sometimes love speculation).

[Ocram's Razr 963]

You have a point but I will hold off judgment until E3.

[Moory 7]

You do realize that someone will develop a work around file that won't require any online connectivity?

[moderator]They might, but we will not be discussing it here on this forum.[/moderator]

Please read this.

I thought I'd be riding the fence with my post.I apologize about that.

I just hope Maxis is really reading these forums and are taking offline into serious consideration.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

I just hope Maxis is really reading these forums and are taking offline into serious consideration.

I suspect they are lurking.

[Jeffmaster223 24]

i am quite anxious for this. lately i've been building cities on minecraft for the past 6 months.

don't fail us now, maxis!

[Ocram's Razr 963]

I built a really cool city in Minecraft complete with Sears Tower. I await with joyful hope for the coming of this wonderful game.

  Edited May 8, 2012 by OcramSeattle  

[Dijego 66]

Relaunch of the franchise...

http://www.vg247.com...-not-simcity-5/

Don't call it SimCity if it will be completely different from other releases.

The further I look into it the more it seems they are trying to sell a quick made game to an audience they gained due to great modders from SC4 or at least through awesome gameplay features they had. People should wait for reviews before they buy it on release, that is the advice I will be giving... unfortunately. I was looking forward so much, the opportunities to make a great game are wide open. Yet the people who open their mouths about it speak of a weaker version of SC4 with honeyed words making it seem more than it is.

I wonder if they forgot how to make SimCity since it has been so long, only time will tell.

Best of luck to all of us I guess. Let's hope they put some effort in it themselves instead of releasing modification abilties later to patch it up. They appear so confident even though a lot of features they wanted to implement have not really gotten anyone super enthusiastic yet.

Can someone reply to this with some good news please? I need it.

  Edited May 9, 2012 by Dijego  

[LivingInThePast 364]

It's not WORTHY of a "5" if they're going to force Origin online integration, DLC, etc.

Seriously, Maxis isn't developing this. Maxis died a long time ago, when its studios were fully folded into EA circa 2004 (after SC4, might I add).

It's some EA division using "Maxis" as a trade name. So they use a few older developers. So what.

[Tarkus 6,932]

Seriously, Maxis isn't developing this. Maxis died a long time ago, when its studios were fully folded into EA circa 2004 (after SC4, might I add).

That's not entirely accurate. Maxis' headquarters in Walnut Creek were closed in 2000 and they were moved into the main EA office in Redwood Shores at that time. They opened a separate office for Maxis again in Emeryville (wedged between Oakland and Berkeley) sometime while Spore was still in development--that office is sometimes referred to as "EA Maxis Emeryville". SC4 was, to the best of my knowledge, developed out of the Redwood Shores.

-Tarkus

[LivingInThePast 364]

Seriously, Maxis isn't developing this. Maxis died a long time ago, when its studios were fully folded into EA circa 2004 (after SC4, might I add).

That's not entirely accurate. Maxis' headquarters in Walnut Creek were closed in 2000 and they were moved into the main EA office in Redwood Shores at that time. They opened a separate office for Maxis again in Emeryville (wedged between Oakland and Berkeley) sometime while Spore was still in development--that office is sometimes referred to as "EA Maxis Emeryville". SC4 was, to the best of my knowledge, developed out of the Redwood Shores.

-Tarkus

I remember reading on some SimGlobal about the move, and here is a then-contemporary news article from the time: http://www.gamespot.com/news/electronic-arts-moves-maxis-6089213

February 2004, after Rush Hour. Maxis died, right then.

[Hamish 1,369]

I can’t remember seeing this covered much elsewhere, so I’ll start a quick conversation here:

How is the new SimCity different from previous installments?

We wanted to preserve what was great about the gameplay of previous SimCitys and still improve and innovate as much as possible. The gardening aspect of SimCity through zoning is one of the hallmark experiences of SimCity. It’s very much part of this SimCity as well. In this version, players will have only one zone type for Residential, Commercial, and Industrial. Density will be driven by the types of roads and general traffic around these zones.

From the most recent article.

I think I like this idea. One of the problems I come across when starting a city is what to zone first. Do I try and double guess the game, and start zoning high density where I expect/want high density to be when the city is complete? Or do I zone low density and rezone when I realise it should be denser. With this idea they are pushing, the density is made by the game, giving the correct density to the right area of the city based on types of roads and their traffic load.

Obviously I see the need to be able to place any density where ever you want, but I think that this idea would be quite useful, and make it much easier to start up a city.

What are your views?

[LivingInThePast 364]

I think there was a topic somewhere about this:

[jdenm8 362]

Upper limits of zoning densities determined by available facilities then grown at whim by the game? That isn't how it works in real life. How SC4's zones work is pretty close to how it works in RL.

They keep going on about realism when talking about the Always-Online requirement, then they do this?

  Edited May 10, 2012 by jdenm8  

[Mark Waybill 242]

"In this version, players will have only one zone type for Residential, Commercial, and Industrial. Density will be driven by the types of roads and general traffic around these zones."

I am indifferent to this. If I want to create an exact ideal city like a painting with every pixel just right I'll use a modding tool or scurk program, in the game itself I am fine with this so long as it is realistic.

"and the modular nature of our ploppable buildings"

So hence non ploppable, zoned buildings may not be module based. Once again this does not faze me but seems logical.

"These resources include water, coal, oil, and ore."

Kip, you forgot farm produce. Which is um... definitely an important resource.

"We plan to introduce players to the tools slowly through a mission based tutorial so they understand the simulation and the tools at their disposal. This mission extends beyond the tutorial and is part of the core gameplay loop, offering rewards for completing missions."

Once again this seems logical, I just hope these missions are as they said before optional, and do not force you to build in a certain way.

"Disasters are going to be more epic than ever."

Yes, Kip, floods will be epic.

"Great Works"

Seems logical.

[MINIggy03 227]

I'm curious to see how the zoning density plays out, I think it could end up being a lot better.

Take for example, you start on an empty map and right now the demand is squat. So you build yourself a little main street with shops, some branching roads for residential and maybe some nice little farmland. At this point, there's no need for medium/high density, the demand isn't there, it's not going to grow. If you want higher density, you're going to have to expand the town, stretch Main Street out further and upgrade the roads. You can either keep building the town into a city, or you can start connecting to neighbors and build more towns, creating more demand for a city somewhere else.

  Edited May 10, 2012 by MINIggy03  

[Mark Waybill 242]

It might create a more organic and less predictable city growth pattern, and will very much retain the 'gardening' of earlier versions, but I still think that in all honesty IRL there are so many exceptions to this rule that to have none in the game might make it the opposite, and become predictable and simplified.

[baertooth 330]

I'm a Simcity master so I prefer my tools to give me MORE control. EA has stated several times the mantra of "simplifying" games and this is nothing but more of that.

I've created many SC4 cities that relied on the fact that I forced low/medium/high density in certain and sometimes all places. Taking that control away means, at least from what I can speculate, that I will no longer be able to make cities taking advantage of that feature. That seems less than optimal. Why not create a fourth state that says any density can grow in that marked zone and that zone has mechanics like what they're trying to do?

Well, they're trying to make Simcity the city simulator into Simcity the everydayjoegame. Is that bad? I don't know. I've been intrigued by some of the game news but I've got to be honest and say I want more control, not less. I want more paint program and less lame achievements-based-play.

[MINIggy03 227]

Who says density levels still can't be controlled? We haven't seen how it works yet to judge that they are simplifying it.

[§haÅ--Ñ€ §hÅŽo 370]

Who says density levels still can't be controlled? We haven't seen how it works yet to judge that they are simplifying it.

Some article, I can't find it at the moment. But it said Density cannot be controlled. I have no opinion on the choice.

[MINIggy03 227]

Some article, I can't find it at the moment. But it said Density cannot be controlled. I have no opinion on the choice.

This is the quote:

How is the new SimCity different from previous installments?

We wanted to preserve what was great about the gameplay of previous SimCitys and still improve and innovate as much as possible. The gardening aspect of SimCity through zoning is one of the hallmark experiences of SimCity. It’s very much part of this SimCity as well. In this version, players will have only one zone type for Residential, Commercial, and Industrial. Density will be driven by the types of roads and general traffic around these zones.

Control is being shifted to our network.

  Edited May 11, 2012 by MINIggy03  

[baertooth 330]

And maybe that will work, though it's still less control. Where is in before I could directly control the density, now I have to indirectly control it. And before, the density manipulation was hidden in the zoning color which wasn't visible, but now the density manipulation will be the streets themselves and that will be visible.

Is that good, bad, or whatever? I'm not sure.

[Mark Waybill 242]

I wonder what this means for a single lane street with high density traffic, or for a wide avenue with very low traffic?

[Dijego 66]

Isn't it part of a sandbox-ish style game to try things? If you are wondering if you should start with high/medium/low density, just try it all out. In the end you will develop your own style that works for you and you can compare it with others and perhaps learn tricks from each other.

I don't think it is bad for a game to have choices where the answer is not immediately apparent. As long as you don't get lost in a maze of complicated options.

In the end the user has to be in control, not the game.

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

I thought SC4 had the density thing right in the first place. It wasn't like the old games where you had to QUICKLYBULLDOZE/DE-ZONE/RE-ZONEATTHEDESIREDDENSITY! You could plop higher density zoning right on top of the zones you wanted to change, and if you wanted to lower the density, it would bulldoze the buildings that were higher than the desired density, and if you wanted to change the zoning entirely, it would bulldoze the obstructing buildings for you. That was a good system, and I don't really see a reason to change it. But you know, if they want to do it in another way, I would really need to see it in operation before leveling proper judgment. It is early, after all.

[Mark Waybill 242]

If I want Sears Tower next to a country lane, let me have the negative consequences, but let me do it. However as for general development patterns, I am cautiously optimistic about this new system. But let me have farms and small factories on expressways if I wish to.