SimCity: Gameplay

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

This is almost certainly real, http://schedule.gdco...sented_by_EA%29 See this link.

"DESCRIPTION:

Join EA and one of their world class development studios as they give you a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the GlassBox Simulation Engine, the next-generation technology that is built from the ground up to power the next entry in one of their most beloved franchises."

Most beloved? what else could that be? well i guess theirs alot of things but still, its cannot be a coincidence. This is almost a confirmation, I guess we will know for sure really soon.

OK this is definately a real conference that is happening in just a few days.... with three very big wig EA people presenting the session...

How many EA games need a simulation engine?

Speaker/s: Ocean Quigley (EA), Andrew Willmott (EA) and Dan Moskowitz (EA)

Day / Time / Location: Wednesday 11:00-12:00 Room 3007, West Hall, 3rd Fl

Track / Duration / Format / Audience Level: Programming / 60-Minute / Sponsored

GDC Vault Recording: No Vault Recording

Description: Join EA and one of their world class development studios as they give you a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the GlassBox Simulation Engine, the next-generation technology that is built from the ground up to power the next entry in one of their most beloved franchises.

Eligible Passes: All Access Pass, Main Conference Pass

Ocean Quigley (EA) Creative Director

EA

Andrew Willmott (EA) Chief Architect

EA

Dan Moskowitz (EA) Lead Gameplay Engineer

EA

Rats... I missed the earlybird registration for the conference... anyone got a spare $2100? Oh and I will need another $3000 or so for airfares up to San Fransisco from New Zealand, hotels, slushies...

[Forthwall 1,118]

I am excited 100x for this development

[z1 566]

This is almost certainly real, http://schedule.gdconf.com/session/13473480/Inside_the_GlassBox_%28Presented_by_EA%29 See this link.

"DESCRIPTION:

Join EA and one of their world class development studios as they give you a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the GlassBox Simulation Engine, the next-generation technology that is built from the ground up to power the next entry in one of their most beloved franchises."

The first speaker listed is the eponymous Ocean Quigley, who had buildings named after him in SC3K and SC4, and was a major developer for both games. He was the art director for SC4. Looks real to me...

[Wiimeiser 444]

I think Prefab interchanges would be a huge liability in this gridless setting. And cloverleaf interchanges are pretty much extinct, the newest half one I know of was built here in Melbourne in 1991 or something

[MatlockMan 370]

This is almost certainly real, http://schedule.gdconf.com/session/13473480/Inside_the_GlassBox_%28Presented_by_EA%29 See this link.

"DESCRIPTION:

Join EA and one of their world class development studios as they give you a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the GlassBox Simulation Engine, the next-generation technology that is built from the ground up to power the next entry in one of their most beloved franchises."

The first speaker listed is the eponymous Ocean Quigley, who had buildings named after him in SC3K and SC4, and was a major developer for both games. He was the art director for SC4. Looks real to me...

Well that's it then. I checked through the EA website details outlining the speakers, and all of them are somehow related to Simcity. I, personally, think this is great. As long as there's mods avaliable, I'm happy.

EDIT: World class? It's gotta be Maxis. Creator of Sims, Spore, and millions of Sim games.

  Edited March 1, 2012 by tmorgan96  

[pbmbfl 4]

This is almost certainly real, http://schedule.gdco...sented_by_EA%29 See this link.

"DESCRIPTION:

Join EA and one of their world class development studios as they give you a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the GlassBox Simulation Engine, the next-generation technology that is built from the ground up to power the next entry in one of their most beloved franchises."

Most beloved? what else could that be? well i guess theirs alot of things but still, its cannot be a coincidence. This is almost a confirmation, I guess we will know for sure really soon.

OK this is definately a real conference that is happening in just a few days.... with three very big wig EA people presenting the session...

How many EA games need a simulation engine?

Speaker/s: Ocean Quigley (EA), Andrew Willmott (EA) and Dan Moskowitz (EA)

Day / Time / Location: Wednesday 11:00-12:00 Room 3007, West Hall, 3rd Fl

Track / Duration / Format / Audience Level: Programming / 60-Minute / Sponsored

GDC Vault Recording: No Vault Recording

Description: Join EA and one of their world class development studios as they give you a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the GlassBox Simulation Engine, the next-generation technology that is built from the ground up to power the next entry in one of their most beloved franchises.

Eligible Passes: All Access Pass, Main Conference Pass

Ocean Quigley (EA) Creative Director

EA

Andrew Willmott (EA) Chief Architect

EA

Dan Moskowitz (EA) Lead Gameplay Engineer

EA

Rats... I missed the earlybird registration for the conference... anyone got a spare $2100? Oh and I will need another $3000 or so for airfares up to San Fransisco from New Zealand, hotels, slushies...

LOL, I really hope this turns out to be the sim city that we deserve and have been waiting on since forever, Its great that all of the maxis developers are going to be working on this, And i hope they take their time making this game the best of all previous titles.

[Dr.Rockso 0]

I think it might be great if maxis just made the base game and allowed the already in place mod developers create the content as they go. That way its up to us how good and detailed the game can be...

  Edited March 1, 2012 by Dr.Rockso  

[pbmbfl 4]

Id rather wait for a great game than settle for a Good game.

One thing i really liked was the idea that there was going to be more SC4 expansion packs, I hope they have plenty of expansions in SC5.

[blak 4]

I'm really excited about this announcement.

However, I'm also quite skeptical.

The pictures are obviously "concept arts", imho. They look gorgeous anyway.

I just hope that this new chapter is not going to be too "social".

There's nothing wrong with a multiplayer-like feature in SimCity, but I prefer the "single-player".

Also, I really think that EA/Maxis should take a look at Simtropolis's buildings and modds to make SimCity 5 even better than its predecessor(s).

And speaking of modds, let's just hope that SimCity 5 will be "moddable" like SimCity 4, which is quite possible.

[brynhyfryd 222]

I just wish/hope that EA/Maxis will work with the Community and the MODDERS on these forums. Maybe it would be possible to port some BAT's over with a little modding and help from EA?.

@pbmbfl

I to hope to see many expansions also. As for the development schedule, I do hope that Maxis/EA take their time. I wonder when they started development.

Edit

Just found this video on youtube. Shows some possible game footage.

  Edited March 1, 2012 by brynhyfryd  

[Tarkus 6,932]

Just found this video on youtube. Shows some possible game footage.

That footage is from SimCity: Societies. The apparent new game has had nothing but concept art (no in-game screenshots) released at this point.

I'm increasingly led to believe that the notion of this leading to a proper sequel to SC4 is legitimate. I'm usually one of the biggest skeptics, but I'm pretty well convinced.

-Tarkus

  Edited March 1, 2012 by Tarkus  

[Ocram's Razr 963]

If Quiggly is still around, that means that a great deal of buildings could easily be modified for Glass Box.

[brynhyfryd 222]

Thanks Tarkus.

I have never played societies before so did not recognise the footage.

Im just cannot stop thinking about the new simcity game and its making me crazy. The next 12/18 months are going to be hell.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

The next 12/18 months are going to be hell.

Never mind that... the next few days are going to be even worse while we wait to see if the big announcement at the GDC Conference is what we think it is... or if they are just going to bring out a new Sims 4... which of course we have all been clamouring for, for years... not.

[§haÅ--Ñ€ §hÅŽo 370]

The next 12/18 months are going to be hell.

Never mind that... the next few days are going to be even worse while we wait to see if the big announcement at the GDC Conference is what we think it is... or if they are just going to bring out a new Sims 4... which of course we have all been clamouring for, for years... not.

If that happens, than I suggest we riot.

[Tarkus 6,932]

EA isn't done making expansions for Sims 3, which has only been out for less than 3 years, so I'd say that's unlikely.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

There is a very interesting discussion here...

http://www.squidoo.com/simcity5

It makes some good points about why would EA, after all these years do several things in quick succession to keep SC4 alive and talked about?

For example...

Sim City 4 Still Marketed by EA in 2012

Here's a puzzling circumstance: Sim City 4, a game released almost a decade ago that hasn't received any update in many years, is still being marketed by EA. The ad above appears for an exact search for "Sim City 4" in Google.

Additionally, EA created an official Facebook Page for the game in November 2011. EA'sofficial Facebook Page for the entire Sim City franchise seems to be nothing but SC4 updates...which is kind of ironic, as the newer (yet failed) "Sim City Societies" hardly has a single mention. Could the company's undeniable recognition and extraordinary effort to keep Sim City 4 alive mean that a Sim City 5 is in their pipeline?

While there is an official Facebook page for all Sim City games, the most puzzling part is that EA went through the trouble of uploading an actual commercial for Sim City 4...in December 2011. Why would they go through all of this effort for an old game that is no longer supported or updated?

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

SimCity.com Gets Taken Down

In a strange turn of events, EA took down the official SimCity.com website in late 2011 (as well as the subdomain "simcity.ea.com") and re-directed the domain name to their official Facebook Page for Sim City, of which heavily promotes Sim City 4.

EA posted an official message in late 2011 to "Sim City 4 fans" notifying them of the new location of the old website, back on the EA.com domain. Once again, why is EA putting so much effort back into Sim City 4...a game released for Windows XP?

Is it possible that the huge success and active fan base of Sim City 4 is enough to capture the attention of EA? Is it possible that Sim City Societies was an uncertain business move from day one, which is why it wasn't given the title "Sim City 5?" Why in 2012 is EA putting more face-time on Sim City 4 than Sim City Societies, game that was released almost five years after it?

Furthermore, are all of these actions pointing toward the possibility of the franchise going back to its roots, and resulting in a true Sim City 5?

Let's hope so.

[Tarkus 6,932]

They were clearly testing the waters with that last little bit. The 9-9-9 promotion, the website switch, the iOS versions, all of it.

-Tarkus

[§haÅ--Ñ€ §hÅŽo 370]

I'm really hoping that this is really SimCity 5, it seems so much like it is.

[Azurespecter 506]

Good observations Craign-Abcvs. Although I personally don't think EA ever intended to abandon the Sim City franchise, I think this increased activity supports the idea that they are finally getting around to developing a sequel.

Also, as someone who follows The Sims series, even though I don't really play it, they definitely aren't done releasing expansions for The Sims 3. They follow a strict set of guidelines in creating those games, proven to be most profitable. Every 6 months they release an expansion, every 6 months they release a stuff pack, so every 3 months or so they have a new game to sell for $30 or $50.

So keeping in mind that The Sims 2 had 8 expansions and 10 stuff packs and The Sims 1 had 7 expansions, right now they are working on the 6th expansion (release date in march) and then the 6th stuff pack mid-year. I find it highly unlikely that they would announce and begin development on The Sims 4 when there should be at least 3 more stuff packs/expansions which will take them to mid 2013 with The Sims 3.

[cesarisaias95 58]

OMG! I hope it's true!

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Well to be honest, I was being a little sarcastic about them maybe announcing Sims 4...

...of course in the hope that indeed they are going to announce SC5!

As someone that knows virtually nothing about Sims 3, it is heartening to hear that there is clearly plenty of room left for them to continue that current game for a while yet.

The main reason I raised The Sims ... is because I am wondering... how many games are there that require a 'simulation engine'? ... because whatever they are going to talk about next week at the GDC, requires exactly that.

[croxis 150]

The concept art style looks a lot like tilt-shift photography which would continue with the vivid art pallet of the previous games.

[mrboo001 12]

I won't believe it until it comes and I won't buy until the simcity community gives it the thumbs up (managed to avoid the train wreck that was societies that way).

On the other hand, I can't explain how badly I want a proper SimCity 5!

[Ocram's Razr 963]

It would be either The Sims franchise or SimCity franchise and Ocean Quiggly has worked on both.

The Sims is a more popular franchise but SimCity needs a new title. Of course SimCity Social is indeed being developed by Playfish but PlayFish is by no means maxis. I also think that The Sims franchise has its own division, and is no longer part of Maxis... then again I thought that Maxis was completely dissolved by now.

[§haÅ--Ñ€ §hÅŽo 370]

It would be either The Sims franchise or SimCity franchise and Ocean Quiggly has worked on both.

The Sims is a more popular franchise but SimCity needs a new title. Of course SimCity Social is indeed being developed by Playfish but PlayFish is by no means maxis. I also think that The Sims franchise has its own division, and is no longer part of Maxis... then again I thought that Maxis was completely dissolved by now.

The Sims Franchise and SimCity Franchise are working together on this. So that may change some thoughts.

[Lucario Boricua 7,028]

Something I think should happen is that EA and Maxis should hire the legendary modding teams of SimCity 4 to do a lot of the game's work (NAM, PEG, CAM, among others). It'd be GLORIOUS to have a SimCity throne successor in which the design and functionality is determined by talents like these.

[jacksunny 741]

Herman Cain, thank you very much.

[Dirktator 2,320]

It does look cartoonish, but I take heart in the fact that these are not final in-game shots. This is all concept stuff, so the art direction will more than likely be refined closer to completion. Still, it's something to look at for now and it's serving its purpose!

Wait. Are you personally confirming this news? If anyone would know, it would be you, knowing that Maxis/EA had contacted you in the past, and if they have their data correct, they know that you own the most active SC community site. So my guess is, if this is for real, you'd be the one to know it/get confirmation. So, do you?

I'd hate to see everyone taking this for granted, getting all worked up, than ending up with nothing.

And people, if that happens, let's remember that, although we'd all love to see a new SC game, we already have amazingly upgraded game, built up and upgraded to extent that no game will be able to achieve that level any time soon.

I know nothing.

I did email the only contact I have in the Maxis camp, but he responded with a very campy answer. Of course he would neither confirm or deny... Which only means one thing, as far as I'm concerned.

[Dirktator 2,320]

This is almost certainly real, http://schedule.gdco...sented_by_EA%29 See this link.

"DESCRIPTION:

Join EA and one of their world class development studios as they give you a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the GlassBox Simulation Engine, the next-generation technology that is built from the ground up to power the next entry in one of their most beloved franchises."

Most beloved? what else could that be? well i guess theirs alot of things but still, its cannot be a coincidence. This is almost a confirmation, I guess we will know for sure really soon.

"Most beloved franchise..."

Well, I agree, that all but confirms it. SimCity 5 is coming, friends.