SimCity: Gameplay

[Cob92 360]

I know the original question mentioned the Sims; however, thequestion was formulated general enough to cover custom content. Moreover, from the articles it becomes very clear that "legacy content" - i.e. what we batted & lotted - will not work, not even with modifications, because of the new graphics engine which is NOT isometric but uses "free view" approaches similar to CitiXL. Anyone seeing current batters recreating the100-odd GB of custom stuff to fit the new engine??

Maxis/EA is, as expected, once again going for the money only. They are being their usual shortsighted selves, and are apparently unable to peruse the fan sites. Or understand what close to a million SC4 players world-wide are trying to tell them. Some time back, Becca tried to get folks on various sites to come up with a concerted letter to Maxis; well, now would be a good time to revive that idea. We know the addressee: Lucy Bradshaw, in charge of all simulations at EA. The only hope we have is a simple one: Maxis is just starting out on this. Hence now would be the time for all SC4 fans to stand up and be counted,

Why not start a petition across the sites? Now, more than ever before, would be the time to round up the troops on every SC4 site and pool them into a single message: we know what SC5 should be able to do! They claim to have the next generation graphics engine. Again, we know what CitiXL did wrong. And we already have long lists on every site, detailing what we want. Should not be hard to get a few thousand signatories for a real petition. All it takes is someone like the Pegasus or the Dirktator to spearhead the idea.

Not taking such a step means we leave it all to a bunch of developers who probably were not even old enough to purchase SC4 Deluxe when it came out. What that means has been shown time and again - you need not look any further than Societies and/or CitiXL.

This is pointless. Why should they include old custom content in the game if doing so could hold back other advances? Remember that the only reason SC4 has so much custom content is because the core game is good; if SC5 is as good, then a new custom content community will emerge around it just as was the case moving from SC3000 to SC4. The vast majority of the SC4 custom content only consists of cosmetic modifications anyway (such as buildings, road textures, terrain textures, automata, etc.) which I personally can live without if it means a better game.

  Edited March 3, 2012 by Cobhris96  

[Jazzmaster 716]

^

^^

Gotta agree with the last two posts on this one...I know it's hard to give up SimCity 4's custom content but if SC5 is anywhere near as good, then we can expect a new community as well as perhaps some older members from the SC4-era to pick up the tools and get to work transforming it like we did to SC4.

And yeah, they are a corporation who sees profit because corporations exist to make money. The only way to make 'legacy content' work would be to either patch SC4 to work on new computers or redo the whole game and address all the crashing etc. which won't happen because there's no profit in that.

Not taking such a step means we leave it all to a bunch of developers who probably were not even old enough to purchase SC4 Deluxe when it came out. What that means has been shown time and again - you need not look any further than Societies and/or CitiXL.

That seems a little rude to say. One member of the NAM team I know is only sixteen and is quite heavily involved in NAM development; the age of the developers has no bearing on their ability, and we have no way of knowing their age at all in the first place so..

[hamsterTK 93]

Not taking such a step means we leave it all to a bunch of developers who probably were not even old enough to purchase SC4 Deluxe when it came out. What that means has been shown time and again - you need not look any further than Societies and/or CitiXL.

Its also inaccurate, SC4 isn't that ancient. I got it when I was 16 and am 24 now. The one person I know who is my age and is a programmer just started their entry level job and its something far less exciting than game development.

The design team for this game for what we know so far will probably include some people who worked on 4 and 3000. Look at the last names of the speakers at the GDC who work for EA and then think back at the names of various buildings in the game...it will be familiar..

  Edited March 3, 2012 by hamsterTK  

[Fischbob 9]

Exciting enough to coax me out of hibernation momentarily!

A Maxis-developed citybuilder on the horizon is a reason to celebrate, even if tempered with concerns about our friendly publisher EA. Hopefully they have lots more info for us next week.

[Tarkus 6,932]

I don't think we can unilaterally say that this effort is going to be rinse-and-repeat of SC:S and CXL.

First off, with SC:S, it's pretty obvious that they were not trying to make a true successor to SC4. They were trying to make a spinoff in the interim. Paul Pedriana was on record as early as 2003 with a set of baseline specs that would be required to run a full-3D SimCity 4-type experience. They were truly steep system requirements (and for good reason) and we're just now getting to the point where computers would actually be able to run that sort of thing. EA knew that trying to make a legitimate sequel then was doomed, so they tried an experimental spinoff. It wasn't super well-received by critics, the vocal "we want SC5" crowd came at Tilted Mill and EA with torches and pitchforks, but they made a profit off it and moved on.

The original Cities XL was basically Monte Cristo biting off way more than they could chew. You may notice, they first announced "Cities Unlimited" (which became CXL) right around the time the SC:S announcement came out in 2007. They were trying to use the SC:S furor among the vocal "we want SC5" crowd to gain a following. That succeeded, and gained the loyalty of many of the vocal "we want SC5" crowd. They generated buzz, but ultimately, they did not have the product to back it up. They simply couldn't--they tried to make a full-3D next-generation city simulator before the hardware had caught up. It wasn't optimized, either (it was still only had single-core support in 2009) and it ran like a snail dragging a lead weight, even on systems that were decent at the time, with the graphic options severely dialed down. And that's not even mentioning the other failings, including the ill-advised shift from a single-player focus to the "City of Warcraft" approach (which they had nowhere near the funds to be able to run for very long), the ever-shrinking feature list (particularly with transportation), which just clinched the failure, and ultimately led to MC's demise.

CXL is basically proof that EA was right not to make a true sequel until the hardware caught up.

Here we are in 2012. There's reports EA/Maxis is going to make a serious attempt at it in 2013, when the hardware has caught up. They haven't even officially announced it yet. There's not much information to go on. An angry letter writing campaign, especially at this point, is not going to help matters.

-Tarkus

  Edited March 3, 2012 by Tarkus  

[Cockatoo 2,256]

They haven't even officially announced it yet. There's not much information to go on. An angry letter writing campaign, especially at this point, is not going to help matters.

Very true. We don't even really know what we're looking at just yet. I think we should wait and see what Maxis / EA are actually offering here before we start doing the "we want SC5" thing again.

There are probably better ways to get across our concerns anyway. Hopefully some EA / Maxis guys will come here to ST... maybe that's what we should be petitioning for. At the end of the day, if they want to give SC5 the same longevity as SC4's enjoined, they need us on board. This means at least taking our points of view into consideration.

Having said that, if they do announce that this thing is just another Facebook game... well I think I can see the flaming pitchforks coming already.

[BurroDiablo 222]

For those saying we can't use SC4 content... yes, you won't be able use the exported and batted lots from SC4, and NAM isn't going to work obviously, but if BAT'ers still have their base 3D models available (that they rendered for SC4) then they may be able to port them quite easily over to SC5. Of course, this time BAT'ers will have to take more into consideration such as poly counts, proper UV mapping and texturing (normals, specular, gloss and occlusion maps) plus an all important attention to detail, nothing an intermediate 3D Artist can't do and a novice can't learn.

Still, all we can do right now is speculate, I know there'll be more to it than that (nightlighting, abandonment, weather possibly), we'll have to wait and see.

  Edited March 3, 2012 by BurroDiablo  

[Ded 30]

CXL is basically proof that EA was right not to make a true sequel until the hardware caught up.

I totally agree.

[brynhyfryd 222]

After reading the comments above, This is my view.

Personally I dont think Maxis/EA will make the same mistake twice.

Maxis/EA have had since 2003 ample time to learn from their mistakes, not to mention the horror show of Cities XL. Im sure they have been visiting the usual fan sites for inspiration for the new game as they would have been stupid not to. I also think they will announce both the new PC and Facebook games together.

Once simcity 5 is announced and custom content is confirmed then it will be time to let go of SC4 custom content and start from scratch as it wont be technicly possible to import content from SC4 into a new game. Without knowing what will be in the new game would make it difficult to know what content we would need to be added anyway. It comes a time when we will all need to let go of the past and start again despite the excellent work that has been achieved over the years from the cummunity. We will always have simcity 4 to go back to .

I think we need to restrain our worries and fears and try to remain positive until we get more information from Maxis/EA. We dont know for certain yet if the game will be announced but I am quiet confident that they will.

[Durfsurn 539]

To rephrase my previous post instead of 'unlocking' the exe. Making the FEATURES that we need to use the exe. for OUT of the exe. so we can mod them like tunnels side by side bridges etc.

[Wiimeiser 444]

It should come with something like the RHW, the highway system in CXL was as bad as Bubsy 3D

[CWLGAMER01 39]

Well, I must add my two cents…

From the “mock-up” photos I must say I am very impressed. The game, graphically has a “miniature feel” to it. It’s almost like a tilt and shift photo. The thing I find really cool about that – is it really goes back to the roots of the franchise. I can remember playing SimCity on SNES and thinking how much it looked like a miniature table-top city.

Growing up in the upstate of South Carolina, I fondly remember going to the then "Greenville-Spartanburg Jetport". They had a huge display case with a miniature model of the airport on display. I would look at this for hours and study the display. I thought it was the absolutely best thing ever! The concept art – really brings this point home! I think this is a good thing and give it time – Maxis is not going to make the same mistake they did with SCS. They know there is “penned-up” demand and I think they will delivery! SimCity 4 was much improved over SimCity 3000.

(this is the type of model it was.... note the cars BTW...)

As for custom content – I have been here since before SC4 released. In fact I was a manager for EB Games and was one of the first members of Simtropolis to actually play the game, during one of our yearly vendor shows. The custom content will come! As many have expressed – we have almost 10 years on the new game – Rome was not built in a day folks…. 

  Edited March 3, 2012 by CWLGAMER01  

[simlink 1,098]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, posts have been added to this thread fast and furious, but it appears EA is ramping up advertising for the "Game Changers" event. I was just on The Sims 3 website where the dynamic box of "What's New" displayed a screen for the event and links to the countdown.

Just a curious observation.

[GrimJr987 15]

IGN, (who, in my opinion have never been known for honesty and truthfulness) Have posted this article http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/121/1219911p1.html Which is little more than a lazy translation of the Gamestar article, and they're claiming the new game will simply be called Simcity. So This is not Simcity 5, but more of a Reboot of the entire series.

Make of this 'info' what you will, and remember that this game could turn out to be a bait and switch for Spore: Ultra Galactic Star Pwnage Parts Pack.

[§haÅ--Ñ€ §hÅŽo 370]

^ I don't think they would do that. That would be a bad business choice. A lot of people love SimCity (many websites of posted of this news) while no one really cares about Spores. If it wasn't SimCity or Sims they would probably ignore it once it was announced.

[The_City_Builder 299]

Hey guys, look at this link I found:

http://schedule.gdconf.com/session/13473480/Inside_the_GlassBox_%28Presented_by_EA%29

It's been reported that SimCity (5) uses this new GlassBox engine.

[JoeOh 20]

As a rabid fan of the Sim City series, I am always interested in a new game made by Maxis. But if this is to be Sim City 5 and it's a steaming pile of crap like Sim Societies was, then I will boycott Maxis and EA's products until they redeem themselves with a proper sequel.

But I am holding out real hope that SC5 will be mostly what we all hope for. But if not, we should show Maxis and EA that we are not messing around and that we are tired of being let down time after time. They have run out of excuses, now it is time for them to deliver. PERIOD....

Who's with me????

[The_City_Builder 299]

To be honest, I can't judge anything in this game yet. I mean, come on, this hasn't even been confirmed yet.

[Highrise99 1]

SimCity 5? I never thought this would happen! The thing is, will it be able to compete with the current SimCity 4 community of mods, and the Cities XL series?

[Ocram's Razr 963]

Darn! Maxis and Playfish in the same sentence! That proves it, there will be no computer game, just the Facebook flash game that everyone and their brother knows about (SimCity Social)!

[§haÅ--Ñ€ §hÅŽo 370]

SimCity 5? I never thought this would happen! The thing is, will it be able to compete with the current SimCity 4 community of mods, and the Cities XL series?

As long as Custom Content can be used and they do the same magic as they've done on their other SimCity's it definitely will be.

[whrm33 2]

I just hope that this surprise reveal at GDC doesn't turn out to be the SimCity Facebook game. That would be disappointing. I have no interest whatsoever to play a Facebook game and spam my friends.

  Edited March 3, 2012 by whrm33  

[Ocram's Razr 963]

I already play CityVille (level 75 thank you very much) and everyone knows that Playfish China is developing SimCity Social, which is almost half way done.

[Mithokey 96]

Is the announcement to happen Tuesday morning or later on in the day (if anyone knows)?

[GrimJr987 15]

Most likely they'll link the two together, so you gain extra rewards for your region by using SC Social.

Also, Simcity 4 was not designed by Will Wright. So Expect Simcity 5 to be a decent enough game (after we're done with it, of course), Maxis are probably helping out Playfish a little on SC social, giving them pointers here and there, Telling them that (X) would be a good addition.

SC Social will still be better than Zynga's crap they endlessly spurn out, Believe me, And also the new Glassbox Engine is rumored to be groundbreaking, so it won't be a Facebook game. Facebook games are limited in technology thus far, as the Unity engine is at the forefront of browser game technology, and that is not a very powerful engine at all. Most likely, this Reboot of Simcity/ SC5 will most likely require a beastly computer to run (Good thing I'm upgrading my rig at the end of the year for Generals 2). Anyway, Generals 2 aside, Simcity 5 will not be a Facebook game. A lot of major gaming news networks are covering this, The Concept art that has been produced for the project cannot be replicated very well in current technology, and the information given to us, suggests the game will be in a 3D perspective, Not many games apart from Runescape and various Unity Engine and some Java games use 3D Rendering.

This game is not being made for Facebook, but I'd expect a feature allowing the Two to interact in some way, However, Nothing has been confirmed By Maxis or EA themselves. Therefore, we must wait until Monday/Tuesday to watch the streams

Until then, Happy Building.

[ViktorRudenko 1]

You wanted real information this is real information. Also in FB page search 'Simcity' and you will find I have asked so we get true information.

[§haÅ--Ñ€ §hÅŽo 370]

^ So far not much new. But at least people are noticing how tight lipped EA and Maxis are being about the rumor C:

[Tarkus 6,932]

Hey guys, look at this link I found:

http://schedule.gdconf.com/session/13473480/Inside_the_GlassBox_%28Presented_by_EA%29

It's been reported that SimCity (5) uses this new GlassBox engine.

That's already been reported. In fact, it's cited as the most plausible sign that we are, indeed, looking at a new SimCity.

As a rabid fan of the Sim City series, I am always interested in a new game made by Maxis. But if this is to be Sim City 5 and it's a steaming pile of crap like Sim Societies was, then I will boycott Maxis and EA's products until they redeem themselves with a proper sequel.

But I am holding out real hope that SC5 will be mostly what we all hope for. But if not, we should show Maxis and EA that we are not messing around and that we are tired of being let down time after time. They have run out of excuses, now it is time for them to deliver. PERIOD....

Who's with me????

Again, SC:S was simply a spinoff that EA made in the interim while a true full-3D sequel to SC4 wasn't feasible due to hardware available at the time. They weren't trying to make a successor to SC4. They were simply trying to make a game that happened to have some city-building elements to it.

All that said, I'll reiterate: there's been no official announcement. We have some plausible evidence, but ultimately, everything is still in the speculative realm. We don't even officially know what the game is called. Going into angry complaint mode now, when we don't even know what we're looking at, is ill-advised.

Is the announcement to happen Tuesday morning or later on in the day (if anyone knows)?

The GameChangers event will be happening at 6:00pm PST (UTC -8:00) on Tuesday, March 6. The "Inside the GlassBox" presentation by Ocean Quigley, Andrew Willmott and Dan Moskowitz is happening at 11:00am-12:00pm PST (UTC -8:00) on Wednesday, March 7.

-Tarkus

[GrimJr987 15]

I'll just leave this here.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/338366/simcity-5-also-leaked-out-2013/

Convincing fake? Or Actual Leak. You decide

[§haÅ--Ñ€ §hÅŽo 370]

That looks fake. The logo looks good and all but it's only pictures, and it looks like tiltshift photography. I don't want my game looking like that. But it may be. It doesn't seem like it to me

  Edited March 3, 2012 by Sirron Kcuhc