SimCity: Wishlists

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

My wish is one: The ability to freely terraform, as we could in SimCity 4. Nothing felt better than taking a completely flat region and turning it into a realistic hills, valleys and rivers region after weeks of hard work. Sometimes, it was a shame to plop a city in there.

If this has already been discussed, please forgive me...I've only been popping in and out.

Great to see you, and I hope you are well. Terraforming has not been much of a topic. You have to remember that most users don't do it. I am hoping for some good tools to come out of the support on this, but probably not right away. I still use Greyveil's Landscape Designer, then tweak the result.

[cammo2003 20]

I think you guys are on the right track with the communication topic (I like the central infrastructure being in the city's control ^^^^, but not micromanaging) but, I feel the guys are talking bout what I am rooting for:

I want to see the ability to double-zone (put zones on top of other zones). Imagine how cool that would be-if you were to zone residential over commercial, you could get lofts over a strip mall; commercial over industrial would bring you a software programming facility (or possibly a candy shop that makes and sells its own candy); and residential over industrial results in a large factory or mine surrounded by worker's residences. Im not entirely sure how the specifics of this would work, though, so that'd have to be figured out. But I have no doubt that it would be pretty cool

Heeey! That'd be a great idea!! Zoning for one then say Control-Click-Drag to zone commercial onto the same lots too, allowing for multi-use. Though it'd have to be restricted so that Residential-Industrial lots are only available for low-wealth sims if at all.

I have already expressed my desire for mutli-purpose zoning/building across these forums (especially when buildings in SC4 and the modding/downloading community clearly had the look of it but were forced to choose either resi or comm) and really like the idea(s) proposed here! How genius!

I really WhereisSC5 exemplifies how it would feel in the game and how PTPLauthor gives a technical example of it working in game. Heck, even the way Gillsman breaks down the zones (which, I really like the extra layer of complexity and control when shaping your city) can really illustrate how it could all come together.

As far as it collaborating with the simulation, for example, you have a commercial shop, ground floor, w/ apts. above. The agents could send out the "come work today" signal to the apts. 1st, and then to the rest of the city. I mean, as a developer said in the Reddit answer session, the simulation DEFINETLY supports it - I just am praying they'll include it! I mean, realism, right?

I actually think a simpler way to handle multi-zonal concepts is something like this:

LD Residential: Uni-zone, homes, small villa complexes (which aren't uncommon even in quite low density suburban areas. Many are often aged care facilities, which are generally higher density than most surrounding homes because of the cost of providing the extra facilities they require).

MD Residential: Technically dual zone, 10% (say) of buildings dual zone (this basically represents smaller apartment towers that have a couple of shops on the ground floor.

HD Residential: Technically dual zone, up to MD commercial podium with a MD tower on top. Maybe 15% dual zone structures.

For dual-zone structures, the likelihood of the dual-zone being applied to a building plot would increase in proportion to proximity to a highly trafficked road, or a PT stop (this is realistic).

LD Commercial: Uni-zone. Mostly big box stores, petrol/gas stations, mom and pop stores, with a few small two-three storey office buildings.

MD Commercial: Technically dual zone. Mixed developments would be equivalent to a MD Residential structure

HD Commercial: UNI-ZONE (very few large commercial buildings feature residential components, and those would be covered in

HD Mixed: Consistently dual zone. Near equal parts Res/Commercial (usually serviced apartments with a residential component).

Industrial zones would mix only with commercial, not industrial, and these would mostly be big box stores (many such stores locate in such areas for logistical reasons, and such stores are often dedicated to primarily servicing other businesses).

They'd also follow the same Rural/Light/Heavy schema for the most part as SC4, mainly because this is for the most part how it is in the real world. Rural/Agricultural zones are usually zoned as such; Industry is usually either high/low intensity. Both Light and Heavy industry would allow light commercial within their bounds.

If environmental and water simulation is done effectively this time, creeks, waterfalls, varied flora and fauna etc should exist. However as they've only a year to make the games initial release my only ask of them is a regional terraforming editor, and none of that edge reconciliation causes armageddon nonsense.

yeah, it'd be nice. I'd also not mind a way to get real world terrains directly into the game with a minimum of fuss. With water level data if available.

  Edited March 28, 2012 by cammo2003  

[Mark Waybill 242]

I agree. Being able to download real city terrain (and other) data would be nice.

[chippyforty 2]

Transport

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• I think transport should allow for different levels of involvement. For example you can simply place bus stops and it the game would automatically send buses between them. However there should be the option of being able to plan bus routes. Similarly placing train stations, trains should run automatically, however there should be an option of planning your routes.
  

Trains and Subways

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• Stations should be place on top of the track so that the platform goes either side of the railway rather than simply next to the track as in SC4
  
• Ability to build railways that are either raised or lowered so that roads can pass under/over them (like much of railway in large European cities which does not simply run along the ground)
  
• Ability to build larger stations for busier areas, e.g. a city centre terminus with three tracks. Combine this with ability to build two lines next to each other, one intercity, one suburban.
  
• Subways platforms should work the same as trains. They should not be single points. Subways should not be able to turn right angles underground.
  
• Subways should not join each other at right angles, rather they should either merge or have the ability to pass under/over each other
  
• Interchange stations should be able to be built. Firstly between subway and rail. Secondly between two subways running at right-angles to each other
  

Roads and buses

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• Ability to plan bus routes
  
• Bus terminus building for city centre
  
• Trams that can either run down roads or separate to them. Ensure these are easy to simply place on top of a road
  
• Ability to select number of lanes that a road has, give it bus lanes, cycle paths, pavements etc. This again could be an option which you don’t automatically have, but people who want to go into more detail can use
  
• As you make ‘greener’ decisions, more and more people start cycling, walking and taking public transport
  
• Airports and sea ports
  
• Both should be zoned and evolve within that zone depending on demand (perhaps this could work through you giving them planning permission to develop/set aside funds)
  
• Should both be able to link with rail, bus subway etc.
  
• Seaports can have different functions such as industrial and passenger
  

Buildings

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• More than one template for each building so that not all fire stations, police stations, schools etc. look the same
  
• Ability to extend and expand buildings as well as simply replace them with something bigger. E.g. add a wing onto a hospital. Add some classrooms to a school
  
• Some ability to stop buildings from being destroyed, e.g. designate them ‘listed’ or a ‘landmark’
  

Terrain

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• Ability to create automatically generated regions that you can then modify, e.g. large river, coast line, hills, mountains etc.
  
• Different types of terrain would allow different building hights, e.g. soft/marshy ground can’t have skyscrapers
  

Regional interaction

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• In a similar way to the Sims 3 I think you should be able to zoom out from your city plot and move around the region, rather than having to save and exit to the region screen. Perhaps the city plot you are working with could change as you scroll to the top/bottom/left/right of the screen, thus allowing for less computing power being used than if you were viewing/controlling the whole region at the same time. (I realise this may cause timing issues with building and finances though)
  
• Ability to borrow and lend money to other players/parts of the region, e.g. I have one rich town, they can lend to my poor city. Or one online player to another
  
• Players can invest in specific funds (like coal or oil etc.), this money could become available to players who then want to build a coal mine/oil rig etc. The investor would get money back from their investment.
  
• Perhaps players could actually buy buildings/infrastructure in other people’s regions, providing them with money and you with a money generating asset.
  
• University competition across regions, best educated/richest Sims go to best universities
  
• Potential disease epidemics that sweep across regions
  
• Attract rich people from other parts of the region to have a second home in your region
  

Finances

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• Ability to create tax breaks for certain industries (e.g. car manufacturer, film industry) rather than simply industrial vs. Commercial vs. residential
  

Overall

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• I think it is really important to be able to vary the level of micromanagement dependent on what you want to do. E.g. at the one end. Simple build roads around zones and see what happens to the other where you plan train and bus routes, expand hospitals, tax certain goods and not others to encourage industry etc. etc.
  

[Mark Waybill 242]

The idea of a disease epidemic is interesting, and something I hadn't thought of before, having assumed that healthcare concerned catching cold and going to Dr Smith for some cough medicine. But you raise an interesting point. Some ill health is of course catching, and this would act like a viral pollution.

[DavidB_ 83]

Could a moderator or whoever please rename the topic "SimCity 2013: Wishlist"; it's getting rather confusing as I'm thinking of a different version when I see this!

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

I brought this up before during the days of Cities Unlimited forums: This is concerning the multi-player mode. City Journals are a big part of exploring the forums of Sim City. Although I am holding judgment on the multi-player design that will ship at launch, I do see myself actually visiting someone else's city as a tourist spending simolians that go directly into the Mayor's account. An agent can represent my presence there who arrives in various ways depending on the vacation package bought. I see myself checking out someone's City Journal and saying to myself, "I would like to go there and explore". I then click a brochure button to that city which gives me choices like whether I want to travel by plane, train, bus, etc. The destination would be included in the price set by the Mayor (creator of the city). It could be that cool beach resort for three days and two nights, or to go shopping in their downtown area for one day (for resources). Or during a multiple day vacation I can go shopping at any time. I see mayors with multiple visitors that appear in their cities as agents depending on popularity. The score could be a reflection of how interesting their city is found by fellow city builders as a type of leader board where the money made through CJ tourism is tracked. The money spent would actually be deducted from your profits. Mayors can also have the right to invite free of charge for education purposes or to chat in an interesting environment (but charge for the liquor).

I think this would push more interaction between Mayors (city builders) and make the city journal aspect a lot more interesting. Not to mention, a way for us to patronize each other as another way to attempt to stay in the black.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

^ well they did say that tourism would be a feature. The idea of a Mayor becoming an NPC (Sim) in a city he doesn't own (has read permissions on), is fascinating. The one-day-at-a-time Sims would limit the amount of time you would have to visit. Effectively, running a My Sim for a day in someone else's city. Certainly interesting, and could create some competitive spirit, too.

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

^ well they did say that tourism would be a feature. The idea of a Mayor becoming an NPC (Sim) in a city he doesn't own (has read permissions on), is fascinating. The one-day-at-a-time Sims would limit the amount of time you would have to visit. Effectively, running a My Sim for a day in someone else's city. Certainly interesting, and could create some competitive spirit, too.

To add to that, how about stickers or custom made souveneres under our avatars that show where we visited and also where we visit the most. If a city is interesting enough I would make multiple visits. It may spark someone else's curiosity about that city and cause them to make a trip too.

Also I would enjoy seeing a truck (agent) coming into my city on the highway to deliver the goods I bought from where I visited to my specified destination.

^ well they did say that tourism would be a feature. The idea of a Mayor becoming an NPC (Sim) in a city he doesn't own (has read permissions on), is fascinating. The one-day-at-a-time Sims would limit the amount of time you would have to visit. Effectively, running a My Sim for a day in someone else's city. Certainly interesting, and could create some competitive spirit, too.

To add to that, how about stickers or custom made souveneres under our avatars that show where we visited and also where we visit the most. If a city is interesting enough I would make multiple visits. It may spark someone else's curiosity about that city and cause them to make a trip too.

Also I would enjoy seeing a truck (agent) coming into my city on the highway to deliver the goods I bought from where I visited to my specified destination.

[Mark Waybill 242]

There could easily be a tourism leaderboard, similar to the reputation in CityVille

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

There could easily be a tourism leaderboard, similar to the reputation in CityVille

Never played CityVille, but the idea of an accessible "scoreboard" is a reasonable thing. Let's run it up the flagpole and see if it waves.

One of the developers must be a PGA fan. Leaderboards are for golf tournaments.

  Edited March 30, 2012 by A Nonny Moose  

[Mark Waybill 242]

On the 'Wealth levels and reasons for abandonment' thread I thought of an idea. Social welfare. Now, this might at first sound like micromanaging, but really, when one thinks about it, there's no more intricacy involved than placing a police station or school. One places DMVs, social welfare offices (Here in Australia we have Centrelink, in the UK Jobcentre Plus etc) and public facilities like hospitals and schools etc, and these would all fall under civic structures.

The issue of how much power should we have rests imo upon how much power the founding or principal Mayor of a Region has over his subordinates, if indeed there is to be any heirarchy. Until that issue of Regional governance is resolved it is difficult to speculate regarding how much power we as Mayors will have relative to SimNation (and in a SimWorld, just what will happen to SimNation?)

If we can place radio stations and tourist traps, I see no reason why social welfare structures would fall under a different category. Unemployed Sims who risk homelessness should have more choices than striking lucky with a Lotto ticket or becoming a tramp. Not that I'm suggesting we create SimSovietism or anything. After all if you choose not to place such structures then so be it. But they did mention aged care facilities or retirement homes, and if these are included, then why not employment offices and so forth?

[chrsnck 3]

Im sure the suggestions/wish list I am about to post has been discussed and or posted by various other users, however in the hopes that Maxis reads these suggestions and sees how many fans bring them up they will in fact implement them within the new Simcity.

- WEATHER and SEASONS ! I put this at the top of my list because frankly its whats always been lacking and never really explored. If were going for realism there has to be a change in seasons with coresponding weather. Snow in the winter, thunderstorms in the spring, hurricanes in the summer, etc

- DISASTERS - Not everyone likes them so you should have the option to play with and without disasters. However, some of the disasters from the older Simcity games should make a come back as well as creating new ones:

- Floods

- Huricanes

- War/terrorist attack

- Zombie Plague

- Riots *i know SC4 has riots but you cant make them happen with the click of a button and its very hard to make them happen without causing your population to seriously drop.

- Tsunamis

- More rewards/Civic buildings. Some suggestions - Newspaper building, Communications tower, different Radio/TV stations (not realisitic to have just one of each), TV News building (like a CNN type building), Different statues rather than the standard male/female smale large huge ones. Aquariums, More Theme Parks/Water Parks, More Zoo's, Botantical Gardens, Sportsplex/Sports Arena (seperate from Stadium) Ski Resorts, Beach Resorts, different Casinos, Movie Theatres. Lastly overall diversity of current buildings. For example you can plop only one kind of Museum in SC4 which isnt realistic. It would be nice to have a variety of police, education buildings, fire stations, hospitals etc.

- WATER ! - The one thing I hated in SC4 was that you couldnt add water where you wanted. You had to lower the terrain until water showed up but it never looked correct and you had to DL a mod to "paint" the terain which would just be there and look nice but not interactive. In other words I would like to be able to create a lake or pond by adding water to a valley or crater.

- KEEP TERAFORMING - I know many dont use it but if you want to keep realism then you are going to have to be able to create a hill or valley or river where you want/need it.

- More landmarks from around the world.

- MORE DIVERSE BUILDINGS. Again its all about realism. In SC4 you zone for a commercial area and you would get the same buildings (ie hotels) and it wouldnt look realistic to have 10 of the same hotel in a comercial zone. Whats worse is that it seemed that you were limited by diversity when you would look around your city. I mean it would be like having in real life 6 starbucks in a row just not realistic. This is not to say every building should be unique and only show up once but maybe have a rule that makes it so they dont all show up on the same block.

- U DRIVE IT IN FULL 3D. Driving a car in SC4 is near impossible and the overhead view just silly. I want to be able to sit in a car/commuter train/bus whatever and look out the window and see the actual city view from street level.

- AUTOSAVE. Games crash as we all experienced in SC4. Im sure with this being an online server game with a constant internet connections these things will still happen, therefore autosave is imperitive.

- DISTRICTS. Recently I created a city and wanted to make different districts ie - Business district, entertainment/tourist district, art district, etc. However the only way to do this is by constantly plopping BAT buildings (which may or may not work)or making the ones that grow historic and then continually destroying surrounding buildings until something grows that goes with that district. Either method is tedious and not realistic. I would like to be able to zone an area and then label that area so that the only buildings that grow are specific to the label I put. Example I want to make a shopping district and therefore label the 5 blocks there as shopping only so that only shopping type stores grow (malls, electronic stores, toy stores etc)

--- EDIT: One other thing the trees. When you make an avenue or street it automatically spings up palm trees which isnt realistic. Maybe make an option to change the trees to make it more realistic.

So far thats all I can really think of and while Im sure that not everything on the list is possible Im sure that even if half of it is implemented many fans would be happy.

  Edited April 5, 2012 by chrsnck  

[jacksunny 741]

^Many of those have been discussed.

Weather: Would be nice to have in the game.

Disasters: There will be disasters in the game, it is just unknown as to what the disasters are. There is a discussion on disasters

Water: This better be in the game, I want to be able to create waterfalls!

The discussion of landmarks has lead to an idea of eliminating ploppable landmarks and making it so you could define what buildings you want to be landmarks. A thread about this is

A general consensus regarding UDI is to release it as DLC after the game. We don't want this game to be like SC4, we want them to focus on completing the city building aspects of the game first, then work on everything else.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

If wishes were horses, beggars might ride to put it mildly. If all the stuff in this list were added to the initial release you could expect it sometime in the next decade.

[VeritaScientia 150]

I have an idea that may satisfy Mark Waybill and crsnck's ideas:

Have generic civic buildings as rewards that we can name as we choose, and all increase mayor rating.

[poshbakerloo 186]

I really want to see the simulation of noise pollution from airport / aeroplanes. And have a realistic number of road uses to an airport, not just 200 sims that work there, even that is too small!

[jacksunny 741]

^The new engine will make commuting to and from airports more realistic.

As for noise pollution, I completely agree. Noise pollution should be quite high by an airport, then get quieter as you move away.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

^The new engine will make commuting to and from airports more realistic.

As for noise pollution, I completely agree. Noise pollution should be quite high by an airport, then get quieter as you move away.

Might as well add a noise abatement ordinance while we are at it. This forces a plane taking off to make a turn to avoid flying over a residential area.

[Ocram's Razr 963]

Did I mention that I wanted 4 wealth levels of Sims? This is in order to more realistically show the gap between rich and poor. Cities XL was pretty neat in that it had 4 wealth levels and that a higher wealth level had exactly twice the income as the wealth level directly below. If you tax R$ at 75c, R$$ would pay 150c for the same percentage (though they can tolerate higher percentages), R$$$ would pay 300c and R$$$ would pay 600c (though they can tolerate up to 50% of their income if you provide enough services).

  Edited April 8, 2012 by OcramSeattle  

[Mark Waybill 242]

I think the ideal solution to the whole wealth level thing is to abolish them completely. When Sims are individually simulated and not regenerated Time Lord fashion every day, then they can have jobs. Each job pays a certain amount. They do a simply calculation than arrives at their 'wealth level', but really every job or industry would have its own wages. The idea of social security would make sense if this system was used. The wealth level would just be a summing up of their financial status based on brackets of income, but each Sim could excel more or less than his fellow 'Medium Wealth' class members.

[levalencia 0]

I think if they start checking with cities xl 2012 and on top of that adds lots of new stuff then the game will be amazing.

Highways junctions its one of the biggest one.

Tram

Train, SLow, Fast, multiple types of trains.

Trams

Gas stations, depending on population you have to put enough gas stations, or otherwise there will be traffic jams on the gas stations.

[LivingInThePast 364]

Have I mentioned that there should be a more complex trip generator? Obviously, in real life people don't go from work to home and back again (unless life especially sucks).

Here's a neighborhood map in my area, not terribly far away from where I live. Despite being a small microcosm of the city, it does show neighborhood dynamics. On the tenth page, it has "destinations".

In SimCity's case, every non-home has a "draw" feature, which "radiates" more people. A convenience store would not draw much people except for the immediate area and occasional traffic passing through (the smaller one) but the huge H-E-B (and nearby Target, but that's outside the 'hood specifically) is a larger draw for much more beyond the neighborhood and attracts half the city. Parks are usually not a big draw, but larger parks could draw more people (the neighborhood to the east of here is based around the park: it's the Wolf Pen Creek District).

Churches are slightly stickier (if you try to remain religion-neutral) but I know that the church north of Anderson Park is quite popular and draws from a huge radius (it's not a megachurch, in case you're wondering), while the churches in McCullough (a subdivision within the greater neighborhood) do not have very big draws and attract people from the nearby areas (McCullough has some problems).

It would be great to work these "factors" would be in the next SimCity, helping (indirectly) to create "neighborhoods".

[Mark Waybill 242]

Some nice data maps there.

Well I would agree about non essential trips, and those of an essential but not work based nature.

I believe also that modules as well as zones or buildings should have an attractiveness variable, so, for instance, a park has an attractiveness affected by various factors, and so does a pond or flower garden in the park zone.

[617squad 52]

OI! haven't been back for a while. But things aside, there is one very important thing that annoys the hell out of me if I don't put in my two cents. In short: Canals, Flood Control(s), and Waterworks.

Canals/Navigable waterways: I'm not just talking the quaint, little back country canals, I'm talking Venice style cities where waterways are the primary mode of transport; and Amsterdam with it's network of canals to supplement the existing transportation infrastructure. And not just intra-urban waterways, but also rivers that can carry materials and passengers between cities and regions.

Flood Control(s)/Waterworks: More along the lines of dams and other structures that re-route water flow. In the case of dams, however, a multi-functional building; water distribution, hydroelectricity generation (uber clean power source), flood prevention, and acting as a "bridge" (think Hoover Dam).

[Mark Waybill 242]

Dams, canals etc I wholeheartedly agree with, especially if water is simulated realistically. Waterfalls, fresh and salt water etc.

[SDeezy 0]

Personally I think the entire game should be redone.

Well not all the game basic stuff like development, housing, demographics should stay.

But the grids should be ridden from the game. Also buildings, subways, rails, etc. should curve.

Various building types should be availble, not all of the world has American/European buildings.

Weather should be incorperated into the game somehow. Snow should fall in the winter, leaves should fall in fall, trees should regrow in spring, etc.

More landmarks should be in.(Grand Central Station, Times Square, Golden Gate Bridge, just to name a few.)

You should be able to choose terrain. You should be able to choose desert,forest, tundra, swamp, whatever.

Help from the advisors should be a little less useless.

This may be just a personal opinion, but you should be able to play already built cities such as New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, London, Moscow, Chicago, etc.

You've heard the cries Maxis, make it happen!

[Mark Waybill 242]

Personally I think the entire game should be redone.

Well not all the game basic stuff like development, housing, demographics should stay.

But the grids should be ridden from the game. Also buildings, subways, rails, etc. should curve.

Various building types should be availble, not all of the world has American/European buildings.

Weather should be incorperated into the game somehow. Snow should fall in the winter, leaves should fall in fall, trees should regrow in spring, etc.

More landmarks should be in.(Grand Central Station, Times Square, Golden Gate Bridge, just to name a few.)

You should be able to choose terrain. You should be able to choose desert,forest, tundra, swamp, whatever.

Help from the advisors should be a little less useless.

This may be just a personal opinion, but you should be able to play already built cities such as New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, London, Moscow, Chicago, etc.

You've heard the cries Maxis, make it happen!

A lot of these ideas will be implemented or have been. (Golden Gate bridge was a bridge design option, grids are being replaced with 'curvy roads' etc)

As to the advisors help, I think they are meant to be a bit vague or biased, to replicate a real life Council, so you have to make decisions based upon your considering what they've said to you, like a judge. And as to pre built cities I daresay that someone will download GoogleEarth data in some way and make a replica, but that's hardly Maxis' job, considering how much they've got to fit into one year's development.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Dams, canals etc I wholeheartedly agree with, especially if water is simulated realistically. Waterfalls, fresh and salt water etc.

I would like to be able to have below sea level land fenced off by the geography or sea-walls. There has been some urging in SC4 to find a way to build Dutch polders (farmland below sea level protected by dikes).

[KevinBryan 0]

I'm actually hoping for more disasters.

Tsunami, in example.

No more nonsense thing like T-Rex Robot or w/e.

And yes, a button that allows us to turn off disaster.

That'd be nice for some people.