SimCity: Multiplayer Discussion

[§haÅ--Ñ€ §hÅŽo 370]

http://www.arabicgamers.com/interviews/275/simcity-2013-developer-interview-brett-barry

This confirms that there is no offline mode on this SimCity.

[Sophia Katt 2]

How unfortunate. That means I won't be buying a copy, and I won't be recommending it for my various clients and school contacts.

[Spinmaster 75]

So can you play offline at all? Straight up?

There is no offline mode. You have to be online to play the game.

Well that's all I needed to know. As an option, it's awesome. And I might even dabble with it. But as a requirement, when the other 99.9% of the time I wouldn't play with or against others, it's a deal-breaker. A periodic anti-piracy check is fine, I'll even commend it as a fine idea. Telling me I have to forever and always be online while playing it, even by myself, is not acceptable to me. Call me an old fart... but if this is how games are going to be in the future, even for single-player games, then I'm done with games, period. Hmm... I wonder if anyone made a shuffleboard court for SC4.

I'm pretty much going to stay away from any news about the new Sim City now. There's not one thing that could interest me in it, given the above statement. I have no expectation it will change, but if by some miracle it does, could someone kindly PM me? I'm pretty much going to steer clear of this topic otherwise, it's a waste of time for me to read any other posts about it.

I do commend Mr. Barry for finally answering the question "straight up" though. I have other thoughts I'd love to share with him about that decision, however I'm pretty sure I'd break civilized forum rules if I state them here. But thanks, Mr. Barry, for finally answering the question at least.

  Edited May 27, 2012 by Spinmaster  

[Erthel 6]

I'm just thinking of the "politics" posibilities, the interactions between regions, the trade embargos, roleplay, fights for power, nation-wide alliances between regions...

I can only think of great stuff coming from multiplayer.

And you can still play isolated, the only thing is that you need an internet connection to play, either alone or with other people.

[Mark Waybill 242]

I'm just thinking of the "politics" posibilities, the interactions between regions, the trade embargos, roleplay, fights for power, nation-wide alliances between regions...

I can only think of great stuff coming from multiplayer.

And you can still play isolated, the only thing is that you need an internet connection to play, either alone or with other people.

I am optimistic just regarding multiplayer cooperation in normal political situations to develop realistic cities, but certainly there are possibilities with GB for realistic real time strategy wars and political macro/microdominance games.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

So can you play offline at all? Straight up?

There is no offline mode. You have to be online to play the game.

I guess this means no single player either.

This indeed will be the deal-breaker for a lot of people.

Very disappointing.

[croxis 150]

So can you play offline at all? Straight up?

There is no offline mode. You have to be online to play the game.

I guess this means no single player either.

This indeed will be the deal-breaker for a lot of people.

Very disappointing.

Incorrect. There is still single player. The online connection is still required for the economy engine and to save games to the EA servers.

[~Dee~ 215]

That what bothers me, that our save games are going to be on EA servers.

We all know how quickly EA shuts down servers once they lose interest in a game,they should make it possible that we can save our games on our PC's.

All the games I've ever played, my saved games stay on my computer...after all we pay for the game, we should have control over where we want to save them.

It's crap but typical of EA.

[guuz 15]

This video confirms that regions can be set to private or public. You can play on your own region just like sc4.

[Urban Cartographer 601]

Fortunately, there is single player mode (in the form of private regions). Unfortunately, if EA shuts down its servers, then all our hard work is gone, unless they allow us to save a hard version. It is acceptable for save progression to be on a cloud for MMOs, but who in the right mind make SimCity 5 an MMO? I also do not like how the economy engine would influence single player mode. This is also why I prefer to play offline. I want to build my dream city without any external influences!

[DamonT 5]

So can you play offline at all? Straight up?

There is no offline mode. You have to be online to play the game.

And I can now confirm I will not be buying this game.

[§haÅ--Ñ€ §hÅŽo 370]

https://www.facebook.com/SimCity/posts/10150977501979866

A lot of people don't seem to be happy about multiplayer...

[croxis 150]

Most of the comments are about the always on requirement, not the multiplayer

[TEBB_Dipsy 13]

Watching an interview they say they listend to their fans and that one of the main feature requests was multiplayer. I dont get it. Didnt they notice cities unlimited? Are there really such a huge demand for multiplayer? I'm sad

[croxis 150]

Watching an interview they say they listend to their fans and that one of the main feature requests was multiplayer. I dont get it. Didnt they notice cities unlimited? Are there really such a huge demand for multiplayer? I'm sad

It wasn't that multiplayer itself is bad. Multiplayer could be really fun. CitiesXL just did it badly. This community is just really shortsighted on what could be done vs what has been done.

[Bipin 3,402]

Watching an interview they say they listend to their fans and that one of the main feature requests was multiplayer. I dont get it. Didnt they notice cities unlimited? Are there really such a huge demand for multiplayer? I'm sad

It wasn't that multiplayer itself is bad. Multiplayer could be really fun. CitiesXL just did it badly. This community is just really shortsighted on what could be done vs what has been done.

Problem is, EA will be the ones making a new multiplayer city simulator. Long story short, if it can be done worse, EA will make it worse.

[kellyboywonder79 15]

One of the things that bothered me most about Cities XL (I only played the beta) was the trading/buying/selling of resources. This 'real world economy' only seemed to work when if you played all day every day. When I stopped playing the game for three days, and I came back all my trades had expired, prices had changed, and I was left without resources. I didn't stick around to see if they resolved those issues but I assume that since Cities XL is single-player and off-line that has been resolved somehow.

My question is with Sim City's new 'connected economy resource system'. What happens when I stop playing my city for two months? When I come back, the price of coal may have tripled. How am I going to be able to pay for that? My city will die from lack of power before I can come up with the capitol to purchase coal again! All my citizens who were previously working the neighboring city might be without jobs and I suddenly have high unemployment! I may have destroyed my neighbor's city inadvertently by not supplying enough power or jobs to him/her. All this potential guilt is weighing on me. Has Maxis addressed this somehow and I missed it?

[Ocram's Razr 963]

Hopefully, you could enact trade deals from your browser, like Cities XL Planet Offer 2010z

[Mark Waybill 242]

Possibly a trade deal could automatically update to new market conditions based upon criteria you set.

Or more likely your cities will be buggered.

Hopefully the former.

[TheRepeatedMeme 15]

Trade deals sound like a perfect way to exchange various resources, but there are some basic issues.

First of all, if a player becomes entirely reliant upon another player's resources, they would instead focus their money on other opportunities, as the need to produce one resource will disappear. In addition, any cancellation of this deal would have an impact ranging from trivial to fatal, depending on the resource type (trivial for YellowMustard but fatal for Energy.)

Trade routes would need to be part of the engine, and some form of sudden cancellation fee (as in SC3) would have to be decided upon prior to the deal, input into the game matrix, and hardwired. The key data for the trade (prices, penalties and volume) needs to be changeable only with consent of both sides. Without this, trade embargoes and other events would take over the game (unless you wanted it that way )

[Ocram's Razr 963]

Either Dave or Ocean talked about cartels and embargoes so, yeah.

[RoseCityAlive 9]

I just really hope that the cities can border each other and are not all separated by kilometers of open space. I would like to be able to build large metropolitan mega cities as well as ones that require a highway link between.

[Tarkus 6,932]

Unfortunately, it sounds like that won't be the case.

-Tarkus

[NCGAIO 562]

The more I read things that K.K. responds more I am sure that there is no connection between what SimCity is now with what they want to bring the new game.

.

It is the most absurd thing to say to fans that there is a way to play single-player yet he depended on a multiplayer development of the region. Does that make any sense to anyone?

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If you do not understand the question then simply continue reading ...

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by Bryan Vore on July 06

We recently spoke with SimCity lead producer Kip Katsarelis about the new multiplayer components headed to the series and much more.

.

B.V: These great works cannot be built if you’re trying to play a single-player game?

K.K: Our single-player is still considered multiplayer, because everything you do, you’re still part of that SimCity world. You could play by yourself in a region, but play multiple cities. So it’s really about the number of cities that it takes to achieve something like that. And, of course, playing with other players, there’s going to be some social reward mechanics there the more players you have. And it’s going to be quicker to get things done.

.

B.V: When the airport is completed, does it exist physically in the city?

K.K: In this case, you’ll see the local airport. You can have local airports in your cities, but there’s an international airport that exists outside your city. It exists in the region, and everyone connected to it can benefit from it. There’s a whole .....

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B.V: And these different city types can work together to build larger works?

K.K:

Yeah, we have great works within a region. The cities are all situated in a region, so think of it as a map, and there’s going to be some number of cities within a map. We’ll have some that are small, two- or three-city maps with a single great works site where players can choose which great work to build. They’ll have leaderboards, so the coal player has their own leaderboards, missions, and achievements.

Playing alone, you’re only going to get to a certain level. Your coal .....

.

B.V: SimCity requires an always-on online connection. How does that work if players just want to play solo?

K.K: We are building a multiplayer experience. That is our goal. We want players to play together. We’re making the missions, adding leaderboards, things like that. This is a collaborative online experience. We’re going to be delivering content like challenges as the game is live. That’s the experience we’re after. If you want to play solo, we’re going to give you those opportunities, but you’re still part of that SimCity world. We want players to feel like ....

source: http://www.gameinfor...ayer-focus.aspx

As the topic and on multyplayer nor will I comment on the rest but only to point out this passage... "Our single-player is still considered multiplayer"..... that defines what EA wants make Maxxis bring to the public:

. A MULTYPLAYER GAME! IS ONLY...

. . The timeline of evolution according to DRM distributors

  Edited July 7, 2012 by NCGAIO  

[RoseCityAlive 9]

As much as im sceptical about MP im going to take the wait and see approach. Maxis is Maxis and they have built this franchies to what we love, Many of the developers from SC4 are working on this game and that gives me hope. Who knows this game might be everything we all wanted out of simcity, then again it might not be, with over half a year of development still to go, I think that we would all be jumping the gun to rip it apart now. Sure the always online thing sounds odd to us but you have to remember that EA is the company providing funding for this game and they are trying to sell Origen as much as possible. That aside the Technology that Maxis has shown us with Glassbox is very impressive, and because of this im going to wait till i play it myself before passing judgement on it.

[lazy tiger 22]

Not to throw more kindling on the fire, but the recent issue of Game Informer had a small interview (post E3) with Kip Katsarelis...

Issue #232, page 76

Description (below pic)

Platform: PC

Style: 1-player simulation (Multiplayer TBA)

Publisher: EA

Developer: Maxis Emeryville

Release: February

(Game Informer) What can you tell us about the new multiplayer mode?

(Kip Katsarelis) Multiplayer is a key focus of SimCity, and players are part of the SimCity world. Everything you do at your city level and your region level bubbles up, and you're all connected through leaderboards, through global markets, and through challenges that you can compete in. In SimCity, cities can specialize. So there are going to be several archetypes of cities you can build.

(G.I.) Are these archetypes something you select at the outset, or do they arise out of the way you play your city?

(Kip K.) We're definitely going to suface those city types to players up front. You're going to be able to pick your path as you play along. Some of it's determined by your starting city. There's the tourist city, which is going to be really focused on bringing tourists into your city. The other city we're showing is really focused on harvesting coal and resource gain. It's going to look different, play different - [it's about] building coal mines, and either selling that coal on the global market, trading it with other players, or turning it into manufactured goods. You'll be able to smelt it into metals or use it in coal plants.

(G.I,) These different city types can work together to build larger works?

(Kip K.) The cities are all situated in a region, so think of it as a map, and there's going to be some number of cities within a map. We'll have some that are small, two or three city maps with a single great works site where players can choose which single great work to build. They'll have leaderboards, so the coal player has their own leaderboards, missions, and achievements. Playing alone, you're only going to get to a certain level. Your coal business and city are only going to be so successful. Working on these great works together, that's going to put you into the upper echelon of those cities and boost you. An international airport for example, will allow the coal player to ship goods into and out of the city. For the tourist cities, without it, you can only get so many tourists into your region. Even though you got your sports stadium all set up, your public transportation networks set up to funnel the tourists in, but your going to need that international airport to really pull in the tourists.

this was reprinted as it appeared in the magazine. The bold line was made by my emphasis, not G.I. nor Kip.

This leaves me some questions, but some answers. We will be building cities, and as a collective region (it seems) we have to agree to build a great work, be it an airport or whatever, to benefit the entire region. I sense conflict and some spirited arguments over this in the chat that will undoubtedly accompany the online game. But for us loners, once our beloved cities top out...without connecting to the network, we get nothing more, just a city stuck at a growth plateau. Also, I am kinda sick about hearing "leaderboards". There is a definite emphasis on competition above altruism and cooperation here. I don't care my rank, I just want to make a great, vibrant city. I know some users on here single-handedly could blow out a region of 16 people, their CJ's and metropolises are that good, that strong, so to have a limited (read: dead-end) singleplayer mode kinda dooms it for me. The modders may need to rescue this version like they did with SC4, for the casual solo gamer. Also, do we need "missions" to complete our cities. SC4 had those and we could turn them off, and just build...the new version looks more like a Civilization game with great works, and leaderboards...

I really want to like this game, but their handling of the singleplayer will make or break it for me.... anyways, sorry of this article was already linked or posted, I don't know if it was published online as well as print....

  Edited July 8, 2012 by lazy tiger  

[lazy tiger 22]

So can you play offline at all? Straight up?

There is no offline mode. You have to be online to play the game.

Well that's all I needed to know. As an option, it's awesome. And I might even dabble with it. But as a requirement, when the other 99.9% of the time I wouldn't play with or against others, it's a deal-breaker. A periodic anti-piracy check is fine, I'll even commend it as a fine idea. Telling me I have to forever and always be online while playing it, even by myself, is not acceptable to me. Call me an old fart... but if this is how games are going to be in the future, even for single-player games, then I'm done with games, period. Hmm... I wonder if anyone made a shuffleboard court for SC4.

I'm pretty much going to stay away from any news about the new Sim City now. There's not one thing that could interest me in it, given the above statement. I have no expectation it will change, but if by some miracle it does, could someone kindly PM me? I'm pretty much going to steer clear of this topic otherwise, it's a waste of time for me to read any other posts about it.

I do commend Mr. Barry for finally answering the question "straight up" though. I have other thoughts I'd love to share with him about that decision, however I'm pretty sure I'd break civilized forum rules if I state them here. But thanks, Mr. Barry, for finally answering the question at least.

no, not an old fart, just sick of purchasing a game for its creativity and freedom (sandbox modes) to do as you wish, but to be forced or told to play a certain way, or with conditions. Like the God of War franchise, and others for the consoles...all the new titles, Skyrim, GoW, other titles,...all multiplayer. Sure there is solo play, but do you really think devs are going to make those worlds/levels expansive, hells no. Look at the reigning champ of online play, minigames, missions and leaderboards...the Nintendo Wii. Ugh! Bring back solo based play, solo adventure, solo SimCity.

[Urban Cartographer 601]

The console Zelda games are still all solo play, including Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword fortunately and yes, both are among the few Wii games to be 100% single player, though the former is also on the GameCube and even then it is 100% single player.

However, I want a 100% single player mode for SimCity (2013). I want to build my city my way, not the way the developers dictate and not the way other players dictate.

[croxis 150]

My question is with Sim City's new 'connected economy resource system'. What happens when I stop playing my city for two months? When I come back, the price of coal may have tripled. How am I going to be able to pay for that? My city will die from lack of power before I can come up with the capitol to purchase coal again! All my citizens who were previously working the neighboring city might be without jobs and I suddenly have high unemployment! I may have destroyed my neighbor's city inadvertently by not supplying enough power or jobs to him/her. All this potential guilt is weighing on me. Has Maxis addressed this somehow and I missed it?

In the gamedev con demonstration that one of the resources buildings can have is money. My hunch (and it is only a hunch) that these places will buy these resources with their own wallets and not come directly from the city coffers. The trade deals cities can make are getting better deals or subsidizing the cost of that resource. This is just an uneducated huch of mine so take it with a lot of grains of salt.

I recall reading in an interview that your city will output and input resources based on the last save. So even if you are not playing the resource flow of your city remains constant even though the simulation itself if not running. My hope is that they design the deals so they don't automaticly expire unless a player does it.

[pyanodon 218]

I wanna see the faces when EA pull down the servers plug. "omg, i paid $$$$ plus 30 DLCs and then i cant play anymore, just 2 years!" that´s my main complain about that forced multiplayer system. :/