What does the future hold for CXL?

[jigsaw 227]

SC4 still holds the title of the ultimate City sim. CXL has tried to take the audience with little and mixed success.

now that SC4 has a new younger brother arriving in SC13, do you think they will continue with the game?

the way i see things:

- if SC13 doesnt please the masses, we can/will fall back to SC4, the CXL game will crawl along but their will be 3 city builders in the main arena.

- SC13 kicks ass, Sc4 will slowly retire over a period of a couple of years and CXL might just die a quick death.

nothing against the CXL game at all, it's just doesnt have 'lineage' like a Maxis game. out of a potential 3 way game market, maxis will have 2 of them.

what's your thoughts?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

SC4 still holds the title of the ultimate City sim. CXL has tried to take the audience with little and mixed success.

now that SC4 has a new younger brother arriving in SC13, do you think they will continue with the game?

the way i see things:

- if SC13 doesnt please the masses, we can/will fall back to SC4, the CXL game will crawl along but their will be 3 city builders in the main arena.

- SC13 kicks ass, Sc4 will slowly retire over a period of a couple of years and CXL might just die a quick death.

nothing against the CXL game at all, it's just doesnt have 'lineage' like a Maxis game. out of a potential 3 way game market, maxis will have 2 of them.

what's your thoughts?

Since I have refrained from even acquiring CXL, I suspect it will become moribund. All reports say it is a pretty weak sister.

[mrbisonm 1,620]

Dumb question......what is SC13?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Dumb question......what is SC13?

I guess you didn't notice, but EA has been using the name SimCity 2013. SimCity 5 seems to be out of fashion.

[The Bluejay 40]

It's some attempt at a fresh start, apparently. Understandable - if I was the one responsible for SCS, I'd certainly want people to forget about that!

[CommodoreTech 5]

I think it's sort of got it's own niche, so regardless of what happens to Sim City it'll stay roughly where it is now. Though i'm sure most of it's market share is from the pent-up desire to play a 3D city simulator rather than because of how good a game it is...

I dunno, it'll probably wither away...

[mrbisonm 1,620]

Dumb question......what is SC13?

I guess you didn't notice, but EA has been using the name SimCity 2013. SimCity 5 seems to be out of fashion.

Thanks for explaining, didn't know that.

[Tarkus 6,932]

CXL started out with an extremely small niche, it kind of grew as it continued on as gradually improved "zombieware" under Focus Home, and I think if the new SC lives up (it's looking quite promising), CXL will go back to being an extremely small niche. It wasn't well-marketed, its original iteration was a disaster that put its original developer out of business, and it'll be too much to overcome.

-Tarkus

[meowza 230]

Just to clarify the name "SimCity 2013": EA and Maxis is calling this new game simply "SimCity". The 2013 part was merely conceived by some of the people here at ST, to easily differentiate the new game from the old ones.

Cities XL:

I think, CXL will still have a small share of the market, that is people who prefer photorealism over realistic simulation.

I remember when Cities XL began its development, I was quite hopeful that we will be finally having a true SC4 successor, but I was also very cautious. By the release of the game's second video though, much of my hopes faded away. The development of the game was sluggish, and the content they were presenting didn't live up to my expectations. Before I gave up on the CXL community though, I remember specifically telling Philippe Da Silva to make the game feel more "alive". They were able to do it by the release of the game, but only to a limited extent (such as actual traffic, people going to shops, and a few others). Everything else felt bland. There were very few pedestrians in areas where there should be tons of people, no disasters, late public transport. Basically the game wasn't as dynamic as I expected a city simulator to be.

[soltangris 42]

I don't know.....

On one hand, FHI claims they still have plans to really develop the game somehow (which will require hiring a real game developer - their own development team is obviously not up to the task, as CXL 2012 showed). And who knows - when they are presented with a direct competitor for the market (Sim City), they might actually come back to life

On the other hand, CXL modding is doing wonders right now - something that noone here seems to be aware of. Yes, I get it - everyone is thinking Sim City right now, but did you know that the transport for CXL got a major overhaul thanks to modders? That the simulation is getting more and more depth thanks to modders? (there is Crime now, for one, better Health, and Education mod planned, etc.)

Not to mention that despite all difficulties 3D modelling for CXL is getting well underway?

[meowza 230]

I really wish FHI can dish out some good stuff. Healthy competition is always good. Though I'm very skeptical if they can put up with EA's marketing strategies. And as EA claims, SimCity is a triple A game with high funding.

[Grumbs64 27]

I never saw CXL under the new owners as anything more than a pure marketing play - an attempt to squeeze some cash out of doing the absolute minimum necessary with a product bought at a fire sale. The equivalent of your local used car lot buying an insurance write-off at auction, painting over the flaws, and sticking a price tag on it.

So CXL is gone, toast, history.

[Tarkus 6,932]

I never saw CXL under the new owners as anything more than a pure marketing play - an attempt to squeeze some cash out of doing the absolute minimum necessary with a product bought at a fire sale. The equivalent of your local used car lot buying an insurance write-off at auction, painting over the flaws, and sticking a price tag on it.

So CXL is gone, toast, history.

I personally like the term "zombieware". CXL is an undead game that's been re-animated by a new publisher.

-Tarkus

  Edited March 9, 2012 by Tarkus  

[LivingInThePast 364]

Cities XL was a rambling, shambling mess of a game that was supposed to be the SimCity killer but sadly was not able to hold a candle to it (not that MC tried very hard--the Planet Offer was a huge disaster).

Cities XL 2011 made the game less than an Obvious Beta, but still not a SimCity killer.

Cities XL 2012 added modding tools, which was just about it. Unfortunately, these mods are rather superficial and could not really improve the game, which is still buggy.

Don't expect a Cities XL 2013.

I think your second theory is more accurate: SimCity 4 will continue to be popular especially with older computers (perhaps more could be released for it, like bug fixes). Cities XL will probably be slowly whittled down, maybe eventually locked from being new uploads on STEX, relegated to a little corner of the forum.

  Edited March 9, 2012 by LivingInThePast  

[Cob92 360]

In the other hand, CXL modding is doing wonders right now - something that noone here seems to be aware of. Yes, I get it - everyone is thinking Sim City right now, but did you know that the transport for CXL got a major overhaul thanks to modders? That the simulation is getting more and more depth thanks to modders? (there is Crime now, for one, better Health, and Education mod planned, etc.)

Not to mention that despite all difficulties 3D modelling for CXL is getting well underway?

Yeah, I've seen the recent mods for CXL and I must say that I am impressed. CXL is finally getting some mods that actually improve the gameplay instead of just adding more eyecandy. I'll continue to keep an eye on CXL's development; perhaps by the time the new SC comes out CXL may have finally been modded into a fun game.

[soltangris 42]

In the other hand, CXL modding is doing wonders right now - something that noone here seems to be aware of. Yes, I get it - everyone is thinking Sim City right now, but did you know that the transport for CXL got a major overhaul thanks to modders? That the simulation is getting more and more depth thanks to modders? (there is Crime now, for one, better Health, and Education mod planned, etc.)

Not to mention that despite all difficulties 3D modelling for CXL is getting well underway?

Yeah, I've seen the recent mods for CXL and I must say that I am impressed. CXL is finally getting some mods that actually improve the gameplay instead of just adding more eyecandy. I'll continue to keep an eye on CXL's development; perhaps by the time the new SC comes out CXL may have finally been modded into a fun game.

Wow, that's a revolutionary comment here.... I was starting to think that Simtropolis has developed selective denial feature (i.e. If it's not created and hosted at Simtropolis, the mod doesn't exist)......

I'm glad someone here still keeps an eye on CXL

By the way, the latest mod for CXL allows precise digging into the ground. Also, we're discussing creating smaller lot standards for our modelers to play with

[SimRabbit 48]

Cities XL's graphics look very bland, the lack of zoning is what drove me away from this game. Hopefully SC13 will be much better.

[Mark Waybill 242]

I played CXL 2012 (The first version of that game I bought) and the only really positive thing I can say about it is the graphics are good in that it is full 3d and the terrain is advanced from 4 but... It feels very unfinished and it is slow and there's only subways and no ground rail? It seems unfinished and theres no terraforming either. If it was a 30 percent development project I'd be optimistic and supportive but as it's as someone put it 'zombieware' now, I don't think it will continue successfully, not that it ever had much of a chance. My support is for Maxis and SC now Simcitywannabe Societies and Tufted Mall or wtvr they were called are things of the past.

[chocolate_city 93]

Personally, from what I gathered is that people who have such negative thoughts about Cities XL 2012 have actually never played it... I was one of those ... now that I have.. its grown on me.. mainly because of the Realistic Highway Mod ..and being able to zoom in on your city is really kind of cool... its a nice change from Sim City 4. NOT better.. but a nice change

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Personally, from what I gathered is that people who have such negative thoughts about Cities XL 2012 have actually never played it... I was one of those ... now that I have.. its grown on me.. mainly because of the Realistic Highway Mod ..and being able to zoom in on your city is really kind of cool... its a nice change from Sim City 4. NOT better.. but a nice change

Like many simulations, CXL and SC4 will hang around for quite a while. There is getting to be a large end-user investment in CXL though it may never catch up to SC4. Meanwhile the new SimCity will be the new kid on the block that has to live up to the big kids.

I don't expect either of the old standbys to go away any time soon in the face of this pig in a poke.

[RenneCR 2]

Yes CXL has got many good mods, like trams, and there is more to come regarding transportation such as RAIL (passenger and freight), mass transit ferry, waterways (pass/freight), airways (pass/freight).

Such as crime, healthcare and education are in the game already, of course, but I know there is plans to create some deepness to them by creating a problem and then few ploppables that solve it.

CXL is a good game, despite the downsides, and it is worth to play with and also check all the mods available, which aren't on STEX but elsewhere. CXL gives some different perspective to city builder and simulator gaming than SC4 and the franchise.

I'm totally gonna get SC5, but CXL has gained a lot of popularity and CXL2012 has sold a lot, so I would expect FHI to continue it, and really hope they do.

[KeanoManu 42]

I was reading in a thread at xlnation that they tries to make larger maps too, which seems to be the biggest limitation. Apparently they need help from Focus Interactive to do that. FI would be stupid to reject that request. They are out of pre-made stuff they inheritaded from MonteCristo and if they only allow the modding community free hands i can see this game becoming a new SC4 - gaining large fanbase a long time after release. I know i didn't like SC4 at first and it took 1-3 years after release until i started enjoying it.

Larger maps and a few more mods and i will buy this game!

[RenneCR 2]

What FHI could and should do are:

* make the engine multicore

* fix bugs

There is also a known bug called memory leak, which some people report not occuring when using SSD. Surely SSD's speed gaming.

If I recall, larger maps would need hacking of exe which FHI won't be allowing as it would violate copyright.

To everyones surprise FHI does not seem so fond xlnation.

Those CXL maps are quite big and are more like region maps. Sure MC/FHI did more than in SC4 for scale and proportions and compering to IRL, but still the 10kmx10km is just a number as is the metric value of road length. Everything in scale and proportions are fixed, still scale in overall matches with IRL a lot more than in SC4, but it's a game, so 10kmx10km should be taken as "about", nevertheless maps are bigger than in SC4 and are more like a region maps.

[Ocram's Razr 963]

Larger Maps would only make sense if performance is increased as well. Because of the memory leak that happens after 300 game cycles (3 hours on normal speed, 1 hour on high speed) or after a lot of construction, a larger map would only give more problems because the player would naturally build more. Having the token production issue (too much of a deficit and you start losing money) is one way to prevent this memory leak but once one is self sufficient globally (total token production more than total token consumption and total income across all cities higher than total expenses in any 1 city), the player starts to become aware of the obvious memory leak, even on good computers (players with the best computers are more prone to the memory leaks because Cities XL will run out of RAM and almost burn out 1 of the 6-8 cores).

Now, if Focus greatly modified the gaming engine to improve performance, no one would be able to buy a cheap DLC. That means that the likelihood of a Cities XL 2013 is highly unlikely because of competition from the standard going back in the race (SimCity 2013). Of course the modding tools for Cities XL 2012 are certainly a good practice step until SimCity 2013, just like BATMax and CL:CBE prepared custom content makers for Cities XL (Tout SimCity was one of the first places to make custom content because they had years of experience with City Life and Cities XL was based roughly on City Life).

Q.E.D: Cities XL will have no new versions and will fall to the wayside when SimCity 2013 comes out --- along with SimCity 4 --- just like SimCity 2000 Network Edition, SimCity 3000, City Life, and SimCity Society.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I fail to see what an SSD has to do with memory leaks. Memory leaks are caused by improper attention to memory allocation procedures and have nothing to do with storage devices.

Generally speaking a memory leak is an out-and-out bug, usually caused by getting an I/O buffer size wrong.

  Edited March 13, 2012 by A Nonny Moose  

[snick25 384]

Cities XL will always compete with SimCity, no matter how good the new game is.

Why? It has an excited and dedicated fanbase (which mostly resides on xlnation.net, if you haven't already figured that out).

New mods are coming out every day that really improve game play and some users are even trying to change aspects of the simulation (such as more realistic traffic, day length, etc.) It is possible to really modify this game beyond recognition, and even the game by itself was great for me. I used to be a SimCityholic but Cities XL and all the great mods have really inspired me. You can create amazing cities that aren't possible in any other game (like NYC).

The only real thing CXL has going against it is the memory leak, which hopefully FHI will fix (and they will, if they find this game worth continuing, which I'm sure they do). Virtually every other problem the game had has since been fixed by mods. Take the limited transport features for example. The NEXL adds a variety of new networks to the game as well as other features (sort of like SC4's NAM).

So, if the new SC is good, I will purchase it, but it will never replace CXL.

[Ocram's Razr 963]

To be honest, SimCity 4 has already fallen to the wayside for me. Cities XL does most everything I want in SimCity 4, except for some zoning issues. The only reason I have not been playing it recently was because my desktop had a strange shut-off error caused by outdated BIOS firmware, Anno 2070 has rewards for daily playing to counteract the notifications from playing too long, I have Minecraft installed on 2 computers, and CityVille can be played anywhere.

Come Spring Break (Wednesday), I can catch up in Cities XL while creating a Minecraft 1.2 server map, and leveling up in Anno 2070 and facebook games.

So ... about Cities XL, have there been any zone fixes? I am talking about large zones being wonky. There are a handful of default large zone (60x60m) buildings with oversized footprints (80m) and certain statistics are unrealistic (non-linear population that is the same across all housing of that zone density).

[chocolate_city 93]

OcramSeattle... More and more as time goes by, Sim City 4 IS going by the wayside for me too ... I've gotten spoiled with the RHM to the point that I really don't even care if or when I can get cars to use it... It's WAYYYY to much fun making superhighways and freeways with 5 and 6 stacks... elongated ramps HOV lanes... I hope that when the new Sim City comes out that it at least has a flexible hwy system...

[Hanno 16]

SC4 still holds the title of the ultimate City sim. CXL has tried to take the audience with little and mixed success.

now that SC4 has a new younger brother arriving in SC13, do you think they will continue with the game?

the way i see things:

- if SC13 doesnt please the masses, we can/will fall back to SC4, the CXL game will crawl along but their will be 3 city builders in the main arena.

- SC13 kicks ass, Sc4 will slowly retire over a period of a couple of years and CXL might just die a quick death.

nothing against the CXL game at all, it's just doesnt have 'lineage' like a Maxis game. out of a potential 3 way game market, maxis will have 2 of them.

what's your thoughts?

SimCity 2013 has all the ingredients to make it the next ultimate city builder game. Unfortunately, going for an online-only model is a serious flaw that could cancel out all the positive aspects of this game. Personally, I'm not buying it until an offline mode is available.... even if I have to wait for it to become a R99 classic.

Personally, I feel overall, CitiesXL beat Simcity 4. I agree there are many problems with CXL, but the positives outweighs the negatives.

  Edited June 5, 2012 by Hanno  

[cirugo 1,889]

well, I will continue to play it instead of picking up the new SimCity...never dreamed I'd be saying that.