Resources!

[Buggi 684]

I really smiled when I read that resources will be apart of SC5. Though I might debate the need to simulate units of oil going from the ground, to a refinery, to a gas station, I find it exciting!

I hope they allow resources to be moddable as well. Though I can't imagine why they wouldn't.

I'm wondering if I should stop progress on my design document for Boomtown.

[croxis 150]

I really smiled when I read that resources will be apart of SC5. Though I might debate the need to simulate units of oil going from the ground, to a refinery, to a gas station, I find it exciting!

I hope they allow resources to be moddable as well. Though I can't imagine why they wouldn't.

I'm wondering if I should stop progress on my design document for Boomtown.

I think the main reason is to help fill out the traffic system. Not only do actual sims go to and from work but freight and goods are moved around too. The result is that traffic planning has an even greater impact on the economy of the city.

[rweather5 22]

I'm wondering if I should stop progress on my design document for Boomtown.

I think you should still work on Boomtown. You just wouldn't present it to EA. If Simcity 2013 isn't what we want, we'll still have Boomtown.

[Jahnri 21]

Your design document could be vastly useful as a guide for future mod artists.

In the end if you aren't fully behind the development, planning and creation of a game, you still can be a benefit.

Keep thinking up ideas.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Keep working Buggi. This version of EA's may or may not fly in the end and it would be good to have some other irons in the fire.

[Ocram's Razr 963]

You need to submit a proposal to EA! I do not resend packets from my college library. I posted hours ago.

[emperordaniel 1,281]

I say continue work on Boomtown, just in case (I have high hopes for SC2013, but as A Nonny Moose said, it wouldn't hurt to have a backup in case the new game flops).

  Edited March 14, 2012 by emperordaniel  

[Buggi 684]

I've tried to contact the people I know at EA/Maxis but they either do not respond or if they do they say that company policy prevents them from reading any proposal sent in.

Which sort of defeats the purpose of interacting with a community. If they integrate anyones idea wouldn't that be accepting of a proposal?

And I can't believe they are YET AGAIN trying to make the game multiplayer. How many times is that attempt going to crash and burn before they realize SimCity is single player. The only way I could see multiplayer working is if each person had their own 'island' and were able to make neighbor deals with any other island.

[rweather5 22]

I've tried to contact the people I know at EA/Maxis but they either do not respond or if they do they say that company policy prevents them from reading any proposal sent in.

Which sort of defeats the purpose of interacting with a community. If they integrate anyones idea wouldn't that be accepting of a proposal?

And I can't believe they are YET AGAIN trying to make the game multiplayer. How many times is that attempt going to crash and burn before they realize SimCity is single player. The only way I could see multiplayer working is if each person had their own 'island' and were able to make neighbor deals with any other island.

Maxis already said that there would be an option to do single player, and not multi player.

[croxis 150]

I've tried to contact the people I know at EA/Maxis but they either do not respond or if they do they say that company policy prevents them from reading any proposal sent in.

Which sort of defeats the purpose of interacting with a community. If they integrate anyones idea wouldn't that be accepting of a proposal?

And I can't believe they are YET AGAIN trying to make the game multiplayer. How many times is that attempt going to crash and burn before they realize SimCity is single player. The only way I could see multiplayer working is if each person had their own 'island' and were able to make neighbor deals with any other island.

That is probably the case due to litigation issues. If they end up reading your proposal and implementing said feature it opens themselves up to a lawsuit from you. God bless our current copyright laws no?

Also you might want to read up on how GlassBox does multiplayer before you give out incorrect information.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I thought it was quite clear that any given city can only have one writer (Mayor). The way I see multi-player is several people in the same region with their own city tile(s). Is this not the general impression?

[Baro 44]

You create a new region and can invite friends or pubbies to come in and build cities in that region, or you can just set it to private and build every city tile your self as if you were playing single player. Yet even with you being the only player in the region, the regions will still be online unfortunately.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

You create a new region and can invite friends or pubbies to come in and build cities in that region, or you can just set it to private and build every city tile your self as if you were playing single player. Yet even with you being the only player in the region, the regions will still be online unfortunately.

Perhaps you could amplify on why you think this might be unfortunate.

The remote server and/or back end system can be as powerful as EA likes, you might get a better simulation than you could ever get on a PC. The back end could easily be a main frame with more power than any PC will ever have, and it doesn't have to run any particular O/S, just be able to communicate in a standard way (TCP/IP probably). Running this over one or more hardware channels to the server(s), you wouldn't even notice it was there.

{aside} People might think I was in the main frame business at one time. They'd be right. {/aside}

  Edited March 17, 2012 by A Nonny Moose  

[WhereisSC5? 20]

I thought this discussion was on resources?

Speaking of which, anyone knows what (would/could/should) happen when a full region would run out of resources completely (in every single tile)?

[Buggi 684]

The part about requiring an Internet connection worries me. I don't have it at home at the moment and I'm not sure when it'll become available. :S

What happens when the human race runs out of resources? We invent stuff to fill in the space. No Coal? Wind! Solar! No Iron? Recycle!

[DestructionPancake 25]

I'm guessing that if someone chooses to build a turn of the century industrial city and consumes all the coal they won't simply "lose", but perhaps gain the option of importing it from "Sim Foreign Nation" at a greatly increased cost a la real life.

I'm sure Maxis knows all users aren't neccesarily interested in creating perfect 23rd century utopias.

[idcaf 65]

resource depletion should obivously not be that huge problem.I hope so.

In reality mines, fields, forests take hundreds upon hundreds of years to deplete and even that is with a furiously high gathering rate.

And over contless years when resources diminish, city should accumulate enough wealth to boost the economy in other sectors.

So we should only worry if Maxis tries to pull out an idea that resources are insanely scarce somehow. They should learn about how todays modern cities are sustainable. You bet its not just some fancy wind power plants and offices, you could easily pull out in Sim City 4

[Jahnri 21]

Well said, also in the case of this game, you have to import from out of the region. Thus a global economy. Which in the case of a single player game is simply a random or semi random set of variables. Tied in to the news ticker.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Unless you try to simulate the Soviet Union, I don't expect any resource shortages anytime soon in the game unless you happen to be looking for water in a desert, which is there but not often renewed. In any case, I'd expect warnings on the 'ticker'.

Does anyone remember what the Poles used to say about the Soviet five year plans? If they had a five year plan on the Gobi, there would soon be a shortage of sand.

  Edited March 18, 2012 by A Nonny Moose