Favorite New Feature?

[Greyflame 54]

(I should clarify, when I say "new", I very roughly mean "not found in previous or other games in the genre. Ish.")

This forum has seen its share of criticism of the new Simcity, including my own (I mean I made a

expressing just how concerned I was over some of the design) - but I think that for the sake of objectivity and good cardiovascular health, it's important to discuss the positive features of the game as well. After all, just as much as it's important to send a clear message about what we don't want, we want to reward the developers with bushels of praise when they do something awesome so that they'll keep doing it. And, while I'm statistically confident that a handful of individuals won't like /anything/ about the new game, even the skeptics among us can admit that the game has innovated in ways that no other in the genre matches. So what among these innovations impresses you the most?

Personally, I'm pretty darn fond of the glass box engine itself. I loved simcity 4, but I'll admit that the highly abstract information system made immersion challenging. I never had a really good feel for efficient my roads were, what buildings were getting the most use, etc. The ability to track every citizen in the game cuts out any ambiguity. Of course, this requires /massive/ amounts of processing power, and as a result the city tiles have shrunk. I'm still hoping Maxis will compromise just a bit and grant us 4*4km or at least 3*3km tiles if we have the computer power to handle them. But either way, I think this sort of detailed tracking is the healthy future of the city-simulation genre. If the designers are smart and build a lot of really deep features on top of the engine, optimization junkies should have plenty to keep them busy. After all, we know that you'll want to be careful about where you place intersections, as sims trying to make a turn will all crowd to a certain turn lane! Lots of little simulation details like this make me really appreciate what the programmers have accomplished.

Multiplayer and Resource management come in close seconds for me. Multiplayer because ... well, I'm a social creature. Games with friends are about 5 times as much fun for me. I like knowing that what I build is going to have a positive (hopefully!) impact on my friends, and even on the entire simcity globe. Granted ... online only, and so forth, but I'll admit that bothers me a lot less than most people (so long as they keep the servers up. That's my only real fear about online-only.) And as a fan of both RTS games like Starcraft and survival-sandbox games like Minecraft, resources just make me happy. Industry no longer represents an abstract combination of employment and pollution; now, industry is actually about making things! The absence of resources and products always felt lacking before. I think Maxis should be playing this up a lot more than they have been!

Anywho. Let's keep this thread focused on what we like, and what we want to see Maxis really push more of and go deeper into. There's plenty of other threads for more pointed critique!

PS, I strongly encourage some of the Maxis team to share thoughts on their favorite features. Knowing what the development team likes helps the community know how best to butter you up, after all.

  Edited October 7, 2012 by Greyflame  

[Frode789 70]

I must say the glassbox engine must be the most epic thing so far, but the fact that you can specialize your city also is a great thing. I'd love to make a big rail/harbor city if possible

[flyer2359 92]

Definitely the Glass Box Engine for me. With the new engine, everything seems to come alive in the city. I do also like the resources such as Oil, Coal etc. to add a new challenge.

[VeritaScientia 150]

aaaaaargh I can't choose!!!!! LOL

The resource management aspect adds a whole new dimension to the series that adds some realism

The Glassbox adds the potential for this game and other titles to be even more faithful simulations than ever before

Specialization: it's common in the real world, think of Cambridge, Massachusetts and you almost automatically think of MIT and Harvard, Rochester, MN has the Mayo Clinic, and the two most common examples, Atlantic City, and Las Vegas, though Vegas has started to diversify its image over the past decade.

Great Works add more realism because large infrastructure usually will entail a collaboration of at least two municipalities

Grid-free layouts, well have you ever seen a completely orthogonal city?

Multiplayer regions: real world cities often have to deal with neighbors, why shouldn't we? I'm likely borderline Asperger and I'd love to be able to collaborate with others. Being antisocial in a game that is trying to be a simulation is in my opinion partially defeating the purpose of the game.

  Edited October 7, 2012 by PTPLauthor  

[cirugo 1,889]

Great Works. Wish it worked like some of the old Impressions games where you had to amass a lot of materials and it took a long time instead of having to collaborate with someone else.

[nukeu123 307]

the new recourse and economic management is imo the best feature

[Zombeast 69]

Can somebody link me to anything that details the "great works" aspect?

[Ocram's Razr 963]

I like the GlassBox Engine because it allows resources to be tracked in the game.

[VeritaScientia 150]

Can somebody link me to anything that details the "great works" aspect?

... the SimCity Insider blog post that gives the greatest explanation so far about the Great Works.

I like the GlassBox Engine because it allows resources to be tracked in the game.

I hope they have a great variety of the resources.

(Sidenote)

In the hopes that folks from Maxis are watching, I'd suggest having the top 25-50 mined resources from real-life included as resources in SC13.

  Edited October 7, 2012 by PTPLauthor  

[LillySatou 117]

the simulation is definitely the most appealing and the major thing that's keeping me interested in the game. i'd like to get my hands on it in the beta.

[jacksunny 741]

That's a difficult question to answer. My favourites have to be the Glassbox engine and the Grid-Free layout.

[Ocram's Razr 963]

I would be content with only the following being mined: coal, iron, copper, gold, limestone, uranium, rare earth metals, gems, and aluminum/bauxite. Of course sand extraction would be a plus.

What I really want is agriculture and textile mills (as well as food processing).

--Ocram

  Edited October 11, 2012 by OcramSeattle  

[Wiimeiser 444]

All but the first two. I can live with the Great Works though. I want more information on highways and that, too.

[mapboy 106]

Glassbox hands down, but my second choice would be the grid-less layout. I really hate cities that are all grids haha

[Ombedor 23]

GlassBox is the new feature of this game. Whenever I read the griping on this site about the game not looking realistic or not being a city builder or not having some obscure "must have" feature it always seems to me that people are forgetting that the name of the game is SimCity. This game is not called CityArchitect or CityPainter, but SimCity.

I have played most of the games in the series going back to the original on the Amiga. I helped investigate the path finding behavior here when RH first came out. Clearly SC4 w/ RH and the NAM is the best SimCIty to date, but let's face it, the simulation engine left much to be desired. If you filled up a large map the engine had problems with slow routing updates that transformed the city into a game of abandonment whack-a-mole. Such problems always broke the illusion for me.

I am excited about GlassBox and the simulation fidelity that the new SimCity promises. If that means we are limited to smaller maps (for now?), so be it. I would much rather play with a detailed and transparent simulation than have those disappointing Wizard of Oz moments from earlier editions of the game.

[BlueSmiley 6]

Specialization. That's for sure.

The Glassbox engine looks awesome too, but the engine doesn't make the gameplay any better.

[2o6 0]

I like the way the Zones are divided, even if I'm not keen on how the density is decided.

[peaco344 5]

Glassbox all the way. As a developer, i can appreciate the difficulty in creating a scriptable yet complex simulation that works in real time. Previous incarnations of SC modelled snapshots of the city, only giving feedback at the end of each month. Glassbox allows instant feedback.

Its pretty a revolutionary model, and not just a for games. I can think of dozens of business uses for that kind of simulation engine.

A lof of people seem to want the game after this one (refinement and scaling up of the system to allow larger simulation spaces, or larger cities), it wouldn't the first game to suffer from this syndrome. Thing is, if Maxis were to implement the 'missing' features, we would still be waiting this time next year.

The cloud hosting comes second for me, the ability to play wherever on whatever device is a real plus. Can see why some would dislike this though.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

I voted for GlassBox. It seems like a really intuitive, simple, dynamic, straightforward simulator.

That said, the main reason for making a new SimCity is to make a 3d one. But we've already had a few new 3d city simulator games and they weren't very good, so I think the simulator is more important, and GlassBox is looking very good.

[Jokurr 175]

Definitely Glassbox for me. I'm still leaning towards not buying it, but damn the glassbox looks awesome in some of the gameplay footage they've shown. I find it frustrating that the game has this incredibly awesome feature but removed so many others that I consider vital to the game. Hopefully I get into beta and can try it myself before I buy.

[nathanthemayor 1,261]

IMO Glassbox, but I also think the curvy roads, tram-in-avenue, and the modules are also good items I could enjoy in the new game.

[Stuart98 98]

Nothing for new graphics?

[McDuff 1]

A lof of people seem to want the game after this one (refinement and scaling up of the system to allow larger simulation spaces, or larger cities), it wouldn't the first game to suffer from this syndrome. Thing is, if Maxis were to implement the 'missing' features, we would still be waiting this time next year.

This!

There's so much potential here. I know we're not getting the game of our dreams, but honestly even modded all the way to hell, SC4RH isn't the game of my dreams.

There's no subways yet, but there are 3D pathable light rail lines, so making them into subways won't be hard. I'm also looking forward to what can be done going forward with this, both in official development and modding. Subways, monorails, el rail. Canals with underground tunnels and raised aqueducts. I'm looking forward to the state where something like can be achieved as a functional part of the city rather than a cosmetic mod.

The cities are smallish, but they share resources like education and fire and crime, which is *much* deeper region play than in SC4 (and that, for me, is my personal "favourite" new feature, at least on paper). It's much more reminiscent of how real large municipal areas grow, out of smaller towns that merge together.

I *am* looking forward to SC2 or the big "Rush Hour" equivalent expansion pack or whatever will happen. So I'm not going to gripe about what isn't in this one. As far as it looks from here, most of what people want only isn't in this one *yet*.