New Screenshots

[glazert 89]

Its nothing to do with online. Its about simulation, more cities together equals more simulation. Its to keep the requirements down in order for more people with lower spec computers can play.

You may be right that the specific point about non-adjacent cities is not about online, but neither is it about simulation and the arguable consequent need for fewer cities; that does not explain why there are gaps between the "cities" as shown in the picture.

[macvirt 361]

Its nothing to do with online. Its about simulation, more cities together equals more simulation. Its to keep the requirements down in order for more people with lower spec computers can play.

You may be right that the specific point about non-adjacent cities is not about online, but neither is it about simulation and the arguable consequent need for fewer cities; that does not explain why there are gaps between the "cities" as shown in the picture.

It's not about simulation, that is just the same type of marketing as the statement of aiming for ultra realism.

It's about enabling a collection of leisure gamer type categories to have an easy, shiny and quick means of entertainment which they can fit in with established and growing trends of social / sharing gameplay types. It's not a game designed to appeal to the hardcore builder type of player, for that it just includes a very distinct focus on "looking good" while simultaneously imposing restrictions that (think of no manual zoning) would lead Maxis on a road with no end (for that road they have the (shallow even if wide) moddability focus. It also is not a game designed to appeal to the hardcore simulation expert either. Don't see it as having a hardcore focus. Look at the origins of math and render engines, the distinct focus on ranking and online multiplayer. It's a game designed for the mass markets of today. Not for the continuing SimCity 4 "clinging on" players

It is perfect for the trends today really. And as long as requirements are met over time to enable the kind of modding functionality for the longer term, it will be enabled for hardcore users to nurture and grow it over long term. Taking it deeper, rather than wider (the latter is what Maxis focuses on).

[flyer2359 92]

Here's a couple of new screenshots from their new blog:

[pyanodon 218]

I love that land value visualization. But regional shots are a killer! The cities are so tiny..i can even see a nuclear powerplant in the downtown (lol)

[jone4s 5]

Here's another one from their Facebook page:

The caption is "Naughty or Nice: Will you be naughty and collect a stinking wall of waste with a sewage outflow pipe or be nice and build a sewage treatment plant to clean it all up?"

Looks great!!! they improved the trees.. and in the right picture it seems to be autumn.. looks very very nice... i like the flair. btw.: i also dont like the region view pictures posted above so far..but they will surely improve till it comes out..

btw.: Somehow the style of this new sim city reminds me of theme park or rollercoaster tycoon 3.. which is good.. looks very nice and fun... although i also would have liked a realistic/gritty look.. i love sim city 4 and its graphic style, you can see one of my cities here in the forum.. the thread is called Metropolis. But as i said, i like this new look very much too, its different.. i m confident it will be a very nice game.

[grugor 60]

A little less plastic looking needed imo. nice touch with the ground around the sewer pipe showing the signs of pollution on the surface.

Scooter spotted in the below screenshot on the bottom right of the fire house

[flyer2359 92]

Here's their newest one showcasing the Police Station and Fire Station:

[SirChick 184]

I still don't like the textures on buildings Looks to simple with one plain colour it needs texture.

[Karlos87 5]

yeah this game looks too "cartoony" SC4 had better detail... i hope Simtropolis adapts to this game and you can do with this what we do with SC4!?!

looks good... but the buildings arent doing anything for me really... improved in alot of ways, took a few steps back in others

[Delecto 941]

New picture.

[Zarpia 12]

New picture.

I love those intersections, and the trees look very nice; at least for me...

And also the buildings look less cartoony.... I love it

[The_City_Builder 299]

New picture.

That picture looks surprisingly good. They've gotten the colour's down, and those streets look really nice. Maybe a little empty though, since there are skyscrapers right next to it...

[flyer2359 92]

New picture.

I didn't mind the graphics before, but this is AMAZING.

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

That picture looks surprisingly good. They've gotten the colour's down, and those streets look really nice. Maybe a little empty though, since there are skyscrapers right next to it...

Yes, liking the detail on the buildings and the trees look much improved. Also the shadows and contrast between light and shade is more defined.

What concerns me, as The_City_Builder said, is the overall level of traffic and commuters, which is unusually low. Since this seems like the central business district of the city, you'd except a densely populated area like this to have high levels of traffic congestion. Maybe this isn't a full representation of inner-city traffic. We have seen that high congestion is possible from earlier screenshots in this thread.

Also, its a bit strange how it suddenly goes blurred in the distance, after the skyscrapers. Though this is probably due to graphical rendering limitations.

Overall, the graphical side to the game does look better, although there is still room for improvement (e.g. textures). But of course, solid gameplay is much more important than graphics.

[macvirt 361]

Well, maybe all the people in that city are dead. After some epidemic. Who knows, maybe on release day we all get stormed by zombies. Then again, maybe the people supposed to be in that city have simply not been born yet.

[Ocram's Razr 963]

That is going to become my new desktop wallpaper!

--Ocram

[MaxisGuillaume 289]

That picture looks surprisingly good. They've gotten the colour's down, and those streets look really nice. Maybe a little empty though, since there are skyscrapers right next to it...

Yes, liking the detail on the buildings and the trees look much improved. Also the shadows and contrast between light and shade is more defined.

What concerns me, as The_City_Builder said, is the overall level of traffic and commuters, which is unusually low. Since this seems like the central business district of the city, you'd except a densely populated area like this to have high levels of traffic congestion. Maybe this isn't a full representation of inner-city traffic. We have seen that high congestion is possible from earlier screenshots in this thread.

Also, its a bit strange how it suddenly goes blurred in the distance, after the skyscrapers. Though this is probably due to graphical rendering limitations.

Overall, the graphical side to the game does look better, although there is still room for improvement (e.g. textures). But of course, solid gameplay is much more important than graphics.

The buildings had just finished being built when I took this screenshot, so they were not opened/occupied yet.

[macvirt 361]

Seeing those skyscrapers is making me think of the '30's of the previous century. I wonder what the odds are of a distaster effect like a banking crisis after which you can see little suits jump off the skyscrapers.

That being said, that shot looks a lot better in terms of colours and that "shiny" factor. It looks a lot less like lego or plastic this way, which considering the marketing aim of "ultra realism" is starting to look better.

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

The buildings had just finished being built when I took this screenshot, so they were not opened/occupied yet.

That makes sense, thanks for the quick response. It would be great though if we could see a similar screenshot from the peak rush hour, once the district is fully developed.

[The_City_Builder 299]

Yeah, that picture is beautiful. The textures are looking much nicer.

Also, I don't know about you guys, but the way the shadows and colours look...

Could that possibly be the sign of a rain shower?

  Edited December 29, 2012 by The_City_Builder  
Removed reference to off yopic comments.

[MaxisGuillaume 289]

Could that possibly be the sign of a rain shower?

No rain shower in this shot, although I'll take a pic of that FX one of these days

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Early on someone (I forget who) talked about trying to get buildings to form streetwalls around curved streets, and that he understood urban form on a personal level from living in London. That's a super hard problem to solve and it's understandable that it wasn't, but I was hoping that having a reasonable urban form in the game would be a priority.

When the very first screenshots came out I held out hope that the game was still in an early rough state, but it didn't take many more screenshots to see that they'd given up on urban form and reverted back to SimCity 4. There are plazas in front of prewar skyscrapers. Finished facades facing alleyways, and common walls facing side streets. Earlier we saw some grass lawns downtown although iirc that has been fixed.

Glassbox and countless other aspects of the game seem to have been done fantastically. But to me it's kind of like a really overweight person deciding to go to the gym and work out really hard and diet to get into shape to look and feel better. And then ending up with a great body, but instead of buying nice new clothes and getting a nice haircut, wearing old stained sweatpants and having horrible hygiene. It defeats the purpose. All of that work was put into glassbox so that what we see is a direct representation of the simulation, but what's the point if what we see doesn't look and feel like a city? The point of a city simulation game is to ultimately end up with something that looks and feels like a city, isn't it?

The worst part (or maybe the best part when/if modding is available) about it is that these are really easy things to deal with. All that had to happen was early on in the process someone had to spend a few days working out these issues. "A 5 meter setback from the edge of the lot is a reasonably realistic setback and gives enough space on the lot for street props. This will be the standard setback for buildings that are supposed to be urban." "We need to make sure that there can be separate corner lots and midblock lots like in SC4, and that we lot the buildings accordingly. Maybe we can take it a step further than SC4 and allow certain midblock buildings to be prevented from growing on corners. We need to get that functionality into the game."

Something that's been fun though, is that SimCity has been going on for over 20 years, and in that time we've passed through different eras of architecture. In one of the screenshots there's an angular building on the riverfront that looks like a convention center or an opera house, and that kind of architecture didn't really exist when SC4 came out, and it definitely didn't exist when the original SimCity came out in the 80s.

[guitarmatt99 27]

New screen has been posted on Facebook today.

Land texture has improved and now doesn't look like one solid colour, texture has been added! Finally! Buildings are looking highly detailed and look outstanding in my opinion, they still could be improved with less perfect colours and maybe rusting after so long in the game. Trees also look great with great texture to them!

[fiver 306]

The previous picture, the boulevard, looks good to me but only as long as I look at the roads, signs and trees. The buildings still look like "toys", like in SC2.

[F2CMaDMaXX 12]

Remember, the street shot is at a very low sun level, it changes the colours of things.

One thing that's never been in SC before, is the sun level and colour of the light, that's not something you can objectively judge from screenshots unless you've played the game. No one knows what to expect, nor knows the time of day and how that affects things.

[zimmie 521]

Has this one been posted before? I don't think I've ever seen it myself. Pretty sure it's SC'13

[SirChick 184]

They should add some weathering texture to those Nuclear cooling towers to add a bit more realism to it... won't hurt performance at all.

Ground looks good but i think the road turning is not very smooth =/

Particle effects look good

[The_City_Builder 299]

New screen has been posted on Facebook today.

Land texture has improved and now doesn't look like one solid colour, texture has been added! Finally! Buildings are looking highly detailed and look outstanding in my opinion, they still could be improved with less perfect colours and maybe rusting after so long in the game. Trees also look great with great texture to them!

Good:

-Trees look outstanding

-Particles look awesome

-Textures look much more improved on the buildings

-That picture makes me feel like I'm in a model city, which is the new SimCity's goal

-Tilt-Shift effect has come a LONG way

Bad:

-The grass next to the sidewalks looks very fake

-Road turns look sharp and not realistic

Has this one been posted before? I don't think I've ever seen it myself. Pretty sure it's SC'13

Good:

-Lighting Effects

-If you look closely, it appears you can see inside the buildings a little

-Tilt-Shift effect renders lights pretty well in the distance

-Architecture on some of the buildings looks unique, but believable

-Look at all the building styles! I can only spot 1 or 2 repeating buildings

Bad:

-Again, road turns look sharp and unfinished

-It looks to me as if the Tilt-Shift is rendering the entire city view, making it look like that is a different city in the background

-(so the maps are pretty small)

-I doubt some of those residential highrises would have so many lights on at night in real life

-Same goes with some of the industrial buildings

[grugor 60]

The screenshots are definitely improving lately. You can see into buildings through the windows but unless they put something in the rooms, there is no point as it looks stupid with all the empty rooms

[macvirt 361]

I don't know, these last ones have that "plastic" feel to them back a bit. What I'd like to see is whether the buildings and roads look like when - for example - not fully utilised or suffering from lack of usage / maintenance.