Future of SimCity Official Discussion Thread

[antipat 0]

I think that maxis should make online play possible. Having you and your friends designing the same city at the same time would be awsome. Also, make an international map, were people from all over get a part of a region and build it, and it will connect to the other regions by other people online.

[RushHourFreak 1]

<p>Really nice thread, I wish SC5 have all those little things tha help to make life easier, SPECIALLY CURVED ROADS</p>

[RushHourFreak 1]

<p>Really nice thread, I wish SC5 have all those little things tha help to make life easier, SPECIALLY CURVED ROADS</p>

[RushHourFreak 1]

<p>Really nice thread, I wish SC5 have all those little things tha help to make life easier, SPECIALLY CURVED ROADS</p>

[Zegai 0]

I think RCI should be turned into one zone. I have a feed store next door, a diner down the road and a gas station on the corner. And a fire station over there. The game is just to black and white as is, and needs to be updated in a more realistic fashion.

[Zegai 0]

I think RCI should be turned into one zone. I have a feed store next door, a diner down the road and a gas station on the corner. And a fire station over there. The game is just to black and white as is, and needs to be updated in a more realistic fashion.

[Zegai 0]

I think RCI should be turned into one zone. I have a feed store next door, a diner down the road and a gas station on the corner. And a fire station over there. The game is just to black and white as is, and needs to be updated in a more realistic fashion.

[silvermac 0]

I think they should start developing Sim City 5, and keep it in production until all mods and Bats, lots etc dry up.

They should also keep an eye on the modders. EA will have it's reputation hit if a lone bored student can create a 3-lane boulevard, and the might of Maxis can't

[silvermac 0]

I think they should start developing Sim City 5, and keep it in production until all mods and Bats, lots etc dry up.

They should also keep an eye on the modders. EA will have it's reputation hit if a lone bored student can create a 3-lane boulevard, and the might of Maxis can't

[silvermac 0]

I think they should start developing Sim City 5, and keep it in production until all mods and Bats, lots etc dry up.

They should also keep an eye on the modders. EA will have it's reputation hit if a lone bored student can create a 3-lane boulevard, and the might of Maxis can't

[kenkoo1987 0]

one tiny point about all this though. the developers did say they want to make simcity "simple", i am pretty sure that would take most of the fun out of the game. The best part is often working out how to make something work the way you want and esp the roads and stuff...a full-on intellectual exercise IMO. + all these modifications that are being suggested will simply make the game more complex. Maybe...you could have sorta graded levels of game play eg. you can turn off say the effects of commute time or traffic noise so newcomers to the game will experience a gentler learning curve or a sandbox mode for people simply trying to recreate their favourite cities as accurately as possible while you could have a "normal" mode pretty much like what we have in sc4

[kenkoo1987 0]

one tiny point about all this though. the developers did say they want to make simcity "simple", i am pretty sure that would take most of the fun out of the game. The best part is often working out how to make something work the way you want and esp the roads and stuff...a full-on intellectual exercise IMO. + all these modifications that are being suggested will simply make the game more complex. Maybe...you could have sorta graded levels of game play eg. you can turn off say the effects of commute time or traffic noise so newcomers to the game will experience a gentler learning curve or a sandbox mode for people simply trying to recreate their favourite cities as accurately as possible while you could have a "normal" mode pretty much like what we have in sc4

[kenkoo1987 0]

one tiny point about all this though. the developers did say they want to make simcity "simple", i am pretty sure that would take most of the fun out of the game. The best part is often working out how to make something work the way you want and esp the roads and stuff...a full-on intellectual exercise IMO. + all these modifications that are being suggested will simply make the game more complex. Maybe...you could have sorta graded levels of game play eg. you can turn off say the effects of commute time or traffic noise so newcomers to the game will experience a gentler learning curve or a sandbox mode for people simply trying to recreate their favourite cities as accurately as possible while you could have a "normal" mode pretty much like what we have in sc4

[Sky Guy 163]

i think that simcity 5 should be a mix between sim3k unlimited and 4 deluxe

[Sky Guy 163]

i think that simcity 5 should be a mix between sim3k unlimited and 4 deluxe

[Sky Guy 163]

i think that simcity 5 should be a mix between sim3k unlimited and 4 deluxe

[Tommo 0]

Hmm i think that SC5 will not be out for a long time, because they are already working on Spore... For me things that are needed in simcity5 are: 3 or 5 levels for networks: you should be able to choose the level of the networks that you build, 0 ground, 1&2 eleveted and -1&-2 underground. I really hate that i can't decide to have an underground higway that bypasses the center of the city... or that a el higway can't overpass another el higway... to balance the advantage el and sub networks should costs ground price * level... for example the rail at level 0 costs

[Tommo 0]

Hmm i think that SC5 will not be out for a long time, because they are already working on Spore... For me things that are needed in simcity5 are: 3 or 5 levels for networks: you should be able to choose the level of the networks that you build, 0 ground, 1&2 eleveted and -1&-2 underground. I really hate that i can't decide to have an underground higway that bypasses the center of the city... or that a el higway can't overpass another el higway... to balance the advantage el and sub networks should costs ground price * level... for example the rail at level 0 costs

[HawaiiBill 0]

Sky Guy brings us down to earth. HawaiiBill -- taking the hint -- will concentrate on SC4. Better the game we have than that pie in the sky that may get lost with everything else in our community future!

So it's back to learning how to do SC4 better. Which are the best forum sections for that, the ones I might miss?

Thank you or, as we say in the middle of the Pacific ocean, Mahalo.

[Horus_Kol 118]

Maxis ARE working on SimCity 5 - I've read some quotes in magazines about how they're trying to take it back a step to make it more accessible... But with Spore on the radar, we might not see SC5 for another 3 years, I guess...

Still, if Will and his team are reading this, I wouldn't mind putting my tuppence in with the rest of you guys (some of these have been said by others - but if they're repeated more than once, perhaps they'll be noticed...):

WEATHER

Seasons and weather - balmy evenings and gorgeous summer make for a dull experience... golden leaved parks and snowdrifts would be cool (maybe a Santa-laden flying-reindeer sled as a special treat at midnight on the 24th/25th December?)

TRANSPORT NETWORK ELEVATIONS

I like the level thing - the London underground is confused network with many tubes running at different levels and not intersecting like they would in SC4.

CURVED ROADS AND RAILWAYS

Roads and railways hug contours in real life...

also BRIDGES - look at the Severn Road Bridge - it curves significantly as you drive over it...

RESOURCES

Gold-rush? Oil-town? Drag an area out over a resource-laden patch of ground and offer up the rights to an enterprising corporation... you get a nice tarriff, and have realistic industrial supply chains...

CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT

In reality, as the governing agency you would have businesses approaching you to build major items like power stations - they'd see a demand and want to cash in on it... perhaps they could come to you, suggest one or two locations where they could build their plant, and you say "yeah"...

or a harbour? or an airport? oil/gas refinery and off-shore platforms...

AIRPORT ZONES

SC2000 hit it spot on with the airports - you start small... a single runway and a tower... and you can just add as many tiles as you need to grow... maybe some control over what buildings and arrangements on the zone...

BEACH PLACEMENT

I've always found this to be a troublesome aspect of SC4...

DEVELOPMENT ZONES

you build a major road, and plot out a 10x10 residential area... then invite a developer to build low/medium/high density housing there - they put in the roads, parks and stuff...

or you want to build a commercial business park?

That's about all for now...

[Super- Timo 0]

What i would really lke in Sim City 5 isbeing able to chose the type of trains, buses etc you want (each with their own stats and costs) and then paint them all in one city wide colour with logos etc (like transport for london).

Also more stuff in the sea hardly anything goes by sea on SC4 i want to dregers going around scooping up the muck and huge container ships and oil tankers (the ones in SC4 only stay for 4 seconds!)

bridges with roads under them that is somthing that needs to be sorted.

Finaly more seasons and a full 3d view like in RCT3

(sorry if anyone has said these already!)

[HawaiiBill 0]

Horus_Kol, from your computer to God's eyes but I'll believe it when I see it. While there is a hard core of SimCity folks the 'new' Sims needed to make a SC5 successful are drifting away for lack of response from Maxis/EA and no direct indication of any interest in them as customers.

Hope you are correct!

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

This just posted at Game Spy daily:

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3665&Itemid=2

EA talks about where it is going in the future.  No mention of SC5.

[Horus_Kol 118]

i'm definitely sure I saw a quote about it in Edge or PC Gamer... anyways...

I've been browsing through the forums and such, and just read a great paragraph in https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=146&threadid=76201&enterthread=y :

"In many places, the trash is sent miles away, and water and power can travel hundreds of miles before reaching the faucet. Unfortunately, we can't just send our trash out of the region or buy our power from a nuclear plant capable of powering half a large state."

This followed on from some reading about highways and such...

and suddenly - bam...

Howabout allowing infrastructure to be created at the Region level, and then building cities around that... so major railroads and highways can be drawn out - power lines, too...

That way, we're not just working with neighbours, we're working with the whole region (world?)

[KLRowell 1]

It would be nice to have a local government....maybe oust the advisor crap? I think it would be cool to have city council members that come to you about areas of the city instead of advisors. I think the government could be a little more realistic

[S1acker 0]

Hmm, i think we could see a Sim City 5 in development after Spore is released, as Will and his team won't have much to work on, too soon for sims 3, too soon for Spore expansion pack and i don't think creating expanison packs for Sims 2 all the time is enough for Will. Thats why i think SC5 will be developed.

[cassdagreat16 0]

I think the developer(Maxis) should really think about making the tile sets for all the cities more varied. I think the large city tiles are still to small compared to real cities like my NY, or even Brooklyn Ny. It could just be me because I have lived here all my life. The large tile set is not even close to brooklyn. Or Maxis should let the user draw the city borders for a more realistic region instead of the squares. My last suggestion is inter city bridges so when a river or reasonable size body fo water seperates two cities you can just create a bridge across to them. Like the GW Bridge.


P.S. Tunnels Too  And sorry for the spelling its summer vacation!!!!1

[DARKO 3]

Originally posted by: N_O_Body This just posted at Game Spy daily:

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3665&Itemid=2

EA talks about where it is going in the future.  No mention of SC5.quote>

 

If anything I think the remark about a more user created gaming environment cues a simcity 5 entrance.  A potential Sc5 could apply to almost all seven of those goals.

As a Urban Planner, I would love them to take some ideas from GIS, the system that planners use to develop real life cities. In this sense I'm alluding to map overlays to essentially create predictor models, say on traffic, crime, growth....etc. 

 As well since the simcity series has always boasted itself as a planning game, I would love to see it implement developer based zoning. For example you zone a parcel low commercial and receive lets say 5 bids. One a bowling alley, one a fast food joint....etc. I think this will help in a two fold manner. One it will allow diversity among buildings and zones throughout your city. Second it will actually act as a guiding mechanism in case your stuck on how to  go about developing a particular block or even district of your city. 

I think even though they added an element of historical content with being able to control what building style takes place with a loosely based "era" building style, it could be expanded on even more. For example, I would love to be able to say start my city in 1900, or  say 1950. This would mean decade based tile sets. I think this is essential to building a truly organic city.

Without a doubt the road system needs to be expanded upon. We should just be able to drag lanes to the desired width, complete with turn-arounds,left turning lanes, parking on street, and the ability to make almost completely custom intersections. There also needs to be more Smart growth/Walk-able city based transportation options. It's hard to truly make European or just plain walkable areas the way everything is set up.

Zone based parks/Airports/cemeteries a must.

It would even be kinda fun to have a district-maker for schools. You could essentially make neighborhood districts for high schools and etc.

Obviously the ability to create buildings flush on diagonal or curved roads is a must. I can't create a good majority of cities because of this. It has to be a must. As well we need to have some sort of ability to adjust the frontage of a building. If I want to have the buildings right up to the sidewalk or whether I want to build a more suburban oriented areas where everything is set back behind acres of parking lot.  Parking lots should be able to act as an extension of a road if anything for making big box set back type developments.

The ability to build easier in hilly topography, make the building take form in a more realistic natural way to the ground.

An d while weather would be nice, I think seasons are even more essential. But really what I think is even more important is to have a much more natural looking foliage. Tall grass,short grass. I would like to see the natural landscape improved. I want it where you might not even want to build on it because it looks so stunning

Mixed use buildings. We need a hybrid zoning class. If you think about it almost every building in a urban setting is of a mixed use mold. Lofts above a corner grocery store is neato.

One map size bigger  and the ability to make any shape you want for region or city.  Also the ability to annex would be very cool. I also wonder if we could have it done like City life where the city border looks infinite, or even better yet a blurred look at your actual bordering city that you made. In a way it could make it look continuous.

Also, if not completely 3d, we need at the very least a skyline/street level view like in City Life. I'd be thrilled with even just that added with perhaps one or two more adjusted camera angles.

Finally we need a map generator ala Sc3. Too much time is involved in hand forming your own.  If anything that is what detracts me from even playing as much as I would like. I want the ability for the game to create a terraformed region for me, complete with trees,bushes and all other foliage. I could just edit it from there. It would be cool if the game made cool little cliffs/and or rivers so I don't have to make every mundane detail.

Thats is all

[Iron Man 0]

Right. Sim City 5. Buildings, bridges, roads, railways etc should be able to be built at different angles besides 90 and 45 degrees. And on mass transit the trains should have more variety instead of the same trains showing up all the time. More ordinances would be helpful (there isnt alot on SC4 campered to SC3000). And the subway tracks - you should be able to built them at different levels undeground - for example you should be able to put subway lines under another one so it does'nt have to cross it. Plus - they shouldnt miss some landmarks out like they did on SC4 (jeez).

[Iron Man 0]

Wait I forgot to mention that on SC5 there should be climate/weather options.