SimCity next version ideas...

[cshmech 30]

Hello folks,

   I don't have a decade experience playing simcity games. I wanted to play a strategy game and landed upon SC4 only last year. From that time onward, SC has given me satisfied gaming experience and I became a fan of this gaming genre. When Maxis announced the release of next Simcity, I was very excited as many of the fan community. But as the game-play of the new game started started to come out  I knew this was not what I expected from this game. (I'm not going to talk about MMO, as its a wonderful idea if everything goes well). So I was not too inclined to buy this game irrespective of the price. Launch was pretty messed up and I'm glad I din't buy it. I don't think I'm ever going to until certain aspects would be changed. I want to discuss all the features that I would 'like' to have in a simcity game with you friends.. please pour in your ideas and comment on mine. Below are some ideas (in addition to SC2013 graphics/game-play) I would like to see in an (imaginary) new version of simcity: 

 

-Bubble cities and Barren Region: This was my primary concern and a strong deterrent from SC2013. Do you remember how we were in the God mode before starting a city in SC4? In a new game, it could be like this. Lets start the city from mid-size as in SC2013. There should be an option to expand(buy) extra land from region (maybe from God ), adjacent to our city. If there is contest between two players, then it could get into a bidding mode. Interesting bidding would result for coal/water-rich areas. And we can expand our city into any shape we want. There could be an option for selling land, with values appropriate to the buildings.. This would eliminate filled up cities with skyscrapers and no man land right next to it between cities. It looks very odd.. you micro-manage so much and build a city with skyscrapers and all and you look at it..  it feels like a game for below 10 kids! And also buying and selling lands could make this more dynamic and not stagnate after you develop your cities to max..

 

-Inter-city transport connections: I can build my own inter-city transport connections. This should be left with the player, when they start a region and as they expand towards a neighboring city, it could be altered. If I can use facilities and people/goods exchange with other cities, then I might as well decide how I want to connect to my neighboring cities. Not a single highway connection coming into your city out of nowhere (and the resulting traffic problems near that). 

 

-City Specialization: As a Mayor, you should control what kind of shops/services/industries can come into your region. So you zone a commercial zone and lets assume some chain-restaurant company wants to build restaurants in your city, they should ask permission from you for that. If you want to build a tourist attraction city and if you don't have enough restaurants then the tourist attraction businesses wont do good (its an example. Like if you have a lots of supermarket, people want to move into your residential zone.. and such supermarkets prefers to build in a C-zone nearer to an R-zone. If you want an industrial city, the you don't need supermarkets, but lots of car dealers... if you have chevy manufacturing unit but you don't have a chevy dealership, the mfcting unit wont do good.. since goods have to travel to a dealership elsewhere... etc..). So, I can specialize my city into whatever kind I want, by just accepting and declining certain business  It would be better if they include agricultural lands.. So that I could start off as an farming city, move on to an industrial city and then become a commercial one, increasing my R-capacity while I move my industries away (into a newly bought land!). And I believe this idea is the closest to reality.

 

Any comments/criticism is welcome friends.

 

Thanks!

 

P.S.: I'm sorry if its under the wrong forum topic!

[nilssoa 2]

I totally agree with you. To me it feels very wrong to have a manufacturing specialization with no real damand for it. Better to have some products that the Sims need to be happy. Food, cars, consumer products, clothing, entertainment, etc. Then you have the choice of providing the whole chain for big profit or parts of that chain for smaller profit. For the region aspect of the game the mechanics needs to make it better to trade stuff within the region than from the global market.

 

Of course you should have bigger freedom with the inter city connections. One road entrance only makes an optimally planned city look very strange.

[x_nemo 4]

I'm i the only one who want to be able to customize the big map. eg make my own highways and own city tiles?

Also customize the landscape in a city. Fill out water with dirt. Dig the sea into your city. Make a hill here and there.

For me this game is way to "locked". I wanna be able to play around. This is after all a sort of sandbox playaround game.

[cshmech 30]

I'm i the only one who want to be able to customize the big map. eg make my own highways and own city tiles?

Also customize the landscape in a city. Fill out water with dirt. Dig the sea into your city. Make a hill here and there.

For me this game is way to "locked". I wanna be able to play around. This is after all a sort of sandbox playaround game.

 

I hear you. Terra-forming should also be an option for the region.. Terra-forming for each cities looked kinda odd to me, since it messes up neighboring city boundaries..  

 

This game is locked like anything.. To be honest, I cannot believe people actually bought the game.. even without the server issues.. I would say most of them, did not know what was missing in SC2013 from SC4. Right when I knew you don't have any control over the region, you can't do 'anything' outside your city boundaries and only one dumb highway connection into your city.. I decided not to buy this game. Ironic fact: Ocean Quigley kept saying in his videos that in real life "cities don't exist in  bubble". I'm pretty positive he never set foot into the devs office.. He had no idea whats going on over there .. Because in this game if you build your cities good.. to the max and you take a look at the region map, you will see your "cities like a bubble" literally.... 

[Titanicbuff 1,262]

Get rid of online requirement. Also those with older and lower computers like me deserve something- Duel core is to much- single works as a lot of people still use single cores. I run 1.6 ghz and so therefore the new SC doesn't work anyway

[cshmech 30]

Get rid of online requirement. Also those with older and lower computers like me deserve something- Duel core is to much- single works as a lot of people still use single cores. I run 1.6 ghz and so therefore the new SC doesn't work anyway

 

Getting rid of online requirement should be a no.1 priority for Maxis for now. I think it could be done to SC2013 itself as a patch.. But since the things I would like to have in an 'improved' simcity game is not there in SC2013 i'm talking about some imaginary next version of the game... Its so disheartening to see an awesome city building game going down like this! 

[jamn69 5]

I feel that it should still have the different zoning densities, it already allows you to dezone, so why not be able to dezone a low density residential to a medium density residential? I would like to have some regular size houses on high density streets, there is actually still some small size houses on busy high density roads! I would also like to have the farms again, those were great to have in SC4, but most certainly bigger city map sizes!

[Gregorfp 15]

I want city ORDINANCES back!!!

[cshmech 30]

I feel that it should still have the different zoning densities, it already allows you to dezone, so why not be able to dezone a low density residential to a medium density residential? I would like to have some regular size houses on high density streets, there is actually still some small size houses on busy high density roads! I would also like to have the farms again, those were great to have in SC4, but most certainly bigger city map sizes!

 

Bigger map sizes would be great, but I don't think it will fix the 'no-man land' between cities.. It should be like SC4 where every area on a region is city.. The very design of this game was lousy!

 

I want city ORDINANCES back!!!

 

That was a witty one by SC4 devs. bringing an ordinance makes a big difference in gameplay... 

[Californiaz 33]

Tip to make Simcity 6 into a 5/5 bretty good game.

 

Make SimCity 4 with better graphics.

 

zing

[Griffon 19]

great ideas! I also though of the buying land to expand cities before and hope they would eventually add it, I don't think it would be very hard to add that feature and most of the maps are blank spaces anyways

 

I also liked your intercity connections idea, you can have the option to build your own connections between your city and the next (assuming the other play would also have to approve the connection the next time they logged on) and that could solve a lot of the city commuter problems, but I think initial region connections should still be there until you have to money to change them (assuming they would be more expensive than avenues and probably be over a longer distance) so that all cities would eventually all be connected

 

Make up Ordiances idea

also I seen ordinances was mentioned, maybe add a few defaults and give the option to make our own, we'd set the issue it addresses (power saving, education, police, ect.), name it, then set an efficiency level, the efficiency level limit would be determined by the city hall level and the issue would be determined by the city hall upgrades we build in that city only (not just built in region) and the hourly cost of the ordinance we make up would be determined by #1 efficiency level, #2 population, and #3 number of buildings or vehicles in city that is part of the issue

 

example(just making up the costs, don't know what a fair cost might be):

fire prevention classes, addresses fire in city (obviously), efficiency level 3 and 4 fire ladder trucks and 1 helicopter

population is 50k, $100 per 10k people so $500/h

multiply by efficency level, so 500*3= $1500/h

each fire truck in city reduces cost by $100 and helicopter by $500 so $600/h

 

there will have to be limitations to the benefits of vehicles and buildings otherwise you might end up with an ordinance costing $0 at lvl 6, but I just now came up with this idea so there is probably a lot wrong with it right now, maybe it's a terrible idea, but tell me what you think of it

 

one more thing, the 1 thing I wish they'd bring back is the mail from SimCity3000, remember how the citizens would send you mail about how well you were doing or what they demanded you to add or do to the city (most of them were wanting you to enable or disable ordinances), this could be another way to micromanage cities even if it is annoying at times lol

[cirugo 1,889]

there won't be a next version.  Maxis killed the franchise with this one.

[chocolate_city 93]

SInce  you stated that any comments or criticism is appreciated... There are no such words as "irrespective" or "irreguardless" Not that you said irreguardless... but as the great Ruby Rod said... But... Who cares.......!!!!!   Back on track ... does anyone really believe that there will be another Sim City ... If they stay hard lined on no offline mode and stay on the fence about mods.. this game is dead.

[cshmech 30]

Tip to make Simcity 6 into a 5/5 bretty good game.

 

Make SimCity 4 with better graphics.

 

zing

 

That would have been a very wise alternative to what happened with SC2013 and my long first post   

 

 

great ideas! I also though of the buying land to expand cities before and hope they would eventually add it, I don't think it would be very hard to add that feature and most of the maps are blank spaces anyways

 

I also liked your intercity connections idea, you can have the option to build your own connections between your city and the next (assuming the other play would also have to approve the connection the next time they logged on) and that could solve a lot of the city commuter problems, but I think initial region connections should still be there until you have to money to change them (assuming they would be more expensive than avenues and probably be over a longer distance) so that all cities would eventually all be connected

 

Making connections as you buy lands towards another city could be very expensive and time consuming. So, in the beginning the region starter should establish an inter city network, however s/he wants. If need for more connections arise, assuming different players for every city, players should collaborate with each other on how (who builds how much) to build road/rail networks. And building these might cost more, which the players should spend from their cities treasury. This was the idea I had in mind, but din't explain in the first post as that was long enough   

 

Make up Ordiances idea

also I seen ordinances was mentioned, maybe add a few defaults and give the option to make our own, we'd set the issue it addresses (power saving, education, police, ect.), name it, then set an efficiency level, the efficiency level limit would be determined by the city hall level and the issue would be determined by the city hall upgrades we build in that city only (not just built in region) and the hourly cost of the ordinance we make up would be determined by #1 efficiency level, #2 population, and #3 number of buildings or vehicles in city that is part of the issue

 

example(just making up the costs, don't know what a fair cost might be):

fire prevention classes, addresses fire in city (obviously), efficiency level 3 and 4 fire ladder trucks and 1 helicopter

population is 50k, $100 per 10k people so $500/h

multiply by efficency level, so 500*3= $1500/h

each fire truck in city reduces cost by $100 and helicopter by $500 so $600/h

 

there will have to be limitations to the benefits of vehicles and buildings otherwise you might end up with an ordinance costing $0 at lvl 6, but I just now came up with this idea so there is probably a lot wrong with it right now, maybe it's a terrible idea, but tell me what you think of it

 

It complicates the idea of issuing an ordinance.. but definitely makes sense and real-worldly...

 

one more thing, the 1 thing I wish they'd bring back is the mail from SimCity3000, remember how the citizens would send you mail about how well you were doing or what they demanded you to add or do to the city (most of them were wanting you to enable or disable ordinances), this could be another way to micromanage cities even if it is annoying at times lol

 

Or they can send e-mails..  pop-ups would be fine (which has the option to turn off). We do need some sort of feedback from public..

 

 

there won't be a next version.  Maxis killed the franchise with this one.

 

That's why I'm making an imaginary game  .. Even I've lost hope.. RIP Simcity..  But to be honest, I'm wishing somebody sees these posts and if it all makes sense to them, they might venture to create one.. But guess I'm expecting too much

 

 

SInce  you stated that any comments or criticism is appreciated... There are no such words as "irrespective" or "irreguardless" Not that you said irreguardless... but as the great Ruby Rod said... But... Who cares.......!!!!!   Back on track ... does anyone really believe that there will be another Sim City ... If they stay hard lined on no offline mode and stay on the fence about mods.. this game is dead.

 

The last time I checked there was a word called 'irrespective' in English and it certainly had a meaning. Anyway, English is not my native language and I do consult the mighty dictionary every time I make a worthwhile (for me) post..   

Back on track... I second your opinion.. Right now many will say Simcity is dead. I'd like to think its on ventilator support as long as the devs realize offline mode and mods are needed for this game.. I remember an interview in which Ocean Quigley says mods could be allowed after 'sometime' :kitty: .. I mean, the whole series survived on the modding community. That's what kept SC4 alive for decade which led Maxis to make this shitty game and stealing thousands if not millions of poor people all over America!! (yeah.. I know how I sounded there  )..

[Sim_City_Fan 3]

How about Buckingham Palace and Eiffel Tower in Sim City.as it has most of the tourist destination buildings except these ones..

[Griffon 19]

How about Buckingham Palace and Eiffel Tower in Sim City.as it has most of the tourist destination buildings except these ones..

the Eiffel Tower is available as a $10 dlc or you can pay $20 to get all three, England, France, and Germany dlc on origin

 

 

Or they can send e-mails..  pop-ups would be fine (which has the option to turn off). We do need some sort of feedback from public..

I like that too, modernize it a little, I'd have to say the mail from the citizens in simcity3000 was probably my favorite feature they didn't put in simcity4, it made me feel more like a mayor when I answered the mail the citizens sent me, although I usually only read the title and said dismiss because they were usually page long each

 

if you want to feel even more like a mayor they should make hold elections, I played Tropico 4 right before the new simcity came out and every so often they would hold elections to keep you in power and you even had the option to give a speech to the people at the start of the election (you could turn that on and off at the start of the game unless it was a campaign game)

but on Tropico you could be really corrupt as well, so you could eliminate the competition, or put some extra votes for you in the ballot box, or skip the election altogether

[Metalpuritan 160]

This is telling, that this game is only 2 months old and already people are entertaining the thought of a newer SimCity, makes you think don't it?  It made me think.

 

After this, will there even be a new SimCity?  If I was the one running the show at EA/Origin/Maxis this would be the end of the line right here.  I would have looked at the product we made and said to myself "There is no way we can make another game like this for this genre, we just don't have what it takes to match the expectations of the customers, we lack the creativity, and the foresight to be able to produce a product worthy of the title "SimCity", we are done."  I would lock this away as yet another failed venture and nobody would ever speak of it ever again, no press releases, no blurbs, nothing, it would just fade away into obscurity.  That is actually what looks like is happening in fact.

 

I do not even think this current version of SimCity is going to run it's full lifespan.  The rate they are releasing content is telling, they should be releasing content on at least a weekly basis, but they are not.  I personally think they have run out of steam already.

 

A next version of SimCity...I wouldn't hold your breath on that one.  I wouldn't even give it thought yet, though, I guess people like to dream...

[MinecraftFTW 4]

Getting rid of Zombies and replace it with a virus or bacterial outbreak would be better. Zombies is stupid anyways, and It isn't real. And it has no effect on my skyscrapers

[r00n83 12]

Why don't they make a completely offline City Builder version of current Simcity with all the modding and terraforming with bigger maps? By doing this they can satisfy those of us who want a modern City Building game and reduce the criticism on their current City Simulator (Town Simulator to be exact). They can call the City Builder "SimCity Architect" and The Simulator "Simcity Mayor"

[tnobles 38]

I want this version to work, then I'll think about the next version which probably won't happen.

[maximan11 11]

I'd start with 3 steps:

 

1: Be able to create your own region.

 

2: Snap buildings lots together. The few metre/feet between buildings just looks stupid.

 

3: MAKE ONLINE AN OPTION, NOT A REQUIREMENT! 

[Cyclone Boom 16,884]

Somehow, if the game is on decline after just 2 months, I think developing a new version will be the last thing on their minds. Even an expansion seems unlikely at present.

 

One major thing this game lacks is variety. SimCity has so far proven that repetitively building the same style of city does become tiresome, even for the avid player. Ignoring all the other issues, and even with a perfect "bug-free" simulation, this is a major fall short. Of course, in SC4, terraforming played a key part, and allowed regional variations in the landscape. On creation of a region, you were given a blank canvas with endless possibilities. There were no limitations to creating what you want, and where you wanted it. Really, the whole design concept of this SimCity was flawed from the outset -- focusing more on the social interaction and interconnections, rather than plain old city building.

 

At this stage, another new SimCity isn't even close to being on the radar. Also, since this game was essentially a reboot, it has now set the benchmark for all future games in the "SimCity" franchise. If one day there was a new game, one would hope that the critical mistakes would be learnt from. But learning from the mistakes would require the game's underlying concept / model to be drastically changed -- hence a double "reboot".

 

Quite frankly, this doesn't seem very likely...

 

---

 

P.S. Though in early stages of development, something that might be worth keeping an eye on is Boomtown. This is a project (led by Buggi), that aims to take the best aspects of SC4 and SimCity, and create a game based on the community's input and feedback. Take a look at the dedicated group section here.

 

In a way, this project was continued as a kind of "backup plan", in the event of SimCity not meeting expectations.

[Dr. Boom 37]

Terraforming.

[cshmech 30]

 

P.S. Though in early stages of development, something that might be worth keeping an eye on is Boomtown. This is a project (led by Buggi), that aims to take the best aspects of SC4 and SimCity, and create a game based on the community's input and feedback. Take a look at the dedicated group section here.

 

In a way, this project was continued as a kind of "backup plan", in the event of SimCity not meeting expectations.

wow.. never knew about this.. thanks!

 

 though, I guess people like to dream...

exactly.. i'm a hopeless romantic 

[Endureth 37]

This thread is pointless.  The community wrote pages upon pages detailing what we wanted in SimCity 5.  The only thing that made it into the game was curvy roads.  They give a rats ass about what you want.

[theBrad 25]

This is depressing.  It seems like our hopes lies within the indie gaming community.  There are a few such games in development, I hope they pan out.

[Rufus Honker IV 100]

This thread is pointless.  The community wrote pages upon pages detailing what we wanted in SimCity 5.  The only thing that made it into the game was curvy roads.  They give a rats ass about what you want.

 

And in the same game they are implemented, we are given smaller city size making curvy roads non-optimal.

[theBrad 25]

What is clear now (at least to me) is a need for a "SimCity 5", a sequel to SimCity 4.  This new SimCity, as it has been pointed out already is not a sequel but a rehashed concept of a city sim game targeted to a different market than the SimCity 1990-2004 market.  I am doubting any new DLC or expansion to the current SimCity game will appease traditional SimCity fans, but will be targeted to whatever new market they think exists.

[cirugo 1,889]

What is clear now (at least to me) is a need for a "SimCity 5", a sequel to SimCity 4.  This new SimCity, as it has been pointed out already is not a sequel but a rehashed concept of a city sim game targeted to a different market than the SimCity 1990-2004 market.  I am doubting any new DLC or expansion to the current SimCity game will appease traditional SimCity fans, but will be targeted to whatever new market they think exists.

which is why we shouldn't support this one.

[Kiiroitori 55]

I think one important thing would be to include Custom content support, and Official releases of modding tools for the community. After all this is one main reason why Simcity 4 thrives still today. Also a custom menu system so things can be more organized we don't have scroll though long lists of buildings or custom lots just to find a certain building, etc.