What do you want in Cities: Skylines?

[Ocram's Razr 964]

I would say that City Life through Cities XXL had a good system where the day/night cycle were independent of the simulation clock. That series had a menu (that could be opened and closed) with buttons to change the time of day (in increments of 3 hours) and a "play" button to smoothly move the sun and moon through the sky. That series also was the first to use speed tree for realistic looking trees that say in the wind.

--Ocram

[dysonraf 37]

 

I'm still on the fence with CS. There are still a lot of missing staple features in the game. Like a simple day and night cycle for example... :/

Plus, we have no idea about the game's bugs yet.

It's just too early to tell.

We see a lengthy thread about day/night cycles about every week over on the Paradox forums. I'm curious to know what a lot of Simtropolis users think about it though.

Why do you consider a day/night cycle to be a "core" feature?

How high or low of a priority would you say adding a day/night system is post-release?

How would you implement a day/night cycle?

How would a day/night cycle work with aging citizens?

1) I think its a core feature as it gives more immersion in your city making it feel like time is really ticking by. Also the city can look so much better at night (thinking casino lights, emergency services lighting up the roads and buildings etc)

2) As another said until we see the game its hard to tell but i would put it just after tunnels and sorting farms, seaports and airport sizes. And lot sizes for big industrial buildings and shops.

3) Clock ticks seperate to day night cycle. One day night cycle could be 100 days in game for example (otherwise sims would never get old) and each would have the 9-5 rush hours for those jobs that need it.

4) as above the days change seperate to day night cycle. That happens already as a day takes 10 seconds at slow speed (?) but clearly sims do not travel there and back to work in that time.

[Azurespecter 506]

Great feedback! Keep it coming, I promise I'm reading it all. It really helps when you give such constructive insight, and I really appreciate your willingness to try the game first and then make decisions.

 

On a side note, it's not the crude features that's going to make me say "I need that game now". CS needs to be mind blowing in many aspects (mind blowing day and night cycle for example).

 

This statement certainly stood out to me, as that's really what Colossal Order is trying to do. We don't want to include lots of shiny features that only kind of work. So even though there isn't a day/night cycle at release, we hope to deliver a solid core game, and build from there once everyone has tried it out. I can't guarantee a day/night cycle, or even all of the features that SimCity 4 or 2013 had, but we are listening, and we aim to be "mind blowing" in the things we do implement.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

I love that you [Paradox and Colossal Order] are listening to all the feedback and that most of the feedback is constructive. Criticism is great; disliking a feature and offering constructive feedback on how to improve the feature is much better than the type of feedback I have seen common for several other games.

Anyway, Cities XL was supposed to be a groundbreaking online game with tons of Planet Offer subscribers with trade guilds (and even cartels) as well as individual citizens with "personality" (somewhere between City Life, SimCity 2013, and the final product of Cities XL) and beautiful, realistic graphics. Cities XL 2011 and later decided to cut the losses of mulitplayer and focus on building rather large photorealisically beautiful cities. I really feel bad that Monte Cristo did not succeed at their goals but I am glad that Colossal Order is working with such a big company as Paradox and is utilizing a successful business model of making a good base while supporting the game with mod tools, DLC, Expansion Packs, and free patches.

About the Day/Night cycle. There are 2 ways to go about implementing it. Day/Night could be visual only (also known as eye-candy) with buttons to change the time of day (which is what SC4, CL, CXL, and AD2070 did) or the visuals could be tied into the simulation, with different business hours, rush hours, nightlife, curfews (students and children staying home at night or possibly even making everyone forced to stay at home at night through an ordinance), criminals becoming more active at night, and other simulated differences like what SC2013 did. It would be rather easy to make Cities: Skylines look far more beautiful and add a ton of cosmetic features that don't affect gameplay one bit but I have a feeling that the vision of Colossal Order is for a realistic simulation with features that are only implemented if implemented completely, with full functionality (which is what Maxis did, which meant that SC2013 did not have certain features). I am not sure how it could even be possible to add different hours of operation for businesses, rush hours, and other features of a realistic day/night cycle in Cities: Skylines so I think that implementing it that way would not really be worth it. If weather, new climates, realistic day/night cycle, and air pollution (with weather and air pollution combining to determine whether to have smog; also with semi-realistic dispersion, with various radii including a small global/regional air pollution emitted from tall smokestacks and where wind is now a vector instead of just a scalar of how strong it is, thus moving pollution away from the source, spreading it further, and diluting it) were all bundled together in a $5-20 expansion pack, then that might justify adding them into the game. A realistic day/night cycle would mean that solar power would only generate electricity in the day (or generate more electricity in the day but have a little generating if it charges a battery in the day), while weather and air pollution would mean that solar power would generate less electricity when there is air pollution or clouds. Weather could also have an impact on ground-water. Currently, water towers produce a small amount of water regardless of where they are placed (they could generate the same amount of water regardless of whether they were built in the middle of a desert or built near a lake or river) but adding weather should add a ground-water layer. That means that ground water would need to become another painted map resource or for it to be generated based on proximity to fresh water (or a combo of both, where the map-maker can designate a huge aquifer far away from lakes and rivers but still have unlimited ground water, and obviously surface water as well, near lakes and rivers). I could see air pollution and ground pollution lowering the productivity of farms (with air pollution slightly increasing productivity of forestry in warmer climates). Maybe air pollution could even be broken down into toxic/noxious pollution, particulate, and greenhouse gas pollution. The first two lower health and have a visual effect. Only the first one would harm plants. The last one would help plants. All of them could be partially controlled and countered in different ways ("clean air act" for toxic air pollution and particulates, a district policy for adding scrubbers and filters to lower particulates, and a greenhouse gas emissions tax for the last one).

Keep up the great work!

--Ocram

[CapTon 592]

Day and night cycles don't really matter all that much to me because even though they add another sense of realism to the game, they don't change the core gameplay unless they tie into the simulation, which, as OcramSeattle said, SC2013 did.

[zorkman 25]

The trouble with having day & night is that even on the slowest level a day only lasts 10 seconds, & unlike other city builders all the citizens in the game are real, so it would be pointless having night time every five seconds for it to be realistic.

[iviaarten 534]

For me personally (and I think it makes a lot more sense as well with the 'tick of time' in the simulation), I think it would be better to focus on season first before tackline day/night/rush-hour).

Of course basic things like the colour of leaves changing, trees loosing leaves in winter.

Would be even more amazing if snow coverage was added (I'm aware that this requires a lot more work). Later on (if and when ground water has been added to the game) summers might also bring droughts, and fall might bring extra rain (maybe causing some flooding).

[mutton noir 170]

Some interesting points of view represented in posts. It really is encouraging to see that Paradox & C O are monitoring posts across all sites and responding to concerns, queries and suggestions. Such a level of involvement says much about their professionalism & commitment to producing an excellent standard of product at launch. Their philosophy of creating a rock solid core game rather than sacrificing technical excellence for some superfluous gimmicks  should be commended. They must shake their heads in disbelief at times when confronted by some of the unrealistic expectations from the nut jobs out there- those professional complainers who want all bells and whistles and yesterday isn't soon enough! Fortunately the vast majority of expectant gamers appear to be rational intelligent human beings awaiting a great new gaming experience. The countdown continues...

[lew1984 231]

Just over one week now for C:SL :-). Day and night cycles aren't such a big deal breaker for me... I usually only turned it on for eye-candy shots, night time in Simcity usually frustrates me as I can't see what I'm building lol.  

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

Personally, I'm more interested about a night mode purely for an aesthetic point of view. There's something about a city at night that brings it to life, and makes it more vibrant and interesting than in the day. Having traffic simulated at different times would be nice, but for me it's not a critical feature. Maybe if there's enough demand, it's something which could be added at a later stage, or even modded by the community.

[47ply 1,100]

all I could ask for would be a smooth running game that will become a passion like sc4 did

[simcityplayer15 33]

What I would love to do in CS is to build a city like Tokyo, or London, or Melbourne, or a super green clean city .

[Mymyjp 1,052]

To me, I enjoy watching my city grow. But above all, I love beauty. Therefore, to me, beautification items are a most, like a variety of parks/plazas/retaining walls, etc.

 

In Sim City 4, the variety is mind blowing, allowing artists to create cities that are pleasant to look at. I don't want just a simulation game...I want to be able to create a city that will stand out, would want to make people say "wow, I want to live there". I am also a big fan of creating journals. I do not wish to bore people out with a simple city that has no "wow" factor.

 

As for the day/night debate, if it comes later, that is fine. To me, the city at night is more, like Cyclone Boom said, an aesthetic feature. However, as mentioned previously, I am all about creating an efficient, but aesthetically pleasing city.

 

Thank you for reading our comments and I am looking forward to see how CS will respond to our expectations.

[poshbakerloo 186]

I'm gonna miss regions! Cities Skylines look great and I'm excited but I will miss my 100km x 100km regions from SC4!

[MagicChicken19 43]

I'm gonna miss the sc5 regions. Even though the interactions between cities were poss poor, it was still fun building side by side others, and getting and giving inspiration

[Extrenix 132]

I'm gonna miss regions! Cities Skylines look great and I'm excited but I will miss my 100km x 100km regions from SC4!

 

the game by default gives 9 tiles of 4km2 each so 36km2. however it's said with proper mods, all 25 tiles can be enabled giving 100km2 of space.

of course this is nowhere near your 10,000km2 region lol

[mgomrjsurf 16]

Like to take like Johnson County area in KS or Seminole County area in FL and try a model the cities like they are in real life?

Demo to see if it works on my Dell.

[lance10ca 25]

The ability to export my city to CiM2, please.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

I would like to have the following abilities/features:

1) Change the direction of one-way roads through upgrades (and change between one-way and two-way)

2) Zone up to 6 or 8 tiles away from road (so the maximum sized zones should be 6x6 or 8x8 zones)

3) More resources (coal and iron ore being different resources, maybe others)

4) Recycling that can make plastic, aluminum, and paper that could be used for generic industry, offices, and electronics industry (recycling policy increases recyclables produced)

5) Weather, air pollution, and ground water/aquifer tables

 

--Ocram

[poshbakerloo 186]

 

I'm gonna miss regions! Cities Skylines look great and I'm excited but I will miss my 100km x 100km regions from SC4!

 

the game by default gives 9 tiles of 4km2 each so 36km2. however it's said with proper mods, all 25 tiles can be enabled giving 100km2 of space.

of course this is nowhere near your 10,000km2 region lol

 

I don't wanna knock Cities Skylines...the game looks great but the map size is of great concern! I know its all played at once which is the main reason for a size limit...even 100km2 is small, thats like a quarter of Manchester, England which isn't even a big city

[data7 98]

I'll leave info here, that devs are planning to add GLR/trams in future to this game  

[Edman_123 11]

I really want the rapid transit/light rail setup from Rush Hour + NAM, with its compact stations and the ability to run them on road medians..  Considering the trams and metro from Cities in Motion 2, I'm sure Colossal Order would be able to put that together down the road.

[iviaarten 534]

Azurespecter: I already mentioned realistic on/off ramps and mergelanes earlier (as have others), so I'm guessing that's on the list already.

 

Another thing I would love to see though would be 4 lane highways (both by placing the whole thing just like an avenue, and 2-lane one way highway tools). I think that especially with how the simulation appears to work these would make for awesome tools to make better functioning and more realistic interchanges/highway systems. I think you can make a really nice functional roundabout with this too (since entering traffic will have to yield).

 

It feels sort of arbitrary that with the current build we're limited to either 1 or 3 lanes on the highway (ramps and highway itself).

[Edman_123 11]

Azurespecter: I already mentioned realistic on/off ramps and mergelanes earlier (as have others), so I'm guessing that's on the list already.

 

Another thing I would love to see though would be 4 lane highways (both by placing the whole thing just like an avenue, and 2-lane one way highway tools). I think that especially with how the simulation appears to work these would make for awesome tools to make better functioning and more realistic interchanges/highway systems. I think you can make a really nice functional roundabout with this too (since entering traffic will have to yield).

 

It feels sort of arbitrary that with the current build we're limited to either 1 or 3 lanes on the highway (ramps and highway itself).

I wonder if modders will be able to do this, akin to how they added RHW after the limited number of stock highway options in SC4.. Hopefully Skylines will have a better method of adding as many kinds of networks as desired, though, unlike SC4.

[Bombardiere 591]

I want a great city building game. Simulation aspect is nice, but I don't care too much what happen under the hood as long as the city has vibrant feel. For me the citizens can be simulated. Such as one citizen in the game simulation represent 10 citizen in spread sheet calculation.

 

However I want grow my cities from ground up, so the city must function. I don't plop cities, I build. And I want big cities. London, New York, Tokyo. So I will miss the region play of SC4. (Irony is that the region play may be one of the biggest reasons why SC4 is broken. Traffic loops etc.)

 

Cities Skylines looks small. And bit cartoonish. Full 3D forces limitations and I am bit worries that can I import my building creations to Cities. I mean SC4 2,5D render approach allows me to be a sloppy modeller and I can focus small details without a risk those being overtasking for the game. I am happy for thought to dump GMAX and change to Blender, but the extra work required to polish the building models may leave me out of the Cities Skylines Mod group.

 

Functional airports and seaports are huge plus. SC4 had too much stuff, which only gave RCI boost and had no real function in the game. And tourist / intercity is my the biggest wish for SC4. The district approach look interesting.

 

Day-night cycle is not important to me. I never use the cycle in the SC4. Night mode option could be nice for artistic night shot, but I don't think that full cycle is need. Just day or night option.

 

So much to keep my eye on, but I will not get the game anytime soon. I have time to look out for reviews and possibly wait first couple DLC to see what Colossal Order is really doing. Anyway I want the disk and hopefully printed manual. I am old-fashioned. I will wait for those.

 

One thing though. The goal should not be to beat Sim City 2013. That would be shamelessly easy. Colossal Order's goal should be to produce the best possible city building game. The best possible simulation may not be enough.

[Azurespecter 506]

Concerning roads, CO really wants to make a good custom road tool. They couldn't fit it in for launch, but it's very plausible you'll be able to make all sorts of road types in the future. I agree, right now it is limiting, and the highway merging lanes do look awful, haha. I said this before, but it was my only real complaint about the game.

 

@Bombardiere - I totally understand! There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to wait for a few more features and upgrades. And if you've read the interview we did here with Simtropolis, CO really does want to make the best city builder possible, not just better than SimCity 2013 =)

 

I'm not a modeller, so I can't give much on experience. But I have checked out the tools, and talked to SC4 modders who have used them, and it seems like CO is doing a great job making it easy and flexible. Perhaps after release you could check it out, and supply some feedback on the modelling process and how we could make it easier/better? That would be awesome!

 

It's one of the reasons why all of our tools and API aren't fully fleshed out yet. We need good feedback from creators and modders, so we can build them correctly.

[copper121212 23]

Mixed used buildings! This is such a major element of actual city making, strange we haven't seen it in a city building game yet. Would also like to see medium density option like the SimCity games. I'm a fan of graded density as you get away from the core of the city. Both of those might be hard to achieve, seem like core game issues. Something that might be more achievable, that maybe even modders can take care of, would be beaches.

Ultimately the game looks amazing so far....

[Extrenix 132]

 

 

I'm gonna miss regions! Cities Skylines look great and I'm excited but I will miss my 100km x 100km regions from SC4!

 

the game by default gives 9 tiles of 4km2 each so 36km2. however it's said with proper mods, all 25 tiles can be enabled giving 100km2 of space.

of course this is nowhere near your 10,000km2 region lol

 

I don't wanna knock Cities Skylines...the game looks great but the map size is of great concern! I know its all played at once which is the main reason for a size limit...even 100km2 is small, thats like a quarter of Manchester, England which isn't even a big city

 

according to Wiki, Manchester is 115km2. but anyway. at one point it's time to move on and I'm done with SC4.

[BurroDiablo 222]

I could probably count the amount of times I've filled a SC4 tile fully with 3/4 of my fingers missing, you get to a point where the game becomes less about the expansion of your city and more trying to keep under control what you already have, so I'm fine with the city size.

 

Personally, I'd like to see some kind of tool which allows you brush extra tiles onto the existing grid, the 4x grid from the roads seems quite limiting for somebody who likes their heavy industry to be... well... HEAVY. It'd give us modders some more flexibility with the size of growables we can put in the game... it'd also give us a chance to sweep those hideous looking farms under the carpet and never speak of them again, I demand never ending expanses of rolling wheat fields gerdarnit.

[MINIggy03 227]

-Trams

-Smoother highway ramp and train intersections

-Faster highway traffic speed

-larger rail yards/platforms for freight and passengers

-Bigger zones (a 4x4 building upgrading into an 8x4 then into an 8x8)

-Terraforming (not just in map editor)

-Tree brush

-Night mode (instead of it turning to night automatically, have the sun set. same when you flip it back to day. have the sun rise)