Early Look at GlassBox Engine's Water System

It looks like a sound, well-put together SimCity. Not yet sold on the solo play issues, but as a whole, this looks nice. Can the developers enlighten us on the mood-faces? I posted on another related topic about having this possible turn out to be the Sims SimCity edition. Watching them drive around with the sad, sickly faces, reminds me of the annoying thought balloons and diamonds on the tops of the Sims' idiot little heads. While this may be good if you are following a family during their day (sim on the street from SC4) this can be very cluttered when reviewing a whole neighborhood. Will this be in the final product or can we toggle these mood popups off? I kinda like the overview maps that we have in SC4, it makes it pretty clear where the pollution lies, etc, I don't need them sticking their little tongues out and having "x's" over the eyes to know I messed up an area...

oh, I never was a fan of the Sims. Give me SimCity any day..

Yes, the faces above their heads are really similar to the ones in Cities In Motion but a lot bigger. It can crowd the screen a bit when you have a place where sims gather (like 200 at a time). But it's the only way to display stuff since Maxis is avoiding graphs like the plague.

hmm.. i'm lil bit skeptic, probably it will take several patches, many years and huge amount of custom stuff before that game really kick's *ss

Can't understand why the abandoning of area maps and graphs. Sad to say, but unless this turns out to be a facebook thing, very few people under 30 would get this. Most of their sales (presumably) will come from the older gamers, who grew up with the series. I don't see this doing well as an MMO game, eventually someone will cheat the system and it will be less fun overall. If they keep it in the vein of solo play, it would solve alot of issues. I have a sneaky feeling this will be a "basal" game, once glassbox is fully out, I can see importing the Sims into the cities, and perhaps a geopolitical game based on created regions...I don't think this will be a stand alone game, the newer generations won't appreciate its real value. But since there is a push for soundbite news, and they are eliminating cursive writing and any informational learning that doesn't involve a picture or some dumb icon, and communication in the traditional sense is a dying art form, I really don't see a return to graphs and charts...ever...which is a sad thing.

Cynical presumptions. Facts are scarce at this point - unsurprising for a game that hasn't been released.

Judging from the comments above, it seems that the fact that these graphics, including the animations like the +/- symbols for pollution, water etc., have not been set in stone. I read somewhere from Maxis officially stating that these sorts of things would not be visible during our game play.

This all seems quite interesting though. If they keep showing so much depth and creativity with this new Glassbox engine the online only thing may be of no real significance, at least not to me.

Lazy Tiger, it is confirmed that there will be no graph or maps? Doubtful this has been confirmed.

no offline, no graphs, no map-size choice = no buy

without cynical presumptions, we would not have quality in our products. I am not naysaying what the dev team is doing, but when you cannot get a straight yes or no answer to a very simple question, without talking in circles, I am sorry, but I will practice a 'cautious cynicism'. I agree that facts will lay everything to rest, so instead of showing off the nifty things that may end up NOT being seen or in the game, why don't they just stick to the facts of what WILL be in the game. I don't see this being a work in progress at this point as they have history as their guide. More like SC4 and less like Cities XL (this is up to debate...but...).

All that is going now is simulations, what ifs (gamer scenarios), and making sure that it works the way it needs to, so that we have a full experience. I am pretty sure most of this is already etched in stone as to the whys and hows, it just would be nice to get past the animations and get to the facts. Online or not? Solo or not? Will the public transportation we place actually alleviate traffic, or will buses ride empty? Is there weather effects?

With like a year before release, I know they are workign very hard, but more facts please, you can't sell a product showing us things that we may end up never seeing...

That is the point brought up by Motina. Nothing has been confirmed. Most of the news on the new release has been what is being circulated on the boards and what can be extrapolated from the videos and Q & A's. My point is, to reference what Meowza had stated, its the scarcity of facts. When it gets released, we are either going to buy it or not. Love it or hate it. Or scour the boards to decide either way. The dev team knows this, and as much as I want a new title, a successful one, I don't see this as the resurrection of the franchise. Do you really think this is being done for the veterans? Then why the hush hush on solo play? This is going to be for the online set, and possibly set up like most other games now, a cash cow.

Knowing the mold has been set, and equally knowing that the veteran SC gamers won't be enough to recreate the glory days (in terms of sales, etc..), the lack of honest straight answers and facts is, by this point in time, unacceptable. If graphs will be absent in favor of smileys, then just admit it. If we can use a DLC to make graphs...tell us. If there is no sandbox solo play, without logging online, tell us, instead of dancing around the issue, quote: "there will be solo, online support", "You can play solo even if your connection is lost for a period of time..". This doesn't answer the arguably #1 question I seen people post on the boards.

I think Glassbox will kick major butt, but stop showing us things that even the dev team isn't sold on yet. (i.e. written in stone). Don't put false info out there, or get people salivating, only to change gears and take the items out or modify them. If this is truly going to be moddable, save those tasks for the great people we have on Simtropolis.

Many here have said they don't want a kootschy, facebook-ish game, and with about a year to go, no definitive word to quell the rumors...would make more sense to be upfront, and listen to the peeps, as this will make or break your sales. Kinda stupid to put this all out for us to see, and not listen to criticism, constructive or otherwise. Makes these things pointless.

I hate to be pessimistic but I am trying hard not to get excited about this game. I fear it will get us all excited in the beginning but ultimately we'll all go back to our old SC4 after the initial curiosity has faded. I just think I will miss the data charts, graphs and maps too much. And the thought of multiplayer gives me the creeps tbh.

Also, if I don't have the possibility of creating MY OWN map instead of playing on preset maps I will definitely NOT buy this game. The fact that it might not even have a customiseable region is enough to put me off. We'll see...

If the game proves to be too dumbed-down, maybe the outcry will force the development team to re-add graphs? I don't think it's too hard, as the graphs can just be an analytical representation of all the simulations going on in the game.