Gman55

Leonardo: Welcome to ST! Now to answer your question It's not just SimTrop: plenty of gaming forums I frequent have reacted unfavorably or at best lukewarm to the SCS concept. Part of the outrage, I think, stems from EA's history of "dumbing down" and outright bastardizing certain games (see post Westwood Command&Conquer). To see them do it to a classic game like SimCity really grates on people... ST, I think, speaks for the core group of SC fans who invest tons of time and energy making mods, BATs, and CJs -- stuff that's kept SC4 alive longer than anyone really expected. In another topic, I essentially said that ST represents such a small market that EA can afford to ignore it. That's just business. SCS is such a departure from classic SimCity conventions that it really shouldn't have SimCity in the title. No zoning, powerplants, water pipes? This is why many long-time PC gamers are upset or disappointed with the direction the series is headed. If EA wasn't looking to cash in on the SimCity brand, they'd be better off simply naming it "SimSocieties."

Originally posted by: Cheese89 Originally posted by: PoeticThis is a good way for them to sell expansions (which I think is probably EA's ambition) - Harry Potter style set anyone? New York style set? Anything in between... I think it's pretty obvious where this is going.quote> I like the expansion idea... I thought they were going to end up having more expansions/tilesets for Sc4, but we all know how that turned out. Anyway, it would be cool to have some continued support for the game.quote> I don't. Look at how exploitive The Sims has become; EA milks those fans for every nickel and dime they can get. And it's not just EA: remember the horse armor for Oblivion on Xbox Live? How about the episodic content garbage? I never buy exploitation "item packs" and stuff because it only encourages more nickel and diming from the gaming companies.

After reading EA's painfully cheesy press release (even by press release standards), with its unnecessary exclamation points and talk of gingerbread houses, I realized SCS is simply not for long-time SimCity fans. No zoning, no powerplants, no water pipes, and a focus on social elements and light-hearted fluff -- stuff The Sims demographic would totally go for. And I don't mean this in a bad way (I play The Sims too). Business wise, it's actually a smart move. Shareholders would go ga-ga if even a fraction of the millions of Sims fans bought SCS. And how do they lure them in? By focusing on social elements and chocolate factories and removing real real city management (at least the kind we're used to). The fact that the press release emphasized such things shows who EA is appealing to. SC4 has 100,000 registered members. Even if all 100,000 of those were active, this pales in comparison to the Sims fanbase. I honestly don't think we matter to EA's business strategy. Besides, I think ST may be a victim of its own success: EA sees how industrious the SimCity community is, throws us a new editor with SCS, and says, "Here, make the game how you want it." It's actually a brilliant move...and yes, I am cynical enough to believe this. My question, then, is this: do you think EA is just writing the established SimCity fanbase out of the equation? Or am I being too negative in my analysis?

I wonder if the SimCity Societies collector's edition will come with a My Little Pony, Fairy Wand, and coupon for a Barbie doll.

The press release, and the game in general, seem to be created for The Sims demographic (no offense -- I play the game too). LIKE OMG GUYS CAN I HAVE FAIRIES AND PONIES TOO!!11 /jaded SimCity fan.

*Better regional management tools, like designating certain cities as bedroom communities or industrial parks. Such meta designations would tweak the RCI demand for the given map, allowing you to better streamline regions. There should also be a way to plan highways and airports from the regional level. *More transit options, but traffic and trips should be streamlined, if only for performance sake. *Ordinances, ordinances, ordinances. They should have a huge impact on how your city operates. For example, London charges people who want to drive downtown. As a result, traffic has decreased dramatically. NYC is considering something similar. I should also be able to enact such an ordinance to increase revenues, reduce traffic, and promote mass transit use. *Residential zoning should be improved. Example: subdivisions should automatically appear if I zone a swath of light res and surround it by a road system. By subdivision I mean houses with a common architectural style and boxed in by those low residential walls. *As mentioned above: readjust the game's scale.

The worst case scenario is that SCS bombs and EA releases a "true" SimCity 5.

Priority No. 1: Establishing leadership positions, delegating authority, setting goals, etc. A project won't go anywhere without management.

meh, I think we should stick with one type of lower school, one type of college, and a few special education rewards.

David: First of all welcome to SimTrop and I think it's really cool how you guys are talking to the community. I have an issue with one of your points. You point out how the cathedral and airport didn't evolve from zones. This is true. But also keep in mind that not every SimCity player enjoys plopping down tons of buildings. I know many SimTrop members love downloading custom buildings and constructing these elaborate, beautiful cities and sharing them with us. Personally, I find the plopping process tedious. I play SimCity to grow an ideal city, to let my Sims surprise me. That's why I only download growables from the STEX. But that's the great thing about SimCity 4: it has zones BUT still appeals to players who enjoy plopping down their perfect city. I just wanted to clarify this because it sounds as if you think all SimCity players plop stuff down.

Originally posted by: El Burro I admit, I loved the Third picture... its starting remind me of Black and White 2 where you actions influenced how you buildings looked and the atmosphere of the game... the contrast between Good and Evil settlements on BW2 was incredible.quote> I fail to see how that's a good thing. I played B&W 2 and it was easily the WORST city builder I've ever played. An outright joke and further proof that Molyneux is a hack. But I digress. The point is the "good and evil" evolving architecure stuff is not unique, hasn't been implementing in a fun way in any game I've played, and, most importantly, is not SimCity as we know it. Edit: And like in B&W2, "challenges" will be required to unlock new buildings. I only hope that SCS's challenges involve more than guiding a spy through a maze or hurling beer barrles over lakes -- thanks for those mind blowing experience, B&W2.

I must say, the ideas have been great so far. They're practical and with a few real programmers, highly feasible. If any community can do this, it's SimTrop. My suggestion is focus on the basics, as in SimCity and SimCity 2000. This is more technical reasons more than anything. Too many project self destruct because they don't take small enough steps...

The game is slated for a winter release. They'll have to bust ass or push back the release date. If Blizzard or a real gaming company were developing the game, I'd totally expect the latter. But about the only person who can push back an EA release date is Will Wright. EA has shown, time and time again, that they're willing to sell bug-filled, untested junk.

The poster of what I think is the evil, Big Brother Sim Mayor on the side of the building just reaffirms the "social" aspect of the game, a part of which I'm not interested. Just take SimCity out of the title already.

YES! SimCity 2000 is my favorite in the series. Sure, it's a bit frustrating trying to play SC2k after being spoiled by the features of 3000 and 4. But in terms of outright fun, SC2k can't be beat. Plus there's the Llama Dome and Arcologies! The Special Edition works fine on my XP build. And it takes all of 20MB of HD space. You can snag a copy for dirt cheap off of eBay or Amazon Marketplace. p.s. I highly recommend the Special Edition, if only for the Will Wright interviews. They're filmed in the mid 1990s and he basically talks about his future ideas, most of which will end up in Spore and The Sims. His only limitation back then was technology...