Mark Waybill

I agree cemeteries should be zoneable. Cremation facilities acting like a recycling yard would also be logical. Maybe not a waste to energy incinerator though lol. My guess is that for obvious reasons religious houses will be 'houses of worship' instead of denomination or religion based churches. However in reality it is of course to be noted that in older villages and towns cemeteries are churchyards. If a timeline feature was had it would be nationally specific however so the issue of bias would cease to exist as each nation would have a timeline. I think cemeteries (free standing, not church attached property) should be zoneable like parks, and indeed used in a recreational and environmental fashion similarly as public spaces. Ploppable modular elements like fountains and driveways could be had. Also if they were economically realistic wealthier Sims would have large monuments and tombs whereas those less fortunate chaps would be incinerated I should presume, reflecting a realistic class based disposal system.

I'd like it if the following scenario could take place without too much effort and without modding necessity. I have an area bound by roads and I zone it a la CXL as a park, only it merely becomes a zoned area classified as park-type a. This type allows for certain elements within a spectrum to be added unless I wish to upgrade the park to include more, which would increase maintenance costs and capacity etc. If I just want an area of green space, a cycle path and some small clusters of bushland then fine. That'll cost very little to maintain, especially if the grass is not cut except where necessary. Now I might wish to add other facilities at a later point. If for instance the local residents clamour that there isn't any lawn bowls facilities, I should be able to plop one within the park space. That would however be considered separate from the park. But if I wished to add a fountain, play area or drinking tap (maybe that last was a bit too micromanaging but you get the picture) I should be able to and it would become part of the park, and be included in the park budget, which is of course a public facility, not a private enterprise.

I don't think I'd read a manual if it wasn't in paper form anyway, unless I needed help, in which case I'd google for help. But I agree that if anything like this will happen it'll most likely be fan made.

I've been listening to a lot of Bach of late. I haven't listened to much modern music aside from SimCity. I don't even watch much television these days. I made some rubbish pieces for Virtucity. My favourite music piece of all time is the original Doctor Who theme by Delia Derbyshire, which uses electronic (albeit primitive electronic machines) methods to create sound. So technically my area of musical interest spans the most futuristic of methods of creation like sine waves and white noise to clavichord and harpsichord pieces from the 1600s

I would like it if buildings could be rezoned or multizoned, certainly. The Powerhouse Museum, a converted power house now a science and design museum, is one of my favourite structures. If one could, for instance, in a realistic fashion, buy a building from a private owner, and release it or rezone it for a new function, I'd be happy.

Tesfatsion's essay was a most interesting read. I have spent much time speculating these things and had come to similar conclusions in a rather abstract and ignorant manner (I was described rather properly by emo_fighter at RollerChat as a 'pseudo intellectual' with a PHD in Pigheadedness at one point), utilising whatever resources I could observe about me. The conclusions these reaearchers are arriving at are similar to those I arrived at. It is pleasant to see progress in this field. I was always very absorbed in 'norms' of behaviour and social mathematics, and 'GlassBox' style programming was something I dreamt of as a boy. On a lighter note if ALife and ACE walk together hand in hand up the hill, maybe we shall have living Sims tumbling down it.

If I was making this game I'd have it so the Founding Mayor and any fellow founding fathers come together and discuss the rules of the Region before it is even created. They would have more rights and responsibilities than new Mayors joining the region at a later point, similar to a colonisation of a new land. The first to come, are the first served. But if a group of founding fathers creates a Region instead of a single colonising lord then a general consensus would certainly have to be got at. I should think time would have to be Regionwide, and if cities really do remain active when we are offline and considering the global resource market and so forth, it is possible there wil be a single 'time'.

I have nothing against SC being 'online' for the reasons Moose gave. Also I have a laptop, so I'd rather not fork out $$$ for some fancy gaming PC just so I can use it for one game (I'm not a gamer in the usual sense of the term, and SC is pretty much the only recreational thing I use my pc for) Centralisation is imo the way forward with these things. As Moose said it makes maintenance a lot easier, allows client terminals to be less hi tech and so forth, and user contributed content like BAT files can be verified and tested before being made available. Also this facilitates if Maxis/EA decide to have a user alliance to some extent as regards expansion packs and user contributed material. My main personal concern is the cost, as playing SC4 on Steam takes up a lot of credit. I am unsure exactly what the cost would be for this type of game so, I hope it will not be excessive to the point I need to recharge my internet every week. I love city building but I am also a pauper.

I don't know how we would go about arranging such a thing. There was a suggestion Dirk ought to do it, but I think as long as a general consensus was reached regarding the questions any of us could theoretically represent the interests of the SC community. I don't know how these things are arranged. Does anyone know how to even contact Maxis?

I believe postage and telecommunications should be handled like electricity and water. Lines and services are automatically laid and carried out, but we designate areas to build say a post office or mobile communications tower. We construct the main components and central infrastructure, connections and services are handled automatically. If a timeline feature was to be had communications between cities could use realistic methods such as stage coaches and telegraph wires etc, and options like cell phone infrastructure would become available later. Communications would become far more important if the Sims side of the game ever becomes more in depth, or if The Sims and SC were to ever merge, and would naturally become a necessity.

This is why selected individuals from forums like this ought to be the ones asking the questions at such events. In that time with that amount of questions I could have squeezed way more milk outta that cow.

Well orchestral music doesn't have to be old fashioned or even old school. Take Star Wars for instance as an example of music that is in no way modern as regards its instruments or method of creation, but which certainly also is perfectly compatible with such a movie as it served, which was obviously anything but old fashioned. Personally my favourite music from this game was from 2000, which was after all MIDI music and there was less than in 4. But of course that music suited the nature of the game, which naturally has changed. I hope that Mr Tilton's work shall vary itself according to conditions. If I am viewing a neighbourhood with a upper middle class conservative population, naturally hip hop would seem out of the question. If I was viewing a neighbourhood of elderly people in retirement homes, The Beatles or something modern and controversial would be innapropriate. I daresay he shall achieve the right mixture. I'd like to think the feel of the 2000 music could be broguht back, at least in so much that it feels like it should be in such a game and is varied allowing for the different sorts of cities that will arise. If I have a fishing town I want sea shanties, and not electronica. However I would be fine with a synthesised piece with a robot as the singer if it fitted the town's character. I think the music should freflect the town, and ones viewing position within it. Of course it may be impossible to have suitable music for every occasion, but I am sure there is some way in which one can have suitably themed music. I played a PlayStation game once called The Incredibles on a friend's PlayStation, and when one made Mr Incredible run certain music would play, and when he stopped the music would fall down to a more mellow level. When he hit a villain it rose to a sort of crescendo effect.

I believe Simcity Classic progressed when it became Simcity 2000. I believe in some areas it progressed, in others stagnated, and in others regressed, when it became 3000. I believe 4 was similar. I hope SC5/2013 will be the logical and worthy successor of 2000. I hope that we'll have a truly worthy game. As for taking it in a new direction this can be translated into hype and buzz, or it could mean something quite serious. From what i've read so far I am cautiouslyu optimistic regarding the game. However I will not say 'can't get in the way of progress' and turn a deaf ear and blind eye on someone who wishes to make a constructively negative comment regarding some aspect of the new game. But one has hope, that, as Maxis is back, and Simcity is back, that if integrity and honesty and good old values like a brand name meaning something have returned also, we may have a truly great game and a worthy successor to 2000, whose replacement on the throne has been only grudgingly accepted as a necessity.

I foresee in the not too distant future a world where terminals do not handle much at all, and giant mainframe centres are set up to do all the grunt work, and our pcs are just input devices. Then again I used to read a lot of Verne and Huxley and so forth as a kid.

As long as regions are large enough to allow for sprawling metropolises with extensive suburban areas and long distance commuting.

Some of the most timeless pieces of music were orchestral, and never get old so long as you don't listen to them 24/7. In 2000 some of those catchy timeless MIDI tracks were orchestral in style, and if Mr Tilton can produce tracks of such a nature, and varied and plentiful so they don't get tired quickly (I read they will reflect present gameplay conditions, and there is a lot of conditions possible in this game) then they could be quite memorable and worthwhile pieces. I hope Mr Tilton is a fan of the series, or at any rate appreciates it's nature.

I'm all for classical music. It's the only music I listen to besides SC music. However I think seeing as we are building many types of cities, the same genre being universal in the game... Well it could work I suppose. I hope there's a good deal of variation. The sc2000 music had some classical esque pieces that were probably also able to be categorised into a modern genre as well, but some did have a classical nature too. If it was similar to the sc2000 music that would be alright.

It would be interesting if they took up that idea. Possibly someone from Maxis has suggested such a thing already. That would create the necessary profit to keep SC viable and an on going project.

I agree. I'd like the option of creating a new 'world' for a region rather than using the default SimEarth accessed online.

I hope we will be able to build realistic gradients for roads and rail, with an option for cuttings/tunnels/bridges/viaducts etc. As for buildings one hopes they have improved on the old retaining wall system.

I liked the simcity 2000 and 4 music soundtracks. Orchestral can wor for some games, but the mixture of genres in SC reflected the nature of the game better.

I always thought when I contemplated whether SC5 would ever be made or not for the past ten years that if it ever was it would surely be part of some evolution in technology like this. Indeed when I was working on Virtucity using Game Maker and it's object based 'programming' I even considered something similar to GlassBox but like Game Maker, and the concept of an 'agent', 'map' etc were in my mind a long time ago. But not having any programming skill myself, and knowing such a project would require a lot of workers and effort and so forth, naturally that remained a dream. To see them create this engine is indeed quite fantastic, as it is exactly the sort of thing I imagined might be created if SC was ever to return. But getting back to Multiplayer, The concept of client PCs being smart stations and the Server handling the actual simulation and code sounds very good. I always felt that for a prioper integration of the Sims and SimCity and for the true potential of the game to be realised this sort of server/client model should be used. As to the subscription while normally I shy away from any spending and am like Scrooge in most areas, this is about the one true hobby I have besides coin collecting so as long as the fee was reasonable I would do my bit for the cause.

I can certainly see the potential for GlassBox outside of video gaming. As to their copyrighting it and becoming rich, Microsoft copyrighted Word and Excel and Powerpoint etc. I Use Open Office. But within reason certainly they could in theory make it a very profitable creation. Many sectors could benefit from such a simple and powerful simulation tool. I can certainly see the potential for GlassBox outside of video gaming. As to their copyrighting it and becoming rich, Microsoft copyrighted Word and Excel and Powerpoint etc. I Use Open Office. But within reason certainly they could in theory make it a very profitable creation. Many sectors could benefit from such a simple and powerful simulation tool.

Yes, so one could build both timeline based cities that grow organically like many historical ones or modern planned citys/suburbs. If these blueprints could be saved to a file, they could be uploaded and downloaded like cities. A neat idea for downloading a city without a large file size. Of course with the new online nature of the game maybe that will become an obsolete suggestion.

Which is why you have a Regional Government with rules and sanctions for infringements. I think the potential of the SimEarth of SimRegions is huge, but I naturally wouldn't blame EA/Origin/Maxis or whoever will operate the servers if they do dumb it down a bit, at least initially. However this really is a great opportunity to create the definitive Simcity, and if they do this MP mode right, who knows how successful this could become. I think that this should be planned as a long term project and I hope that any such ideas of a quick get rich scheme by the developers do not exist in their minds.