Jahnri

Well you don't have to worry about trading food and resources. The simulation handles that for you. If your factory can't get a resource locally, it gets it by importing. Simple really. All they did was bring to mind every city has to deal with importing resources. Its what drives a cities existence. Most major cities are in a tug of war to find cheap resources to keep the city affordable at the private level. In many cases the city government uses county funds to open up land projects to collect resources on country land and or state land. Such as how logging is run on the west coast of the states in many cases. This has a cascading impact. Once the cities in the country open up the logging, this creates jobs and more taxes. Which in the end gives more to the cities, then the cost of spending the tax money to open the lands. Mind you some counties run this differently and just sell the rights to land and rely on the individuals to put it in. We don't really know how Simcity will handle resource gathering. For all we know there is a zoning tool which allows you to mark areas as open to resource gathering. That or the city mayor can plop down a resource gathering facality , which more or less symbolizes the land has been opened. I think in the end Maxis is trying to show people how cities are becoming more aware of resources on a community level. In the past it was all about exploiting all the resources you could and managing the fall out with preservation, reservation and repair efforts. While now, its a much more locally controlled effort to plan out resource use long term so the fallout never happens. I for one am glad to have the option to manage a cities eco-systems. I plan to rotate crop lands and logging sites. I plan to have fishing cycles as well. Since resources deplete and regenerate when there a living system and they game shows this, it gives us a great view as to how cities function as living creatures. Rather then economic simulations.

Thank you for that link to those videos. Great style Not to mention they used Israels version of over the rainbow. Sigh, such a great guy.

They stated it will be Mac and PC.

Hopefully they show we can use older sources of energy cleanly. However show them as expensive as they are. Everything is conditional. Solar can be cheap and efficient in the right environment with lots of sun. Wind can be cheap when the infrastructure exists to tap the power and the wind flows regularly. After all we have some Wind power in my area which is nearly free at this point because the plants paid themselves off reaaaaly quick. Mainly because the wind never stops blowing in some spots. Thats where the simulation should excel. With Wind, Water, Nutrients, plant growth and various factors being more realistic, we can actually not only show power plants weak points, but also how to use older ones well in the right situations. That teaches people to throw away ideologies, and go for pure hard facts.

It seems to me they didn't make it so much make the game about evironmentalism. Simply they made the simulation show the impacts more realistically. Soil nutrition, Water and pollution all mixing and impacting each other. Its really quite beautiful. If you haven't watched the videos about the glassbox engine, please do. I think it'll relax anyone worried about there being to much of a political or philosophical bent. Its just more natural.

I saw a car drive from a house , to the factory, then park and go back home and park. Does that means are a constant? If so.. wow

Hrmm, actually with that code, youd just have to add another layer to the code to simulate cars. It would be incredible long and drawn out. Completely amazing how simple the code seems. Funny thing is, I already use this kind of code in a few other programs.

Well to be honest with a year or so to go, its far from early in development. Its almost 3/4ths done in a normal city builders development cycle. Personally I think the graphics capture the simcity style nicely.

I guess the city I live in is a bit different then some as far as resources go. We actually do manage resources on a city level. Gravel, sand, lumber and such is under city control or at least managed. *shrugs* With us knowing for a fact players need to manage resources like a currency it sets me into a happy dance about now.

Can we feel the LOOOOOVE!? Man today just went from awesome to .. well pretty hard to quantify how happy I am. First we get resources like I have envisioned it and then we get news of modding. This is a joyous day.

YES! Resources! I have waited since the original simcity came out for this to be added. I am literally spinning around the room for joy! Not to mention they said they will allow modding. My day is complete!

The whole issue with having a online connection seems a bit odd to me since I am always connected. My how things have changes in the last decade These days I can get a connection in the middle of a jungle in Indonesia. Which I actually did get a decent 1mbps connection in a hut Lol.

I'm basically envisioning the region you play in as a singular map from say Sc4 split into small sections and each mayor controls a town within the region. In time they grow together into a major city as there borders meet. It then becomes a competition to see who controls the region through development and resource management. The concept is rather impressive if they pull it off. Fun to be honest and a hell of a lot more feasible then CXL's system was. Personally Id be going for a educational suburban area. Perhaps a port town. The question stands,how large with the subsections be. Obviously the video is a concept of the game. So it may be the size they show in the game, or larger. Also a big question Id have is, is the region borderless like in the video. As the developers mentioned, in the video two players impact each other. Then work together to build a power plant. If its borderless, it would require quite a amazing engine. Not to mention, it would be a ball!

I zoomed in a bit, its definitely a Arcology, since it has a clear glass dome. Thats just my opinion. Mind you it isnt surprising theyd have references to old games. Even if its tongue and cheek. Also yeah, I saw all the old Sc4 buildings. I'm curious to see if the regions are borderless. If so, it could really make the game interesting. Seems from the one video they said two players can cooperate to make structures. Anywho.. good stuff

I just realized something when I watched the video. Now mind you I may be wrong and its a stretch but I think I figured something out. From what I can see you build zones like in the old game. As the city grows it qualifies for Zone plops which seem to function as hubs guiding the purpose of the zones around it. So say you have a block of commercial and you qualify for a mall or perhaps a giant office. Offering different benefits. This suddenly reminds me of Simcity on the Snes! If that is indeed how it works I am WAY jazzed. In some ways thats exactly what Simcity 4 did. Not to mention what half of the Modded buildings were. Its like the refined the ideas and polished them. I have a really good vibe going with this now.

So much to learn still. The plop system though looks radically better then the predecessors. They are referring to police stations, fire stations, schools and services in general. Perhaps even some large zone plops like Arcologies. The ability for the plops to adapt to there surroundings is immense and I for one applaud there progressing the system to reflect reality. The social aspect is something I've been waiting for a looooong time. I have well over 30 people I can think of right off the top of my head who will be playing simcity. Those people all have different styles of cities. Trading resources will be a ball! Having impacts over the region will give a really feeling of worth. I dont know, Im just a very positive person. What really has me jazzed is the potential for this game. Just like Lucy brang up, this is a lot more complex set of code. The potential for the game is immense. OH! One thing, the online only part is probably relfective of Spore. It could just be that you have to be able to be online to play it.

I guess the announcement put this thread to rest. Good to have a answer!

I'm not concerned because Simcity always took on those issues and made you think. The politics just give a framing for how some people view the issues in the current state. Also OOOOH YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! As for custom content, not a issue. All of the Simcities back to Simcity 2000 had BAT and Urban Renewal kits and whatnot. Its just part of the system. Look at Spore, the whole point was sharing content. Besides we rarely know anything about the system until what.. I think we waited 5 months to get the tools for Simcity or was it even longer? I cant remember.

*Explodes with JOY!* I think it goes without saying we all were waiting to post it was Simcity hehe.

Eventually a games going to get replaced and progress Sgt. Pepper. Otherwise why would Simcity 4 even exist. Its that natural progression which makes better games and communities. Stagnation does none of us any good. Not to say I even believe this is Simcity 5 or that is whats going to be annouced. Im simply speaking in terms of development. Id say 10 years is plenty long for Simcity 4.

Very good point Dannibee! Also, Id never laugh. Thats now how I am. I am just as hopeful Simcity 5 is coming as well

I've been out of the loop for quite awhile. Looking into Buggis boomtown. Honestly with the range of styles in the concept art, if there real, it looks like they have considered every style from Stylized realism, to updated Simish. Makes me wonder if the games in development which style they picked. Also I have a gripe with something someone said. Just because the magazine mentioned Glassbox and they mentioned it in the release, that is not proof. That info has been available through various sources for ages.

The realism shot is a fair bit ahead. Especially with the reflections and such. T hat being said, hans't anyone noticed none of the shots have related styles? In fact many of them are blaring in blaring contradiction of styles. Ranging from realism, to stylized realism and even old style Sim style. Its pretty obvious evidence these are as the article stated concept art and proof of engine shots perhaps. Personally I like the first. It reminds me a bit of a model city set.

Personally I am all for multiplayer sharing of resources if its optional. The one thing that hit me was.. I was ferries! Real boats moving people across water. Water buses. The works. Thats one element Ive wanted since Simcity 2.

Considering the source of this information it could be absolute bunk. The magazine is known for blatant fabrications. If however this turns out to be real, Im thrilled to see they are trying to make a new simcity based off the old ideas. The upgrading structures and curved road concepts really peeked my interest. In anycase we cant take this seriously.