new "real" Sim City in 2013

[NCGAIO]

This new SimCity is going to be a game.  It's entirely the opposite approach of earlier editions.  This is neither a good nor bad thing. I expect this new game to be more fun to *play* than SC4 is at the moment, but it's going to have a lot less depth to tinker.  EA's goal is maximizing profit, Maxis developers have to eat.  EA says jump, devs ask "how high?" -- that's just how it works.  Scale your expectations back to reality.

Will we see any new real city simulations going forward?  Probably.  I hope so, at least.  But wouldn't expect it from Maxis.  (There is a reason Will Wright jumped ship a few years back.)

Well .. I believe that if it were released in this way would not receive any of the scathing criticism from fans of simulators!

But it is not so that EA makes its disclosure quite the contrary. She does not give up appeal to longtime fans of the genre to boost sales.

eg: Recently on reedit

"Kip Katsarelis (MaxisKip) - Senior Producer – Expert on all things SimCity" -

"This is definitely a game for the hardcore fans. When we started this project, we looked at previous SimCity games and evaluated what made them great. We looked at fan sites, spoke with fans, looked at reviews, and looked at what the SimCity 4 community was up to. We wanted to make sure that we delivered on the core values of SimCity. Probably the most important pillar of the game has always been simulation and that's where we put the bulk of our efforts. We felt if we did satisfy our core audience, then why make it."

souce:http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/14umm1/we_are_the_simcity_dev_team_from_maxis_amaa/c7gk71q?context=5

Now in the same response we see the typical reasons that you mention for the gamification largest in new Simcity! ... They want more public

We also took into account that there is an entirely new generation of SimCity fans who may have played SimCity on mobile or console or maybe not at all. We wanted to make this game accessible to them as well. This is where the data layers and infogrphics came in. We wanted to present these complex systems in a friendly way.

As we all know that complex simulation is not exactly the strong point of mobile devices or consoles then something is out of tune between ...

- "Probably the most important pillar of the game has always been simulation and that's where we put the bulk of our efforts."

and

- "SimCity fans who may have played SimCity on mobile or console or maybe not at all.We wanted to make this game accessibleto them as well

Unless you consider that realism in the simulation is to see the water going ... energy flowing ... who is driving the car etc ...

. "We wanted to make this game accessible to them as well."

This may also explain why non terraforming, small maps, mod-less ... Finally everything we already know so let us all conform to it.


- Simcity 2013 is not a good simulator ... is a good game! -


.

[mike3775]

With 10 kids(8 of them school aged), believe me when I say I have access to ALOT of kids and different views, and none of them have ever played a simcity game on a mobile device(Which many of them have).  They all play on PC's or laptops.

I don't like playing simulation games on my iPad or iPod, as those games tend to suck a battery dry real quick

[deadwoods]

SimCity Interview on the Noon show

Scroll to 6:45 in.

EDIT - Video deleted.

Very interesting!!!!

I must admit, much of the stuff he talks about we have in the game. For example glassbox (I'm sure IBM's got that name copywrited for it's AppScan portfolio); you can slow the current game down and zoom in and see the sims (and vehicles etc.) traveling around and see where you have congestion problems. This was one of vlakhaas' (Colin's) best pieces of advice.

And region playing with residential in one city, commercial in another and industrial in a third... We've been doing this with demand across cities for as long as I can recall. I'm wondering how much of SC2013 is a new sim engine (very little?) and how much is new wiz-bang graphics (a lot!).

I like that they've got oil derricks in the game. I won't claim coming up with the idea, but I did have some lots using some great derrick models that were good for starting a city. 

[NCGAIO]

I'm wondering how much of SC2013 is a new sim engine (very little?) and how much is new wiz-bang graphics (a lot!).

  I have no doubt that it is really a new type of simulator ... but it seems to have more concern for the gameplay than with reality.

-  An example of as the game try prevent the invertion of its population pyramid. -     



  - And just to remember the reason for all the limitations imposed on the new game is worth emphasizing that the Maxis-EA is delivering exactly what showed at E3 ...

  - This is not a good reason ?- DEPLOY SAME GAMEPLAY ACROSS MULTIPLE DEVICES -
.

[catty]

I have to admit the more I see of the new SimCity 2013 the less it appeals to me, but I could be totally wrong, something that does get over shadowed by the debate is the other city builder under development and that's Synekism they do a new update the first of each month and the January Version has just been released, its got a long way to go before it reaches the stage that it can replace SC4 and like any independent development it may never get there ... but its still worth following as an interesting project

http://www.synekism.com/index.php

There has been a lot of debate about map sizes in the new SimCity so I'll leave you with what the new Cities in Motion 2 plans to do for its new release

anyone fancy having 8km by 8km maps

In the original CiM, we had maps spanning over 3 x 3 km in size. CiM2 introduces maps that are roughly 8 x 8 km, bringing players new possibilities to tackle even the biggest metropolis. This time around the maps can have vast mountain ranges and large differences in height; you can build a sprawling city in the valley and have smaller suburban areas located higher up on the hills and mountain slopes.
*
The design process and idea with the maps in CiM2 was to create a region that would accommodate all the maps, a geographical section so to speak. Instead of designing individual maps that float in nothingness, we "connected" the maps so that they can be seen as part of a bigger whole. For example, a river that can be seen coming from the edge of one map actually continues in the other map where it originates from a lake. This can be seen in the campaign window while selecting which city to choose, it creates a sense of continuity where the world is a tangible entity instead of separate pieces.

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?655125-Cities-in-Motion-2-%E2%80%93-Planning-the-levels-%E2%80%93-Developer-diary-3

-catty

[z]

For those who are interested, you can register for the beta here, and apparently start playing immediately.

The title page for the beta states:

The team at Maxis is hard at work rebooting the king of city-simulation games, SimCity! We are extremely excited with our progress so far and would especially like to thank you the fans for your continued participation and support. We are humbled by your passion, it fuels us to work even harder to make the game we've been dreaming of, and deliver the SimCity you've always wanted.

Well, we're going to humble them even more when we release the next NAM.    Nor will that be the end of it.    There are a lot of interesting things left in SC4.

There's also this special deal:

Pre-order SimCity LE (Origin) $48 + GMG Rewards GreenManGaming.com [greenmangaming.com] has SimCity LE (Origin) for $48 when you apply voucher code GMG20-PJFEW-Y16HK at checkout plus it comes with either $1 cash back or $2 GMG reward credit to use on a different game.

Comes with SimCity Heroes and Villains DLC.

Game is scheduled to be release on March 5th

Heres some gameplay footage from Maxis Simcity videos [simcity.com]

[NCGAIO]

Good times those in which the release of Betas served for the studios to correct the bugs and consider suggestions for improvements.


Here is just a ploy for marketing to swell ORIGIN !


SimCity 2013 - a poor simulator ... maybe a good game ... but certainly a big deal for E.A.

[j-dub]

Somehow they already slammed Origin at my face already. Old EA account, Origin. If they didn't sell non-EA games on Origin, and force you into connections on other units aside from your PC, maybe it would still be known as EA's DL manager, but I can't even play on the console without EA forcing me to log into Origin. The only thing is, I don't have to start a new account on the PC, since Playstation and Xbox users are stuck with it on certain EA titles. These days, consoles are a given to certain login requirements in single cases, but still, I am kinda fried at the price. It's the old, just going to have to wait and see how it goes. I mean the ironic thing, is Origin sold Saints Row the 3rd, with it's full DLC at one time, for a lot less money then this new SC reboot. I know their not the same game, but in terms of pricing, and content. 20 dollars off the top of the higher up version of the new SC, I may think about it, but were all just going to have to wait and see, but because the forced requirement for Origin and web connection, I don't find it worth the price. I do still have an interest in it though.

[dragonshardz]

Best part of the Beta?

You're legally not allowed to say anything other than that the Beta exists and that you are in it. Fun!

[briman]

 SO since I converted my EA to Origin I cannot even get into it. Good start for a new game. From what I have read and seen I personally will be waiting until all the dust is knocked off this one. I will vote with my gaming dollars when they can show its worth it.

[M4346]

I would like to repeat what I said here regarding the question about where all the realism has gone in the SimCity franchise.



Post-SimCity 4 the developers have been more interested in telling us how we should play, what we should think about and where we should go with a city than actually giving us the tools, freedom and ability to intuitively, creatively, independently and individually design, build, lay out, connect and plan cities - realistic or not, one tile or an entire region, on earth or elsewhere.

The SimCity franchise, starting with SimCity Societies, has become a patronising, condescending gaming entity that underestimates my intelligence and ability, and pretends to know what is in my best interest and what I should need, want or pursue.

I resent that.

"Challenge everything". It is so fitting that it is whispered and proclaimed at the launch of SimCity 4. Challenge everything. Since, that has not been the invocation from Maxis / EA or any other entity involved in our beloved franchise.

I'll stick to SimCity 4 largely because I absolutely love it, but also because of the freedom, the passion, and the many years of dedication and commitment to improving the last real SimCity installment that placed us - the player - at the centre of it all.

[RickD]

Very well said, M4346. 

The best thing about Sim City 4 and all its predecessors ist that there is no goal set, there are no tasks that i must accomplish. I am completely free to do anything I want.

Accomlishing a goal, like building the biggest stadium by cooperating with another player may be fun the first few times. But it will be boring and even annoying when you have to do it the hundreth time.

In SC4 I set my own goals and that makes most of the fun for me.

[whatevermind]

Couldn't agree more. One of the great beauties of SC4 is that you decide when you've won. It's entirely open ended, and you can do (nearly) anything you can imagine.

I've also always loved the "Challenge everything" bit 

[mike3775]

I don't care about realism in buildings while playing SC4, but I wish the game had better realism when it comes to civic buildings.  A town of 14K should not require multiple police departments, fire departments, or schools. 

[MandelSoft]

Depends. There are mods out there with larger radius and/or capacity civic buildings. I tend to use those in general

[mike3775]

Depends. There are mods out there with larger radius and/or capacity civic buildings. I tend to use those in general

I use them as well.  I use a hospital that gives almost total coverage of a large city tile as well, which is nice.

[M4346]

I just have a quick question for non-South Africans who have looked at the prices for this rip off...

The Digital Deluxe Edition (with all the additional sets) is R 520.15 (discounted from R577.95). This translates to USD $58.13 / EUR €43.20 as of a minute ago.

Is this what you're paying in the US / EU?

[CasperVg]

I just have a quick question for non-South Africans who have looked at the prices for this rip off...

The Digital Deluxe Edition (with all the additional sets) is R 520.15 (discounted from R577.95). This translates to USD $58.13 / EUR €43.20 as of a minute ago.

Is this what you're paying in the US / EU?

I think that's actually less than what we're normally paying in the EU. The Digital Deluxe version in Belgium is €80 (107 US$), the Limited Edition is €60 (80 US$).

[M4346]

I think that's actually less than what we're normally paying in the EU. The Digital Deluxe version in Belgium is €80 (107 US$), the Limited Edition is €60 (80 US$).

That's what I thought... makes no sense! 

[Swordmaster]

It does make sense: markets. They presume Europeans are ready to spend 80 bucks on their stuff. I assume overall cost of living is lower in ZA.


Cheers
Willy