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SimCity 5 Passed Off From Maxis
CVG is reporting that Maxis, makers of the venerable Sim City series, has passed development of Sim City 5 to another company. The new developer, Tilted Mill Entertainment, will be finishing the game. In a departure from the series, it is not going to be a realistic urban simulator. President & Director of Development Chris Beatrice responds to criticism of that choice: "...I do not want to mislead anyone: This SC is not a realistic urban simulation, which I understand, to many, represents the heart of what SC is. No one is blind to that. And if you're just completely turned off, even angered by the mere notion of any game called 'SimCity' that is not a detailed, realistic urban simulator, I absolutely understand that viewpoint, and absolutely respect it. I do want to say, though (with no insult intended to die hard SC fans) that we are absolutely thrilled to be a part of this venerable series, are extremely proud of what we have put together, and make no apologies about what we have managed to create. And while our past experiences (including contributions from many of you) certainly inform all our ongoing efforts, this SC is its own unique creation."
Isn't it somehow deceiving to take an established franchise, just increase the number counter and then completely change the very core of the franchise?
I thought normal decency at least demanded you use a naming convention like Sim City: XXX.
I love the Sim City series and hope that it won't get dragged in the mud now in the newest installment. Caesar IV wasn't a very good game but there's always hope that a developer can improve isn't there?
Let's see... SimCity was amazing. SimCity 2000 was basically perfect. SimCity 3000 added more complication (especially garbage) and just didn't seem as well balance and put together as 2000. SimCity 4 was OK but dog slow on even the fastest of computers. Frankly, I'd be worried what Maxis would produce for SimCity 5.
We'll see what they do with it. I doubt I'll buy it. I still the think the game reached perfection with 2k. Heck, if I could buy a copy of SC2K for OS X I'd do it right now.
At least they are trying something new instead of just adding more things to manage (like the last two releases).
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
I wonder what that meeting was like...
PHB: "Let's take a successful game franchise and change the latest title to not include what the game is best known for, but retain the same name. That way, anyone that doesn't know will still go buy it, and we can market it to a new segment, provided that the old fans dont read the new marketing before they buy."
What are people thinking? This would be like Quake 5 being in 2-d.
stuff |
Apparently, Doom 4 will be a turn-based strategy game, and Fallout 3 will be a dating simulator. ..... SERIOUSLY, WTF?????
They are not going to call it SimCity 5. They are currently searching for a new name BECAUSE it will be so unlike the other SimCity games. The name they are working for SimCity Societies. What the hell the game is going to be about if it isn't a quasi-realistic city simulator is beyond me, but it looks like they are not going to just notch the counter up one. Think Fallout Tactics instead of Fallout 3. Though, comparing anything to Fallout Tactics is probably not a good way to reassure a fan of the original game.
Gaming is constantly being dogged by how unoriginal it is and how most major games are just slightly prettier rehashes of older ones, and how evrything these days is a formulaic sequel. So Maxis have changed that. They've actually decided to try something new with an established series, even using new developers to do so, and what do they get? "Waaah! It's not a REAL SimCity", "Maxis have ruined my childhood memories". Boo-fucking-hoo. They've tried something new. So what. Everything from Simcity 2000 has been basically the same game anyway, so if you're really that intent on playing the same old thing you've already got three games to choose from. For everyone with an open mind, well maybe they'll find something fresh and slightly original thanks to a developer going out and doing something different with an established franchise for a change. If it sucks and the new concept tanks then you be damn sure Simcity 6 will be back to the old formula again, so it's worth the risk isn't it?
Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and stupid comments are intentional.
This could actually be a cool game. Combine the best aspects of The Sims and Sim City and you could have a huge game. Things like building your city also effects your sim. Say you build a garbage dump next to your sims house. Then the house value goes down and your sim itself starts changing. You decide to nock down a school, your sims kids grades start going down because of class overcrowding. This can be a huge game, Basic city building with basic sim management but heavy interaction between the two. Open yourself up to a new idea and you will see the potential in this.
Judging by the state of the game industry, the new one will somehow be a WW2 FPS.
Huh!? Then what is it? I couldn't find anything on that in the story.
What genius PR is this -- to have the officials tell what it isn't, and not highlight what greatness it is.
OK, then I get an idea how it might look, but I still don't know what kind of game it is...
I checked Wikipedia too and it's supposedly integrating with The Sims, but IIRC, even SC 4 did that, so...?
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
"...I do not want to mislead anyone: This SC is not a realistic urban simulation... this SC is its own unique creation."
So why the frak call it SimCity? If you want to make a non-urban-simulation game, come up with your own damn franchise, or at the very least steal a franchise that has something to do with your game. Call it "The Sims: Cities" if that's what you're going for, but don't steal an existing franchise that is based on urban simulation for your non-urban-simulation game.
The move away from pretend "realism", is only a good thing. Simcity 3 and 4 replaced all the charm of Simcity and Simcity 2000, and just stuffed them with larger sandboxes and more things to micromanage.
Lets hope this developer just brings back Simcity 2000, and spiffies up the buildings - definitely the best of the series - and the cities in that actually did feel real (spontaneously appearing churches, more rewards, more realistic disasters, and less repetitive buildings), as opposed to Simcity 3 and 4 - which were less than the sum of their parts
Hey there, Sparky. Maybe if George Lucas had turned his "vision" over to someone with talent today as opposed to talent 30 years ago, we wouldn't have ended up with JJB and company.
Just using a franchise for free mindshare doesn't guarantee a dud or "like Quake 5 being in 2-d", though.
Take for example World Of Warcraft: it has nothing to do with the gameplay of Warcraft 1 to 3, and pretty much just uses the same setting and franchise name. Ended up the best MMO by a damn huge margin nevertheless.
Or, you know, take any Mechwarrior game as an example. They took a turn-based tactics game played on a hex-board, and made a real-time FPS out of it. Even the weapons, if you look at the numbers in MW games, have really nothing to do with implementing the Battletech weapons with the same name. Didn't really end up bad games, though, and MW1 is still on my list of the best games of all time.
So it _could_ still be a good game. 'Course, it could also be crap, but let's wait and see.
As to why would they want to do that... maybe because they've done SC to death already. The changes between SC1 and SC4 have been really incremental, and more often in the graphics department than really being a new game. And some were fairly controversial if they made it a better game, or if they change the gameplay that much.
So, basically, you've already bought the same game already. Several times.
If it goes by the same formula again, there's not much obvious stuff which can be added this time, or not without doing more harm than good. (E.g., turning it into a micromanagement nightmare.) I mean, seriously, other than bumping the graphics resolution up some more, what would _you_ add in SC5?
It's not like RPGs, where you can just change the story for the next one, but leave the mechanics the same if they worked well. Here the mechanics _are_ the whole game. It's just a game of placing buildings and applying some formulas to them. And they already had several games to get the buildings and formulas right already. Just tweaking some reltionship to be juuust right in the 5'th decimal... doesn't really a new game make.
So what I'm getting to is: they have a choice between (A) selling a clone of one of their previous games, or (B) trying something new. They went with option B. And, honestly, I'd rather give them some brownie points for even trying, rather than damn them in advance. Sure, it may still end up a bad game, who knows? But, seriously, buying a SC4 clone in higher res doesn't sound too tempting to me.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
A really good terrain editor with *fine* control.
The ability to create roads exactly the way I want. No more auto-rotating onramps.
A checkbox that gives me unlimited simoleans.
A way to specify what type of store/office/house gets built. I like to build cities/neigborhoods that look how I want them to. I don't care what the sims want.
None of this will affect the way anyone else plays the game, BTW. You could still let the game run itself like it always did.
There are 01 kinds of cars in the world. The General Lee, and everything else.
In 2004, Maxis was fully absorbed into EA. So to say that SimCity is being passed from Maxis isn't completely correct.
I agree with others that the series has steadily declined since SC2k. Unnecessary complications, and performance issues in the case of SC4, turned the series into a mess. The SimTropolis.com community (basically the hardcore fans) use SimCity 4 as an art tool more than anything, crafting these beautifully detailed cities using custom content. But as an actual city SIMULATOR, SC4 collapses under its own weight; it's simply not fun to play. SC2k's strong point is that it can be as simple or complex as you want to make it, appealing to casual and hardcore players alike. However I fear that SC5 will be outright dumbed down.
Also note that there's a correlation between SimCity's quality and Will Wright's involvement with the series. He was hardly involved with SC4. And with Spore consuming most of his time, I doubt he'll have a hand in SC5.
My biggest concern is with Tilted Mill Entertainment - best known for the mediocre Caesar IV. Will they be good stewards to one of PC gaming's most venerable series? But to TM's credit, they are actively talking to the SimTropolis community and addressing concerns from the playerbase.
I view SimCity Societies (SC5's current name) like The Sims Life Stories: part of the overall "family" of SC games, but not a true and true sequel. EA and Co. says differently, but as a long-time fan I'm not convinced.
It's been done before too. The first I know of was Tropico, which is just that: all those hundreds of people have friends, needs, a personality, political opinions, etc, and they go about their daily lives trying to satisfy those needs. There have been a few other such games since, too.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
There are two, actually: LinCity and LinCity NG (more graphically advanced). They both need work, so if you have skills, go at it.
U-Drive-It was part of the expansion pack.
SC4 had all kinds of good stuff that SC3 didn't have. Like Regions. Regions are the best idea to hit SimCity in ages. Also good are the technical limitations that came along with Regions, allowing you to create a pollutionless residential area right next to a smog-filled industrial area, yet have neither town complaining about pollution (no pollution in the residential town, no citizens to complain about it in the industrial town).
The micromanagement thing is horrible, though. Why should the mayor have to order fire trucks to the scene of a fire? The school bus coverage thing is child's play by comparison. It's just one more aspect to design your city around, set the setting, then forget. Worse is when schools shut down due to a teachers strike from underfunding. Worse than that is when the same happens because of overcrowding (this essentially un-does any bus coverage settings you made and/or designed your city around). It doesn't scale back the effectiveness of the school... no, it shuts down. That's just stupid.
If they'd just fix SC4's stupid bugs and logic faults (and the micromanagement issues), I'd buy an upgrade. Oh, and throw in seasonal graphics like the SNES version. And if there's time and budget to spare, upgrade the graphics and allow higher resolutions. Release it as SimCity 5. I'd buy it.
Marion Barry reads Slashdot? Who knew?
well, my 8-year-old thinks U-drive-it is the highlight of the whole game! He spends about 50% of his time driving, the other 50% managing the city. Yup, he goes bankrupt a lot :-).
I'm working with EA and the OLPC project, to make the original version of SimCity Classic open source. It's currently going through EA's QA process right now, and the legal department is working on their end of the deal. This sort of stuff always takes a long time to complete, but Will Wright wants it to happen, so I'm optimistic it will.
Once all the QA and legal stuff is done, we're going to release an updated version for the OLPC of the original X11/TCL/Tk version I developed for Unix about 15 years ago, which supports cooperative multi player mode (voting, chat, shared whiteboard, etc), and I've heavily optimized it so it runs really fast. After it's released, then we're going to adapt it to the OLPC's "Sugar" user interface, which is based on GTK and Cairo. SimCity will be scriptable in Python, of course! We'll rewrite the multi player mode on top of Sugar's standard networking libraries, instead of directly opening multiple X11 connections, as it currently does.
Some ideas about SimCity on the OLPC:
SimCity for OLPC (One Laptop Per Child): Applying Papert's Ideas About Constructionist Education and Teaching Kids to Program.
I'm already developing some of the software components required to port SimCity to the OLPC, including pie menus and a tile engine:
Pie Menus for OLPC Sugar User Interface, in Python with GTK, Cairo and Pango modules.
[OLPC-Games] Efficient general purpose tile engine, and a cellular automata machine.
-Don
Take a look and feel free: http://www.PieMenu.com
Sigh. I wasn't keeping my hopes up for SC5 since they'd already stated they might "dumb it down" as it had become "too complex". Personally, I'd like even more complexity - I realize some people will disagree, but they could at least have a "simple" and an "advanced" mode. Now with this "Societies" crap I'm afraid the franchise's gone into the trashcan.
I just wish Maxis would at least release a patch for SC4 to make the hardware renderer work with current-generation cards. I've got a really great gaming box but I can't use it for SC4 because the hardware renderer craps out lines and dithered textures on my 7950GT.
"Let's face it, it's a good story. Accuracy would kill it."
If SimCity 5 is NOT an urban simulator, then why in the hell are they calling it SimCity and giving it a sequel number of 5, hence the title, SIMCITY 5?!
"Oh no sir, it's not a Cadillac. It's actually a Yugo, but were calling it a Cadillac, and the newest version at that. Want to buy it?"
Anyways, I'm almost certain that there will be a severe backlash once people plunk down the $$ and find out that what they bought is ANYTHING but SimCity. This is a horrible idea, and I can't believe that Maxis would make such a bad decision.
And what on Earth could make them choose Tilted Mill for the task of creating a new sequel to the SimCity series?! It's like tasking Afghanistan with engineering first the Mission To Mars.
Blaspheming sacrilegious assclowns. May their flagrant desecration of the almighty SimCity be punished with poor sales, scathing reviews, and a thunderstorm of backlash.
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
Perhaps it's just me, but SimCity: The Naruto Chronicles could be a lot of fun. You could choose one of several different locations for your hidden village. You then would be tasked with all the standard SimCity problems. Except once in a while you're attacked by hoards of enemy ninja and their giant monster pets, so you have to also create your own ninja training schools and teams of ninja. To earn more money you would send your teams on missions comissioned by other towns, or you could just be nasty and use your ninja forces to intimidate weaker towns into paying you protection fees. Every so often you would also have to host competitions where your ninja would measure themselves against the ninja of other villages.