Simcity 5 under construction

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http://eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=55632

"......creator Will Wright has confirmed that a new SimCity title is in
development, telling the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "We're about to come
out with a new direction for it." No word on what it might be, but it's
clear from Wright's comments that he wants to create a different sort of
sequel this time.
"SimCity kind of worked itself into a corner," he said during E3. "It had
gotten a little complicated for people who had never played SimCity. We want
to take it back to its roots where somebody who had never heard of SimCity
can pick it up and enjoy playing it without thinking it was really, really
hard," he added."
 
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Will Wright's interview here.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/videogames/174491_simsguy22.html

Skeatsan''co


"Skeatsan''co" <overthemoon@overthemoonagain.co.uk> wrote in message
news:15Xzc.1474$7_3.12738595@news-text.cableinet.net...
> http://eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=55632
>
> "......creator Will Wright has confirmed that a new SimCity title is in
> development, telling the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "We're about to come
> out with a new direction for it." No word on what it might be, but it's
> clear from Wright's comments that he wants to create a different sort of
> sequel this time.
> "SimCity kind of worked itself into a corner," he said during E3. "It had
> gotten a little complicated for people who had never played SimCity. We
want
> to take it back to its roots where somebody who had never heard of SimCity
> can pick it up and enjoy playing it without thinking it was really, really
> hard," he added."
>
>
 
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On Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:31:57 GMT, "Skeatsan''co"
<overthemoon@overthemoonagain.co.uk> wrote:

[SNIP]

>We want
>to take it back to its roots where somebody who had never heard of SimCity
>can pick it up and enjoy playing it without thinking it was really, really
>hard," he added."
>

Sound like a return so SC2000 to me; and why not.

James
 
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In article <9hg0d09p916nj1tq25bj3j2c4jfa7qev55@4ax.com>, j_hodson@ntlworld.com.invalid wrote:
>On Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:31:57 GMT, "Skeatsan''co"
><overthemoon@overthemoonagain.co.uk> wrote:
>
>[SNIP]
>
>>We want
>>to take it back to its roots where somebody who had never heard of SimCity
>>can pick it up and enjoy playing it without thinking it was really, really
>>hard," he added."
>>
>
>Sound like a return so SC2000 to me; and why not.


I'd say as long as EA makes both flavors available, that suits me fine...
---
Mike
 

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Well, I just hope people who have heard of SimCity can pick it up and not
think it's really, really stupid. What's not to understand?


"Skeatsan''co" <overthemoon@overthemoonagain.co.uk> wrote in message
news:15Xzc.1474$7_3.12738595@news-text.cableinet.net...
> http://eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=55632
> "We want
> to take it back to its roots where somebody who had never heard of SimCity
> can pick it up and enjoy playing it without thinking it was really, really
> hard," he added."
>
>
 
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Heather wrote:
> Well, I just hope people who have heard of SimCity can pick it up and
> not think it's really, really stupid. What's not to understand?


For a first time player, SC4 is very confusing, having to remember to check
everything frequently, raising or lowering funding and taxes, zoning the
right amount on the right places, building the right services in the right
places etc.


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Will Bradshaw <wbradshaw@beasolutions.com> wrote:
> Heather wrote:
>> Well, I just hope people who have heard of SimCity can pick it up and
>> not think it's really, really stupid. What's not to understand?


> For a first time player, SC4 is very confusing, having to remember to check
> everything frequently, raising or lowering funding and taxes, zoning the
> right amount on the right places, building the right services in the right
> places etc.

Not confusing, time consuming. But for all the same reasons.
A "more fun, less work" version would be great.
 
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On 16 Jun 2004 21:56:38 GMT, Brian <brian@sdsu.edu> wrote:

>Will Bradshaw <wbradshaw@beasolutions.com> wrote:
>> Heather wrote:
>>> Well, I just hope people who have heard of SimCity can pick it up and
>>> not think it's really, really stupid. What's not to understand?
>
>
>> For a first time player, SC4 is very confusing, having to remember to check
>> everything frequently, raising or lowering funding and taxes, zoning the
>> right amount on the right places, building the right services in the right
>> places etc.
>
>Not confusing, time consuming. But for all the same reasons.
>A "more fun, less work" version would be great.
>

Or, maybe a "sandbox" version which doesn't keep track of money, so a
person can just build a city with ease and enjoyment.




Alan


The only reason some people get lost in thought
is because it's unfamiliar territory.

Paul Fix
 

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> Or, maybe a "sandbox" version which doesn't keep track of money, so a
> person can just build a city with ease and enjoyment.

As long as it has surface water and by-tile editable land height I will be
happy. Seems a bit odd in Sim City 4 shelling out loads of money in mayor
mode to try and reclaim some land from the sea and only being able to do a
bodge job raising and lowering land until you hit lucky and it turns out ok.

Chris.
 
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In news:alt.games.simcity, "Skeatsan''co"
<overthemoon@overthemoonagain.co.uk> posted on Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:31:57
GMT:

> "SimCity kind of worked itself into a corner," he said during E3. "It had
> gotten a little complicated for people who had never played SimCity. We want
> to take it back to its roots where somebody who had never heard of SimCity
> can pick it up and enjoy playing it without thinking it was really, really
> hard," he added."

To me, making it easier to play would include having options to autoreplace
things like power plants and water pumps. They should also have an "auto
budget" feature that would automatically raise the amount of funding for
various facilities as the funds are needed instead of depending on me, the
player, to constantly navigate to all my facilities to adjust the funding
to fit the need. That chore becomes VERY tedious and nerve wracking and I
hate it. I play Sim City to BUILD CITIES not micromanage financial
affairs. If people want it that way, fine. It should really be an OPTION
in the game. Option ON to have the game always give the facility the
perfect setting to balance funding with need. Of course, when the facility
can no longer take more funding, THEN the workers can go on strike and
we'll know that we need to build another facility of the same kind
somewhere nearby.

Damaeus
 
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"Heather" <mandolina@canada.com> wrote in message
news:ci%zc.991$7C%1.416@news04.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com...
>
> Well, I just hope people who have heard of SimCity can pick it up and not
> think it's really, really stupid. What's not to understand?


True true -- ever played the game called Constructor( another build sim ) ?
i would like to see some of the game options in the new sim city :)


Boc
 
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On Thu, 17 Jun 2004 18:05:21 GMT, "chris@ukaskew"
<chris@ukaskew.co.uk> wrote:

>As long as it has surface water and by-tile editable land height I will be
>happy. Seems a bit odd in Sim City 4 shelling out loads of money in mayor
>mode to try and reclaim some land from the sea and only being able to do a
>bodge job raising and lowering land until you hit lucky and it turns out ok.


I have never seen SC3000 so can't talk about that release of the game.
However, one thing I do miss in SC4 compared to SC2000 is the
automatic terrain generator.

Reticulating splines ...
James
 
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> Ozboc scribbled:

> "Heather" <mandolina@canada.com> wrote in message
> news:ci%zc.991$7C%1.416@news04.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com...
>>
>> Well, I just hope people who have heard of SimCity can pick it up
>> and not think it's really, really stupid. What's not to understand?

> True true -- ever played the game called Constructor( another build
> sim ) ? i would like to see some of the game options in the new sim
> city :)

I have recently added Monopoly Tycoon to my simulations games list; It's a
bit like Sim City 4, you have to build up a city with the approriate mix of
residential, and commercial zones, and provide incentives like good
transport just to keep the 'population' happy.....
The default game play is that you have to complete a serries of tasks to
proceed to different levels but there is a patch available that add's a
sandbox option where you can just create and build up the city and your
profit. One thing it allows is for you to rebuild individual buildings and
change what they're used for if they're not profitable....

It's not quite as detailed as Sim City, but is just as interesting....

--
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Replace the obvious with paradise.net to email me
Found Images
http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/~mlvburke
 
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On Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:31:57 GMT, "Skeatsan''co"
<overthemoon@overthemoonagain.co.uk> wrote:

>http://eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=55632
>
>"......creator Will Wright has confirmed that a new SimCity title is in
>development, telling the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "We're about to come
>out with a new direction for it." No word on what it might be, but it's
>clear from Wright's comments that he wants to create a different sort of
>sequel this time.
>"SimCity kind of worked itself into a corner," he said during E3. "It had
>gotten a little complicated for people who had never played SimCity. We want
>to take it back to its roots where somebody who had never heard of SimCity
>can pick it up and enjoy playing it without thinking it was really, really
>hard," he added."
>

I miss the 'auto terrain' generator, and especially the hydro-electric
power generation option!



Alan


====================================

Question: What did one paradigm say to the other paradigm?

Answer: Shift happens.

======================================
 
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"Will Bradshaw" <wbradshaw@beasolutions.com> wrote in message
news:2jbftpFv2rpfU1@uni-berlin.de...
> Heather wrote:
> > Well, I just hope people who have heard of SimCity can pick it up and
> > not think it's really, really stupid. What's not to understand?
>
>
> For a first time player, SC4 is very confusing, having to remember to
check
> everything frequently, raising or lowering funding and taxes, zoning the
> right amount on the right places, building the right services in the right
> places etc.
>
But you don't have to know all that much to get a city to work at least
after a fashion. The problem was the bleeping manual left out some basic
data and you may have needed an easier level. It you want to save paper put
it in a help file.

If you need a parking lot or buss stop or something next to a fairy either
tell the poor player or make it part of the tile.

You could also go nuts trying to locate where a problem is such as which one
school, hospital or what ever had a problem.

One or two items like the water department needed to be able to charge for
what they sold. I do understand that is more math but you could sum up what
was there with each structure getting a number based on use and crunch
things fairly fast. It is a surprisingly demanding program. It needs a lot
of ram in the last version. My next computer is going to have at least a gig
to run it.



>
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> Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
> Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
> Version: 6.0.705 / Virus Database: 461 - Release Date: 13/06/2004
>
>
 
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"Damaeus" <no-mail@hotmail.invalid.net> wrote in message
news:apv4d09hsr9h14ps0tv9vrmsddh3032tha@4ax.com...
> In news:alt.games.simcity, "Skeatsan''co"
> <overthemoon@overthemoonagain.co.uk> posted on Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:31:57
> GMT:
>
> > "SimCity kind of worked itself into a corner," he said during E3. "It
had
> > gotten a little complicated for people who had never played SimCity. We
want
> > to take it back to its roots where somebody who had never heard of
SimCity
> > can pick it up and enjoy playing it without thinking it was really,
really
> > hard," he added."
>
> To me, making it easier to play would include having options to
autoreplace
> things like power plants and water pumps. They should also have an "auto
> budget" feature that would automatically raise the amount of funding for
> various facilities as the funds are needed instead of depending on me, the
> player, to constantly navigate to all my facilities to adjust the funding
> to fit the need. That chore becomes VERY tedious and nerve wracking and I
> hate it. I play Sim City to BUILD CITIES not micromanage financial
> affairs. If people want it that way, fine. It should really be an OPTION
> in the game. Option ON to have the game always give the facility the
> perfect setting to balance funding with need. Of course, when the
facility
> can no longer take more funding, THEN the workers can go on strike and
> we'll know that we need to build another facility of the same kind
> somewhere nearby.
>
> Damaeus

I would would think somebody might come and tell you. Hey boss the water
pressure is falling.
 

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>It needs a lot of ram in the last version. My next
> computer is going to have at least a gig to run it.


I'm running on a gig of decent fast DDR RAM and the performance increase
over my old system (which had 256MB) is suprisingly small. In fact on my
completely fresh 3000+ Athlon XP with 1GB of RAM (and a Radeon 9800Pro, but
thats fairly irrelevant in the grand scheme of things) the game still grinds
along unconvincingly when a city on a full size map gets pretty big.
Lowering the settings considerably helps, but I've yet to see the game
running a huge packed city on any system smoothly with reasonably high
graphical settings.

Chris.




--
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Photo Archives: http://www.secombe.myby.co.uk/photos.htm
 
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I like the fact that SC4 is hard. It makes it more realistic. The early
versions weren't much fun because you basically
just dealt with the zones.

"Alan Moorman" <amoorman@visi.com> wrote in message
news:u8m8d0hkvgtus94dp67vlrth23flin0q11@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:31:57 GMT, "Skeatsan''co"
> <overthemoon@overthemoonagain.co.uk> wrote:
>
> >http://eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=55632
> >
> >"......creator Will Wright has confirmed that a new SimCity title is in
> >development, telling the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "We're about to come
> >out with a new direction for it." No word on what it might be, but it's
> >clear from Wright's comments that he wants to create a different sort of
> >sequel this time.
> >"SimCity kind of worked itself into a corner," he said during E3. "It had
> >gotten a little complicated for people who had never played SimCity. We
want
> >to take it back to its roots where somebody who had never heard of
SimCity
> >can pick it up and enjoy playing it without thinking it was really,
really
> >hard," he added."
> >
>
> I miss the 'auto terrain' generator, and especially the hydro-electric
> power generation option!
>
>
>
> Alan
>
>
> ====================================
>
> Question: What did one paradigm say to the other paradigm?
>
> Answer: Shift happens.
>
> ======================================
 
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In news:alt.games.simcity, "James S." <jettavr6@earthlink.net> posted on
Sat, 31 Jul 2004 22:49:28 GMT:

> I like the fact that SC4 is hard. It makes it more realistic. The early
> versions weren't much fun because you basically
> just dealt with the zones.

The only thing that makes SC4 hard is being fast enough to run around and
adjust funding. That's utterly boring.
 
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In news:alt.games.simcity, mbg <womblekewl@yahoo.com> posted on Mon, 23 Aug
2004 22:15:34 GMT:

> Maybe they could address things like this with something like "Education
> Policy", "Water Policy", etc.. where you can configure maximum budget
> increases as a percentage, or choose to just automatically throw money
> at every problem... or nothing at all, for those who want to do it
> manually.

Exactly. It's all these microadjustments that makes SC4 NOT fun, and it
seems worse in SC4 than in SC3K.

Damaeus