Let the DRM rape continue! New SimCity

[poocolator]

Simtropolis, specifically STEX (http://community.simtropolis.com/files/category/1-simcity-4/) is a great place to download all your SimCity 4 needs. The game is made much more enjoyable with community fixes and mods. Vanilla quickly becomes unpalatable. I highly recommend, as Turjan mentioned, checking out NAM (Network Addon Mod) http://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/26793-network-addon-mod-for-windows-installer/ which was actually just updated recently, in April. Anyway, be sure to check out the City Journals wherein players post screenshots and stories about their cities. Many players take the time to beautify their cities with graphical mods, etc.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Anybody see the kickstarter for a SimCity clone? Something called civic I think. Not sure what happened to it.

 

[LeJosh]

Do you mean Civitas?

They cancelled their KS drive for private funding.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/banished-medieval-simcity-in-the-works.81538/

This looks pretty cool but tis "Ye Olde," city builder as opposed to modern metropolis.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Hmm... I recall seeing a screenshot of a modern city with curved roads. Could've been civitas though I guess.

 

[LeJosh]

Hmm... I recall seeing a screenshot of a modern city with curved roads. Could've been civitas though I guess.

Civitas ?

 

[Turjan]

Hmm... I recall seeing a screenshot of a modern city with curved roads. Could've been civitas though I guess.

I posted some Cities in Motion 2 screenshots of stuff I built in that game like this one:

It's a bit rudimentary as real city builder, though. I guess they don't have enough funds to get much further with this.

 

[poocolator]

Cities in Motion 2 looks really good. Impressive. You could convert those cities for use in Grand Theft Auto

 

[Turjan]

Cities in Motion 2 looks really good. Impressive. You could convert those cities for use in Grand Theft Auto

Funny enough, there are already fan-made GTA: San Andreas, Vice City and Liberty City maps (the latter two fit on one CiM2 map) available for that game :D.

 

[Brinko]

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/05/17/s...y-store-listing/?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=emp

SimCity’s first expansion will be an Amusement Park Pack, according to an early listing posted by digital store front Green Man Gaming. Screenshots show bright, cheerful, sparkly attractions, which might look a little out of place if you’re currently mayoring it over a pollutant-filled hell town of poverty and industrial waste. Still, nothing like a giant Ferris wheel to distract citizens from a landscape of desolation. Dammit, wait! It’ll do the exact opposite.
The SimCity Twitter account commented on the premature release, saying, “Some of you may have seen thrilling new #SimCity content that arrived too early at the gate. It’s coming May 28. We think you’ll be amused.” Which isn’t exactly subtle.
If the now removed listing is to be believed, the pack will release May 28th. According to the page’s description, mayors will have full control of the layout of their parks, drawing custom paths for visitors and laying tracks for a tiny train station.

 

[ohWOW]

It will be amusing all right.

 

[Brinko]

DRM removed from SimCity. Choke on it EA

 

[Berekän]

Too bad no one wants to play it now.

 

[Turjan]

Too bad no one wants to play it now.

Yup. The game is inherently broken and ultimately uninteresting. Nothing new for Simcity games, but at least Simcity 4 got fixed by fans.

 

[Infinitron]

http://www.polygon.com/2013/7/16/4528918/simcity-trio-to-form-new-studio

SimCity trio quit Maxis to form new studio

By Colin Campbell on Jul 16, 2013 at 2:18p @ColinCampbellx

SimCity creative director Ocean Quigley has quit Maxis and Electronic Arts and announced plans to set up a new studio.

Quigley announced on Twitter today that he is setting up a new studio calledJellygrade along with SimCity lead architect Andrew Willmott and lead gameplay engineer Dan Moskowitz.

"We were lead developers on SimCity, SimCity 4, Spore and The Sims2. We love making simulations," wrote Quigley. "We're making a simulation about the dawn of life on earth; about lava, water, rock and the emergence of the first primordial creatures."

Concept images from the game have been posted at a Tumblr page. "We're starting off on the iPad with a fundamentally new simulation engine. I can't wait to start showing it off," added Quigley. "We're building the new simulation engine now."

Quigley, Willmott and Moskowitz worked on SimCity, which was released in March, but marred at launch by sever issues and EA's decision to make the game 'always-on'.

Update: Quigley has confirmed on Twitter that he has quit Maxis and EA. Headline and text has been updated to reflect this.

Developing...

 

[Diablo169]

Hopefully they will fuck off to the tablet market and stay there.

 

[Infinitron]

http://www.polygon.com/2013/7/16/45...-simcitys-blundered-launch-and-why-he-quit-ea

Quigley’s dismay at SimCity’s 'blundered launch' and why he quit EA

By Colin Campbell on Jul 16, 2013 at 4:03p @ColinCampbellx

Talking about why he quit EA, former SimCity creative director Ocean Quigley told Polygon he had been "dismayed" at the botched launch of SimCity, in which EA insisted gamers play always-online, while failing to provide enough server capacity.

The botched launch closed many players out of the game and led to severe criticism of EA's processes. But Quigley added that he has been thinking of setting up a new project for some time anyway.

"I was dismayed at the blundered launch of something that I had poured so much love and attention into, which made the leaving easier but it would have probably happened anyway," he said.

"Honestly I think I would have left regardless of whether EA's launch of SimCitywas smooth or rough. It was basically my third SimCity. I did SimCity 3000 andSimCity 4 and this new SimCity."

Quigley announced on Twitter today that he, SimCity lead architect Andrew Willmott and lead gameplay engineer Dan Moskowitz are setting up a new developer called Jellygrade. They are working on an iPad simulation game that seeks to recreate the early formation of the Earth.

"I have been a big studio developer for a long time, almost 18 years now," he said. "EA has a certain roster of projects they want to do and they are a big company with big momentum. If you have something new and untried, and something that's uniquely yours that you want to do, it's really not the environment to do it.

"EA's strengths are executing things with hundreds of people, to well-understood patterns. The stuff that I want to do now is to explore some new simulation themes and some new mechanics and do some stuff that EA is not well set up to do. So, not knocking EA, they do what they do, but it was time for me and the other developers Andrew Willmott and Dan Moskowitz to go off and try some new stuff."

A spokesperson for EA told Polygon, "We can confirm that Ocean Quigley has departed Maxis. We wish him, and his epic beard, success in his new venture."

Quigley said he had not pitched the game idea internally to Maxis or EA. "This is a little too weird and science nerdy for EA," he said. "It's something that the three of us have been interested in for a while. When SimCity shipped and was done with, it was time for us to say well, we have been talking about this stuff for a while, maybe it's time to leave and make it real.

He also talked about the company's decision to make a game for iPad. "There's a bunch of simulation stuff that we're doing around fluid dynamics, around the movement of lava and water and rock. Gases and fluids and solids all mingling together to make lava landscapes and seas. There's a bunch of stuff that I have been wanting to try out for a long time around touch sensitivity and the manipulation of those things.

"So we take some of the concerns and ideas about tactility that I have been thinking about for a long time and then apply them to something where you are literally reaching down and pushing lava around or making lightning come out of clouds or pulling down comets. You are reaching into the world and manipulating it with multiple fingers. It comes out of a desire to have more direct tactile interaction with the world that you are creating and manipulating."

​

For Quigley, the new project stems from an interest in science. "In a simulation game you are always looking for some real physical process to try and capture and turn into a game. Working on The Sims it's about interior decorating and in SimCityit's about population density and economics.

"So the geo-physics and biology of the early Earth struck me as a rich and interesting subject for a game. I do like science. I do like knowing what is actually happening in the world and it seems like a rich subject matter."

One inspiration for the new game is old Maxis title Spore, which Quigley worked on. "A lot of the ideas that we have about the early emergence of live on Earth were in the early development of Spore but were lost as it became a much more cute game and less a game about physical processes. Those are things that I have been wanting to get back to, to deal with that subject matter, the dawn of life, the formation of the earth, where the oceans come from, all the real processes. In the context of a game I want to do justice to that."

 

[felipepepe]

Yeah, blame evil EA! Except that lack of servers were just one of the issues, probably the smaller... shit like completely broken services AI, fake simulation of citizens, shitty small building area, no terraforming, lying about required always online and many more... all that rides on this guy and Maxis back.

 

[Gord]

Yeah, can't blame only EA on NuSimCity's problems.

Well, let them do tablet games instead.
Although the concept sounds interesting - but only if they manage to keep the simulation aspect.
In the end it will probably just be another Spore. Hyped up the ying-yang, but turns out quite boring and underwhelming.

 

[Delterius]

So, their new game is

 

[Jashiin]

only worse

 

[Whisky]

WORSE than SimEarth!?

Spoiler

Okay, SimEarth wasn't really that bad, it had a lot of neat ideas and I actually enjoyed it, but it really doesn't hold your attention for very long.

 

[Delterius]

It was sort of implied, but sure

Since the game seems based in environment manipulation.

 

[Turjan]

Good simulations need tons of processing power, so I'm not sure whether an iPad will be able to deliver. Not that it interests me in any way.

 

[DragoFireheart]

If SimCity didn't dress so sluty it wouldn't have been raped!

Yeah, blame evil EA! Except that lack of servers were just one of the issues, probably the smaller... shit like completely broken services AI, fake simulation of citizens, shitty small building area, no terraforming, lying about required always online and many more... all that rides on this guy and Maxis back.

But if I didn't ignorantly blame things, I wouldn't be a real American. WHAT DO! /sarcasm

You do have to admit the pattern though. Company starts off, becomes a classic, joins EA, turns into shit.

 

[Jashiin]

WORSE than SimEarth!?

Spoiler

Okay, SimEarth wasn't really that bad, it had a lot of neat ideas and I actually enjoyed it, but it really doesn't hold your attention for very long.

At least it was a sim, on ancient hardware. Their next effort won't go much further than: "touch screen and things happen !" despite all their claims of doing justice to the subject matter