Laying the Foundation: SimCity Gameplay
Some say a picture is worth a thousand words. So how much is a video worth? 10,000 words? 1,000,000? Ah, whatever – let’s just say a lot, OK? We know you’ve all been requesting to see SimCity gameplay, so the wait is finally over! Below you’ll find the first true gameplay video narrated by Lead Designer Stone Librande.
In this video, Stone goes over what it’s like to build a city from scratch, lay down the groundwork, and work towards creating a specialized city, in this case, a casino city. But is this the only way to play? Oh no – not at all. In fact, this video only showcases one of the many different ways you can play SimCity. It’s not just about building a city with the biggest population. Or one that makes the most Simoleons. It’s about building the city that speaks to you, whether that’s a casino city like the one Stone makes in this video, a trade city that focuses on mining for minerals and taking advantage of the Global Market, a tourist city that brings in jet-setting Sims from different regions, or any sort of combination of the above.
Whether you play in your own private region, create a bustling group of cities with your buds, or work together with up-and-coming Mayors, the choice is ultimately up to you. What kind of city do you want to create? Let us know in the comments below!
Comments
I posted this on facebook and
I posted this on facebook and now I'm extremely curious about the 'global economy' as I was surprised how many friends will be getting this.
This video gives me both nostalgia and hype. A part of me wants to try and figure out exactly where I'm going to place my zones, but the other part wants to just wing it and see what happens. Either way, this video has assured me that it will be easy and fun! Heehee, look at that forest that will be polluted.
And look at all those stats! Words like 'deficit' and 'gal/hr' oh this tickles me.
I feel the same way about the
I feel the same way about the video, glad they put up a video, really cleared up the hater population and answered lots of questions.
Yeah, I agree with you.Cork
Yeah, I agree with you.
Cork tiles selection
looks great, still a bit
looks great, still a bit afraid that the city have way to small building area compared to the older simcities it looked all so small in the demo. only 6 factories ect
im hopping it stays like real
im hopping it stays like real sim city and have road maintenance costs, individual taxes, etc.
Same here but I am hoping it
Same here but I am hoping it is just to show us what it is like. I am very excited about this though.
you are aware that the other
you are aware that the other simcities has areas of different sizes... so i'm pretty sure that this is going to be the same with different size areas
This looks really cool I can
This looks really cool I can't wait for part 2, also can we have more than 2 great works, because I would want a region with an airport, arcology, space port, and a space elevator. (Please have space elevators)
Keep up the wonderful work Maxis
~Kade Byrand
I wasn't optimistic about the
I wasn't optimistic about the regional transportation system (hell the way you're doing regions in general), and this video doesn't make me feel better about it. In fact the demo implies that it's probably even worse than I thought. The game looks good otherwise and will surely look even better come shipping time. I hope there will be some means of controlling the sizes of plots similar to the "control" and "shift" options from SC4.
ya i was surprised that the
ya i was surprised that the lots showed up automatically in different shapes and sizes without any input from the player. But I suppose it will be like previous sim city games where the buildings would start small and eventually get bigger, and take over neighboring spaces in order to grow. I'm sure we'll see a lot more as new videos come out.
This looks awesome!!!
This looks awesome!!!
It looks great, but waht
It looks great, but waht about subway, roundabounds, terraforming ? I need to see more and to know more.
you're right! Where are
you're right! Where are subways and everything I loved in that old SC4?
Sorry but there isn't
Sorry but there isn't terraforming in this game. I'm cool with that cuz I sucked epicly at it. It always f-ed up my city.
There won't be terraforming
There won't be terraforming unfortunately. Not so sure about the roundabouts and subways though
It's been confirmed on
It's been confirmed on previous blog posts that there's no terraforming.
PERFECT!!!
PERFECT!!!
I still did not see anything
I still did not see anything about a metro/subway. Is there any word on this? Can we confirm that Light Rail will be underground and above ground?
This looks awesome! I can't
This looks awesome! I can't wait til next year!! Teehee xD
Maxis, you have proven
Maxis, you have proven yourself once again. No body can beat Maxis when it comes to city building! The game is amazing. The actual game-play video was very satisfying and I wish the game develops even further and become even better by the time February arrives. My birthday is on February, and I am going to gift my self the new Simcity. I can imagine myself playing Simcity the entire summer of 2013.
I cant agree with you more
I cant agree with you more
Can someone explain how a
Can someone explain how a bunch of trailer homes support a big commercial zone? There was no train hookups at first. Did they come in via the highway? And why all the income right from the start?
I hope there are more challenges than just plopping stuff down. Cities XL got pretty boring fast.
AGAIN!?!?! Almost every
AGAIN!?!?! Almost every simcity you coudlnt build a farming city...why is there a zoning tool for agiculture...that dissapoints me alot....How are you gona support a large city with no food? Magic?......very dissapointed over here....
Yeah, I would like to have
Yeah, I would like to have farms, good point.
good... You can keep your
good... You can keep your crap.
Exactly! How is an absence of
Exactly! How is an absence of agriculture realistic?
I want to create a city where
I want to create a city where I can place my own highways and regional transport, have the cities in the region mash right up against each other, terraform the ground to my liking, zone the kind of zones I want regardless of what type of street they're on and play it on a laptop where I can't get internet. Oh, and where's the subways?
Why do you want useless crap?
Why do you want useless crap? You may not even need subways anymore! They were a waste of time, and you didn't even see if they were working.
IT WAS UNDERGROUND!
Absolutely no aesthetic detail to see above ground! Just a waste of time!
I agree with everything your
I agree with everything your saying but i strongly disagree about your subways statement. Most big cities in the world rely on subways for transportation and are a necessity. If this game is going be a simulated city then subways should definitely be included.
Actually, subways were very
Actually, subways were very convenient in Sim City 4 as it basically allowed rail transport between different points of a city without having to demolish a stretch of buildings just to lay the rail. It's a great transportation option for larger populous cities, and while you don't see them regularly you do see the tracks when you're selecting a station or constructing tunnels. You could actually see the subway train moving through them in Sim City 3000 and Sim City 4.
You could tell if they're functioning well by selecting the stations and checking if they're actually being used or not (just like any other building in the game).
I agree that they probably won't be necessary in this game, but that's because the so-called cities in the game are outrageously tiny.
Actually, subways were very
Actually, subways were very convenient in Sim City 4 as it basically allowed rail transport between different points of a city without having to demolish a stretch of buildings just to lay the rail. It's a great transportation option for larger populous cities, and while you don't see them regularly you do see the tracks when you're selecting a station or constructing tunnels. You could actually see the subway train moving through them in Sim City 3000 and Sim City 4.
You could tell if they're functioning well by selecting the stations and checking if they're actually being used or not (just like any other building in the game).
I agree that they probably won't be necessary in this game, but that's because the so-called cities in the game are outrageously tiny.
I agree with the zoning and
I agree with the zoning and with being able to play w/out wifi. Other than that, you can screw yourself. Subways will most likely come in an expansion, or they just aren't confirmed yet.
Looks great, thought it was
Looks great, thought it was going to be a little worse than i expected but i was wrong! I loved simcity 4 and i cant wait until i buy this for mac. Or if i get selected for the beta!!!
Oh and will there be farms? I
Oh and will there be farms? I really like my city to look realistic. Also the regions look terribly ugly!
I want farms also, but I
I want farms also, but I personally hope they come in an expansion that also comes with seasons and more tourism options.
BETA is for pcs only bud.
BETA is for pcs only bud.
Wow, this looks like such a
Wow, this looks like such a fun game. I used to be a big Simcity4 fan and this looks like a Simcity fan's heaven. I can't wait to get my hands on this game!
LOOKS AMAZING.... but wait...
LOOKS AMAZING.... but wait... Going to be Crappy.... ORIGIN! WHY DO YOU RUIN ALL OF EA's GAMES!!!
I want to make a city that
I want to make a city that starts with a small-town 1900's feel/downtown and slowly turns into a large gritty industrial city, and then a huge metropolis. Hopefully buildings in the early part of the game correspond well to the size of the city....I hate when a city of 5000 has a highrise or a city of 500000 has only one or two.
Just looking at the city size
Just looking at the city size, you can tell that you're not able to build an entire replica of Central London or Manhattan island from these maps. Heck, they even explicitly call the city spaces 'towns'. What's the point of calling it 'Sim City' when the most you can build is the size equivalent of a single downtown district? You just robbed the chances of long-time fans and new players to build gigantic metropolises that they could perfect and call their own.
And don't go saying that you can merge different 'towns' together to form a gigantic metropolis. That's not a city, that's just a region. And that's all it'll ever be no matter how much you try to sugarcoat it.
There are so many problems many Sim City 4 fans and I have against this game. Not denying the new improvements like curvy roads, the graphics and the new zoning system, of course, but then those improvements are overshadowed by the lack of a true Solo player experience, the DRM, the absence of agriculture and terraforming (features that made the previous Sim City so beloved), and overall a lack of freedom that Maxis claimed their game was providing. There are so many to list; just ask the people on the Sim City forum. AgentMrX5 made a concise video listing complaints about the new gameplay footage that can be found on Youtube (Look him up. watch for explicit language though.)
But I think of all the problems, the biggest problem that's killing my urge to ever get my hands on this game is the city size. Just that; if Maxis allowed people to make their cities bigger than currently allowed (extend the maximum size to between 150-200%), then I guarantee that more people will be attracted to this game.
You promised players freedom in building their cities, Maxis. The current restrictions on cities aren't helping one bit. People don't want to be stuck building cities the size of towns.
Also, I sincerely hope that you'll add mod support soon after release. Fail that, and you'll completely turn your back on the very fanbase who supported you (not to mention bar fans from improving any flaws on the game that you've failed to address, or customize cities with new levels of detail and realism).
agreed
agreed
I'm not worried about size of
I'm not worried about size of tiles. I'm worried about hot they are scattered around the map.
When tilest are next to each other, border-to-border the entire region looks and acts like one big city. For example 24km*32km region can be builded using 12 8x8 tiles, 48 4x4 tiles, 192 2x2 tiles (...) or wiht mixed size tiles.
Tile size is not as importans as the way how they connects and interacts.
(I apologise for my bad english)
While I agree that the
While I agree that the spacing between each city tile is troubling, as I said, grouping different towns together does not make one big city. You're merely making the equivalent of small districts, which is not the same thing as making an entire metropolis. It makes as much sense as building different parts of New York city as towns right next to each other; they may be connected but they're not unified, they're still individual communities.
Though come to think of it, players don't even have the ability to create a replica of a real life city in this game anyways, since there's no terraforming available. Without modding, you can't even create your own custom regions; you're only provided what's given to you. While I know not every player is interesting in creating copies of actual cities, it's still a letdown since it removes the player's ability to control what their city looks like. A quarter of the fun in Sim City 4 was to create your own custom region to your liking, and unfortunately this new incarnation has none of that.
The way I see it is that they
The way I see it is that they are expecting a massive modding community that will repair the game for them, if my theory is correct it means there is a big problem. Reason being, if we are to buy the game, it means you buy an unfinished game.
It seems like they hope for mod creators to make the farming, add extra modes of transport or maybe even make the bigger cities a possibility.
Now ofcourse there is nothing wrong with modding in my opinion, but this is where the fun part of always being online comes in? How do you implement modding in an always online environment, I think it will mean that they are going to check out a created mod and then add to a list where you can get/buy it?! This would be treasonin my opinion.
I need more information on this and even though they have already stated they will not provide any support for modding immediately at release and for that I should not even be talking about modding whatsoever and just expect a finished game.
But the things they show and tell are worrying, they seem to ignore many questions... Are they afraid to answer?!
This is an excellent point,
This is an excellent point, but if you look at games like Minecraft it really does make sense. Minecraft alone isn't that interesting of a game, but the users made it into something more dynamic and flexible, meeting a large number of people's interests and gaming styles. I don't really like the idea of Maxis trying to control and predict how we want to play the game, and I think it makes more sense to allow the game's fans to shape it into what they want.
That said, I also think that a lot of this is going to play out like The Sims, where you keep buying content with promises of improvement, but in the end, it's still the same crappy game.
The way I see it is that they
The way I see it is that they are expecting a massive modding community that will repair the game for them, if my theory is correct it means there is a big problem. Reason being, if we are to buy the game, it means you buy an unfinished game.
It seems like they hope for mod creators to make the farming, add extra modes of transport or maybe even make the bigger cities a possibility.
Now ofcourse there is nothing wrong with modding in my opinion, but this is where the fun part of always being online comes in? How do you implement modding in an always online environment, I think it will mean that they are going to check out a created mod and then add to a list where you can get/buy it?! This would be treasonin my opinion.
I need more information on this and even though they have already stated they will not provide any support for modding immediately at release and for that I should not even be talking about modding whatsoever and just expect a finished game.
But the things they show and tell are worrying, they seem to ignore many questions... Are they afraid to answer?!
I suspect there will be no
I suspect there will be no mods for this always online game. Does Diablo 3 have any mods? There's your answer. This will pave the way for EA to release a bunch of mediocre DLC and/or expansion packs. I want this game to be good but I just don't see it happening. I might play it eventually, but no way am I going to preorder.
Just a bunch of crap!
Just a bunch of crap!
I will not be thrown in there with what you think is the "FANBASE"
ok then, go F*** off then
ok then, go F*** off then Freak
Look who's talking... Idiot.
Look who's talking... Idiot.
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