Thank you Dan for updating the blog and sharing your progression with your fans. We wish you all the best.

Cheers

Sounds like someone might finally make a game that will actually use all four of my processor cores. Are the help wanted agents going to be visible when they're looking for employees? Or will we have to trace them using a route tool like in SimCity 4?

I'm craving to know more about Simcity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG this game is gonna be sooo great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next video is definitive for me. If I dont see mountain lakes and rivers at higher elevations than sea level, I'll just stick to SC4, where it doesnt hold a gun to my head to be online.

Really appreciate the amount of time and effort the team is spending to share early-look, behind-the-scenes videos like this. As a fellow game dev, it's really fun to watch how you're tackling the simulation model this time around. I remember the earlier Sim City games (esp 4, but also 3) really were CPU limited (whereas most games are GPU limited), so a lot of cheap (but intelligent) solutions were implemented to skip hard calculations and do true simulations.

Playing the first Sim City is what inspired me to get into this industry. Can't wait to see this next iteration in action - kudos to Andrew Willmott for putting Glass Box together and to the entire team building what is shaping up to be the best Sim City yet!

And more disasters please!)))

This looks great, but it's not realistic if they go to the first industrial building they get to and start working. After all, in reality people hold one job and they go to one building to fulfill it. This is one reason why roads aren't as efficient as the could be. Thus, we get traffic, and although it might be disliked, it's very real.

Here’s the video: Insider’s Loop GlassBox Game Engine Part 2

http://bit.ly/Hb3kRF

As a veteran sim city builder i have to say this is one of the most realistic Sim city i have seen in a while. (behind Sim city 4)

I agree with Prof_intel,

Jordan , your point is arguably true but even that would be unrealistic,
I mean just as in SC4, only some people work in certain type of buildings like CS$ for R$,CO$$ for R$$,CO$$$ for R$$$ etc. so the game would get a lot lot more complex than what you guys think.

There,
about 20 or 30 (whatever the worker capacity) factory agent just wont find the nearest residential home But the nearest LOW INCOME (WORKER CLASS) house.

PLUS there may be like 3 or 4 manager level jobs in that case a few agents might just look for high level residential... which may be located at well over half a mile away from the polluting factory.

you know kinda that way... the city is not that easy to manage.. but hey!! which City is??

Good video demo of the RCI relationship. What about goods export beyond your city zone to the greater region? How do different types of industry (high tech, heavy industry, light industry, agriculture) affect output and job demand? Is there a mechanic that some industries generate more revenue for your economy then others, so as mayor can you affect industry types?

There was one thing I was wondering about. Will the walking agents take the city bus and travel to different parts of the city?

This just came to me...

would it be possible to zone along a curved road??

I'm very excited with those videos. I'm from Brazil, graduated in computer science, and i remember alot of my artificial inteligence lessons. I love simulation games, like simcity, the sims, citiesxl (competition) and others.. I hope that simcity 5 will be finished soon, with the same cartoon graphics like the promoted images.

I have concerns about the way the buildings send out agents for jobs. It sounded like the closest people to a job are the ones that are going to work at them... and it sounds like this will be done every morning, so sims won't have the same job the next day. That seems very unrealistic and kinda takes away from the possibility of suburbanites commuting to a downtown miles and miles away (like in reality). Just like in Simcity 4, my highways are going to be under-utilized and impractical. This thinking seems to go against the whole "every Sim has a story" mindset that has been pitched. Once a sim gets a job, they should keep it at least until they can either get a better job. For example, maybe the sim is going to school after work to get more education (at a local college) and increase skills enough to hit the next education level and get a new job.

Like other people here, I don't think the job seeking agents necessarily follow the most realistic algorithm.
IMO, every sim should randomly be assigned a job amongst his best alternatives for his skill/income level, within a given road/walking distance from home. The assignment should also stay the same until the workplace has been terminated or better-paid alternatives arise.

So do the agents starting at 6am go out to get 100% of its workforce as implied in the video? If so, that thereby implies that each Sim is never employed for more than a day.

Or does it work like this which is more real: the agents go out only if there are employment vacancies and that sim then gets a job for as long as they want it? And the 'I have a job' Sim gets up and goes to work?

Will this game have public transport?

So its a week since part 2 of the glass-box demo,

And this very blog says that we will be releasing more 2 to 3 more videos in coming weeks so when exactly will they be released really getting eager to see 'em!!

I agree with the people writing before me... it would be weird if people get a new Job every morning and don't keep it. If they would keep it, the system would make kind of sence that they want the closest job to their home, of course related to their class and expected amount of income. And if they get an upgrade through education they of course want a new job, move to another area thats closer to that kind of job or have to deal with the longer way to the job. And if they move, someone else can move in the old house, closer to the job.

Shut up and take my money!

I just hope you can build SC4 level cities, but I'm glad there will be multiple types of simulations running simultaneously within your city simulation.

I have read a lot of comments that say that every person should be signed a unique job. While this would really help the game I think we should all try to realize that 1. this is the first version of glass box engine and 2. Having every person connected to a corresponding job would drastically alter the engine (as no longer is it anonymous; in programming it is popular saying "Don't call us we will call you") as it does not follow the current design template that has been created. Everything runs using agents (fire, water, etc). Doings so means that the glass box model has a simple template for everything that all work the same and yet are very disconnected allowing for a lot of complexity. Sadly templates have a tendency not to be 100% accurate to what its like in the real world but I would pick this if it means more complexity with still good performance. At least resources are real now =)

I have read a lot of comments that say that every person should be signed a unique job. While this would really help the game I think we should all try to realize that 1. this is the first version of glass box engine and 2. Having every person connected to a corresponding job would drastically alter the engine (as no longer is it anonymous; in programming it is popular saying "Don't call us we will call you") as it does not follow the current design template that has been created. Everything runs using agents (fire, water, etc). Doings so means that the glass box model has a simple template for everything that all work the same and yet are very disconnected allowing for a lot of complexity. Sadly templates have a tendency not to be 100% accurate to what its like in the real world but I would pick this if it means more complexity with still good performance. At least resources are real now =)

hehe!! the spel checker doesn't even recognise simcity as a word!!

it corrected simcity to salacity!!!!

Wow! I can't wait to buy this game, it is looking very good. I have been waiting for this for a long time. Maxis always make the best games!

If that will be improved, i will get an installment loan to buy a new copy.

It's been two weeks now Maxis, come on we want more videos!

but it's not realistic if they go to the first industrial building they get to and start working. After all, in reality people hold one job and they go to one building to fulfill it. This is one occasion limo

This looks great, but it's not realistic if they go to the first industrial building they get to and start working. After all, in reality people hold one job and they go to one building to fulfill it. This is one reason why roads aren't as efficient as the could be. Thus, we get traffic, and although it might be disliked, it's very real.
birthday limousine