I'm going to talk about the aesthetic choices that we've made for the new SimCity. I'll describe the sources of inspiration, how we've gone about delivering on them, and the motivations behind them.
I’ve personally always thought of SimCity as a model city that you create and bring to life. It's like an elaborate model train layout, but alive and dynamic. And I'm fascinated with the fastidious, miniaturized detail of model train cities.
One thing to note about model cities is how the buildings are stylized. If you look at real buildings, a lot of them are boring. Even the buildings that are interesting have lots of boring parts. For example, in an industrial area you see huge expanses of warehouse roof and big stretches of blank wall. Boring.
When somebody recreates those buildings for a model city, they squeeze out all of the dullness. They focus on the areas that are interesting to look at, the elements that convey the essence of what that building is about. They compress the scale of the buildings too - typically the larger a building is, the more it's compressed, further intensifying the essence of the building.
This really works! The buildings that you see in a model railroad layout are not only interesting to look at, in many ways they look more like the real thing than the real thing does. A model factory looks more like a factory than a real factory does, because the modeler abstracted out the irrelevant bits, and amplified what makes it unique.
The modeler is making a realistic caricature of the building. Realistic, because it needs to look plausible - people shouldn't notice anything fake about it - but a caricature because what's important about the building has been highlighted and what's irrelevant has been suppressed.
So this is a huge inspiration for us, because of course, we have the same problems. We need to make sure that buildings clearly, unambiguously show their category. A residential building (low wealth, middle density) for example, needs to read as exactly that, with no mistaking it for any other type of building.
Just like model railroaders, we're compressing buildings so that they fit nicely together. The real-life scale differences between a skyscraper, and a shotgun shack are so huge that you couldn't easily see them both in the same scene. Like model railroad dioramas, we're managing scale to make buildings that are vastly different sizes work well with each other.
The other thing to mention about model railroad buildings is how much detail is put into them. The buildings (and the environment) have all of this marvelous detail to look at. You can look into the windows of buildings, you can see the carefully modeled bricks that make up a facade, you can see all of the details that make it look like it's real. And that's our goal too. To put so much detail into the buildings and into the city around them that it feels like a real place.
Because these model buildings are small, it’s difficult to photograph them in a way that keeps the entire scene in focus. Typically, photography of model cities gives away their scale with what are called depth-of-field effects. The foreground might be in focus, for example, but the background will be blurry.
People have been emulating that visual style (of miniature model photography) with real cities, to make real cities look like fantastically, absurdly detailed miniatures. With old fashioned photography, you’d do this by tilting the back-plane of your camera with respect to the lens, so the effect has been named “Tilt-Shift” photography.
We think that tilt-shift is enchanting. And it’s a major inspiration for the new SimCity. Here are some examples.
There are some cool things about these videos that it’s worth mentioning. First, notice how it makes the city seem miniaturized, like you can reach into it and manipulate it. It takes something that is normally large and intimidating, and turns it into something you feel like you could control and play with. I love that. It changes the way that you feel about the city.
Next, with sped-up time (and we’re playing with time in SimCity too, in similar ways) you’re much more conscious of the flows of the city. You can see patterns of movement and activity that aren’t normally visible. It feels like the city has a metabolism, and you’re watching its heart beat. The city starts to feel like a creature. In SimCity, you’re creating those flows, and the roads that they flow down, so this is something that I wanted to apply.
Here’s a screenshot from the game:
When you’re looking at views like this with the view pulled down towards the ground, we’re really turning up the tilt-shift effects. That gives the game that “model-world” effect, but also deepens the sense of space. We want the city to feel like a miniature place, with a landscape going off into the distance, populated by detailed, animated buildings, vehicles and effects.
There’s much more to talk about, but that’s it for now! Hope you enjoyed this look into the visual style of SimCity!
Ocean
Comments
Can't say I like the whole
Can't say I like the whole tilt-shift thing, to make one's city look like a model city: SimCity is simulating a real city, therefore it should look like one, not a miniature city. Hope there's an option to turn it off, so players have the choice - I'm sure there are players who like the tilt-shift, model-like look.
I don't like the tilt-shift
I don't like the tilt-shift thing to, It makes you feel like you are can't "touch" your city.
Other Cities Simulation games don't have this tilt-shift and it feels like your are "inside" your city.
also like RyanMorgan95 said it should look like a real city not a miniature city.
I hope there is an option to turn it off.
I actually kind of like the
I actually kind of like the feel. Also, I don't think they can make it look like Battlefield 4, no matter how much everyone who isn't me wants to. Even the most overpowered desktop would just look at the specs and cry.
I will describe this "You
I will describe this "You then can listen to a playlist created based on an amalgamation of what all your friends are listening to, which is also enjoyable."
Regards,
Complex Issues Law Palm Beach Gardens
I agree with RyanMorgan95, I
I agree with RyanMorgan95, I think most of us pictured Simcity as a real city, not a model.
That's why most of us were hoping for non-cartoonish graphics. In fact, you are introducing the feature to check every sims life... that's not a model, it's a real city!
I hope we have the choice to turn that off.
I can't wait for 2013 :) I really like where this is going.
too* and with out the "are"
too* and with out the "are" after the "you".
Sorry for my English
Being a novice photographer,
Being a novice photographer, I can understand where the fancy for tilt-shift comes from, I've taken some photos of this style myself.
However, being a long time fan of Sim City, I prefer seeing the full city instead of getting a "miniaturized model" feeling. The epic feeling of seeing the city come to life in its truest (with respect to the limitations of a computer game) is one of my favorite feelings.
Despite that, I would agree with the previous comments. I wouldn't rule out tilt-shift, however, appease those that like it and those that do not like it by offering an simple tick box for tilt-shift. No controversy there.
(It's like how you can turn off character outlines in Firefall - it is up to the user if they want a "cartoon" feel if they want it or not.)
The artstyle makes people
The artstyle makes people curious about the game. Not like the usual photo taken from a plane, or from a casual neighborhood walk. Other games already tried that. *cough
Thanks for the article! Very informative.
It's a terrible idea,Simcity
It's a terrible idea,Simcity isn't a model city it's a simulated city if this happens then I'll stick with SimCity 4 and that doesn't require you to be online either!
Good riddens.
Good riddens.
For somebody who likes TS3,
For somebody who likes TS3, has tons of online history, and likes to copy illegal softwares...
What?
What?
Agree with the comments above
Agree with the comments above. SimCity, as a realistic game, should have realistic grapphics, not miniatures.
Take a look on CitiesXL for example. It have nice graphics, and that is the only thing the make that game good. SimCity is very superior to ir, and I think the graphics should be too. Many poeple are expecting it.
I don't know what are the plains of EA, but SimCity should be a serious strategic game, focused on players who wants real challenges and complex gameplay. SimCity is not for children.
And about the Tilt-shift effect, isn't it too much blur on the scene? The video examples have more soft effects.
Nice article, btw :)
No wonder that game is
No wonder that game is flopping so hard right now despite its expansions and discounts.
SC is never meant for children? I've played SC2K when I was a kid! So were the thousands, if not millions of other people in their 20s.
Not being for children doesn
Not being for children doesn't mean they cannot play it.
When I was kid I've played many games that were not created for my age. And that was the fun.
There's a huge difference between a game played by children and a game created for childen.
Trying to attract children's attenction may avoid adults and even children...
What kind of miniscule
What kind of miniscule audience do you want the game to attract? Since when did the devs say that this game is exclusively for kids?
Intelligent people should know better than to look at the skin of a game.
As I said in another comments
As I said in another comments, on SC the gameplay is more important.
I'm only concerned about the visual of the game became too "perfect", as in real world the beauty is on the unperfect details.
Boring stuff must exist, so we can see the beauty of the rest.
I agree with you, the tilt
I agree with you, the tilt-shift seems too 'hard'. All tilt shift needs is to create a sense of miniature, and not result in 'overkill'. Yes I realize Maxis wants people to notice this effect, but when you're actually trying to play the game, I can see this getting annoying very fast if the blur is as heavy as I have been seeing in the trailers and some of the images.
I also hope they update the shaders before release, because right now, the colours and models all look kind of bland. Some better lighting and soft-shadowing will go a long way in giving it a more realistic appearance.
Must agree with most above
Must agree with most above here. I hope for a "realistic" game, which of course could mean a lot of things to a lot of people. This means some boring industrial wastelands and such even though I fully understand the importance of having a wealthy residential looking as just that. Pollutioning to buildings perhaps? Still I can't say it looks to shabby from the picture.
I have also used tilt-shifting in my work and but I can't say I am convinced for its place here.
I'm not terribly opposed to
I'm not terribly opposed to the graphics, I think it looks nice. But my question is, is it practical? In CitiesXL, you have 2 camera angles: One vertical, and one Horizontal. The horizontal angle gives you a much prettier view of your city than the vertical view, but it is completely impractical to build while in this view.
The same can be said of this tilt shifting angle. While it makes pretty pictures, it might hinder your "big picture" view of the city. I mean, look at that CBD in the background: I can hardly see what's going on there.
Anyway, the one big thing that I cannot go without is a free camera: I want to be able to zoom out and see my entire city, or zoom all the way in, and experience my city from street level. This is one feature I always longed to have in Simcity, and CitiesXL made it a reality. I think I have seen a street level screenshot before, but I've also learned how one can read into screenshots what one would like to see, only to be disapointed later.
kind of like google maps and
kind of like google maps and street view.
I love the concept behind the
I love the concept behind the compressed buildings. It's like walking down the average sprawlburbia neighborhood and all I can notice is that the houses weren't actually designed around their placement. Tons of blank spaces because we live in some weird world where curb appeal is only determined by one viewing angle.
Tilt-Shift I'm mixed about. Blurring things that are not the central focus area is something I could get behind especially at the extreme foreground and background, but that really doesn't seem to be what is going on here. It feels more like a gimicky camera trick than anything else. Looking at your examples and what comes up from a Google Image Search reminds me a lot of what my urban architecture/planning photography friends stuff looked like when they were learning HDR. It was fantastical and interesting for a time but when it was used to capture a truer essence of the world they experienced is when it really became incredible.
I love the tilt shift idea, I
I love the tilt shift idea, I had a model train set when I was a kid. Still, the colors are like they came out of a crayola box for the factories. Also, if you go into a model train store, the have countless shelves dedicated to the outlying fauna of your towns, yet in simcity it appears like the trees and grass have little character, let alone the complete absence of what could be beautiful mountain lakes, dtreams, and pebble-laden brooks of an autumn morn.
I love this look and love the
I love this look and love the whole model city idea, I have played all of the simcity games and I like the look of this one the most not just because its newer graphics but because its stylised. Why do people think that a cartoon look means its for kids? Its a very strange western mentality. As long as the game simulates a city in a realistic way thats what I am really concerned about. Love the look keep up the good work!
I think the essence of
I think the essence of SimCity is the gameplay. Not liking too much the graphics, but hope at least the gameplay continue following the line of the other games (excepct Societies).
WhyHellThere427 said:
"let alone the complete absence of what could be beautiful mountain lakes, dtreams, and pebble-laden brooks of an autumn morn"
On SimCity 4 I remeber the environment was incredible and realistic. Will SimCity 2013 have different scenarios like Snow, Beach, Forest, Desert, etc? Hope so.
All you naysayers are missing
All you naysayers are missing the point... Ocean clearly explained that the level of tilt-shifting effect depends entirely on your viewing perspective. It's turned up to high when you're right at ground level looking almost horizontally.
I don't know about you, but when I'm in New York City at ground level and I look down a street, only the things really close are in focus. Things down the street slowly lose focus and become more hazy the further away they are. This type of effect seems very realistic to me, and to protest otherwise is just pointless nonsense.
What is unrealistic is expecting everything in your field of vision to be entirely crisp, clear and focused. Get a grip people.
Personally, if you're that close to the ground, one might argue that you want your city to look pretty like a model. That's why you're that close, to admire the beauty of the neighbourhood. If you want a nice crisp view of your whole city, don't be standing outside the front door of a single building.
Doesn't our eyes do that
Doesn't our eyes do that already?
I mean, when you're at NY streets and looks to something close, everything far will lose focus. But when you look to a distant building, you can focus on it (may be not with precision). On a game you don't need that effect to it happens. Your eyes will still do the job, even the game not begin in 3D, you'll just see details of what you look directly.
Look at Battlefield 3 for example. On large maps, what is distant will have less detail and you'll get the haze acting too. There is a good effect, no need to have this huge blur. I agree that the tilt-shift effect creates some kind of realism, but it's too strong on the actual footage.
And being able to deactivate it on the options should be nice and fair.
I for one like this style. No
I for one like this style. No arguing it would be great if those who don't like it could switch it off, but even if we don't get this option, I'd be quite ok with this decision. That being said, I don't believe the graphics will take away any of the seriousness or realism from the game. I mean so far we never really had any "realistic"-looking simcity games. That has never taken away any of the fun for me, it hasn't made simcity exactly kid-oriented either.
I really like this Tilt Shift
I really like this Tilt Shift Lens effect on the SimCity, if it will really look like the video that is attached to the post. I think that this effect will combine both what a model city and a real city looks like in the game itself. It is in my understanding that copying a real city and simulating it just like it real life would not give life the city itself in the game, and would look dull and boring just what a real city looks like in "reality".
The developers also did not specify in changing graphic elements into the game, they want to put this in so that your city would look so full of life. I really like this idea, and I am thinking it would benefit the game itself. Based on the developer videos that I have watched, this effect has not put into the game or to its alpha test, unless it is in there and I didn't paid attention to it, and comparing the developer videos and the video that is attached in this blog for the Tilt Shift Lens effect, there is a big difference to it and I think it will make the player's city beautiful from a distance. :D
Have to disagree with most of
Have to disagree with most of the comments above. I love the tilt shift idea. Kudos to the team for making the effort to add extra artistic touches to the game. Tilt shift will remove the harshness of extremely zoomed in models in 3D on one hand, and add a sense of initimacy on the other.
I actually would like an
I actually would like an option for stylized graphics, depending on my mood. I totally agree with the comments on gameplay - especially after watching what they did to Simcity Societies and now the Sims 3. I am a very wary of getting excited for this, at all. Why does it have to be "online"?! What happens when they decide not to support this game anymore?
It's online to avoid piracy.
It's online to avoid piracy. All other reasons are secondary.
I don't like it. I prefer to
I don't like it. I prefer to see the whole city all at once. Did blurriness suddenly become the new distance fog?
I agree with the whole idea
I agree with the whole idea for being able to turn tilt-shift on and off. I also think that it's too blurry, it makes me focus on one thin. I don't want to have to constantly move my perspective. When you look at a laptop screen, you can see pretty much everything that's on it besides text, though you can't see what's not on the screen. I think there should be different options for the amount of blurriness, as that would really help.
I'm fine with the tilt-shift
I'm fine with the tilt-shift effect - if you see it in other screenshots and the E3 video the effect is not overdone and is just maximised in the screenshot/camera angle that is used in this article. I only wish the colours were not so saturated and the lighting more pronounced.
I like this art style.
I like this art style. nothing prevent a game from being pretty if it's in the service of the gameplay. so far, this new engine seems really exciting and really deep.
still, if it's an always-online drm like ubisoft AC2 DRM or blizzard D3 DRM i will most definitely pass on.
a steam-like drm which rely more on initial activation and optional offline mode, i can bear. always-online, that's juste a recipe for disaster.
I think that the Tilt-Shift
I think that the Tilt-Shift-Lens looks really cute! and i have seen some examples and it looks freakin awesome! it's like that you can touch it and i really love the effect because it looks like that i'm playing with little people and stuff!!! I really love it!! I'm glad you guys added it! Greets: SimCity Fan! "PS: i'm Djeranotjuh from twitter"
I think it looks great! Like
I think it looks great! Like a mix of sc3000 and sc4.
stop complaining!!!!!!!!!!!!!
stop complaining!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! simcity will be as good as u make it, if you really want to enjoy the game stop trying to find all thats wrong with it !!!!!!
I like the visual approach. I
I like the visual approach. I've always seen Sims as the descendants of my "Little Computer People" who lived in my C64 twenty years ago. This art direction is fresh new take from my point of view.
The tilt-shift, I am assuming
The tilt-shift, I am assuming, is only when you zoom in to take a detailed look on things. And even if it isn't, then logically the further you zoom out, the more area is centred in the 'focus' area so that you can work on it.
For all you people saying "oh no, it doesn't look like SimCity 4" ...well duh. Would you people have also complained about the isometric 3D incorporated in SimCity 2000 after the original SimCity was top-down with faux-3D? Does this really bother you? After ten whole years, a new graphical view? Shame on Maxis for trying something new that was impossible in 2003.
And all you people complaining about the colours and the shaders and the lighting... the game is months away from release. Months. I highly doubt that these are completed graphics. Give the development team some support for building something that both works and looks good 'naked' as it were. Go take any game you like on the market now, and compare the ultimate graphics settings to the minimal graphics settings. You see that difference? That's because you've turned off anti-aliasing, detailed shaders and lighting, and reduced the number of polygons the game gets to simulate things with. The same applies here - they haven't finished the shaders and lighting yet!
Insofar I think this looks great. The tilt-shift is a new perspective view that I personally like rather greatly. I can see how people would dislike it but hey, come on, it's a new game built on the strengths of it's predecessors, not the next game in the series. I like the slightly cartoonish elements, after all I would find it rather freaky to be playing with photorealistic people living in a photorealistic world. Cities XL tried that approach and, well, it's not exactly the BEST game on the market, is it now? Oh wow, photorealistic skyscrapers! Ya-- oh it's crashed.
To conclude, this looks great. Build on it a bit more (and bring back gardens) and it'll be perfect.
this is looking more and more
this is looking more and more like a souped up societies.... the point of the idea of simcity is to simulate a REAL city. not a cartoon miniature city. make the game like a the sequel to simcity 4.
This does look like a sequel
This does look like a sequel to Simcity 4! Simcity 4 did not even attempt to look like a "real" city. It was far more cartoon like than realistic.
I loved the video of New York
I loved the video of New York and if you could get Simcity to look at least something like that I think myself and the rest of the world would be most impressed.
I think it would be excellent if, when viewing traffic and whatnot at night/dusk car lights have long exposure-like 'light streams' especially when time is warped to pass quickly. It gives it a nice flow and gives you a sense of how much traffic is passing through the city.
Speaking of traffic, it reminds me that in Simcity 4 the amount of traffic you could see on your screen did not adequately represent the amount of traffic that was actually on your streets in different areas and at different times. If this could be fixed, again, we would all be highly impressed.
I like the tilt-shift
I like the tilt-shift approach. Simcity is a model, its your model of a city and its time and taxes/cash and sandbox development that run through said model. I think it makes perfect sense additionally the motion seen in tilt-shift has an odd quality which will compliment the way time is a controllable aspect of Simcity game play.
Being a Simcity Hardcore fan
Being a Simcity Hardcore fan I find it personally quite good. It is impossible as several people in Simtropolis have pointed out, to simulate exactly, particulary when the simulation is an entire city and not just one The Sims house. I like the Tilt-effect, but I agree that there should be an option to toggle it off eventually.
So the balance between cartoonish and realism is somewhat well, but keep focusing on realism all the way. Keep up the good work and please aim to bring realism to gameplay (more than graphics), in other words, make this a Real Simcity please.
i (for one) love it -
i (for one) love it - probably should be possible to turn it on/off
Personally, I think everyone
Personally, I think everyone hating on Tilt Shift is latching onto all the wrong things, and completely misinterpreting the article. You all loved SC4, yet the very things the author is talking about- abstracting out the irrelevant details in order to make the buildings look and feel real-basically describes the SC4 experience. Re-read the article, and watch the clips! If the game ends up looking even CLOSE to what clips show, we'll all be blown away.
The Tilt-Shift effect is just
The Tilt-Shift effect is just ridiculous, it is good when you do it on real city to look like a model, but it isn't when you do it on a model city that you want to look real. we all was waiting for the new simcity to allow us to view it in 3D and walk in it like a real city, to see our creations and feel it. so I am sorry but Tilt-Shift is not a good idea, and focusing on it undermine the game instead of adding to it. At least there should be an option to override it. it would be appreciated if you focus more on giving a real feeling of the city colors, sun effects and shadows, weather effects, etc. instead of a tilt-shift.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA CALL THE
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA CALL THE WHAMBULANCE!!!
How can you infuse such a beautiful aesthetic to my game I WANT 8bit GFX GODDAMNIT and straight roads.
I AM HERE POSTING ON THE INTERNET TO MOAN ABOUT THINGS BECAUSE I AM STUPID AND I CAN.
*Disclaimer NOT REALLY the moaner's above can suck a fat one.
Sim City Feb 2013 BRING IT ON -TAKE MY MONEY!!!
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