I’ve always loved playing SimCity since I was little. I used to play the Super Nintendo version for hours. That version was really cool. It had 4 seasons (winter, spring, summer and fall) and many landscapes, settings to choose from. That was a huge success at the time. It was clearly the most popular video game.
Then SimCity 2000 was released. It was almost like a revolution.
Lots of new things to use, better graphics, more innovative and the game engine.
it was more advanced. So that was very good news (except for the fact that the
the seasons were gone).
But the follower that came after SC2000, SimCity3000 was a real disaster. All right
there were more tools, advisors and more advanced terrain (the witch was shit
because you couldn’t build anything on it) but nothing special. Tea
The graphics were probably the worst part. It was more advanced but everything just
it looked like shit. It was a blurry hell. I’d say this didn’t feel like a
upgrade more like a delayed downgrade. It was fun in 2 weeks, but no more.
And after that failure, a new version would be released, SimCity 4. This time, the
The MAXIS programmers learned that they had learned a lesson, not to launch anything that
It is not useful. So they made good graphics, added fun tools, more effects, more
unique buildings and neighboring cities. This was a small step up from SimCity
2000 but a big step up from SC3000. However, this was not meant to be a
strategy based city planning game but more like fun modeling
program (like 3DMax or Maya) and creating amazing effects. It was not hey I have
I managed to have 1 million inhabitants, but more like Hey, look what a beautiful city I built.
The game also required a new high-end computer with more than one GB of RAM,
a high-end graphics card with at least 128MB, an Athlon2500XP or one with
Pentium 2,5GHZ to be able to play (but even that was not like that).
You can clearly see what happened to one of the best games on the planet.
This is not specific to SimCity, but to the entire gaming industry. Tea
The graphic surprise effect is all that matters today. I personally love the good
graphics, but not when I have to buy a better computer to use it,
when can i experience lag and when the whole game is based on that
subject-effect-surprise.
What will happen to SimCity5? There are rumors that they are already being built.
but why expect anything from him. If SC4 was too much for my pretty new
PC from what I wonder what will SC5 be like. This will probably be the latest version if
they actually build it. Why? It will be a failure. No one will be able to use it. Persons
who already experienced SC4 will definitely not buy it. It’s kind of a joke
already.
The solution
Let’s start a new project based on open source. Let’s call it OpenSimcity.
Part Two – The Project
The idea is based on an objective programming, OOP. This should be easy to
done, easy to check for errors and tweak the code. We will create this game
right from the start and make it better. And when I say better, I don’t just mean
faster performance or some new features. I mean a completely new structure, a
brand new ground to stand on. This will be unique.
Graphics should be advanced but at the same time not mastering the
play. It should include many options for people who have other types of
taste. Also, the game will likely take a few years to complete and by then,
Graphics cards will be more powerful than we’ve ever seen. GPU
performance grows 40% per year, while CPU only grows 10%. Therefore, all
graphics must be done in OpenGL to free up CPU power. Real time
zoom should be possible.
Unlimited area. Instead of the idea that the user can have 3 or 4 sizes to choose from
come in, why not customize it? User can etc print X (width) and Y
(height) and get a map in the size of your choice. The user
must have the ability to resize (increase or decrease) under the
play.
Ability to choose the climate. There should be a choice for what throughout the year
weather you want to have. How cold or warm and how dry or wet and so on.
Also, an option if you want to have floating (changing) climates with seasons or
a static climate.
More default buildings. It should also be easy to add new buildings or
remove the old ones.
The engine should not be easy, medium, hard or advanced, but rather an effect of
the number between 1-1000 that you give.
However, the interface must be a choice between easy, middle, hard, and
advanced.
Cost and assets must be fully customizable.
The game must include online games. Competing with your neighboring cities,
friends or strangers. You could, etc., choose to compete with X number of citizens
or have the largest possible population in X time. Or it could be played without
right, just have fun. It might also have the ability to trade land with
your neighbors.
Ability to import maps from all versions of SimCity.
I can make the list longer, but you get the point. Long live OpenSimcity.
