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SimCity offline mode is FINALLY coming
- Thread starter judhudson
- Start date
heliosRAzi
Banned
Didn't someone hack the game to make it offline shortly after it came out, dispelling the whole "it can't be done offline" argument?
Hellsing321
Member
Have they fixed the way the simulation actually works after almost a year? Because the way it worked at launch was bullshit of the highest caliber.
famousmortimer
Banned
I agree with you there. He isn't saying that it couldn't be played offline, he is just saying that only people at Maxis can claim that.
But that's where I disagree with him. People outside of Maxis have an understanding about how things work. Also, in general, software can be manipulated to do whatever you want. DRM can be turned off. A simple look at what data is coming from the servers showed people on day one that there wasn't any "cloud computing" happening. All that was happening was multiplayer. People said they wanted single player. Maxis said they can't do that. They could. And now they have, almost a year later.
If I said "If you don't work at DICE you literally have no idea if they can up the fire rate on the FAMAS" I would get laughed off the internet. 99.99% of the people who would laugh me off couldn't write the code to up the fire rate but you don't need to be able to write the code to know what's possible.
It's these statements, over and over, that cause a lot of people to not respect Gies. He says this insane shit like he is the only person who understands videogames and the vast majority of the time what he is saying is patently false. He deserves shit when he is. We all do. I've been wrong and eaten plenty of shit sandwiches.
ShockingAlberto
Member
Calm down, guy.
RMS Gigantic
Member
Maxis was talking for months now about how they were exploring what to do with an offline mode, and even had a forum conversation with their community that was incredibly transparent. Essentially, the first post of the thread went to the effect of, "We understand that the community wants an offline mode to have this, this, this, and this. We still want some more clarification from you guys, though: do you guys think that an offline mode have this, this, this, or this?" The first post was also updated as Maxis got more and more of their questions answered.
It was a level of community communication that I haven't seen out of anything short of an indie developer.
Only took about a year. Great turnaround guys!
This is one of the funniest Gies tweets I've seen in a while.
This is one of the funniest Gies tweets I've seen in a while.
chrominance
Member
I didn't find it a big deal but it is annoying. The issue is that you have to take the time to create a pipe network just to keep the city running, but it didn't really matter where you put the pipe as long as everything was connected. So there's no real strategy to it, it's just a chore you have to engage in or else parts of your city will suddenly be without water. The only way the size/layout of your pipe network influences your game is through maintenance costs, but you can just as easily have the overall maintenance cost rise automatically with development.
In other words, it's busywork. It might be cool to have a more complex system where you have to plan out the sewer/drainage systems as well as the freshwater system, and gain effects based on your ability to manage the network, but that would be pretty hardcore. If you're going the way SimCity is going, becoming more open to casual play while maintaining the "right" amount of strategy for vets (forget for the moment that they failed in this regard), abstracting away the pipe laying is absolutely welcome.
famousmortimer
Banned
Oddly enough I was totally hooked on this game for a week. Like I spent 30-40 hours playing it. Created entire regions by myself.
The game is shit, but man it had its hooks in me like every sim city before it. The difference is that the hooks lasted a week instead of years.
The game is shit, but man it had its hooks in me like every sim city before it. The difference is that the hooks lasted a week instead of years.
Of course it's the approval process (and further milestone meetings etc) through which big publishers like EA are doing the harm. They are not actually designing the game, I think everybody understands that.
Actually, at the time of release, IIRC somebody found a workaround to play offline. It was only saving they couldn't work around.
RMS Gigantic
Member
Maxis was talking for months now about how they were exploring what to do with an offline mode, and even had a forum conversation with their community that was incredibly transparent. Essentially, the first post of the thread went to the effect of, "We understand that the community wants an offline mode to have this, this, this, and this. We still want some more clarification from you guys, though: do you guys think that an offline mode have this, this, this, or this?"
It was a level of community communication that I haven't seen out of anything short of an indie developer.
EDIT: Wait, I'm thinking of the User Generated Content (mods) discussion. Still, offline mode was discussed in the forum post, and both mods and offline were mentioned in the "State of SimCity" blog post.
Optimistic assumption really makes the most sense. Steam's user base grew 30% from last year (65M from 50M), and Gabe just gave an interview where he said total revenue grew 62%. Even if some of that is DOTA 2, it suggests very healthy revenue growth (meaning even more sales, not just more F2P players. On EA's earnings calls, they have not talked specifically about Origin PC users for some time - presumably because there isn't any real good news. They probably topped out at 10-20M maybe more which isn't nothing, but they don't have any big PC releases coming to improve those numbers, and it's not enough if you are trying to actually compete with Steam.
Both of the other options seem dumb even for EA. They get more revenue but by strengthening a competitor by increasing game and member lock-in to Steam? Their sales pattern only makes sense if they are moving towards #1. I could be wrong, but my guess is they announce something (maybe just re-adding older games) this year, but big companies take forever to adjust their strategy even in the face of overwhelming evidence, so it could be longer.
I would love for nothing more than JaseC's "optimistic assumption" to be correct, so we can see Titanfall on Steam.
I'm assuming that Microsoft's moneyhat for console exclusivity probably won't be enough to make up for the lost potential revenue of launching the game on the PS4, as well. And then if they make it an Origin exclusive, they're probably leaving even more money on the table. Not exactly the best way to launch a new, high-profile IP.
I'm assuming that Microsoft's moneyhat for console exclusivity probably won't be enough to make up for the lost potential revenue of launching the game on the PS4, as well. And then if they make it an Origin exclusive, they're probably leaving even more money on the table. Not exactly the best way to launch a new, high-profile IP.
SteveWinwood
Member
Titanfall has the best chance solely because of the engine.
RMS Gigantic
Member
The unpleasantness, in my view, was caused by a number of factors: the ambiance of the pipe laying layer (music, etc.) struck me as rather depressing, to the point where I wanted to spend as little time there as humanly possible. Additionally, it took me a rather long time to lay the pipes (because apparently I wasn't doing it right) (I would make my pipes follow avenues and streets and then form a net under each building). Lastly, it seemed to bring the pace of the game to a halt, because I would spend all of this time underground, while my city was progressing above me. For all I knew, it could be burning to the ground up there and I would miss it, or else I would need to pause the game and spend several minutes where my city does literally nothing aside from getting some pipes.
Xisiqomelir
Member
We need this on every page.
Brawly Likes to Brawl
Member
Oh come on now, the poster he was replying to was expressing regret over the purchase.
Good post, the thing that annoyed me was the arrogance of it all and the complete lack of interest in attempting to look at any other information than what Maxis tells him. Simcity is playable offline for an unlimited amount of time by changing one line of code, the only problem is the gme only uses cloud saves. Between loading the save and saving and exiting the game, it can already be played completely offline.
For the ironic retweets:
https://twitter.com/aegies/status/310282795564015616
"if you don't work at maxis and insist simcity could be updated to be offline, you literally don't know what you're talking about." Arthur Gies
https://twitter.com/aegies/status/310282795564015616
"if you don't work at maxis and insist simcity could be updated to be offline, you literally don't know what you're talking about." Arthur Gies
Wiktor
Member
They will, once they start releasing complete packages with add-ons included. I expect they will be getting more sales this way than through DD, at least during the non-sale periods.
Those are some great answers. I never thought about it that way but y'all are absolutely right. Huh!
Forsaken82
Member
So modding is open aftaer this patch goes live correct? which means opening up cities? The always online never bothered me... city size and a lack of features from 4 is what bothered me.
He didn't review Sim city but for a month after on twitter he acted as EA PR calling rockpapershotgun liars and people who hacked it offline liars and people who didn't like the game liars, while parritung shit EA release in press releases.
GravityMan
Member
Too late, EA and Maxis. Hardly anyone cares anymore about this game.
RMS Gigantic
Member
Then get a mod when this mode goes live.
I like to hope what they're doing is not to sell more units, but to try and win over the people who feel jaded about SimCity. I love the SimCity franchise so much, its impossible for me to not hope for a SimCity 2 but with all the fan feed back from the first taken into consideration.
The game is flawed, but its not bad. Many people were hooked, including myself, until the ugly parts started to show themselves. My room mate who is not a gamer played SimCity for hours a day for almost a week, until we gave up on trying to make our region not suck. There is a fun game under there, they just need to make it work better. And make cities bigger.
RMS Gigantic
Member
I'm in the same boat you are. I also have to respect a developer that allows their game to be optimized for the three most common forms of colorblindness.
When the Giantbomb guys talked about Sim City during the GotY deliberations (biggest disappointment), they put it best when they said that EA and Maxis have basically salted the earth. This was their great reboot of the franchise. What are they going to do now? Reboot the reboot? Unlikely. Trying to sell us Sim City 2, the follow-up to the biggest gaming disappointment of 2013? Also unlikely. I think we won't see another Sim City for quite a few years and instead EA and Maxis will focus on The Sims or other Sim games. If the first expansion doesn't sell well (it likely won't), there won't be many more expansions either.
EA really fucked this up. The brand is more damaged now than ever before.
Gentleman Jack
Member
I think they measured the development cost of responding to the biggest fan requests against that of removing the constant online checkins and letting modders do it for them and did what was best for themselves.
SimCity 5 might yet become a great game once EA's new volunteer army fixes it. I'm not convinced they care about winning anybody over as the market has never ever punished them for releasing broken, buggy software.
Just in case people somehow think this news makes the game worth playing.
quote for truth.
Can't believe with all the technological advancement SimCity is still downgraded to a SimBlock.
RMS Gigantic
Member
It seems like the future of this game is calling for it to become a sort of "niche" game, except instead of the general gaming public not caring for or not hearing about the gaming, they instead don't like the game and/or what it represents.
I'm just glad that this thread has avoided the false claims of "SimCity has never been an online game before!"
I'm just glad that this thread has avoided the false claims of "SimCity has never been an online game before!"
Sim City has never been an online-only game before.
I think no one would've complained about optional multiplayer functionality.
Sim city had/has lots of problems, always online is only one.
I'm expecting him to tweet something along the lines of: "at the time I was right"
What do you think?Have people tweeted Gies already?
I'm expecting him to tweet something along the lines of: "at the time I was right"
Being offline doesn't really fix the problem of the cities being too small and interacts with neighboring cities to give it that feel though right? I would rather they fix existing problems with the city size and "simulation" if you want to call it that before seeing it offline, but it should have came offline to begin with :S
I know you're right, unfortunately. The SimCity franchise has a special place in my heart, I've always loved the games sense I was a kid. Quite depressing knowing, as a 30 year old, I'll probably be an old man before I see another new SimCity game. All I've got is hope...
God damn fuck EA. I hate what they've done to Maxis. They use to make inspiring, educational, and thought provoking games, now they're just a The Sims factory. No one has picked up where Maxis left off either, there is a total void, which is really fucking sad. Think of how cool a SimEarth type game would be with today's computing power.
RMS Gigantic
Member
This strikes me as the equivalent of comparing a modern main battle tank to a World War II heavy tank. Sure, the World War II heavy tank is several times larger and heavier, and the fact that it is visually more imposing due to its size makes it look like the better vehicle, but the newer, smaller vehicle can do a lot of things that the older one can't.
Allow me to re-mention how SimCity 4 often broke immersion for me when I would go down to street level and see that every car would disappear at every intersection. The key reason why the cities are smaller now is that the newer game has a persistence in people and vehicles. Sure, people change names as they enter and leave buildings and transportation (to save a little on system memory), but it's still the same population unit that it was before.
CrunchyFrog
Member
May this gif be reposted to the high heavens
Plus they never return to the same house or place of work, so they really have no meaningful persistence besides being a 3D model moving about. And that's NOT immersion breaking either?
Mengy
wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
FOOL!
It's been stated time and time again, DO NOT BUY THIS GAME.
Offline mode is huge step towards fixing the game, but the core game is STILL BROKEN. Hopefully the modding community can do what Maxis has not done and actually fix the game up, namely by increasing city sizes and fixing the agent AI and many many other details, but until that day arrives there is only one general rule to follow with the new Simcity:
DO NOT BUY THIS GAME!!!!!
Simcity 4 is a much more enjoyable city builder, even despite the fact that it is over 10 years old. Banished is coming out next month and should scratch that city building itch much, MUCH better than the new Simcity does. Cities XL, desptite its own flaws, is a much better game than the new Simcity. There are options, but please simply, for now, DO NOT BUY THIS GAME.
blazeuk
Member
This is pretty much exactly how I felt about it too, enjoyed it for a week or so, played it for hours and then I just completely lost interest - it seemed pretty clear that a large amount of people had a similar experience since they were desperate to get people playing it again. It honestly felt like there was nothing left to achieve in it, along with the problems the game had and the tiny maps it just wasn't that appealing to create better "cities" given it's limitations.
I do like how they talk about their "wonderful community of modders" and how it's a big part of their legacy as if they didn't just completely cut them out of their game, only now are they sucking up to them because the game has been completely deserted by disappointed players.
secretanchitman
Member
A few minutes ago Gies tweeted "@XaiaX @mudron i have lots of thoughts on this today, but i'm just going to keep them to myself for now."
But back on point, it's about damn time that the offline mode is coming (why did they say that it can't be done in the first place?) but it's still completely jarring that the city size is too small. Still won't consider it.
But back on point, it's about damn time that the offline mode is coming (why did they say that it can't be done in the first place?) but it's still completely jarring that the city size is too small. Still won't consider it.
This might be true, however its a city simulator and I could care less for the persistence of people leaving and entering buildings. Sure it looks nice and is cool from a standpoint, but not for the fundimentals of the game itself which is building a city, the persistance should be an afterthought, not one of the only things thats "nice" about the game.
What happens to your immersion in 5, where cars drive around in circles all day?