SimCity Studio "Exploring the Possibility" Of Offline Mode

[thiosk]

I'm disinterested mostly because I have to install origin.
So annoying. I don't want more passwords and logins for more shit.

 

[MoltenSilver]

Oh sure, NOW its apparently possible for them to consider doing it offline, but when they released it it's all 'The online components are absolutely vital to you having a fun experience'

Online requirements not being singularly for the purpose of DRM, my ass.

 

[DTWolfwood]

LARGER CITY SIZES PLEASE.

The fact the game breaks the second your population grows suck. I don't even care about the always online shit at this point. Just fix this broken parts of the game.

 

[webkilla]

Even if they enable an official offline mode - will they allow proper modding? Will they enable larger city sizes?

Won't matter. IMO The game is too much of a restricitive mess, too great a departure from the previous games and the tried and true game model.

Sure, some of the new features were neat - the expandable buildings were a neat feature, allowing you to add more police cars to a police station, or ambulances to a hospital.

but the tiny city sizes, the forced city-linking with neighbors (I for one prefered cities that could manage to do stuff on their own)

I used to like the sim city series - I have played simcity since the very first simcity game. I loved simcity 2000, found Simcity 4 delightfully challenging. But everyone's least favorite no longer numbered Simcity game? Won't be playing that. And I find that quite sad.

Too little, far too late

 

[Blachman201_v1legacy]

LARGER CITY SIZES PLEASE.

Well, I am afraid that I have to disappoint you:

Bigger Cities

City sizes have been a constant point of conversation among our players since we released the game. The game?s original design focused on the density of an intimate urban environment. It was about intercity connectivity and the challenge of managing a region of cities instead of one metropolis in isolation. However, we recognize that many players have expressed the desire to build up one big city rather than manage the interrelationship of multiple smaller cities.

We?ve put months of investigation into making larger city sizes, reworking the terrain maps, changing the routing algorithms of our agent-based system and altering the way that GlassBox processes the data in a larger space.

After months of testing, I confirm that we will not be providing bigger city sizes. The system performance challenges we encountered would mean that the vast majority of our players wouldn?t be able to load, much less play with bigger cities. We?ve tried a number of different approaches to bring performance into an acceptable range, but we just couldn?t achieve it within the confines of the engine. We?ve chosen to cease work on bigger city sizes and put that effort into continuing to evolve the core game and explore an offline mode. Some of the experiments we conducted to improve performance on bigger cities will be rolled into future updates to improve overall game performance.

TL;DR version: "Our fundamentally broken agent system makes larger cities impossible!"

 

[spartandude]

But.. it was proven possible months ago. People did it. So, go team? Finish off the doughnuts and knock off for the weekend.

Less than a week after the game launched actually. If they are only seeing it as "possible" then I have no faith in these guys.

 

[DTWolfwood]

LARGER CITY SIZES PLEASE.

Well, I am afraid that I have to disappoint you:

Bigger Cities

City sizes have been a constant point of conversation among our players since we released the game. The game?s original design focused on the density of an intimate urban environment. It was about intercity connectivity and the challenge of managing a region of cities instead of one metropolis in isolation. However, we recognize that many players have expressed the desire to build up one big city rather than manage the interrelationship of multiple smaller cities.

We?ve put months of investigation into making larger city sizes, reworking the terrain maps, changing the routing algorithms of our agent-based system and altering the way that GlassBox processes the data in a larger space.

After months of testing, I confirm that we will not be providing bigger city sizes. The system performance challenges we encountered would mean that the vast majority of our players wouldn?t be able to load, much less play with bigger cities. We?ve tried a number of different approaches to bring performance into an acceptable range, but we just couldn?t achieve it within the confines of the engine. We?ve chosen to cease work on bigger city sizes and put that effort into continuing to evolve the core game and explore an offline mode. Some of the experiments we conducted to improve performance on bigger cities will be rolled into future updates to improve overall game performance.

TL;DR version: "Our fundamentally broken agent system makes larger cities impossible!"

So the game was built for the first 8 hours of game play then it will fundamentally break itself...

Maxis will forever be on my "do not buy" list from this day forward. I shall not trust these shyters ever again

Thank you good sir

 

[mechalynx]

I'm exploring the possibility of never ever buying another game, that benefits EA in any way, while they they persist with their assortment of bullshit.

 

[Evil Smurf]

It's cute, they think we care about them.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

If they add offline play, I'll think about getting the game. If i play Sim City I want to be alone, not forced into multiplayer. I enjoy shooting or racing multiplayers, but not strategy and sim. That's my preference.

If it happens, I may get it, if not, I'll stick with Cities XL 2012.

I think the game has a private feature. Not too sure though seeing as I don't have the game, but I think I saw it when watching a video on it.

Saying that though, if they see a significant enough sales spike after they add offline mode, then that'll be another reason to never make an always online game that shouldn't need it.

 

[TallanKhan]

At this stage the damage is done. Maybe they should just write this one off and concentrate on not trying to screw their userbase when they lauch their next title.

 

[1337mokro]

"Should we just flick that one setting that would allow people to play offline? How about removing the arbitrary city edges? People have been kind of waiting for a long time for us to get our heads out of our asses."

"Nah let em wait, we'll punch out at 5 today and have EA continue paying our checks for a while longer. We're basically guaranteed extra sales once the word spread we "fixed" SC5."

Seriously people, fuck your servers, give me huge cities.

 

[runic knight]

You know, if Diablo 3 lost its always online bullshit, at the very least with the coming expansion to gain relevance and the decent game under the hood, it could be seen as "A little too late" but still viable enough for the developer to try to pull it off in hopes of an expansion boom.

Simcity though? Yeah, that was a disaster from the start and the core game underneath was broken in several aspects as well. At this point ,it is not "a little too late" so much as "you lost any chance to convince me to buy it before, nothing you do to it now will change that". I do hope I am not the only one who thinks that too. I hope this train wreck continues to fail. Hell, I hope EA tries to advertise the hell out of it now that it is "fixed" and it still fails just so they can lose a little more money. I think it is needed to continue to be the go-to example of what not to do in gaming, with EA bonded to the disaster forever more.

 

[Final7111]

They'll magically find a way to get this offline mode(which modders did months ago), and then they'll charge you for it!

 

[Sabrestar]

Of course they have a team looking at it. That would be the accounting team.

 

[weirdee]

this closing of the barn door happened so slowly that all the horses are dead from having lived full, rich lives

after which ea dragged them back and continue to whip them in the hopes that they can get them moving again

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

Wow, EA. You must really think that we're even dumber than you are. Your always online is DRM, not a service requirement. That was proved a very long time ago. You are not offering an olive branch, you are insulting us. Please, stop it.

 

[Alorxico]

Of course they have a team looking at it. That would be the accounting team.

Bwahahaha! Epic Win for You!

this closing of the barn door happened so slowly that all the horses are dead from having lived full, rich lives

after which ea dragged them back and continue to whip them in the hopes that they can get them moving again

Wow, that accurately describes the entire Madden series. And could probably be applied to The Sims, if you have seen any of the Sims 4 previews.