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SimCity 4 was released 20 years ago

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Re: SimCity 4 was released 20 years ago

#71

Post by LarsDu88 »

xixixao wrote: post #44
genocidicbunny wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought 3000 was the best showing, though perhaps that's looking at it back later when performance is not as much of a concern. It felt like an upgraded SimCity 2000, rather than a big change in game mechanics that 4 was.

Age of Empires 2, Sim City 3000, Diablo2 and Red Alert 2. Released in the span of 3 years. What an incredible era. Can’t shake off the feeling that 3D took away as much as it gave gaming. Also can’t believe it’s just my age-based selection bias.

When these games came out, the PC game market was smaller with less competition. Programmers and game makers drew from what they grew up with which was table top board games. That's why the instruction manuals were thick (like a DnD manual), the rules were incredibly complex, and the learning curves were steep.

These games were a product of their time and you definitely do have an age based selection bias!

Re: SimCity 4 was released 20 years ago

#72

Post by bruce511 »

_Qeomash_ wrote: post #22
chongli wrote: post #5

I prefer SimCity 2000. I feel like it hit a pretty good sweet spot between simulation and fun (which is to say, not even a vague gesturing at anything remotely realistic). Realistic simulation in games is almost universally less fun than simple, predictable game logic. Probably the most extreme example of this is chess: way more enjoyable than real warfare. Back on topic though. My beef with SimCity 4 is that it adde…

SimCity 2000 is definitely my favorite. I'm surprised someone hasn't made a version of it with a larger map (or infinite map).

Take that one step further. Start with a virgin earth. With sufficient, but finite, number of players, and a modelled global population, you build cities that effectively compete with each other for population.

In other words an alternate history of population and human development.

A multi-player Sim Earth.

Re: SimCity 4 was released 20 years ago

#73

Post by genocidicbunny »

wtvanhest wrote: post #55
xixixao wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Age of Empires 2, Sim City 3000, Diablo2 and Red Alert 2. Released in the span of 3 years. What an incredible era. Can’t shake off the feeling that 3D took away as much as it gave gaming. Also can’t believe it’s just my age-based selection bias.

Red Alert 2. That was such a fun game. One thing that has been majorly lost in games now is the ability to create levels too. I loved the creation part

Creating a competent and usable level editor that you can publicly release is a lot of work, and unless you can somehow turn it into a major selling point for the game, you will be hard pressed to afford it. Dev time for games is expensive and if you're hacking together levels using a bunch of disparate tools including some third-party ones it might not really be worth it to make a tool that you can release.

Re: SimCity 4 was released 20 years ago

#74

Post by KerrAvon »

Aeolun wrote: post #56
xixixao wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Age of Empires 2, Sim City 3000, Diablo2 and Red Alert 2. Released in the span of 3 years. What an incredible era. Can’t shake off the feeling that 3D took away as much as it gave gaming. Also can’t believe it’s just my age-based selection bias.

When I talk to people older than me they think some of the NES games were the best ever released. But I look at the graphics and I just can’t get over it.

Anyone growing up in that era should have fond memories of arcade games that were far better than most NES games — there were still real arcades while the NES was current.

However, try playing the first level of Super Mario Bros on original NES hardware. The game mechanics basically still hold up.

All Atari 2600 games were worse than NES games, and primitive as anything. But try Breakout with paddles on an original 2600; again, the mechanics are good and it’s fun, at least briefly.

Re: SimCity 4 was released 20 years ago

#75

Post by midasuni »

LarsDu88 wrote: post #71
xixixao wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Age of Empires 2, Sim City 3000, Diablo2 and Red Alert 2. Released in the span of 3 years. What an incredible era. Can’t shake off the feeling that 3D took away as much as it gave gaming. Also can’t believe it’s just my age-based selection bias.

When these games came out, the PC game market was smaller with less competition. Programmers and game makers drew from what they grew up with which was table top board games. That's why the instruction manuals were thick (like a DnD manual), the rules were incredibly complex, and the learning curves were steep. These games were a product of their time and you definitely do have an age based selection bias!

I don’t remember a thick manual for red alert. Or much of a manual at all.

Re: SimCity 4 was released 20 years ago

#76

Post by izacus »

harha wrote: post #47
crashingintoyou wrote: post #20

I was a little surprised that they actually released an Apple Silicon version for it just a few months ago ( https://support.aspyr.com/hc/en-us/articles/12168615035405-H... ) in spite of its age.

Would be nice if they’d do the same for civ 6 - it’s burning hot on my MacBook (not sure it would solve the issue but worth a try)

It wouldn't.

Re: SimCity 4 was released 20 years ago

#79

Post by duckmysick »

xixixao wrote: post #44
genocidicbunny wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought 3000 was the best showing, though perhaps that's looking at it back later when performance is not as much of a concern. It felt like an upgraded SimCity 2000, rather than a big change in game mechanics that 4 was.

Age of Empires 2, Sim City 3000, Diablo2 and Red Alert 2. Released in the span of 3 years. What an incredible era. Can’t shake off the feeling that 3D took away as much as it gave gaming. Also can’t believe it’s just my age-based selection bias.

You're definitely onto something and it's not just an age bias. I can think of a few 2D games released in the previous decade that continued this trend: Terraria, Stardew Valley, Factorio, Rimworld, Celeste, Hades.

Re: SimCity 4 was released 20 years ago

#80

Post by zamnos »

genocidicbunny wrote: post #73
wtvanhest wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Red Alert 2. That was such a fun game. One thing that has been majorly lost in games now is the ability to create levels too. I loved the creation part

Creating a competent and usable level editor that you can publicly release is a lot of work, and unless you can somehow turn it into a major selling point for the game, you will be hard pressed to afford it. Dev time for games is expensive and if you're hacking together levels using a bunch of disparate tools including some third-party ones it might not really be worth it to make a tool that you can release.

The ultimate "level editor" was released - Unity. It's infinitely moddable and you can even sell your mods for money.
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