An Open Letter to Maxis/EA Games
Dear Maxis/EA Games,
I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincerest thanks for the hours upon hours I have spent playing the SimCity series. Although I there is no the problem with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
However, I (sharing the thoughts of probably thousands upon thousands of SimCity fans around the world) would like to ask you a question.
Where have you gone?
A SimCity Mayor who has just stumbled onto the game (or the Simcity.com website for that matter) would be appalled by the lack of noticeable updates to the site. Or anyone who was looking to get into the game would be put off by what appears to be an abandonment by the team that developed the game. SimCity 4 came out January 14th, 2003. The Rush Hour Expansion Pack came out September 23rd, 2003. The BAT came out in February of 2004. The last News Update to the site was December 14th, 2004, a final piece about the SimCity Franchise. Less than 15 months after the last Expansion Pack and the SimCity Webteam has decided to pack it up and go home. What would make anyone believe this franchise is nothing but dead in the water?
There does seem to be some (if minimal) activity on the BBS and in the download section for user created content, however, it was found out most of the more recent additions were pirated from another SimCity fansite, Simtropolis.com. While it created a furor over at Simtropolis.com, some members were under the impression they could do nothing about it. Said one member, Equinox, on 7/20/2005 at 9:58:22 EDT:
"The rail-to-subway transition was pirated at least 6 months ago, so this isn't a first ... I reported it five times, and nothing happened ... I gave up after a while."
Many other veteran members echoed his sentiment as it was found one other member, active on both Simtropolis.com and Simcity.com had pirated 19 different lots. Only after (apparent) back door discussions was another member able to get the 19 different lots off, but not the rail-to-subway lot Equinox is talking about. It is still showcased on the community spotlight. This is probably the main reason why many members have moved from the official site to Simtropolis.com or other major sites around the web. They see more promise at the other sites than what the official website, or Maxis, can offer.
The user created custom content created on these sites could replace all Maxis content not hard-coded to the .exe. In fact, community members are trying. On Simtropolis.com there is a project to replace all there is to replace in the game and replicate a future city on Mars. Named 'SimMars,' a dedicated portion of the Simtropolis community has given time and effort to come up with a 'Beta' form, and hopes to be able to release a full version for the SimCity community.
The amount of community involvement at Simtropolis.com is exponentially greater than the apparent Maxis involvement at their own creation. Members can now change the way their city behaves; from making it an American rural community complete with new 3D farm fields, to having an old, wall to wall, European feel, to a much, much taller glass and steel megalopolis than realized at the release of SimCity 4 or Rush Hour..
I remember, back when the BAT was scheduled for release, Maxis members would drop by some of the websites and leave a few notes about what was happening with the BAT, add some encouragement to those who were befuddled by the program and offer tutorials. Or, they would hold web chats at the official website and multiple employees would come together to help the community. While those were nice because it showed Maxis cared about it's community, I understand they don't have the resources to do that every week.
However, for the act of restoring confidence in it's fans about the SimCity series, would the real Maxis please stand up? Public confidence in the Maxis, EA Games and the SimCity series is waning. The community is worried there won't be a SimCity 5, or if there is, it will be a 'dumbed down' version suited better to the masses than those that enjoy the simulation genre. Only scant reports from a website in France have made mention of work on SimCity 5, however those rumors were somewhat denied by Maxis and EA Games as speculation, not hard fact.
In the meantime, though, Maxis and EA Games have been able to release The Sims 2, work on (at least) two expansion packs for The Sims 2 and have a new game, Spore, in enough development to be shown at the 2005 Games Developer's Conference. Now Spore does not seem to be anywhere near release stage, but at least there is some news about it. There is no such news, however, about the next SimCity installment; whether it be an Expansion Pack or SimCity 5. No screen shot, no web chat, no News Update saying ‘we are hard at work on Spore, but we will start on SimCity 5 as soon as it’s released.’ While it might not be what we are looking for, it would at least be a start.
In the mean time, we are looking at a competitor, Monte Cristo Games, showing multiple screenshots of a new version on the City Simulator: City Life. While it does lack the certain 'polish' SimCity has acquired over the years, it does offer city building without grids and in a 3D world. Many in the SimCity community have expressed their interest in buying this game because they have not heard anything from Maxis about the future of SimCity.
With this letter I am not pushing for a quick release of the next evolution of SimCity, instead I am only looking for a response from Maxis, nothing more. Judging the trends at which each game is released (SimCity in 1989, SimCity 2000 in 1992, SimCity 3000 in 1999, Unlimited a year later, and finally SimCity 4 in 2003 with Rush Hour later that same year) it would be safe to say the next SimCity would not be ready for at least 18 months, if not over two years from now. But that would be more than enough time to get some news out to the community about SimCity 5 or another add-on/Expansion Pack. While gobs of information would be great, any information about developments would be appreciated. If nothing else than to show the community you have not left them behind.
Another possible (although highly improbable) move would be to release certain code for the SimCity community to work with to fix certain items that have shown up in research, but were not fully included for certain reasons. This would include, but not be limited to, the extra God Mode Tools like the Rain Tool, creating and editing in game prop animations, an effects editor, a properties list to identify currently unknown properties found with user created directories (I.e. the Reader and DatGen by Ilive and Darkmatter, respectively) and extra Network Tools.
While the community has the ability to mess with a few of the items mentioned, we do not know their fullest potential. Perhaps with Maxis guidance the community could add those elements to the game. That way, with minimal involvement from the Maxis team the community could prolong the life of SimCity 4: Rush Hour for years to come, giving Maxis time to create a SimCity 5 that is debugged and thoroughly tested.
While this open letter would be considered a huge success if any of the code were released for the modders to get their hands on, any acknowledgement by Maxis on development (or lack thereof) of SimCity 5 would be considered successful. Please, Maxis, for the community that has come to love and worship SimCity, let yourself be heard again, show yourself to your fans and let us know what we can expect from you.
Sincerely,
Brian Timchula
I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincerest thanks for the hours upon hours I have spent playing the SimCity series. Although I there is no the problem with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
However, I (sharing the thoughts of probably thousands upon thousands of SimCity fans around the world) would like to ask you a question.
Where have you gone?
A SimCity Mayor who has just stumbled onto the game (or the Simcity.com website for that matter) would be appalled by the lack of noticeable updates to the site. Or anyone who was looking to get into the game would be put off by what appears to be an abandonment by the team that developed the game. SimCity 4 came out January 14th, 2003. The Rush Hour Expansion Pack came out September 23rd, 2003. The BAT came out in February of 2004. The last News Update to the site was December 14th, 2004, a final piece about the SimCity Franchise. Less than 15 months after the last Expansion Pack and the SimCity Webteam has decided to pack it up and go home. What would make anyone believe this franchise is nothing but dead in the water?
There does seem to be some (if minimal) activity on the BBS and in the download section for user created content, however, it was found out most of the more recent additions were pirated from another SimCity fansite, Simtropolis.com. While it created a furor over at Simtropolis.com, some members were under the impression they could do nothing about it. Said one member, Equinox, on 7/20/2005 at 9:58:22 EDT:
"The rail-to-subway transition was pirated at least 6 months ago, so this isn't a first ... I reported it five times, and nothing happened ... I gave up after a while."
Many other veteran members echoed his sentiment as it was found one other member, active on both Simtropolis.com and Simcity.com had pirated 19 different lots. Only after (apparent) back door discussions was another member able to get the 19 different lots off, but not the rail-to-subway lot Equinox is talking about. It is still showcased on the community spotlight. This is probably the main reason why many members have moved from the official site to Simtropolis.com or other major sites around the web. They see more promise at the other sites than what the official website, or Maxis, can offer.
The user created custom content created on these sites could replace all Maxis content not hard-coded to the .exe. In fact, community members are trying. On Simtropolis.com there is a project to replace all there is to replace in the game and replicate a future city on Mars. Named 'SimMars,' a dedicated portion of the Simtropolis community has given time and effort to come up with a 'Beta' form, and hopes to be able to release a full version for the SimCity community.
The amount of community involvement at Simtropolis.com is exponentially greater than the apparent Maxis involvement at their own creation. Members can now change the way their city behaves; from making it an American rural community complete with new 3D farm fields, to having an old, wall to wall, European feel, to a much, much taller glass and steel megalopolis than realized at the release of SimCity 4 or Rush Hour..
I remember, back when the BAT was scheduled for release, Maxis members would drop by some of the websites and leave a few notes about what was happening with the BAT, add some encouragement to those who were befuddled by the program and offer tutorials. Or, they would hold web chats at the official website and multiple employees would come together to help the community. While those were nice because it showed Maxis cared about it's community, I understand they don't have the resources to do that every week.
However, for the act of restoring confidence in it's fans about the SimCity series, would the real Maxis please stand up? Public confidence in the Maxis, EA Games and the SimCity series is waning. The community is worried there won't be a SimCity 5, or if there is, it will be a 'dumbed down' version suited better to the masses than those that enjoy the simulation genre. Only scant reports from a website in France have made mention of work on SimCity 5, however those rumors were somewhat denied by Maxis and EA Games as speculation, not hard fact.
In the meantime, though, Maxis and EA Games have been able to release The Sims 2, work on (at least) two expansion packs for The Sims 2 and have a new game, Spore, in enough development to be shown at the 2005 Games Developer's Conference. Now Spore does not seem to be anywhere near release stage, but at least there is some news about it. There is no such news, however, about the next SimCity installment; whether it be an Expansion Pack or SimCity 5. No screen shot, no web chat, no News Update saying ‘we are hard at work on Spore, but we will start on SimCity 5 as soon as it’s released.’ While it might not be what we are looking for, it would at least be a start.
In the mean time, we are looking at a competitor, Monte Cristo Games, showing multiple screenshots of a new version on the City Simulator: City Life. While it does lack the certain 'polish' SimCity has acquired over the years, it does offer city building without grids and in a 3D world. Many in the SimCity community have expressed their interest in buying this game because they have not heard anything from Maxis about the future of SimCity.
With this letter I am not pushing for a quick release of the next evolution of SimCity, instead I am only looking for a response from Maxis, nothing more. Judging the trends at which each game is released (SimCity in 1989, SimCity 2000 in 1992, SimCity 3000 in 1999, Unlimited a year later, and finally SimCity 4 in 2003 with Rush Hour later that same year) it would be safe to say the next SimCity would not be ready for at least 18 months, if not over two years from now. But that would be more than enough time to get some news out to the community about SimCity 5 or another add-on/Expansion Pack. While gobs of information would be great, any information about developments would be appreciated. If nothing else than to show the community you have not left them behind.
Another possible (although highly improbable) move would be to release certain code for the SimCity community to work with to fix certain items that have shown up in research, but were not fully included for certain reasons. This would include, but not be limited to, the extra God Mode Tools like the Rain Tool, creating and editing in game prop animations, an effects editor, a properties list to identify currently unknown properties found with user created directories (I.e. the Reader and DatGen by Ilive and Darkmatter, respectively) and extra Network Tools.
While the community has the ability to mess with a few of the items mentioned, we do not know their fullest potential. Perhaps with Maxis guidance the community could add those elements to the game. That way, with minimal involvement from the Maxis team the community could prolong the life of SimCity 4: Rush Hour for years to come, giving Maxis time to create a SimCity 5 that is debugged and thoroughly tested.
While this open letter would be considered a huge success if any of the code were released for the modders to get their hands on, any acknowledgement by Maxis on development (or lack thereof) of SimCity 5 would be considered successful. Please, Maxis, for the community that has come to love and worship SimCity, let yourself be heard again, show yourself to your fans and let us know what we can expect from you.
Sincerely,
Brian Timchula
posted by Timchula at 18:00
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