The new SimCity will have multiplayer. In a media event held
at Maxis’ studio in Emeryville, California GamesRadar got a chance to see a
demonstration of an early build of the game. With a release date set for some time
in 2013, we got a broad stroke picture of what Maxis has in mind.
It sounds like an interesting system, one that will be both cooperative and or
competitive depending on who you play with and how you play. In multiplayer,
your city will be one of several cities in a region. Although it’s not clear
how many players will be able to build a city in each region, the demo we saw
featured three players.
As the cities grow and develop, players can link
cities in a region together. There are also plans for the option to chat with
neighboring players and make arrangements to share resources, like power in
exchange for water.
Above: Concept art of a region with two cities linked by a bridge
Multiplayer will also include leaderboards, world resources, and a
global market for
trade. The leaderboards will track your performance in all kinds of
areas, keeping
tabs on things like the wealthiest city, the greenest city, or the most
coal produced. Let's say you have a city that specializes in coal
production. As you produce more coal and buy or sell that coal on the
global market, it’ll
have an impact on the value of coal for everyone else.
It all seems designed to steer players toward the collaborative path. Specialize
in one area and you may find that you may need help with another aspect of your
city. Cooperation sounds like the best way for two players specializing in
different areas to maximize their efforts in reaching their goals. But then
again, it’s also quite possible that exact opposite might happen. What if you hate your neighbor? What if some
coal crazy baron below you is mucking up the green and energy efficient utopia
you’re trying to build? What if you decide to destroy the pipes connecting your
cities to deny him the clean water you’ve been providing him? And what if you
just want to forget about wealth and all that sweet, sweet coal - and aim to be number one on the leaderboard
for homeless Sims instead?
With the final launch
date for the new SimCity set for 2013, these are just the first and most
general details on how multiplayer will work. Still, the concept is very
impressive. With the way that the leaderboards and global market are connected
while connecting you with every other player both in and outside of your
region, it sounds like SimCity’s multiplayer will make the city-builder sim more
of a world simulation.
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