SimCity to support 'play anywhere' online design

Multiplayer is just one aspect of SimCity's online functionality. The game is being "built from the groud up to support online," Maxis' Andrew Willmott said at a GDC panel.

10

2013's new SimCity will be the first in the franchise to support online multiplayer. As we described from EA's announcement event: "Decisions you make in your city will affect other players' cities--especially as the virtual world will have to deal with the repercussions of limited natural resources."

Multiplayer is just one aspect of SimCity's online functionality. The game is being "built from the groud up to support online," Maxis' Andrew Willmott said at a GDC panel.

One of the goals of SimCity is to make it a game you can "play anywhere." In order to do that, it relies on cloud storage. Because the game save is in the cloud, players will have a continuous save file that they can access from multiple devices--such as (but not limited to) an internet browser. Games like SimCity are "data-driven," meaning it will only require "small upload bandwidth" to have a continuous gaming experience.

And while online is a key feature for SimCity, Maxis has implemented an asynchronous server model, so that there's "no reliance on a dedicated live server" in order to continue playing the game. That's a philosophy that Ubisoft would best learn from.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 13, 2012 12:30 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, SimCity to support 'play anywhere' online design.

    Multiplayer is just one aspect of SimCity's online functionality. The game is being "built from the group up to support online," Maxis' Andrew Willmott said at a GDC panel.

    • reply
      March 13, 2012 12:44 PM

      "built from the group(ground?) up to support online,"

    • reply
      March 13, 2012 12:50 PM

      The ability to play from a browser sounds interesting. Hopefully it will be executed better than Ubisoft's model.

      • reply
        March 13, 2012 2:43 PM

        yah play from a browser could be cool, I'd get no work done at work though. lol

        • reply
          March 13, 2012 3:36 PM

          I made the mistake one day of starting a remote game of DCSS from work at lunch. I kept logging into it, making a few moves, then getting mad at myself and logging back out all day. Can't be doing that again.

    • reply
      March 13, 2012 2:51 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      March 13, 2012 4:16 PM

      So what happens to the city next to me when I decide to power a metropolis with dozens of coal powerplants on my borders? Will the pollution screw over their cities and the air/water quality? :D

      Speaking of which, can I export ultra polluted water to neighboring cities?

      • reply
        March 13, 2012 8:58 PM

        Yeah I expect there to be a fair bit of griefing in SimCity 5. I do hope there's some sort of mode where you're not forced into multiplayer unless you want to.

        • reply
          March 13, 2012 9:09 PM

          Did this kind of thing happen with CitiesXL?

          In SimCity4 pollution didn't cross the city's boundaries.

          • reply
            March 13, 2012 9:41 PM

            Right, but in Sim City 4, there was no online portion. SimCity 5 will have online functionality. So it is entirely possible that we could see some bad griefing from players. It's too bad that EA probably won't do a thing about it.

      • reply
        March 13, 2012 9:14 PM

        cap 'n' trade!

    • reply
      March 13, 2012 6:26 PM

      not gonna be steam cloud?

      • reply
        March 13, 2012 9:41 PM

        Something tells me it's going to be another one of those "Origin Exclusive" POS.

    • reply
      March 13, 2012 9:33 PM

      they totally called this on weekend confirmed

Hello, Meet Lola