MMORPG.com Community Manager Richard Cox recently visited the Monte Cristo studios where they are developing CitiesXL, the city bulding MMORPG. Today, he files his report.

For a long time now I've been a huge advocate for any type of game other than RPGs to break into the MMO genre. We have the room for them, because well, there really are none. We've had a few MMOFPS attempts over the years. There have been a couple that didn't easily fall into any one category. The best example we have of someone being successful in the MMO genre as something other than an RPG was Planetside. It's time for something new! That's where Cities XL comes into play. Oh, I know what you're saying right this very second... "But that's just a city building sim game, it's not an MMO!!!" But oh how you're wrong! I had my doubts initially as well, but recently the great folks over at Monte Cristo had me swing by their offices to get my hands on the game and talk about it a little more in depth.

Read the Studio Visit Game Overview

Looking forward to this game but please for the love of <insert deity> someone send round the health and safety inspector! Cramped conditions, loose cabling, monitors facing windows, poor artifical lighting and that's just the photo on page 1. Poor bar stools! I bet that gets stinking hot in the summer too even with the AC.

But then the day I actually see a game dev looking after it's staff will be the day I play world of warcraft. (again). The following exceptions apply; blitz and any self funded indy devs. ;)

*Random rant for the day. I feel complete.

Sounds good.  I've been interested in this since first hearing about it, and the price sure seems right.  Seems safe to say that I'm sold on it at this point.

I think that it's great that someone is doing something different. No combat. No missions. No PvP. Just trading and building. I may give it a look!

A MMO city builder, I've been dreaming about that since Sim City 2000.

I can't wait to try it.

 Do those pictures represent their work environment?  Wow.

   You think thats bad? I work in a refurbished horse barn  Not to mention there in france! Sheesh all they have to do is travel a few seconds and they at a park. I've been waiting for this game for quite some time. I already have a league of farmers put together. :D

Having a view of the sky from your desk really helps, even if it is in a configuration like this. Me, I have a few other cavemen in my "office". The lights are always dim, and our one window looks out into a corridor. No wonder everyone thinks us cg artists are insane...

Speaking of insane, I really love the idea of this game. We may well be suprised at how well this pricepoint might do. I wonder how close to the real world economy this might look, given some time. I guess we will just have to build our cities and find out!

I've been dreaming of a game like this since sim city for the nes. I've always wanted to be able to roam around a world and just check out other peoples city, or set up a harbor town and become the chief exporter of all things "fish". The possibilities are endless.

I like their GEM (module) approach. It is basically the release of several minigames over time. I've always been a fan of the sim city series as well as the tycoon series so this, for me, is like the best of both worlds, and for $5 a month (i hope) it is a welcome change and a nice addition to my gaming library. I hope the graphics deliver (so tired of staring at my sim city 3000 gfx and sim city socities was just a disappointment).

2009/2010 will definitely  be an exciting year for the dying MMO genre altogether. Please oh please do not release another MMO before it is ready, it does more harm then good.

I hadn't heard of this game before. I love city builder games. I grew up playing all of the ones from Impressions and then Tilted Mill. This sounds like a cool idea. Signed up for the beta and will hopefully be able to give it a go.

I've always wondered, is the president or CEO of the development company called "The Count?"

Originally posted by Xondar123

I've always wondered, is the president or CEO of the development company called "The Count?"

*groan*

(why do we not have a /facepalm emote available?)

 I have had City Life: World Edition for some time and enjoyed it.  I didnt realize it was the same company.  After reading this article I tried to reinstall the game but they didnt make a patch for Vista 64 ... so now I am downloading City Life 2008 through Steam.

If Cities XL is as good as the City Life series then I will definitely give this game a try.

Thanks all. Glad you liked the article. I had a blast getting my hands on the game, definitely still some work to be done on it, but even in its current state it was fun. Really nice to see something new breaking into the MMO genre. If anyone has any questions about anything specific, I'll see what I can do about answering it, but no promises. :)

Sounds really nice with something a bit diffrent .

My wife is very excited about this game.  She doesn't play mmo's but she loves the city builder type games.

game idea looks great!

They need a better work environment. Reminded me of a gold farm warehouse lol

Originally posted by Enigma

game idea looks great!

They need a better work environment. Reminded me of a gold farm warehouse lol

Well, they're in the middle of Paris... I'd say there are definitely some upsides of their work environment as well. :)

 Add armies!!  Rawr!  In all honesty though, I think they should implement some sort of competition system, I know that the site features one city every however often, but it seems like every MMO but this is really trying to make me be the best at something....GW makes me try to be best at GvG, WoW tries to make me best at dungeon raiding and gear, EVE tries to make me be the in the most profitable situation I can be in, but there are forms of competition and being the best at things such as combat in that as well.  This game seems to lack that....everybody is just hunky dory in their cities with no real conflict.

Add some conflict, maybe the ability to band with other cities to form countries, and also add some violence.  Honestly, cities are made in the first place so that we don't have to be ganged up on by wildlife when we go hunting for berries.  Also, cities are the reason we have armies, to protect our interests in the cities from others.  This game seems to really miss out without some sort of combat, even if it isn't player controlled, but just the playerr has to buy the army's mats with currency or tokens.  Then the most prosperous cities would eventually take over, but since you can't stockpile resources, then new cities that would band up could eventually fight back and get bonuses from the GEMs.  All in all, this seems like such a great MMO.  If the game were anything like what I described, the I would DEFINITELY pay $15 a month to play.

Originally posted by lethys

 Add armies!!  Rawr!  In all honesty though, I think they should implement some sort of competition system, I know that the site features one city every however often, but it seems like every MMO but this is really trying to make me be the best at something....GW makes me try to be best at GvG, WoW tries to make me best at dungeon raiding and gear, EVE tries to make me be the in the most profitable situation I can be in, but there are forms of competition and being the best at things such as combat in that as well.  This game seems to lack that....everybody is just hunky dory in their cities with no real conflict.

 

Add some conflict, maybe the ability to band with other cities to form countries, and also add some violence.  Honestly, cities are made in the first place so that we don't have to be ganged up on by wildlife when we go hunting for berries.  Also, cities are the reason we have armies, to protect our interests in the cities from others.  This game seems to really miss out without some sort of combat, even if it isn't player controlled, but just the playerr has to buy the army's mats with currency or tokens.  Then the most prosperous cities would eventually take over, but since you can't stockpile resources, then new cities that would band up could eventually fight back and get bonuses from the GEMs.  All in all, this seems like such a great MMO.  If the game were anything like what I described, the I would DEFINITELY pay $15 a month to play.

Well for starters, it isn't going to be $15 a month, more along the lines of $15 for 3 months. They're really looking at this as more of a secondary MMO. The type of game you play in addition to whatever you "normally" play, be it WoW, EVE or whatever.

Also, there are some other aspects of competition as well. Not only will there be the occasional featured city, but there will also be "live" contests. Something along the lines of whichever city gains the most population change, or money gain, etc over the next X days will win a rare blueprint.

And they also hinted at other forms of conflict/competition but wouldn't let me in on the details, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Originally posted by lethys

 Add armies!!  Rawr!  In all honesty though, I think they should implement some sort of competition system, I know that the site features one city every however often, but it seems like every MMO but this is really trying to make me be the best at something....GW makes me try to be best at GvG, WoW tries to make me best at dungeon raiding and gear, EVE tries to make me be the in the most profitable situation I can be in, but there are forms of competition and being the best at things such as combat in that as well.  This game seems to lack that....everybody is just hunky dory in their cities with no real conflict.

 

Add some conflict, maybe the ability to band with other cities to form countries, and also add some violence.  Honestly, cities are made in the first place so that we don't have to be ganged up on by wildlife when we go hunting for berries.  Also, cities are the reason we have armies, to protect our interests in the cities from others.  This game seems to really miss out without some sort of combat, even if it isn't player controlled, but just the playerr has to buy the army's mats with currency or tokens.  Then the most prosperous cities would eventually take over, but since you can't stockpile resources, then new cities that would band up could eventually fight back and get bonuses from the GEMs.  All in all, this seems like such a great MMO.  If the game were anything like what I described, the I would DEFINITELY pay $15 a month to play.

First, not everything needs conflict, carnage, and competition to make it interesting.  One of the less endearing aspect of MMO-gaming = bumping into competition-crazed individuals who are so cutt-throat it takes the fun out of the game...  I think a game that emphasizes creativity and player-driven cooperative achievement would be a REFRESHING change of pace from the endless rat race scurrying so prized by the sheeple....

Also, I'm not sure where you draw your conclusions about the formation of cities, but I imagine most anthropologists would beg to differ with your points.  Warfare and brutal competition between societies almost always DESTROYED settlement and the stable trading relationships necessary for trade centers to flourish.  Cities are specialized centers where division of labor and COOPERATIVE exchange can benefit the whole.  Of course, some of that labor and the resources benefitted by the higher efficiency of a city allows for it to raise and maintain and army/militia, but that isn't the sole reason cities were formed.  Mutual defense and, yes... even aggression, were the aim of many cultures/cities.  But, by and large, cities represent a grouping of individuals who are INTERdependent on each other, versus the independence that warfare and chaos breeds.

While war and competition would provide an interesting dynamic, I don't think you *have* to link both with city building.  People can create just because...  Artists paint or compose music because they want to... yes, some do it to "be the best" or "the most famous" or whatever... but, some of us just want to splash paint on the canvas, have a neighboring artist trade one of our rare colors for one of theirs... no juvenile pissing contests about it...

Originally posted by MustaphaMond

Originally posted by lethys

Also, I'm not sure where you draw your conclusions about the formation of cities, but I imagine most anthropologists would beg to differ with your points.  Warfare and brutal competition between societies almost always DESTROYED settlement and the stable trading relationships necessary for trade centers to flourish.  Cities are specialized centers where division of labor and COOPERATIVE exchange can benefit the whole.  Of course, some of that labor and the resources benefitted by the higher efficiency of a city allows for it to raise and maintain and army/militia, but that isn't the sole reason cities were formed.  Mutual defense and, yes... even aggression, were the aim of many cultures/cities.  But, by and large, cities represent a grouping of individuals who are INTERdependent on each other, versus the independence that warfare and chaos breeds.

I was about to say the same, but you did it so much better

Right, and I wasn't talking about PvP types of "conflict" above either. I know you were referring to him and not me, just wanted to make sure my own post was clear. :)

Well written article.

Not to sound trollish, but I don't get the MMO part of this game.   It seems to me like it's a single-player game with it's online aspects being the ability to trade with others, the ability to "visit" other players' cities, and a leaderboard of some sort.   Obviously there's no combat, so it's like.... competitive modding?

I could see it being fun from a creative standpoint, but I really don't understand the MMO part.   I'm guessing there's no 'teaming' of any kind, which is certainly odd for an MMO.

Originally posted by SwampRob

Well written article.

Not to sound trollish, but I don't get the MMO part of this game.   It seems to me like it's a single-player game with it's online aspects being the ability to trade with others, the ability to "visit" other players' cities, and a leaderboard of some sort.   Obviously there's no combat, so it's like.... competitive modding?

I could see it being fun from a creative standpoint, but I really don't understand the MMO part.   I'm guessing there's no 'teaming' of any kind, which is certainly odd for an MMO.

 

Nope, you don't sound trollish at all, a perfectly common mindset. And in my opinion, that's the mindset that is hampering the MMO genre. We've become so accustomed to the "traditional" type of MMO that most companies aren't willing to try something new, and most players overlook/disregard anyone who does as not really an MMO. It's definitely something we have to get past for this genre to truly grow IMO.

This wouldn't be the first MMO without combat. As for teaming, that's what the trading aspect of the game is at it's core. You have to work with other cities around you to do certain things. Sure, it's definitely more of a cooperative rather than competitive MMO. But at it's core, is it really any different than a "traditional" MMO that doesn't have PvP? You have things you need to do in Cities to progress, like building more office type businesses for your executives to work at. As opposed to questing in a regular MMO. You seek help from other people in Cities to provide the resources you need to progress your city... As opposed to seeking help from other adventurers in a regular MMO to help you complete a quest arc to progress your character.