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CitiesXL Previews: Studio Visit Game Preview
MMORPG.com Community Manager Richard Cox recently visited the Monte Cristo studios where they are developing CitiesXL, the city building MMORPG. Today, he files his report.
By Richard Cox on May 01, 2009
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.
First, a little background for those of you unfamiliar with the title. Monte Cristo has actually been in the simulation genre for quite a while, since 1995, so this is definitely not new territory. Their most recent title, City Life, was a very well reviewed and quite fun city builder. When I first heard about Cities XL (called Cities Unlimited back then) I was already excited about the title without even knowing there would be any online component. When I learned it would have an MMO aspect, that just greatly increased my excitement. Since I know a lot of you are still sitting out there thinking it's not really an MMO, I'll start off with that and then move on to the other information I gleaned while in their offices.
;)
So how is Cities XL an MMO? First of all, there will be several different options in how to play the game when it is released. When you buy the box and take it home, the "free trial" will basically be a fully functioning single-player city building game. There will be no time limit set on it, no "30 days and then you must subscribe to keep playing", you can play the single player part of the game forever if you want and never pay another dime. The second option is the online, subscription aspect of the game. For the low price of around $15 per three months (subject to change, but they're aiming at giving you three months for the same price most MMOs give you one month), you will be able to hop online and play with thousands of other city builders around the world. When first starting your online play, you will be presented with an Earth-like globe with ~10,000 city slots on it. With each player getting five "character" (read: city) slots, that means you'll be playing with somewhere between 2,000 and 10,000 different people per server (planet). You are completely free to build all five of your cities on one planet, or on five different planets. While playing online, you'll have almost all the same amenities you'd have on any other MMO. There are planet wide chat channels, the ability to trade with others (which I'll get into more later) and even the ability to take your customized avatar and wander the streets of any other city on the planet.
The third option of game play will be what Monte Cristo is calling the GEMs system. Every so often (the first will actually be ready at release), they will release a GEM (Gameplay Extension Module) which is aimed at, well, further extending the game play. The GEMs will be things like Ski Resorts (available at launch), Airports, Amusement Parks, etc. Purchasing a GEM and adding it to your city adds a whole new level of game play. Basically you go from city building sim to a more Tycoon style game, think Zoo Tycoon, etc. Say for example you buy the Ski Resort GEM at launch and add it to your city (which you'll naturally need to be in a mountainous part of the world to do) you can then, with an easy click of the mouse, go from being the Mayor of your whole city, to the owner of the ski resort. You'll be able to do everything you could do in a stand-alone "Ski Resort Tycoon" type of game; construct new ski trails/paths, build/add lifts, restaurants, cabins, set all the prices, etc. And everything you do will naturally affect how well your ski resort does, and how well it does will have an effect on your city. Having a highly successful ski resort will bring in lots of tourism, which will naturally affect business in the city in a positive way, etc.
;)
Monte Cristo will also be doing a lot of other MMO-esque things with Cities XL. You'll have an in-game friends list, and will even automatically have their Community Managers listed as friends when you start playing. The Community team at Monte Cristo will also be doing quite a few in game events and contests. One of the examples they gave me was that they could randomly announce that the city who has the largest population increase within a given time period will receive a rare mega-structure blueprint. The mega-structure blueprints will allow you to build real world famous landmarks, such as the Statue of Liberty, Sears Tower, etc. The CMs will also be wandering around the planets looking for interesting cities/players to feature on the website. They've actually already run a couple real life contests, one of which had participants taking pictures of their own, real life homes, and the winner had her house modeled and included in the game. In another contest, participants sent in photos of their city's Town Hall, several of which were modeled and included. I got to see the finished product of Baltimore's City Hall, one of the entries, in-game and it's very nice.
Speaking of the website, I have to say it's probably the thing that impressed me most about the game, by far. Every player will have their own profile on the Cities XL website which will list all of their cities and their achievements, etc. Think of it as a similar setup to WoW's character profile pages or such; you'll be able to see the player's avatar, all of their cities and how they rank worldwide, which achievements they've attained, what mega-structures they've built (or own the blueprints for and haven't built), etc. Also, there will be a "newspaper" looking section of the page where the player can blog about their city and post news, etc. but the best part of the website is that you'll be able to interact with the game directly. Just about the only thing you can't do from the website is build/expand your city. All of the trading options available in game will be available through the website though, as well as status updates on your friends (and anyone else you've set it up to give you updates on, like that next city over who is trying to cut into your oil production.)
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?"
*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
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
Very clear, though I can't say as much for my own rambling mess of a post (thanks for the sympathy, broeman... haha).
Still, this is a promising concept. I've read others express concerns that MC isn't really all about the hardcore aspects of city building, but I'm willing to take a long look at this before passing any judgments.
Thank you for your article (and it is good to see many posters have interest in a game like this). First game in awhile to make me hope I actually get chosen to beta test it... ^_^
Im interestred in this game, since you are building cities/countries are you able to wage war or are there any forms of politics, pve conflicts that require city leaders to work together?
They hinted at other forms of conpetition/conflict but wouldn't give details. I'm working on getting their CM set up over here with an official account to answer the occasional question for you guys. :)
This game peaked my interests a while back. Frankly, it seems like it could be a much needed breathe of fresh air for the genre.
It'll also be interesting to see how they scale the game as it evolves. I would like to see some form of player driven evolution of technology, potentially leading to space areas, where players can create space based colonies. Also, it would be nice to have some form of warfare in the game that allowed for conventional warfare to take place, alliances to form and politics to become common place.
Hopefully, this game will be as intricate as Eve in this regard, once it has evolved fully.