May 20, 2007

Cities XL looks to bring something different to the city simulation genre
By Michael Lafferty

“The great thing about Cities XL is that you’ll always experience something new”

The whole notion of building a city has been a fixture in the video-game world for a long time. Back in 1989 Will Wright introduced the world to the first SimCity game and it really caught on fire. Since then, other companies have delved into the genre, some successfully, and others less than successful.

Publisher Monte Cristo is looking to strike gold and strike a chord with gamers with Cities XL, a PC simulation that will let gamers create their own Cities and then take them online to persistent planets. According to the press release:

“The game's online features and services will allow players to create interconnected Cities on virtual and persistent planets. Mayors can share and trade with one another, specialize their economy and team up with befriended Cities to create sprawling metropolises. Life on the planet will be punctuated by events and competitions - a concert held in one town may, for example, be attended by visitors from other areas who can also enjoy a walk around the city to admire the urban creations of multiple players. By combining a fantastic single-player game with the social and multiplayer aspects of an MMO, Cities XL will shape the future of the genre by offering more variety, bigger Cities and multiple gameplay layers.”

Well, with a buildup like that, GameZone was looking to find out more about the title. Patrick Marchal, the Project Director, answered some questions about the upcoming title.

Question: Without detailing specifics from other games, what do you think has been lacking in the realm of city-building games that Cities XL addresses and brings into play?

Patrick: Since the first Sim City game, the genre has been progressing slowly. Games tended to become more and more complex but still contained the same design limitations, and once you have cracked the simulation you lost interest in the game.

We think modern players are looking for the next advance in the genre; they want a game which stays open, one that will grow over time and keep them curious, challenged and interested. What we are imagining with Cities XL are Cities that can become more and more complex, diversified, and specialized. Cities that are linked in a world and an economy which make trading worthwhile, and transport infrastructure paramount. If, on top of all that, we can create good social interaction between cool players we will be delighted.

Q: What do you consider paramount when creating a city-building simulation? How does your Cities XL realize that?

Patrick: First of all, simulation must serve the game! Our main challenge in terms of simulation is to find the right balance of player versus simulation power; if the simulation is so powerful that the impact of player’s action is unclear, then you alienate the majority of your audience. If your simulation is too simplistic, then you fail to provide fun in the long term.

Secondly, the tool box principle which is key in our conception of city building: the more tools there are and the simpler they are to use, the more fun players will have. That’s why we put also a lot of time and effort into conceiving and refining these tools for players.

Q: Your game borrows from several different architectural styles. What determined what would work and how you would meld all the styles together?

Patrick: In the beginning of the game there will be various architectural influences (European, American, Asiatic) which correspond to the expectations of our target audience. In the long term, we will keep on producing content, and after a few years, we hope to have vastly multiplied the variety of buildings and architectural styles.

We have a really innovative interface that will allow users to tag buildings and assign one or more tags to zones in their Cities. By so doing, they choose the level of control of what is “growing.” We call this tool the Mass Placement Tool and we have a developer’s blog entry about it in our website if you want to know more about it.

Q: Why do you think is the attraction of games like this?

Patrick: City builder games are part of a wider genre where you place players in a powerful position such as a mayor, a nation leader or even sometimes as a god. Such games are attractive because they give players the power to express what they have in mind and receive immediate feedback on their creation – if you plan residences near a highway or an airport, you’ll see people complain and then leave; and if you settled everything right, you will see your city growing. Moreover you can also zoom down right into the heart of the city, so that you can just sit back and see how your citizens live their day-to-day lives in your city.

The other reason is that games like Cities XL are easy to understand: everyone knows what a city is and how it basically works: every citizen needs a job, a health care system, shopping facilities, police and fire security, etc…

Q: What is your favorite aspect of Cities XL and what do you think will draw players back to it time and again?

Patrick: The great thing about Cities XL is that you’ll always experience something new. Cities XL is a game without a specific ending. Constant improvement, integration of new resources, and new features will refresh and improve the experience over the years.  The persistence, trading possibilities and social interactions offered by the Planet Offer mode will also make a huge impact on what players will be able to achieve.

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