GT: We’ve heard that players will be able to actively try to
stop or contain disasters as they are happening. Please tell us a little about
this.
KH: There are two types of disasters: naturally occurring,
and God induced. Naturally occurring disasters are things like pipe-bursts,
fires, riots, and power plant explosions. Those are all in the user’s control to
either avert before they happen, or repair once they have happened (well, except
for the nuclear power plant explosions…once those happen, there’s little you can
do…but it is a gorgeous thing to see). God-like disasters are completely in the
users control to initiate, and many of them allow for some level of control once
they are unleashed. It’s good sick and twisted fun.
GT: How many different buildings are available in the game? And
will the game allow you to import new buildings and structures?
KH: There are over 600 buildings in SimCity 4, all of which
are new. In addition to that, the SimCity 4 architecture has been designed to
make it as extensible as possible. That includes buildings as well as many other
aspects of the game.
GT: How many different eras/themed building sets will there be
in the game?
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Every downtown could use a landmark. |
KH: There are three eras of architecture in the game: 1890,
1940, and 2000. As your city develops it switches from one style to the next.
This can give neighborhoods a consistent flavor and set areas of your city
apart. So on the west side of your city you could have your old neighborhood
with Victorian and Richardsonian style homes, while a newer neighborhood on the
east side might have more of an art deco feel.
GT: Is it true that you can import your Sim from The Sims into
the game? Can you import a whole family? What will Sims do once they are moved
into a simcity?
KH: Yes, you can, in fact, import your Sims into SimCity.
Once they are in the city they are affected by the way you’ve designed your
city. So if you move them into a location with low education, they’ll become
stupid. If you have poor hospital coverage where they live, then their health
will deteriorate. And if you drop a meteor on their house, you can kill them.
GT: Will the game provide players with more of an opportunity to
micromanage their cities? What are some of the things that can now be controlled
by players?
KH: One area of them game that you can choose to micromanage
(or not) is in funding. Many of the buildings allow you to locally set their
funding. So if you have a school and a dense neighborhood, you can increase that
school’s funding (and just that school’s funding) by querying it and moving some
sliders. Dispatching is now also a more integral part of them game. If you see
crimes occurring you can send your police into that area to bust the criminals
in the act.
GT: Any plans to add multiplayer support? If so, will the game
be competitive or cooperative?
KH: We have a feature called SimCityscape that will allow
people to cooperatively play with one or more cities. There are still many
elements of this feature that are in discussion, so there’s not much that I can
reveal. But it will be cool!
GT: Is there anything else that you’d like to tell us about?
Cool features, game secrets, gameplay tips…?
KH: I could go on forever, but I’ll try to keep it brief. The
most obvious improvement to the game is in its visuals, which are evident in the
screenshots. But more importantly, the game is a hoot. The core simulator has
been redesigned and re-engineered from the ground up to provide more responsive
feedback to player interactions, the addition of the region game with shared
demand and neighbor deals is way more fun than any of us expected, throwing your
sims in the game and hearing them complain about the high crime near there home
personalizes the game in completely new ways, and crafting terrain is more fun
than it has any right to be. I hope people have as much fun with SimCity 4 as we
had in creating it.
GT: Thank you for your time! It is most appreciated.
KH: My pleasure.
« Daylight and disasters
