Guillaume Pierre invited people on Twitter to join his Cities of Tomorrow region. 5 people (including us) were lucky enough to enter this region.  😀

Here’s a list of who was playing in this Region:

Guillaume Pierre –  Lead Gameplay Scripter and Designer on SimCity.

Karol from DOTsim

Djerano from BeyondSims

Edward (Gawbad)

Other 2 people sadly weren’t online at the time when Guillaume joined.

Here’s what our Region looked like on Day 1:

My city looked like a total mess in the beginning + we already managed to pollute our Region.  :struggle:

Let’s take a look at Guillaume’s City:

He already managed to build OmegaCo factories and his city is slowly starting to futurize. What I really liked about visiting his region is the new Cities of Tomorrow music!

It’s time to go back to our City!

My City was going broke, so I had to pass a Bond measure. 250k will be enough to get my City on it’s feet.

The approval rating in my City was slowly but surely rising.

I plopped a Fire Station, Police Station and an Ambulance.

Guillaume needed some help from us since robbers got their eye on Omega. I sent him 2 police vechiles.

Sadly, those robbers came to my City so I had to plop more police cars and expand the Jail.

Time to find out what’s Guillaume doing in his City:

Time was passing, and my City grew fast. I had enough money to pay out those nasty bonds that gave a huge minus to my profit.

Guillaume advanced in Omega making business, so he was ready to send some of that Omega to us.

Omega helps your factories to raise their productivity and money income.

I built a dock and added a Bus Station to my city. I really wanted to make my City a tourist trap, and I have a perfect plan to make that happen.

Something was not right in my City. More and more Sims were getting sick!  😕

Luckily, Guillaume just finished his research for Wind and Solar amplifiers. I bulldozed my Oil Power Plant and plopped a Solar Power Plant that was upgraded with Cities of Tomorrow Solar amplifiers.

Would you just look at that: Nearby streets houses got a new, futuristic look!

This is what I like about this game: not everyone has to own SimCity Cities of Tomorrow to get an access to some of it’s features.

These amplifiers won’t work without ControlNet energy. I bought some of ControlNet energy from Guillaume, but that wasn’t enough for my factory.

I noticed how futuristic airplanes and blimps start to fly over my city.

My city turned out great! 😀

It’s time to see what Guillaume’s City looks like!

WOW!  😯 Technology in this city advanced so fast and his money income is huge!

He also built futuristic some rail roads over the city.

In just 4 hours, our Region grew rapidly.

We had lots of fun seeing new features of SimCity: Cities of Tomorrow and we hope you’ll enjoy playing this game once it releases next week!  :-))

Pre-Order SimCity: Cities of Tomorrow Expansion Pack HERE!

Watch their latest trailer HERE!

Hello, Mayors.

We’ve seen a lot of old players coming back to the game so I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome you back to the world of SimCity. A lot has changed since the last time you played and I want to take some time to share some of the great things that we’ve been doing, and pass along a few tips to help inspire you to create even better cities.

I’d like to take a moment to reintroduce myself to you. I’m Kip Katsarelis, Executive Producer for SimCity, and I’ve worked at Maxis for more than 11 years. In fact, my first project at the studio was SimCity 4, so it was a lifelong dream of mine to work on this new SimCity. As a developer, one of the best parts of working on a game is seeing what our community does with it after it’s been released. We’ve been blown away with the creativity, enthusiasm and ingenuity of our fans. Take a look at StricToaster’s “Let’s Play” sessions and Yuttho’s Building Tokyo Series and see what they’ve done since our launch and how they’ve used the improvements we’ve made to the game to create some incredible videos.

As you read through this, know that we are fully aware that some of you haven’t played for a while. I’ve taken some time to point out some of the great strides that we’ve made in the eight months since we launched in March and have explained where we are going from here. It’s my hope that after you’ve finished reading through this blog, you’ll jump back in and build a city alongside me.

MAJOR UPGRADES 

Our biggest priority at launch was server stability. We very quickly improved our server architecture to increase performance and stability so you can jump in immediately and play with your friends. With the server issues behind us, we have been committed to upgrading our simulation and providing you with an ever-evolving gameplay experience. We’ve rolled out eight major Updates that address gameplay issues ranging from gifting to traffic fixes and RCI tuning and we’re continuing to work on more. I’m not doing justice to all the Updates we have made, find details about them here. But we did more than make improvements; we also threw in a lot of fun and free stuff we thought you’d enjoy.

When you get back into the game, poke around and check out what’s new and what’s been improved. I challenge you to try the raise and lower road tool. It’s probably my favorite new feature, it changes the landscape and opens up the terrain by allowing you to build land bridges, tunnels and overpasses. I spend hours connecting and intersecting roads just to discover new ways to efficiently move traffic around my city. Here is a sample of the great stuff our community has been creating; what will you do? Share with us on our Facebook page. We want to see it.

It hasn’t all been about new tools. We’ve given you new stuff to play with too. From the Roman Luck Casino, 24 new hotels, and the Houses of Worship to the six new region maps, we’ve been working to enhance your game with every Update, and there’s more great stuff to come. To find out more about some of our future Updates, including our conversations regarding User Generated Content (Modding) and the exploration of Offline Mode, go here.

CITIES OF TOMORROW 

So where do we go next? We are nearing our launch for SimCity Cities of Tomorrow. SimCity is about exploring the challenges that today’s Mayors face such as how I will provide jobs to my Sims, improve my schools, provide public transportation options, clean up crime, and even revitalize different neighborhoods. In SimCity Cities of Tomorrow, players will take on those challenges as well as have an opportunity to tackle tomorrow’s issues using future, plausible technologies. Check out the first Developer Gameplay Walkthrough videohere to see it in action. We have some great blogs that detail out The Academy and OmegaCo. Know this, it’s chock-full of new gameplay. There are MegaTowers that let you build into the sky, new specializations, an awesome new robot disaster and it has really cool new surprises that will get you excited about playing it again. I play it for hours and I still learn something every time I play. And I can’t wait to hear what you think about it.

We are eight Updates in and we’re still continuing to make more. If you want to keep up to date with the latest that’s happening withSimCity we have lots of player-generated information right here. Let us know what types of gameplay tweaks and balances you’d like to see. I go by MaxisKip on the forums and I’ll be answering some of your questions in this thread. I promise you this, I’ll read every one and do my best to respond.

See you in the game.

-Kip

BLOG POST

SimCity released a new DLC set, and the best news is that it’s free! This set allows you to retain your money back after a random disaster happens in your city. You can download this set HERE!

Stop worrying, Mayor!

Insure your city’s buildings with the awesome Progressive office. If your city is hit by a disaster while you’re insured, you will get a percentage back of the cost of any city buildings you’ve lost. Adjust your insurance coverage to fit your play style — will you live dangerously or play it safe? Shoppers in your city will be happy to shop at the Progressive office. Insurance for your city? Now that’s Progressive.

GAME FEATURES:

• Insure City Buildings: No one likes having to re-purchase buildings you have plopped in your city when they’re destroyed by a disaster. With the Progressive office, you can insure your buildings and get some money back if you’re hit by a disaster.

• Choose Your Coverage: By default, your city buildings are covered at 50%, but you can adjust how much coverage you have, from 0% to 90%. Your premium cost will of course adjust with your coverage.

• Sims Shop at Progressive: Your Sims will feel safe and happy after visiting the Progressive Office.

• Missions for Flo: Complete two new missions as Flo helps you insure your city.

SimCity is hosting a new broadcast of their new Expansion Pack – Cities of Tomorrow. Be sure to watch it on 7th of November at 10am PT/1pm ET/17 UTC/18:00 GMT!

Watch us build the Cities of Tomorrow! Tune into our Twitch TV broadcast Thursday November 7 at 10am PT/1pm ET/1700 UTC to see us complete this MegaTower.

The broadcast has ended. You can watch the replay below!  🙂

Via SimCity Facebook Page!

Update 8.0 will be available during the week starting 28th October 2013. We will announce the exact release day and timing next week.

New: 4 New Regions
There are four new regions being released in celebration of the Cities of Tomorrow expansion pack. Two of these regions are desert-themed with saguaro cacti, dry brush, and fewer water resources. The other two use the new tropical themed textures complete with palm trees and long coastlines. For players that want to experience cities with multiple Freeway entrances, both the Verdant Jungle and Desolation regions offer this city layout. These regions are available to all players.”

Serenity Key – 6 city island region
A tropical island region centered around a long dormant volcano. Each of the three islands has two cities on it, so boats will be vital to trading with your neighbors. The city sites were made flat and easy for players to experiment with MegaTowers, OmegaCo, and The Academy.

Rambling Badlands – 14 city desert region
This desert valley region was created to provide opportunities for our competitive players. There are two clusters of seven cities in this region separated by a natural barrier. Each cluster has a great work that the other cluster can see. Race to complete the great work and show off to your neighbors.

Verdant Jungle – 8 city jungle region:
The jungle meets the sea in this eight city region. A cluster of four cities in the mountains looks down on another cluster of four cities along the coastline. The city sites in this region provide more of a challenge for city builders looking to clear back the jungle.

Desolation – 7 city lake region:
Desolation is a desert region recovering from a nuclear disaster. Most cities will take advantage of the natural desert canyon land beauty. Only an expert mayor should take on the challenge at the bottom of the crater in the Fallout Epicenter city site. New buildings from Cities of Tomorrow should help with this challenge.

New: Roman Casino
This Roman themed medium-wealth casino comes with additional expansion options including:

• Baccarat Room – The Roman Luck Casino has a Baccarat Room module that allows you to increase the capacity of your casino.

• Concert Hall – Increase your city’s tourist attraction further with an exciting Concert Hall!

New: Added the option to disable Random Disasters in the Normal game mode.
Note: Random Disasters are ENABLED by default and can be disabled through the in game options. Players disabling random disasters in pre-existing cities may experience one additional disaster after making the change. This is due to the way disasters are queued within the system. New cities created after disabling random disasters and cities that have experienced the additional disaster should no longer experience further incidents.
Great Works: Now synchronize across all cities in the region
Hotels: Now develop only in Commercial zones near Landmarks, Stadiums and casinos.
New: 3D Zoning, RCI can now build under bridges, the RCI buildings will estimate the appropriate height building and develop according to the space allowed.
Medium Wealth Happiness: Medium Wealth happiness varies past a rating of 330 depending on how Sims are feeling about the city
Recycling and Garbage: Trucks now operate 24 hours a day
Recycling Center: Resource storage capacity has been increased.
Emergency Services: Fire Department helicopters will more effectively respond to fires if available
Education: Improvements and balance changes to ensure that buildings won’t go abandoned as fast due to lack of tech or unskilled workers.
RCI Zoning: RCI rollover effects will no longer persist on roads when zones are not placed in that location. The ghosting zone effect is also resolved.
Tourism: Tourist specialized cities will now be more effective when used in conjunction with public transit.
UI: HQ modules’ unlock requirements now display more accurately.
Tutorial: Mini-tutorial about radiation added to help players in the new city; Fallout Epicenter in the new region; Desolation
UI: Updated the legend on the radiation map
UI: Oil under building monthly calculations is now more precise
Audio: Residential buildings will now play the correct audio when selected.
Trinity Point: Trees will no longer be affected by minor graphical issues near the coastline.
Miscellaneous performance improvements

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