So a few days ago, Maxis did a big Q&A on reddit with players.
You can read their replies here: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/qmi0w/iama_maxis_development_team_on_simcity_amaa/
But if you don't want to sort through that to get context for their answers, here's a few highlights:
- "We can support a much richer set of transport options this time around"
-"I think the reaction to SimCity Societies made it pretty clear that something was missing"
-"The integrity of our simulation is first and foremost"
-"We’re making SimCity, not some dopey casual game." (best answer ever right there)
-"single player is definitely still a big focus. And if you want to play all the cities in a region yourself, that's absolutely possible."
-"we're very much aware of and appreciative of our mod community"
-"Look, if we do our job properly, the game will have the integrity that long-time fans require, and still be approachable by newbies."
-"Our goal for this SimCity is to deliver on a robust city simulation game but also make it easy to play and understand. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be “dumbed down”."
-"The underlying simulator definitely supports [mixed use zoning]"
-"Yes, you can build a walkable city!"
-"we don't want to limit ourselves to only those who have the latest-and-greatest graphics card."
-"zoning isn’t on the “grid” anymore. Now that we’ve got curvy roads, zoning is all road-relative."
However there's cause for concern in some areas: cities are currenty 2km squared, the size of a medium Sim City 4 city. Hopefully this will change, or will at least be moddable. But overall, things are looking up.
