SimCity 3000

SimCity 3000
SimCity 3000 cover art SimCity 3000 cover art
Developer(s)	Maxis
Publisher(s)	EA Games
Designer(s)	Will Wright (SimCity series)
Platform(s)	Windows, Linux, Apple Macintosh, Nintendo DS.
Release	January 31, 1999
Genre(s)	Simulation City-building game
Mode(s)	Single player

SimCity 3000 (SC3K) is a simulation/city building computer game and the third installment in the SimCity series of games. It was published by Electronic Arts (EA) and developed by series creator Maxis, a wholly owned subsidiary of EA. It was released for Windows, Macintosh, and, through an arrangement with Loki Games, Linux.

Gameplay and changes from SimCity 2000

A mature city, as seen in SimCity 3000 Unlimited.

There were many changes between SimCity 3000, and its immediate predecessor, SimCity 2000 (SC2K). These changes spanned both the integral city management aspects of the game, as well as its graphical and landscape aspects. These changes gave the game a feel greatly different from that of SC2K.

In a pattern which has continued throughout the SimCity franchise, the number and complexity of city services increased between SC2K and SC3K. The most notable change was that the concept of waste management was introduced in SC3K. In previous versions of SimCity, this aspect had been ignored. However, in SC3K, once a city has a population greater than 1,000, garbage would begin to accumulate and would have to be disposed of at the expense of the city. Farms and agriculture structures were also introduced, appearing on large light industrial zones in a city with low land value and little pollution. In Sim City 3000, there are three zoning densities compared to "SC2K's" 2 density model. In addition to their limited life span, power plants are now vulnerable to decreasing maximum output at a constant rate after they have gone through about three quarters of their life span.

Although the concept of neighbor cities was introduced in SC2K, it was greatly expanded upon in SC3K. For the first time, the player could interact with his or her neighbor cities, negotiating rudimentary business deals with other mayors, such as the sale or purchase of water, electricity, or waste management services. These generate a monthly charge which is either added to or subtracted from the player's treasury, in accordance with the deal. Canceling a neighbor deal will incur a substantial cash penalty. From time to time, the simulated mayors of neighboring cities will call meetings to renegotiate the terms or price of these deals.

Although not strictly a city management aspect, SimCity 3000 simulated the effect of land value on construction much more realistically than in SimCity 2000. In the latter, most buildings fell into a wide stratum that did not reflect land value very effectively; every building was more or less suited to neighborhoods of every economic disposition. In SC3K, land value created very distinct neighborhoods which tended to contain narrow income bands, creating well-defined slums, middle class areas, and wealthy areas. Land value is also determined by the city center effect where buildings that are at the city center have higher land values and those buildings on the borders have lower land values. The city center effect is determined by the location of buildings within the city. However, over time, land value "inflation" would cause almost every area of a city to become expensive, so that wealthy neighborhoods covered most if not all of the map.

Business deals were another new concept to SC3K. For allowing certain structures to be built within the city, the player can receive a substantial amount of funds from them. The four business deal structures are the maximum security prison, casino, toxic waste dumping site, and the Gigamall (a large shopping mall). Business deal structures however have serious negative effects on a city. The toxic waste dump cripples both the land value and residential desirability in the area surrounding it and produces massive pollution. The prison dramatically decreases land value. The casino increases city wide crime and the Gigamall weakens demand for local commerce.

There were several changes to the graphical interface in SC3K. Although the game retained the pseudo-isometric dimetric perspective of its predecessor, the actual landscape became more complex and colorful. In SimCity and SC2K, the playable landscape was brown, not unlike the color of bare dirt. In SC3K, the playable landscape was a more realistic green color, simulating grassland, along with other colors that progressively change by height, from beige (beach sand) to green to brown (bare ground) to white (snow). In SC2K, land could either be flat or sloped, and all slopes were of the same steepness. In SC3K, there were five distinct steepness of slope, creating more varied landscapes. However, in SC3K, there are no waterfalls and hydroelectric dams, which are common in SC2K. Also, for the first time, there were different types of trees which could appear on the playable map. In SC2K, there were only pine trees, while in SC3K, oak trees prevail, but other types of trees exist, depending on the elevation of the terrain.

Advisors and petitioners

SimCity 3000 and its revision Unlimited feature seven advisors, each covering a specific issue, who help players make proper decisions in the game by providing recommendations and advice. As opposed to previous versions of SimCity, the advisors actually give in-depth advice which is helpful to the player. In SimCity 2000, the advisors' advice usually consisted of the advisor shouting down the player for even considering budget cuts to that advisor's department.

There are also petitioners, many of which are citizens of the players' cities, that request players to modify city policies, such as lowering tax rates, or enacting an ordinance. Some are outside interests, often pushing proposals which would harm the city in exchange for a boost to its financial coffers.

News tickers

In addition to advisors, a news ticker scrolled along the bottom of the screen, displaying pertinent information about the city in the form of news stories, such as indicating that the city needs more schools, or how well a particular city department is functioning. Generally, when things were going very well in a city, the news ticker would display headlines which are comical, or even nonsensical and often seemingly useless to the player. Examples of such headlines being: "Semicolon declared sexier than comma in grammarian's fête," or "(City Name) prints all wrong numbers in phone book, leads to 15 marriages" or quotes from a "Tommy B. Saif Sez." Other headlines may be labeled "(City Name) News Ticker" or "From the Desk of Wise Guy Sammy". On occasions, the ticker will even provide a foreshadowing of an approaching disaster, for example, sometimes reading "Did you feel that big truck pass by? What? It wasn't a truck?", "Tidal waves reported off coast", "strange sightings reported between Areas 50 and 52," "Mrs. O'Leary buys prize-winning cow," or perhaps another quote from a set range of different headlines before an earthquake occurs. There are various cheats that can cause the news ticker to display strange headings, such as entering in the cheat bar "simon says ****" where **** is whatever you please and **** will appear as the next message in the ticker. Or typing the word "bat" in the cheat bar, which causes the ticker to say, "Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-BATMAN!" There are many others as well.

Landmarks

Independent real-world landmarks were also introduced for the first time in SC3K, but are mostly for aesthetic purposes (though placing a building would open up an option in the city ordinances window for tourism advertising), and are free of construction cost. In SC3K, a maximum of ten landmarks can be built in one city (a cheat code in the game may disable this limit), while Unlimited imposes no limit whatsoever. Examples of landmarks featured in the original SC3K include the CN Tower, Notre Dame, the Bank of China Tower, the Empire State Building, the Pharos of Alexandria and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

Disasters

The game features a number of disasters which the player or game could inflict upon one's city, including earthquakes, tornadoes, riots and UFO attacks. However, there never appears to be any casualties (Sims are disrupted but not killed). The population only decreases if they are forced to move when residential areas are destroyed by the disasters.

Development

Prior to the acquisition of Sim developer Maxis by Electronic Arts in 1997, plans were originally made in 1996 to develop SimCity 3000 as a fully 3D game, in tune with the emergence of 3D computer and video games. Although the idea was deemed impractical by employees for being too graphically demanding, Maxis management pushed for the concept, and the game was developed for a year. A pre-release screenshot of the original version suggests graphics similar to those seen in both SimCopter and Streets of SimCity, and was intended to include extensive micromanagement. When the game was first unveiled in the 1997 E3, it was "an experience still regarded as an embarrassment." The 3D version of the game was expected to become a flop, and its future release was even thought to be the fatal blow to an already poorly performing Maxis, which had failed to release profitable titles in the years since SimCity 2000.

After EA completed acquisition of Maxis, Luc Barthelet was assigned by EA as the new general manager of Maxis. He was troubled by the 3D SC3K, questioning the viability of a game with such graphics. Eventually, the 3D version was completely scrapped, Lucy Bradshaw was brought in from EA in November 1997 to lead the SC3K project, and a new revision based on SC2K's pseudo-isometric dimetric projection and sprite-based graphics was redeveloped from scratch. The new plan focused on retaining the core engine of the game, improving more minor features in the game instead, such as larger maps, new zoom levels, and additional gameplay parameters.

The second version of SC3K would receive a more positive reception during it appearance in 1998 E3, and was well-received after its release in February 1999 (although Maxis originally intended the game to be released by Christmas 1998; regardless, EA willingly waited until the game was completed).

Unlimited

A re-release, SimCity 3000 Unlimited, was released in 2000. Unlimited added, among other things, East Asian and European building sets, additional terrain colors and wild vegetations, a snapshot feature, an improved version of the Building Architect Tool (a very basic pseudo-3D design tool based on cubes), four additional disasters, additional landmarks, and thirteen scenarios (along with a creator based on Microsoft Access). A number of pre-made cities are also available, including Berlin, Madrid, Moscow and Seoul.

The SimCity 3000 Unlimited edition was distributed with different titles in some places

BAT

File:Sc3kBuildingArchitectPlus.png

The Building Architect Tool interface.

File:Sc3kBATtingProcess.png

The process of producing a building in Building Architect Tool.

Like SimCity 2000's SimCity Urban Renewal Kit (SCURK) tool, SimCity 3000 had its own building modifier called the BAT (Building Architect Tool). However, the BAT was based on the idea of building blocks (not unlike LEGO bricks). Because of the negative reactions on the limited possibilities with the SCURK, BAT2 (Building Architect Tool Plus) was introduced with the ability to add custom-made props.

Despite the huge amount of buildings and artists involved with the BAT, it has not gained the cult-status the SCURK has. Another possible reason is that the BAT did not allow people to create and edit cities by placing buildings free-of-charge, unlike the SCURK's city editor, thus lessening the BAT's appeal.

See also: The Building Architect Tool for SimCity 4

SimCity DS

File:Simcityds japanese magazine scan.jpg

SimCity DS, seen here displaying a city on the top screen and the city's map at the bottom screen. Note that Will Wright makes a cameo here as a helper.

A heavily modified version of SimCity 3000 for the Nintendo DS has been released as SimCity DS in Japan on February 22, 2007, in North America on June 19, 2007 and in Europe on June 22, 2007. The game inherits SC3K's graphics, but makes use of the handheld's dual screen to display additional interfaces at once. System specific features were also announced, such as the use of the systems' integrated microphone, which will be used to blow out fires.

External links

• SimCity 3000 at MobyGames
• SimCity 3000 Unlimited at MobyGames
• Official SimCity 3000 website
• Official SimCity DS website
• Official SimCity website: SimCity 3000 Music Downloads, official and free downloads of music from SimCity 3000 (in MP3 format), as well as printable covers and CD art.
• SimCity 3000 Resource Center, a SimCity website run by Maxis employee Wren Weburg, created in anticipation to the release of SimCity 3000.
• Patch and instructions for playing SimCity 3000 under Linux kernel 2.6.