by A Life-long SimCity Fan
WATCH THE GAMEPLAY VIDEO
Part 1: I Begin In A Cyber Mood
It's a beautiful day, and the world celebrates my entry with a fireworks display. I decide to start my city down a high tech path, with plenty of opportunities for fun, more from the cyber punk archetype.
First, down go the power plants. Nuclear and wind, keeping it pretty green, but pumping out enough volts to power the Blade Runner-ish utopia I have planned. (Coal plants crank out the most power, but put out the most CO2, which can cause problems later in the game. Plus, they are kind of ugly.)
Then down come the solar-powered worker barracks. This is where my first citizens will live, in high-tech, energy-efficient apartments that I'm sure will be filled with camaraderie and romance. But first, they need to get to work.
Down go the big office towers, which will begin churning out the cash I'll need to build the rest of my metropolis. Tall glass towers rise from the ground and soon I see my citizens going to work, some driving, some walking. Eventually I'll need to put down some bus stops or maybe a subway line.
All work and no play...yadda, yadda. The citizens will start getting grumpy if I don't give them something to do when they're not making money for me. Down go the entertainment venues: a nightclub, casino, karaoke bar, shopping, even a tattoo parlor. I want to make sure everyone is taken care of, no matter how.
Pretty soon I have a thriving small town, with a downtown high-tech shopping district, and a welcoming entertainment row, conveniently right across the street from the worker barracks.
Part 2: Getting Authoritarian
But now I'm feeling like not enough work is getting done, and there are some outbreaks of lawlessness. Time to get authoritarian on them.
Now I start putting down the imposing buildings of control. The Ministry of Thought. The State Amphitheater. The Dosage Facility. These buildings will remind my partying citizens of who's in charge. And they will help improve the moods of the more unhappy workers, even though it will make the happy workers a little less happy. Authoritarian buildings tend to pull peoples moods right into the middle range, where they enjoy a comfortable, soul-numbing ennui.
The tone of the city is decidedly different now, with the casinos and high-tech shopping malls sitting in the shadows of the imposing authority. Everyone having a good time feels the gentle eyes of Big Brother upon them, reminding them not to have too good of a time.
Part 3: Fast Forward
Here we are, years into the future, and my city is a thriving metropolis. So many people: many of them unhappy, but many quite satisfied with their time in my creation.
I've dealt with fires, storms, meteors, labor strikes and rogues shutting down my most profitable businesses. I've seen preachers and break-dancers and men in black. Part of my town comes right out of someone's idea of hell, and other parts are a true heaven: a perfect balance between productivity and happiness.
Even as much as I love my city. It's hard not to imagine what might have been. I could have built a romantic European village, which could have been home to the next Voltaire. I could have gone with a quaint small town in the desert, or fully embraced my dark side and created an authoritarian nightmare. I could have gone industrial, focused on fun, went with spirituality or continued. mixing and matching. So many possibilities, so little time.
Time to start again, with another blank slate with nothing but grass, trees and another welcoming fireworks show.
Posted: 13 Nov 2007
