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LukeCWM
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Re: Sim City: Is it better yet? / Good Management Games?

Fri Aug 02, 2013 3:17 pm

I appreciate all the replies. I'll have to check out a few of these games.

I'm also tempted to try Airport Tycoon again, even through the nastiness. Get it out of my system at least. And perhaps crack open Roller Coaster Tycoon again. =]

Anybody know why nobody is making management games anymore? The only ones I see these days are "management games" on social media to make a hamburger or sushi roll as fast as you can without messing up, or flash-based management games with extremely linear upgrade paths that let you breeze through forty minutes of play, 2/3rds of the game, and then they try to sell you the last 20 minutes in download form for you to play over and over again! To your heart's content! But you already played most all of what there is to play, the games are too linear and easy. And they are quickly pushed out by budget publishers, so the interfaces end up being clunky.

Am I the only one concerned that there are heaps and heaps of people on the internet asking for good management games, and all the replies are recommendations for games released between 1997 and 2003?
 
BIF
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Re: Sim City: Is it better yet? / Good Management Games?

Fri Aug 02, 2013 5:16 pm

LukeCWM wrote:
Am I the only one concerned that there are heaps and heaps of people on the internet asking for good management games, and all the replies are recommendations for games released between 1997 and 2003?


Nope, I too am concerned that human beings have become more like ant or bee colonies with little individualism. Sometimes I feel like Woody Allen in "Ants".

Just have a look at what's playing in the local movie theaters.

Wolverine 2
Iron Man 3
Star Trek 11

And I hear that Star Wars 659 is (or will soon be) in production too!

P.S. and Avatar 2, 3, and 4 are going to be filmed simultaneously. "Back to the Future" anyone?
 
JohnC
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Re: Sim City: Is it better yet? / Good Management Games?

Fri Aug 02, 2013 5:32 pm

LukeCWM wrote:
I appreciate all the replies. I'll have to check out a few of these games.

I'm also tempted to try Airport Tycoon again, even through the nastiness. Get it out of my system at least. And perhaps crack open Roller Coaster Tycoon again. =]

Anybody know why nobody is making management games anymore? The only ones I see these days are "management games" on social media to make a hamburger or sushi roll as fast as you can without messing up, or flash-based management games with extremely linear upgrade paths that let you breeze through forty minutes of play, 2/3rds of the game, and then they try to sell you the last 20 minutes in download form for you to play over and over again! To your heart's content! But you already played most all of what there is to play, the games are too linear and easy. And they are quickly pushed out by budget publishers, so the interfaces end up being clunky.

Am I the only one concerned that there are heaps and heaps of people on the internet asking for good management games, and all the replies are recommendations for games released between 1997 and 2003?

Not sure about "heaps" - just mostly disgruntled SimCity enthusiasts :wink: Don't see much interest from PC/console gamers for "city simulation" type of games, most of the people I've met had different game genre preferences or were satisfied with more casual versions such as FarmVille and its countless derivatives... I guess most major game developers also see that and simply do not want to risk their money for such projects (except EA, who has wads of cash to waste on poorly thought-out and executed projects).
Gifter of Nvidia Titans and countless Twitch donation extraordinaire, nothing makes me more happy in life than randomly helping random people
 
keltor
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Re: Sim City: Is it better yet? / Good Management Games?

Fri Aug 02, 2013 5:39 pm

BIF wrote:
LukeCWM wrote:
Am I the only one concerned that there are heaps and heaps of people on the internet asking for good management games, and all the replies are recommendations for games released between 1997 and 2003?


Nope, I too am concerned that human beings have become more like ant or bee colonies with little individualism. Sometimes I feel like Woody Allen in "Ants".

Just have a look at what's playing in the local movie theaters.

Wolverine 2
Iron Man 3
Star Trek 11

And I hear that Star Wars 659 is (or will soon be) in production too!

P.S. and Avatar 2, 3, and 4 are going to be filmed simultaneously. "Back to the Future" anyone?


Why are sequels and whatnot a bad thing? Why must all movies be individually different. Did you also know all movies really only follow a small handful of plot paths?

The problems with SC2013 is that it's not a sports game, an FPS, or a big RPG, so it will never have fantastic sales numbers and apparently the people who developed it really just make "casual" games and tried to make a "city" version of farmville with a little bit of SimCity like flair. It failed. Hopefully they will try harder or hand the franchise off to someone else who will build a full on successor to SC4.

On the "dated" aspect of SC4 - honestly I don't see how much they are really going to improve on that. The graphics are perfectly fine - it was made in the post Xbox360/PS3 era of games and honestly I don't think higher res textures will add anything, nor will special lighting effects. They could maybe add some new sunrise/sunset lighting to it, but instead I would expect the added gameplay would be more about simulating lower levels of things going on ala Dwarf Fortress.


Actually ... since noone took a swing at this, you should really Try Dwarf Fortress. DF removes all the graphical trappings, but gives you JUST ENOUGH information to hang yourself and having just enough is realy a big part of what makes it sooooo enjoyable. It's been my simulation of choice since well ... right after it came out.
 
Sargent Duck
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Re: Sim City: Is it better yet? / Good Management Games?

Fri Aug 02, 2013 7:45 pm

Haha, I have to laugh. I just fired up CnC Generals/Zero Hour and on the back of my CnC Generals cd case was...Sim City 4. I was thinking about that, now reading this game I think I'll go and play that as well.
No matter how bad the new homepage sucks or how bungled the new management is...

To all the original writers/contributors and volunteers, please know that I have nothing but the deepest love for you and the work you've done.
 
slowriot
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Re: Sim City: Is it better yet? / Good Management Games?

Fri Aug 02, 2013 8:25 pm

keltor wrote:
The problems with SC2013 is that it's not a sports game, an FPS, or a big RPG, so it will never have fantastic sales numbers and apparently the people who developed it really just make "casual" games and tried to make a "city" version of farmville with a little bit of SimCity like flair. It failed. Hopefully they will try harder or hand the franchise off to someone else who will build a full on successor to SC4.


The SimCity games have always sold extremely well. SC2013 has had no trouble selling units despite all the negativity that surrounds it.
 
BIF
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Re: Sim City: Is it better yet? / Good Management Games?

Sat Aug 03, 2013 9:58 am

keltor wrote:
Why are sequels and whatnot a bad thing? Why must all movies be individually different. Did you also know all movies really only follow a small handful of plot paths?


So from my quote, you interpret that I am insisting that "all movies must be individually different"? That's really taking my comments out of context.

I'm just saying that creatives are NOT really all that creative. They say they are. They may even be convinced that they are. But the evidence is not there; not with so much repeat, retreaded material. And I am getting bored. Aren't you? Sequels, remakes, reboots; it's never ending. We've rebooted Batman and Superman and Spiderman, various X-Men characters, and now Star Trek. Even Bourne and Oceans, Mr. and Mrs. Smith some years ago, The Avengers (both kinds), and Maxwell Smart.

I ask again, aren't you getting bored yet?

Yes, handful of plot paths. Sure, I agree. Growing up, getting old, Love, hate, loss, passion, friendship, betrayal, war, pestilence, etcetera; there are only so many topic categories to explore. But we should not allow creative types to use this as a crutch or excuse for the lame bilge they spew forth. And we should most certainly NOT use it as a crutch on their behalf.

I like some sequels. Iron Man 3 was very good, and Star Trek 45 was exciting. But...come on, three more Avatar movies? We should have some dignity and demand better entertainment products. Or maybe just go outside to play.
 
puppetworx
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Re: Sim City: Is it better yet? / Good Management Games?

Sat Aug 03, 2013 11:44 am

It's not that there is a lack of talent, Hollywood studios simply won't take a gamble with $100 million on a completely original and untested story. The real creative seem to have moved to TV - where the stakes are lower. AMC has been pumping out some pretty good stuff of late. Another place you'all find originality is in French films ( plenty of which are in English for the subtitle averse).

I think it's analogous to computer games. Big publishers won't risk big money on something new when they could easily just rehash an old success. Gunning for wider appeal and greater profit has reduced games and film to the lowest common denominator of consumer. Marketing budgets are
insane also, the independent film or game maker will be all but ignored by journalists when studios are paying their salaries with their advert expenditure. Also news media is interested in the same thing as large studios: guaranteed wide appeal.
 
BIF
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
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Re: Sim City: Is it better yet? / Good Management Games?

Sun Aug 04, 2013 5:52 pm

Good points.

I fear that we are "settling".

I propose a one-year moratorium on overdramatized reality shows (which is all of them) and sequel movies of any kind. I also propose that all television and radio permanently stop the insulting "tease" habit, and late-night TV should be commercial free.

Just one year, that's all I'm asking for.
 
odizzido
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Re: Sim City: Is it better yet? / Good Management Games?

Wed Aug 07, 2013 7:37 pm

Eh, I have all but stopped watching hollywood movies. The last one I saw was startrek and I have no idea what movies are out now.

What I do pay some attention to is shows though. Anything that seems like it has an interesting idea like defiance I will give a shot. I have been able to watch all of defiance and it's okay....though sometimes I think what happens in the show makes no sense which is easily my biggest problem with it. If the second season is the same I will probably just stop watching it.

Another show I want to watch is that orphan black one, though I've never been able to catch the first episode to get started so I've only seen like 20mins of it.

Speaking of reality TV.....I was all excited about the show called survivor way back when until I found out what it was. We all know "reality" TV I think. Anyways my point here is that a couple years ago I found a real survivor show called survivor man. That's exactly what I was hoping for when I got disappointed by survivor.

There are a couple foreign films/shows that I want to check out as well, but just haven't done so yet.

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