SimCity 3000
Encyclopedia
SimCity 3000 is a city building
simulation personal computer game
and the third major installment in the SimCity series
. 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
.
(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, and the graphics quality was greatly improved as well. The most notable change was the addition of the concept of waste management
. In SC3K, once a city has a population greater than 1,000, garbage begins to accumulate, and must be disposed of at the expense of the city. Farm
s and agricultural
structures were also introduced, appearing on large light industrial zones in a city with low land value and little pollution
. A new zoning density was also added, totalling three densities, compared to SC2Ks two. In addition to their limited life span, power plants were also made vulnerable to decreasing maximum output due to age.
Although the concept of neighbor cities was introduced in SC2K, it was greatly expanded upon in SC3K. For the first time, the player was able 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 would incur a substantial cash penalty.
Although not strictly a city management aspect, SimCity 3000 simulates the effect of land value
on construction much more realistically than in SimCity 2000. In SC3K, land value creates very distinct neighborhood
s which tend to contain narrow income bands, creating well-defined slum
s, 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.
Business deals were another new concept to SC3K; by allowing certain structures (a maximum security prison
, casino
, toxic waste conversion plant
) and Gigamall (a large shopping mall
) to be built within the city, the player can receive a substantial amount of funds from them. Business deal structures, however, have serious negative effects on a city.
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 is mostly brown, while in SC3K, the playable landscape is a more realistic green color, 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 are five distinct steepness of slope, creating more varied landscapes. Also, there are different types of trees which can appear on the playable map.
There are also petitioners, many of whom are citizens of the city, 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.
scrolls 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 headline
s 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. SimLeary buys prize-winning cow
", or perhaps another quote from a set range of different headlines before a disaster occurs. The text in the ticker can then be clicked to reveal more about the news item.
, 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
with each tower a separate building, the Statue of Liberty
, the Eiffel Tower
, and even the Fernsehturm TV Tower in Berlin.
. The new soundtrack incorporates New Age
and live jazz
songs, which add greatly to the overall feel and depth of the game compared to the MIDI music in the previous game. The fifteen tracks from the game are also available as MP3
s for download on EA's SC3K website for listening outside of the game. The jazz musicians are Vincent Herring
on alto and tenor saxes, Ryan Kisor
on trumpet, Joey Calderazzo
on piano, Dwayne Burno on double bass, and Jeff Hamilton
on drums.
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 (at the time) 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 SC2Ks 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 its 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).
n and European building sets, additional terrain colors and vegetation types, a snapshot feature, an improved version of the Building Architect Tool (a pseudo-3D
design tool based on cubes), four additional disasters (such as locusts and space junk), additional landmarks (like the Seoul Tower and Helsinki Cathedral
), new reward buildings and thirteen scenarios (along with an editor based on Microsoft Access
). Premade cities are also available, including (London
and Liverpool
for the UK), Berlin
, Madison
, Madrid
, Moscow
and Seoul
.
A library of building texture sets are provided that allow the builder to paint the stack of blocks in a flexible and realistically scaled way. (These texture sets themselves are customizable.) Later BAT Plus was introduced with the ability to add non-block props to buildings, and to import customized props as well (and in effect, over-riding the 2m building block once and for all).
Despite the huge amount of buildings and artists involved with the BAT (over 50,000 buildings have been uploaded to the SimCity3000Unlimited web site at EA.com), some feel that it has not gained the cult-status the SCURK has. Another criticism is that SimCity 3000 did not allow people to create and edit cities by placing buildings independently of the simulation, unlike the SCURKs city editor.
(or most likely a rewrite), released in Japan on February 22, 2007, North America on June 19, 2007 and Europe on June 22, 2007. The game inherits SC3Ks graphics, but makes use of the handheld's dual screens to display additional interfaces at once. Console-specific features are also included, such as the use of the console's integrated microphone, which is used to blow out fires, and the touchscreen, which is used to control the interface. The game also features a "Save the City" mode, in which the player must help one of several cities recover from a disaster and reach a specific target to succeed.
City-building game
City-building games are a genre of strategy computer game where players act as the overall planner and leader of a city, looking down on it from above, and being responsible for its growth and management...
simulation personal computer game
Personal computer game
A PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine...
and the third major installment in the SimCity series
SimCity (series)
SimCity is an open-ended city-building computer and console video game series and the brainchild of developer Will Wright. It is published by Maxis . The game was first published in 1989 as SimCity, and it has spawned several different editions sold worldwide...
. It was published by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
(EA) and developed by series creator Maxis
Maxis
Maxis is an American company founded as an independent video game developer in 1987. It is currently a subsidiary of Electronic Arts . Maxis is the creator of one of the best-selling computer games of all time, The Sims and its first sequel, The Sims 2...
, a wholly owned subsidiary of EA. It was released for Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Macintosh, and, through an arrangement with Loki Games, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
.
Gameplay and changes from SimCity 2000
There were many changes between SimCity 3000 and its immediate predecessor SimCity 2000SimCity 2000
SimCity 2000 is a simulation/city building video game and the second installment in the SimCity series. SimCity 2000 was first released by Maxis in 1994 for computers running Apple Macintosh Operating System...
(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, and the graphics quality was greatly improved as well. The most notable change was the addition of the concept of waste management
Waste management
Waste management is the collection, transport, processing or disposal,managing and monitoring of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and the process is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics...
. In SC3K, once a city has a population greater than 1,000, garbage begins to accumulate, and must be disposed of at the expense of the city. Farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
s and agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
structures were also introduced, appearing on large light industrial zones in a city with low land value and little pollution
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
. A new zoning density was also added, totalling three densities, compared to SC2Ks two. In addition to their limited life span, power plants were also made vulnerable to decreasing maximum output due to age.
Although the concept of neighbor cities was introduced in SC2K, it was greatly expanded upon in SC3K. For the first time, the player was able interact with his or her neighbor cities, negotiating rudimentary business deals with other mayors, such as the sale or purchase of water, electricity
Electrical power industry
The electric power industry provides the production and delivery of electric energy, often known as power, or electricity, in sufficient quantities to areas that need electricity through a grid connection. The grid distributes electrical energy to customers...
or waste management
Waste management
Waste management is the collection, transport, processing or disposal,managing and monitoring of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and the process is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics...
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 would incur a substantial cash penalty.
Although not strictly a city management aspect, SimCity 3000 simulates the effect of land value
Property tax
A property tax is an ad valorem levy on the value of property that the owner is required to pay. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located; it may be paid to a national government, a federated state or a municipality...
on construction much more realistically than in SimCity 2000. In SC3K, land value creates very distinct neighborhood
Neighbourhood
A neighbourhood or neighborhood is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town or suburb. Neighbourhoods are often social communities with considerable face-to-face interaction among members. "Researchers have not agreed on an exact definition...
s which tend to contain narrow income bands, creating well-defined slum
Slum
A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...
s, 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.
Business deals were another new concept to SC3K; by allowing certain structures (a maximum security prison
Supermax
Supermax is the name used to describe "control-unit" prisons, or units within prisons, which represent the most secure levels of custody in the prison systems of certain countries...
, casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
, toxic waste conversion plant
Toxic waste
Toxic waste is waste material that can cause death or injury to living creatures. It spreads quite easily and can contaminate lakes and rivers. The term is often used interchangeably with “hazardous waste”, or discarded material that can pose a long-term risk to health or environment.Toxic waste...
) and Gigamall (a large shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
) to be built within the city, the player can receive a substantial amount of funds from them. Business deal structures, however, have serious negative effects on a city.
There were several changes to the graphical interface in SC3K. Although the game retained the pseudo-isometric
Isometric projection
Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings...
dimetric perspective of its predecessor, the actual landscape became more complex and colorful. In SimCity and SC2K, the playable landscape is mostly brown, while in SC3K, the playable landscape is a more realistic green color, 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 are five distinct steepness of slope, creating more varied landscapes. Also, there are different types of trees which can appear on the playable map.
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, these advisors actually give in-depth advice, rather than brief summaries of the situation in their department.There are also petitioners, many of whom are citizens of the city, that request players to modify city policies, such as lowering tax rates, or enacting an ordinance
Local ordinance
A local ordinance is a law usually found in a municipal code.-United States:In the United States, these laws are enforced locally in addition to state law and federal law.-Japan:...
. 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 tickerNews ticker
A news ticker resides in the lower third of the television screen space on television news networks dedicated to presenting headlines or minor pieces of news. It may also refer to a long, thin scoreboard-style display seen around the front of some offices or public buildings...
scrolls 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 headline
Headline
The headline is the text at the top of a newspaper article, indicating the nature of the article below it.It is sometimes termed a news hed, a deliberate misspelling that dates from production flow during hot type days, to notify the composing room that a written note from an editor concerned a...
s 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
Fête
Fête is a French word meaning festival, celebration or party, which has passed into English as a label that may be given to certain events.-Description:It is widely used in England and Australia in the context of a village 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?
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
What? It wasn't a truck?", "Tidal waves
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
reported off coast", "strange sightings reported between Areas 50 and 52
Area 51
Area 51 is a military base, and a remote detachment of Edwards Air Force Base. It is located in the southern portion of Nevada in the western United States, 83 miles north-northwest of downtown Las Vegas. Situated at its center, on the southern shore of Groom Lake, is a large military airfield...
", "Mrs. SimLeary buys prize-winning cow
Great Chicago Fire
The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from Sunday, October 8, to early Tuesday, October 10, 1871, killing hundreds and destroying about in Chicago, Illinois. Though the fire was one of the largest U.S...
", or perhaps another quote from a set range of different headlines before a disaster occurs. The text in the ticker can then be clicked to reveal more about the news item.
Landmarks
Independent real-world landmarks were also introduced for the first time in SimCity 3000, 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. Examples of landmarks featured in the original SC3K include the ParthenonParthenon
The Parthenon is a temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their virgin patron. Its construction began in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire was at the height of its power. It was completed in 438 BC, although...
, the CN Tower
CN Tower
The CN Tower is a communications and observation tower in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Standing tall, it was completed in 1976, becoming the world's tallest free-standing structure and world's tallest tower at the time. It held both records for 34 years until the completion of the Burj...
, Notre Dame
Notre Dame de Paris
Notre Dame de Paris , also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra of...
, the Bank of China Tower, the Empire State Building
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
, the Pharos of Alexandria
Lighthouse of Alexandria
The Lighthouse of Alexandria, also known as the Pharos of Alexandria , was a tower built between 280 and 247 BC on the island of Pharos at Alexandria, Egypt...
and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
with each tower a separate building, the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
, the Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world...
, and even the Fernsehturm TV Tower in Berlin.
Music
Another major change from SC2K was the addition of a live music score composed by Jerry MartinJerry Martin (musician)
Jerry Martin is a jazz and New Age composer, famous for composing songs for television commercials, and for The Sims and SimCity series.- Biography :...
. The new soundtrack incorporates New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
and live jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
songs, which add greatly to the overall feel and depth of the game compared to the MIDI music in the previous game. The fifteen tracks from the game are also available as MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
s for download on EA's SC3K website for listening outside of the game. The jazz musicians are Vincent Herring
Vincent Herring
Vincent Herring is an American jazz hard bop and post-bop saxophonist and flautist.-Biography:Herring's formal musical education began at age 11, when he started playing saxophone in school bands and studying privately at Dean Frederick's School Of Music in Vallejo, California...
on alto and tenor saxes, Ryan Kisor
Ryan Kisor
Ryan Kisor is an American jazz trumpeter.A native of Sioux City, Iowa, Kisor learned trumpet from his father Larry Kisor and started playing in a local dance band at age ten. Kisor began classical trumpet lessons at age 12, met Clark Terry when he was 15 , and played with all-star high school bands...
on trumpet, Joey Calderazzo
Joey Calderazzo
Joey Calderazzo is a jazz pianist.Inspired by a friend who lived next door, Calderazzo began his piano studies at age seven. He progressed rapidly in a house where other family members were also playing drums and singing, and at 14 became the youngest member of brother Gene Calderazzo's rock band...
on piano, Dwayne Burno on double bass, and Jeff Hamilton
Jeff Hamilton (drummer)
Jeff Hamilton is an American jazz drummer. He is co-director of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and leader of his own trio.-Career:...
on drums.
Development
Prior to the acquisitionMergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new field or...
of Sim developer Maxis
Maxis
Maxis is an American company founded as an independent video game developer in 1987. It is currently a subsidiary of Electronic Arts . Maxis is the creator of one of the best-selling computer games of all time, The Sims and its first sequel, The Sims 2...
by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
in 1997, plans were originally made in 1996 to develop SimCity 3000 as a fully 3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
game, in tune with the emergence (at the time) 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
SimCopter
SimCopter is a 1996 computer game from Maxis. This game is a 3D offshoot from Maxis's normal fare, putting the player into a 3D city. Like Streets of SimCity, SimCopter lets the user import SimCity 2000 maps into the game.- Objective :...
and Streets of SimCity
Streets of SimCity
-External links:* *...
, 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
Luc Barthelet
Luc Barthelet is Executive Director at . Prior to this he was CEO of TirNua, Inc, a games company, which developed an eponymous MMO virtual world. TirNua was acquired by RockYou! in December 2010...
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 SC2Ks pseudo-isometric
Isometric projection
Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings...
dimetric projection and sprite
Sprite (computer graphics)
In computer graphics, a sprite is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene...
-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 its 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).
Re-release
In 2000, the game was re-released under different names in different regions, such as SimCity 3000 Unlimited (in North America and Oceania), SimCity 3000 Deutschland (Germany), SimCity 3000 UK Edition (UK & Ireland) and SimCity 3000 World Edition (other countries), among others. This added, among other things, East AsiaEast Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
n and European building sets, additional terrain colors and vegetation types, a snapshot feature, an improved version of the Building Architect Tool (a pseudo-3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
design tool based on cubes), four additional disasters (such as locusts and space junk), additional landmarks (like the Seoul Tower and Helsinki Cathedral
Helsinki Cathedral
Helsinki Cathedral is an Evangelical Lutheran cathedral of the Diocese of Helsinki, located in the centre of Helsinki, Finland. The church was originally built as a tribute to the Grand Duke, Nicholas I, the Tsar of Russia and until the independence of Finland in 1917, it was called St...
), new reward buildings and thirteen scenarios (along with an editor based on Microsoft Access
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Office Access, previously known as Microsoft Access, is a relational database management system from Microsoft that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software-development tools. It is a member of the Microsoft Office suite of...
). Premade cities are also available, including (London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
for the UK), Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Madison
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
.
BAT
Like the SCURK for SimCity 2000, SimCity 3000 has its own building modifier called the BAT (Building Architect Tool). BAT is based on the idea of 2 meter building blocks stacked in a 2-D graphic environment. All buildings have 4 distinct sides to be seen in the game, so SCURKs strictly 2D approach was not possible.A library of building texture sets are provided that allow the builder to paint the stack of blocks in a flexible and realistically scaled way. (These texture sets themselves are customizable.) Later BAT Plus was introduced with the ability to add non-block props to buildings, and to import customized props as well (and in effect, over-riding the 2m building block once and for all).
Despite the huge amount of buildings and artists involved with the BAT (over 50,000 buildings have been uploaded to the SimCity3000Unlimited web site at EA.com), some feel that it has not gained the cult-status the SCURK has. Another criticism is that SimCity 3000 did not allow people to create and edit cities by placing buildings independently of the simulation, unlike the SCURKs city editor.
SimCity DS
SimCity DS is a heavily modified version of SimCity 3000 for the Nintendo DSNintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
(or most likely a rewrite), released in Japan on February 22, 2007, North America on June 19, 2007 and Europe on June 22, 2007. The game inherits SC3Ks graphics, but makes use of the handheld's dual screens to display additional interfaces at once. Console-specific features are also included, such as the use of the console's integrated microphone, which is used to blow out fires, and the touchscreen, which is used to control the interface. The game also features a "Save the City" mode, in which the player must help one of several cities recover from a disaster and reach a specific target to succeed.