By Jim Rossignol on December 15th, 2009 at 9:11 pm.
The straightforwardly-but-unimaginatively-named Virtual City has a demo. It’s here. You can play it for just sixty minutes. How much city can you squeeze out of sixty minutes? I just don’t know, but the fifty seconds of trailer below suggest it might be quite a lot. And hey, it looks super cute. (Via Blue’s, thanks Blue!)
15/12/2009 at 21:23 Sam Bigos says:
I hate time limited demos. Makes me feel like i need to rush everything to get the most out of it. I’d much rather have it limited in some other way so I get to experiment as much as I like.
15/12/2009 at 21:23 Clovis says:
Why is there a tab for “dumpsters”, but almost everything else is jammed in the “build” tab? I’ve never played a city-builder with a complicated dumpster system; sounds like fun!
15/12/2009 at 21:23 cliffski says:
this looks like a casual games sim city clone. Interesting…
15/12/2009 at 21:32 GT3000 says:
I was reading the other games at the developer’s website and it really has some generic names. Success Story? Jesus, that’s unimaginative as Hell. Fun game though.
15/12/2009 at 21:33 Vinraith says:
That actually looks like it could be a lot of fun, I’ll give it a try.
15/12/2009 at 21:41 Rob says:
I can’t wait to get the Lil’ Miss Firecracker award.
15/12/2009 at 21:44 Bigfoot_King says:
still trying to find something to fill that sim city gap since I stop playing sim city 4. Maybe this could fill it though
15/12/2009 at 22:04 TheLordHimself says:
I may be a fool, but I like the look of that!
15/12/2009 at 22:44 rei says:
The trailer almost makes it look like a web game. I don’t know what to think of “50 levels and 5 free play maps” but I don’t get the feeling that it shares much with SimCity other than the basic concept.
15/12/2009 at 23:05 Boldoran says:
this looks alot like Transport Tycoon from the trailer.
15/12/2009 at 23:45 hydra9 says:
Yes! Transport Tycoon! I love the colourful buildings and cute little vehicles moving about. Not so sure about the casual-gaming wrapper, though.
16/12/2009 at 02:09 Levictus says:
Any simcity 4 fans tried it out yet? I am huge simcity fan, but most other city builders (other than Caeser III, Pharaoh and Zeus) didn’t really catch my attention. The Anno series were pretty good though. Any thoughts?
16/12/2009 at 03:33 Talorc says:
Looks like they are targeting the female market as well, with a female protagonist.
16/12/2009 at 05:53 frags says:
Hmmm and why does the music in all these city builders sound familiar. Thats so SIm City like.
16/12/2009 at 09:29 Super Bladesman says:
That reminds me – must reinstall Sim City.
16/12/2009 at 10:46 Stense says:
I’d argue that a 60 minute timed demo is really very generous. How long do demos last for other games these days (if they even release a demo at all)? Not long at all.
16/12/2009 at 12:13 ourdreamsoffreedom says:
It’s like Sim City, except dumb.
16/12/2009 at 14:33 Derf says:
Where are the cities?
16/12/2009 at 16:02 SoftNum says:
So, in a semi-serious question, how would you like to see Demos done? Especially in strategy type games. RPGs and Platformers are easy, just give then X levels. In a strategy style game, it’s a lot harder. If you only give certain strategic options, you’re cutting out possible selling points that might hook the player, and misrepresenting your game.
A time limit is easy to program for, and still shows off a good amount of the game.
16/12/2009 at 16:56 mujadaddy says:
Ideally, you’d have a custom tutorial level as you demo that allows you a quick functional overview of nearly the entire feature set. Having it as a custom level allows you to “break the rules” of your narrative, or more likely hide a few spoilers while still giving a fast-paced overview of what the game is like. In contrast, how would a time-limited demo of, say, Civ IV give you the same feel for anything but the early game?
In short, a little effort on the part of the developer.
16/12/2009 at 18:26 SoftNum says:
Though, I know with AI War and a few other titles, the full tutorial _and_ an hour of gamplay is part of the Demo.
17/12/2009 at 01:56 JJK says:
I don’t care if it looks like simcity for girls I want to play the shit out of that.