Frequently Asked Questions

Well, there's a short answer and a long answer... If you don't know much about city sim games at all, you can read the long answer here. (This blog about Sim City 5 rumors also covers some background.) The short answer is that the project started as an article I wrote after the release of Cities XL; The article was really long (you can read it here, if you're interested), so rather than try to make a forum post of it I decided to start a Simtropolis blog, called The Next Generation. After thinking about the concept some more and fleshing it out on the blog, I decided it was a pretty sound idea and worth setting up a formal project. So, over the next couple months, I built this website, which was launched on January 14th, 2010.

The Metropolis Project is a non-profit group of city sim game fans.  While it is not yet formally incorporated, we intend to set up a community-controlled, registered non-profit organization as the project grows.

The goal of the project is to create an open source, next-generation city simulation game. If you're not familiar with the genre, city sims (or city builders, as they're sometimes called) are games in which the player controls a virtual city, guiding its growth and development, either directly or indirectly. The most famous example is the Sim City series, created by Will Wright and Maxis. The tentative title for the game we want to build is Metropolis, and it is intended to be a spiritual successor to the Sim City games.

Sort of... the state of the genre right now is a bit uncertain. There are currently a couple of city sim/city builder games on the market, but all of them have some drawbacks that make them unattractive to one segment or another of the city sim fan community. The reigning gold standard is still Sim City 4, which has an excellent and compelling core game, but which is now seven years old and starting to show its age graphically. The other current contender is Monte Cristo's Cities XL, but although it boasts modern graphics and some other features like freeform roads, it's been perceived by many Sim City fans as lacking in other areas (mass transit options and dynamic development, for example.)
 
In addition to these two, there are a number of more specialized games, most of them more limited in scope and intent: There are several titles focused on ancient world cities, for example, (Grand Ages: Rome, Children of the Nile) or specific geographic areas (the Tropico series). We believe that, as of now, there is no modern game on the level of Sim City 4, and that Sim City 4 has a limited lifespan for the future.

Well, first of all, we're the impatient type. Secondly, EA (owner of the Sim City franchise) hasn't shown any sign that they intend to continue the series, at least not in the direction fans of Sim City 4 would like to see. Nor (to our knowledge) are there any other games of this type currently in development. Third, the genre has not had a great track record for commercial developers recently: EA's sequel/spinoff Sim City Societies fared very poorly, and the original publisher of Cities XL went bankrupt after its release. There is a strong possibility that investors and publishers will be wary of trying to trying to capture the city sim market for some time. Last, and perhaps most important, we believe an open source game built by the community will ultimately be a better game than a proprietary, closed platform.

Um, no. The exact definition of "open source" is a bit outside the scope of this FAQ, but briefly, open source is a type of software in which the source code is made available to the public, allowing anyone to modify the program freely. In many cases, such software is also distributed free of charge. Some examples of open source software you might be familiar with are Mozilla's Firefox web browser, or the Open Office suite of programs. For a more comprehensive definition take a look here. Our intention is for Metropolis to be released as FOSS (Free Open Source Software.)

Who said a game had to make money for someone? The Metropolis project is a non-profit group; We're not trying to get rich off of the game, we just want to play it!

Ah. Well, the traditional open source answer here would be: "They don't have to cost money either! Volunteer developers can create software through mass collaboration!" Unfortunately, while this optimistic view has proved practical for some kinds of project, it has not panned out so well for games thus far; So, we here at Metropolis do acknowledge that a good game will probably cost money to make (while not underestimating volunteer contributions, of course!) To that end, we intend to fund a full-time, professional development team to make Metropolis. Fortunately, we also believe there is a good way to pay for development while still keeping the game open: It's called community funding (the technical term is an "assurance contract"). You can read more about it in the "Funding" section of the FAQ.

There are a multiple reasons: First, we don't claim to know what people want; The city sim community is very diverse and everyone's wants are different; For that reason we need a platform that is, above all, adaptable, and that means open source and community-directed. As described in this article, a for-profit game company simply can't open it's source code; So, ultimately any commercial game is going to be limited in its adaptability. Furthermore, an open source game will grow and get better over time: modders will add new content, the core game can be upgraded, and the game's value increases as time goes on. Contrast that with a commercial game, where the engine will eventually become dated and the company has no incentive to keep working on it; Even the best commercial games will eventually die off. In short, this approach will simply lead to a better game.
 
Second, on a more practical level, we doubt we would be able to do such a thing even if we wanted to: As stated above, after the lackluster performance of both Sim City Societies and Monte Cristo's city sims (City Life and Cities XL) there are not bound to be many investors interested in funding such a venture, and certainly none who would fund us, seeing as we are not professional game developers.

Nothing at all, in theory. It's just that, currently, no one has been able to produce an open source game on par with commercial titles using a purely collaborative approach. Games are one of the most complicated kinds of software to develop: They need focus and dedicated effort, and these are hard things to build out of a large, diverse, and distributed group of people.
 
Furthermore, we believe that asking members for a monetary contribution, rather than soliciting volunteer development efforts, is a more efficient way to marshal community support: the number of people with the talent, time, and inclination to develop a project like this for free is small, whereas almost everyone has the capacity to donate money. Making participation exclusive to those with programming or game development skill neglects the possible contribution of the vast majority of the community. I elaborated on this subject a bit more in this article, but basically I'm of the opinion that creating a next-generation city sim with an all-volunteer approach would require an amount of effort and luck out of proportion with the task.
 
Nevertheless, there are more optimistic people than me out there attempting to do that very thing; Off the top of my head, there are several open source city sim projects currently active: LinCity, OpenCity, WorldSim, and CityMania, to name a few.

Since Metropolis isn't working with a traditional open source approach (make a rough prototype with a small team, try to attract developers based on that.) we don't really see the project as "competing" with others. Most projects are trying to attract volunteer developers, while we are more interested in attracting funding. Essentially we are working towards the same goal from different angles. Naturally, we also believe we have a better chance of success with our method, or we wouldn't have bothered.

Currently, the Metropolis Project is an informal association, so no one "runs" it per se. John, the project's founder, maintains the website. As the community grows, we intend to organize it as a formal non-profit, controlled by a board of directors. The directors, in turn, will be elected by the members who donate to the project. See this article for more details.

Formally incorporating as a non-profit doesn't really make sense at this point, while the project is still small. Incorporating adds costs in terms of fees, reporting requirements, and accounting requirements, that can be better spent growing the community and improving the project.

Nor should you. The project will be incorporated long before we reach the point of actually collecting any funds. In the meantime, pledging is safe and non-binding.

For the moment, anyone who registers on the website is considered a member. As the project is organized more formally, the intention is for full membership to be based on contribution. Tentatively, we envision a contribution of $50 or so, (the same as one would pay for a game in the store) as the condition for becoming a full, voting "shareholder" of the project.

Right now, the site has a simple poll functionality in place for member voting; We intend to evolve this into a more rigorous voting system, as described in this article.

The Metropolis Project is based on the idea of community funding, otherwise known as "bounty funding" or an assurance contract.  To understand how it works,consider how a game is usually funded: A game studio comes up with an idea for a game and raises money to produce it, usually with the help of a publisher.  When the game is released, the publisher (or other backer) then receives a portion of the proceeds from sales;  Any proceeds beyond the cost of the game become profits for the studio and the publisher.  At first glance then, it appears that the game is funded by the publisher;  But really, the publisher is only disbursing money temporarily, in exchange for a portion of the eventual sales.  It is actually these sales, the individual purchases from fans, that fund the game.
 
With Metropolis we are, fundamentally, financing the game from the same source (the end user);  But with community funding, we reverse the usual paradigm.  Rather than first making a game and selling it, we intend to gather financing from individual community members.  This is done through pledges: members will pledge to donate a certain amount, and when the total budget for the game has been pledged, the pledges will be called in and development will begin.  Since the game will have already been paid for at this point, it will be released for free, along with its source code, when development is finished.

The final budget will depend on what form, as agreed by the community, the game ultimately takes.  However, a very rough estimate for a top-tier game of this type would be ten to twenty million USD.

We believe it is;  although it's a large sum, when put in perspective it's not an unattainable number.  Considering that all commercial games are ultimately financed from the same source (individual sales), and manage to recoup amounts far beyond their initial budgets, it's not unreasonable to think a community game could do the same.  In fact, since almost all of the project's revenue will go towards development (as opposed to commercial games, where retailers and publishers take a large cut) it's actually possible to assemble a bigger game budget from fewer people.
 
It's also worth mentioning here that there might be other avenues of funding for a non-profit project like this one: academic or research grants would be one possibility, corporate sponsorship or advertising another.  The bulk of the financing however, will ultimately be from individual contributions: pledges and donations.

Pledges are direct investments in the game's development;  They are completely non-binding, and can be decreased or retracted at any time.  Nor do they require any personal or payment information (except a contact email address).  Pledges will only be collected once the total of all pledges is greater than or equal to the projected game budget.  When collected, they will become part of a fund specifically earmarked for the game's development.
 
Donations, on the other hand, are voluntary, non-refundable contributions to the project's general fund;  They will most likely be used to meet ongoing costs such as website hosting and project promotion.
 
Both kinds of support are greatly appreciated, and will count towards determining membership status (see the "Membership" section for more details).

Visit our donation page, enter the amount you would like to donate in the box, and click on the Paypal link below to donate. If you don't wish to use Paypal, contact the site's administrator to work out an alternate way to donate.

Although we hope to have a more sophisticated system in place soon, right now you can enter your pledge in the "Contributor Status" section of your user profile, here (must be logged in). If you later wish to change or retract your pledge, simply change the amount listed in that field.

While a pledge of any size is appreciated, we hope that members will be willing to contribute an amount roughly equivalent to the cost of a commercial game ($50 USD).  This is also the threshold amount for becoming a Pledge Member in the project (donations are also taken into account for this.)  Naturally larger contributions are welcome too; the best way to arrive at an optimum pledge amount is to think of it this way: If you could go to the store tomorrow and buy a copy of Sim City 5 (with all the features the community has been asking for,) what's the most you would spend to get it?  That's the best amount to pledge to make Metropolis a reality.
 
There's also an option to contribute to a phased development plan, in which development will start on the core game engine even before funding for all features is complete.  See below for further details.
 
One thing we do ask is that you limit your pledge to an amount that you are realistically willing to pay;  Inflated pledge numbers are ultimately counterproductive for getting the game made.  Thus, if you would like to make a contribution larger than a few hundred dollars, please contact the project organizers directly.

Phase One is shorthand for a modified development model, in which work on "Phase One," a stripped-down, core version of the game, begins prior to the total game budget being assembled.  The benefit of the Phase One model is that development will be greatly sped up, as work can begin while funding is still being collected for the rest of the game.  However, if Phase One begins prior to the total game budget being ready, there is no guarantee that the rest of the game can be completed, at least by the full-time development team.  Note, however, that we are committed to making Phase One a playable, if barebones game, and providing a platform for modders to improve upon if formal development can't continue.  To read about Phase One in more detail, check out this article. 
 
If you're not sure which kind of pledge to make, we recommend making a standard pledge; if you later decide you're comfortable making a pledge to Phase One, you can always change your pledge amount in the "Contribution Status" field of your member profile.

A big drawback of this type of funding is that, unlike buying a game in a store, investing in a community game involves "buying" something that doesn't exist yet.  Naturally, we want members to be sure that their contributions are going to result in an actual game.  The common concerns that we want to adress are:
 
What happens to my donation if the funding funding goals aren't met?
This is the reason that we are using a pledge system rather than asking for donations up front;  No one wants to donate to something that only might happen;  If the pledge goals aren't met, there is no loss to members since the pledges are non-binding.  And if the goals are met, members can donate with the confidence that there is enough support from other members to actually go forward with development.
 
But since pledges are non-binding, how do I know everyone else will fulfill their pledge?
Because there might be some concern about how many pledges will actually be fulfilled when the time comes, we will not be collecting contributions directly, but via escrow;  If a substantial portion of pledges go unfulfilled, those who did contribute will have their donations returned.
 
Even so, how do I know you guys will actually make the game once the funding is in place?
Before collecting any funds at all, the Metropolis Project will be incorporated as a registered non-profit controlled by the community (see the "Organization" section of the FAQ for details);  Our charter will establish our mission and specify how funds are to be used, and will be published on the website.  The project organizers are also happy to address any concerns or questions you might have, and can be contacted here.
 
For more detailed information see this article.

You can find a comprehensive definition here, but essentially an escrow is a trusted third party that mediates transactions.  In this case, when we begin to collect pledges, we will not ask you to transfer money to us directly;  Instead we will be using an escrow account with a widely-known financial institution, such as a bank.  The terms of the escrow will be that we will only receive funds if a certain percentage of the total pledged, say eighty percent, is actually paid.  Otherwise, contributions will be returned to their donors.  This mitigates the risk of donations being collected but the total budget still being too small.

A final concern that many members might have is that, when the game is finally released, they may not be satisified with the result.  Unfortunately, once development is already underway, and certainly when it's finished, it will be impossible to give any refunds (as the money will have already been spent).  However, while being unhappy with the game as it's released is an unavoidable risk, there are two points to consider here: first, that this is no different than buying any other game sight unseen (many software stores, for example, will not refund opened games).  Second, that unlike a commercial game, Metropolis will be open source, and you will be able to modify it as you see fit.

Metropolis will be a next-generation city sim game.  Players will control a virtual city, and will be responsible for all aspects of it's development and growth.  We see Metropolis as a spiritual successor to Will Wright's classic Sim City series.

The exact answer to this question will ultimately rest with the community, but in general, the guiding principle for Metropolis is to include and expand upon the best features of currently available city sim games, while also adding new features that were not possible in older titles.  See this series of articles for an explanation of Metropolis's basic design principles, or these for some more speculative feature ideas.

That depends entirely on how long it takes to build funding for the project; (see the "Funding" section of the FAQ for more details.)  Once funding is in place, the development cycle will be similar to that for a commercial game, roughly 2 to 3 years.

Member input is vital to the project, and we want to collect every idea for a next-gen game we can.  If you have a good idea for the game, head over to the forum and share it!

Nothing!  The game will be freely available for download, with no DRM or other restrictions, as many times as you like.  The catch, of course, is that we need contributions to make the game in the first place... see the "Funding" section of the FAQ for more details.

At the moment, all you need to do is register on the site.  Later on, becoming a full member will be contingent on a certain level of contribution, whether through pledges or donations.

There are no costs for registering on the website;  becoming a full, voting member of the project will require that you make a contribution by either pledging or donating.

Currently there is only one type of member.  Going forward we plan to have at least two member levels: registered members and voting members.  Registered members are simply those who have registered on the website.  Voting membership will be available to anyone whose combined contribution to the project is at least $50 USD.  As the project is organized more formally, we may introduce other levels of membership.

The benefits of becoming a member vary depending on the level of membership:
 
Registered members (those who have simply registered on the website) can participate in dicscussions on the site forums and receive news and updates about the project.
 
Voting members (who have made at least a $50 contribution to the project) can be more actively involved: They will be able to propose and vote on design issues and project directives, as well as participate in elections for the project's directors.  See this article for more information.