In our first interview with the Community Manager of Monte Cristos' MMOG, Cities XL, we talk about the games features and all the various elements that seperate the game from its Sim City predasesor.

As we mentioned last week, we had the chance to interview Michael Weber, Community Manager of Cities XL. During the interview we went over the games core features and we talked about what players can expect in both online and offline modes. Additionally, Michael goes into detail about how the social networking features and the official website, will work with the game to keep players engaged.

The Cities XL beta is going to be starting soon and our friends over at Monte Cristo have promised us a large number of beta keys to share with our community! Keep your eyes glued to ZAM.com so you don't miss your chance to check out Cities XL.

ZAM: Hey Michael.

Michael Weber: Hi Tamat. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to present Cities XL to your community.

ZAM: Can you start by giving us some background information about the game and what players can expect other than another Sim City clone?

Michael: Sim City 4 has been the benchmark in the city building genre since 2003. So to us there is absolutely no shame in having Cities XL compared to an MMO version of Sim City. And there is actually some degree of truth to that statement as Cities XL obviously features the main gameplay mechanics you'd expect from any other city-builder.

But that alone would definitely be a restrictive description of the game!

To begin with, Cities XL will really bring the genre to new heights: a completely grid-free construction tool (meaning you can build your cities as freely as you wish), a new 3D engine that allows you to go from a satellite view down to street level, Gameplay Extension Modules ("GEMs") which will give you the possibility to play specific Tycoon games within your cities, etc.

But even more importantly: for the first time ever Cities XL will offer you the possibility to build gigantic cities with the help of other players online and/or compete with them on persistent virtual planets. You'll get to specialize your cities, trade resources with other players and cooperate to achieve construction of Mega Structures (like the Statue of Liberty or the Eiffel Tower for instance), which will not only look good in your cities but boost their economies as well! You'll also get to chat with your friends, visit their cities, use your dedicated webpage on the Cities XL website to make or break contracts with other players, upload images or videos of your creations on your blog, view your cities' rankings among the Cities XL community, etc. Not to mention all the cool online competitions we'll organize at Monte Cristo to keep players on their toes.

ZAM: What exactly would you call CITIES XL? It's been dubbed a Massively Multiplayer Online City Building Game by many but we haven't heard anything official.

Michael: Some people have indeed called Cities XL an MMOCBG (Massively Multiplayer Online City Building Game). To us this is a little restrictive as we are seeing the game as an entertainment platform in its own right.

In the future we would like players of Cities XL to ask themselves upon launching the game: "What am I going to do today? Manage one of my cities? Mmmm...it's been a long time that I didn't play with my Theme Park GEM... Or what about entering this new competition to see if I can win that new Blueprint which would give a +5 bonus on tourism attractivity to my city?"

But most importantly, we also wanted to provide players with an MMO experience they will embrace at their own pace. We wanted players from the start to find reasons to come back playing the game and have fun with it but they will never be forced to. Some of us over at Monte Cristo are/were addicted MMORPG players and there has always been a point that bothered most of us: MMORPGs are heavily time consuming. If you want to progress within the game and play with your friends you have to spend a lot of time, arrange your life to meet all together to go for an instance and farm a lot, etc. With Cities XL, we wanted players to get in the game to have fun but still be able to play with their friends asynchronously (through indirect trade proposals for instance) and have a chance to live their real life too.

We actually see Cities XL as a good secondary MMO game when some of us may be looking for something different than farming, leveling, and the like.

ZAM: So what all will the online game have to offer? Can you give us a list of features you plan to have for launch as well as additional features that you'll be working on for later?

Michael: The online game (called "Planet Offer") will incorporate all the features found in the solo version of the game and raise the bar even higher by adding content (like the Mega Structures or additional buildings in the future), but more importantly: by bringing a whole new approach to city building simulations!

Ever since the first Sim City was released about 20 years ago, players have been used to building their cities on their own. Natural resources were never a real issue for instance... There is an obvious reason for that: what good would a solo city building game be if you couldn't try and build your dream city on any map you like, right? Except that this isn't realistic. How many cities in the world can boast perfect autonomy?

On Cities XL's Planet offer players will get to specialize their cities and trade with other mayors to fulfill their citizens' needs or build Mega Structures together.

Players will be part of a true community. It will be up to them to decide how they want to interact with the other members of this.

Here is a list of features you will get with the planet offer...

Multiplayer gameplay both in-game and on the web:

• Trade resources with other players to develop economic strategies, specialize your cities, maximize your possibilities in a global economy
• Work cooperatively to build  Mega Structures - special buildings that enhance your city aesthetically and economically
• Web-based city management -- check your trade contracts, receive alerts,  adjust your decisions from any computer in the world

Persistent MMO world:

• Each player receives five slots to build five persistent cities on different Planets
• Contribute  to the life and statistics of the Planets (economics, population, pollution…): what you do has an impact on the world

Community features and animations in-game and on the web:

• Visit one another's cities, see other players' creations and content, chat with other players through your avatar
• Create and participate in online events, discover virtual cities and real people

Regular upgrades:

• All Buildings, Maps, simulation and functionality upgrades are free with the planet offer

ZAM: I've heard a lot of about GEMs but I don't understand how they work and what kind of value they will add to CITIES XL. Can you give us a GEMs crash course?

Michael: GEMs (or Gameplay Extension Modules) are basically independent Tycoon games which you will be able to play within your cities. Concretely you will get to swap your mayor's sash for an executive suit and manage a company. It could be a beach or ski resort which you'd have to design yourself and then run on a daily basis by determining your hotel prices, the opening times of your ice rinks, etc. You could also become a car manufacturer, create your own car and then try and sell it to other players...

GEMs will be published at a regular pace by Monte Cristo to give Cities XL players as much freedom as possible in the design of their cities and enrich the gameplay even more. They will be available to solo players as well as to subscribers of the Planet Offer. The latter will be able to visit cities with GEMs even if they haven't acquired them themselves.

ZAM: Can you explain the blueprint system, how it works and how players will gain access to the various blueprints that will exist?

Michael: BluePrints are plans with which you can build Mega Structures, exceptional buildings such as the Eiffel Tower or the Empire State Building for instance. These Mega Structures will make your cities even more attractive and will bring in   additional effects to your city (for instance: more tourism). However building a Mega Structure will cost way more than any player alone could afford to pay, so you will need to exchange resources with other players on the Planet in order to achieve construction.

BluePrints are part of the Planet Offer and will be obtained regularly via lotteries on the Cities XL website. If you're lucky, you might find BluePrints appearing on your Profile Page! But you can also get BluePrints from other players or win them in certain competitions...

ZAM: Let's talk about the social networking features that are going to help keep players enthralled. One of the cooler ideas that you've mentioned is the website blog and the ability to edit and publish their cities news paper for all to see. Can you give us some information about these social networking features and give us a few examples of others that will exist?

Michael: There are two main ideas behind the website:

The first one is to allow players to keep playing and developing their cities even when they are not in front of the PC on which Cities XL is installed. So every trading aspect in Cities XL will be found on the Cities XL website: you will be able to look for resources, seal deals, manage the construction of your Mega Structures, see if you got messages from your friends and partners... Your profile page will also allow you to check the status of your cities, get the latest news about your friends' cities or online competitions, see your rankings among all the cities on your planet, etc...

The second idea is to give players the tools to express themselves about their creation through what we call "the city journal". So Cities XL players will have the ability to write articles (with screenshots and even videos) about each of their cities on this city journal. Friends or visitors may even leave some comments and discuss their achievements, their technical questions or anything they want about their experience of Cities XL.

ZAM: Thanks for taking the time to build up CITIES XL for us. Bwahahahaha you see what I did there? I'm so clever!

Michael: Thank you for allowing me to build some hype around the game. Wow: apparently I just did it too!

Andrew "Tamat" Beegle
Editor-in-Chief
ZAM.com