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" When lead game designer Stone Librande decided to build the future, he found places for inspiration: The grimy, pollution-choked cityscape of Blade Runner, the social philosophy of Pixar&amp;#039;s Wall-E, and Gene Roddenberry&amp;#039;s utopian dream in Star Trek. But his future was going to be different.  Librande is the lead designer on SimCity, the decades-old town-building simulator, casts the player as mayor of a growing metropolis. As graphics and mechanics have improved through several iterations of the game, the premise has pretty much stayed the same. At New York Comic Con on Thursday, Librande talked about Cities of Tomorrow, a $30 expansion releasing Nov. 12, that flings the franchise into the near future\u2014a future that Librande describes as a true reflection of where humanity might be headed in the next half century. But to do that, he turned to science.  &amp;quot;We really didn&amp;#039;t want Jetsons and flying cars and stuff in this game,&amp;quot; he tells PopMech. &amp;quot;We wanted it to be based on technologies that are happening today in the lab that we felt might actually get out into the real world.&amp;quot; The SimCity team looked at basic societal needs that will still be around in the next 50 years, like power, water, sanitation, and transportation. With these four constants in mind, Librande tried to figure out what these technologies might look like in the future.  For power, Librande was inspired by the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory near his Silicon Valley home. Last month, the NIF had a major fusion power breakthrough by successfully creating a self-sustaining reaction, according to BBC news. The $3.5 billion facility uses 192 powerful lasers to heat a small pellet of hydrogen, which creates enormous energy. In September the researchers recorded a net gain in energy output, a stepping-stone to cheap sustainable energy.  Fascinated by the laboratory, Librande extrapolated from this real world scenario to create SimCity&amp;#039;s vision of future fusion reactors. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s this huge dome filled with lasers,&amp;quot; Librande says. &amp;quot;When we found out about that, we were like &amp;#039;Oh yeah, let&amp;#039;s put fusion power in our game.&amp;#039;&amp;quot; Science influences other areas of the game as well, as Librande experiments with current technology that&amp;#039;s just beyond our grasp or not yet economically possible. Instead of landfills, humanity has embraced atomizers that deconstruct trash to atoms, a process that is possible today (though a little pricey). Librande also imagined improved hydropumps based on billboards in Peru that can pull moisture from the air to make water and advanced purification systems that can turn sewage into drinking water . As for transportation, no flying cars\u2014at least not within fifty years. &amp;quot;When you look at science fiction concept art, there&amp;#039;s almost always flying cars,&amp;quot; Librande said during the Comic Con panel. &amp;quot;Honestly, I don&amp;#039;t trust any of you or myself to be flying around in a car.&amp;quot;  Of course, science fiction plays an important role in Librande&amp;#039;s brave new world. Two central powers heavily influence the future of the player&amp;#039;s budding metropolis: the Academy and Omegaco. The Academy represents the idyllic super-clean, upperclass society free from material wealth, much like Roddenberry&amp;#039;s Star Trek (with a not-so-subtle titular reference to the Starfleet Academy), while Omegaco is a megacorporation, like Wall-E&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;Buy &amp;#039;n&amp;#039; Large, which creates a more working-class factory town with architectural nods to Ridley Scott&amp;#039;s Blade Runner.  &amp;quot;We just give you a bunch of pieces, so it&amp;#039;s a sandbox,&amp;quot; Librande says. &amp;quot;You can mix and match these things anyway you want.&amp;quot; Players can embody the greedy Omegaco tycoon and bleed cities dry for profit or be a mayor fighting for clean energy and sustainable living. They can be champions of the poor or a members of the one percent, and when players&amp;#039; cities have reached their full potential, they can summon giant mechs to raze their creations. The world of 2063 is in your hands. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/gaming/a9597/the-science-and-science-fiction-of-simcity-cities-of-tomorrow-6026720/>