SimCity 4 (lost alpha and beta builds of simulation game; 2002)

The game's box art.

Status: Lost

SimCity 4 is a 2003 city building simulator PC game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. During the development of the game, Maxis released multiple preview screenshots of the game. Some of them are accurate to the final game while others feature graphics not present in the final game. None of the beta or alpha versions have been released or leaked. They can roughly be categorized into what appear to be early versions of the game. As of now, only screenshots of different versions of the game and 3D renders of buildings are available to view below.

Gallery

Early Development Versions

These screenshots show drastically different graphics from the final game.

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  Tiny city area, different buildings and nature textures.

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  Different weather effects and textures, unfinished road junctions, and cliffs.

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  UI that is a cross between SimCity 3000 and SimCity 4.

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  Tornado with cows and different road types.

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  Coal power plant with a different appearance.

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  Buildings with dynamic decorations.

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  Buildings without dynamic decorations.

Late Development Versions

Since these were created closer to the game's release, there are less differences.

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  Some features are missing from the UI.

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  Unfinished UI (1/8).

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  Unfinished UI (2/8).

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  Unfinished UI (3/8).

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  Unfinished UI (4/8).

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  Unfinished UI (5/8).

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  Unfinished UI (6/8).

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  Unfinished UI (7/8).

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  Unfinished UI (8/8).

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  Render of building that is not part of the final game.

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  Roads are different, buildings have no extra objects.

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  Different road textures.

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  Beta volcano (1/2).

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  Beta volcano (2/2).

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  Fire looked different.

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  Fog weather effect and beta buildings.

3D Renders

These images were likely created in a 3D modelling software and not using the in-game renderer.

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  Hotdogs in Tornado.

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  Tornado.

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  Probably a mock-up made early in the development of what was planned in the game.

See Also

• SimCity (found build of cancelled NES port of PC city-building simulation game; 1991)
• SimCity 3000 (lost pre-release 3D version of city simulator; 1997)
• SimCopter 64 (lost build of cancelled Nintendo 64DD remake of PC game; 1997-1999)
• SimMars (lost build of cancelled strategy/simulation game; 2000)
• SimRefinery (found Chevron exclusive PC management simulation game; 1993)
• The Sims 4 (unresurfaced prototypes of simulator game; 2008-2014)
• SimsVille (lost build of cancelled "SimCity" and "The Sims" PC crossover game; 2000-2001)