How so? To be honest, I don't know why we even need something as "realistic" as pixel graphics — when immersing yourself in city planning, an aerial view of the city you're building is actually too much noise; for the signal you need, it'd be far better to be looking directly at overlaid zoning grids, coverage maps, etc. And for that kind of thing, it seems that vector graphics should be more than enough.
In other words, I'd personally love a full-sim city builder in the style of Mini Metro or Mini Motorways. That sort of simple+clean aesthetic can be a lot more informationally-dense than a SimCity game ever could.
I’ve played Mini Metro. Love its minimal and non-intrusive aesthetics but it doesn’t use pixel art the way game in question is using. Its graphics treatment is way different.
I didn’t say they did. I said they used vector graphics (more specifically, they use vector schematics), with the implication that these vector graphics are “lesser” even than pixel graphics in terms of potential for representational fidelity / skeuomorphism — but also that this doesn’t matter (and in fact, is a benefit), because most sim games are fundamentally about simulating abstract models, not about simulating reality; so a direct representation of the model is clearer and more "fun" than any attempt to embed that model into a view of reality.
How so? To be honest, I don't know why we even need something as "realistic" as pixel graphics — when immersing yourself in city planning, an aerial view of the city you're building is actually too much noise; for the signal you need, it'd be far better to be looking directly at overlaid zoning grids, coverage maps, etc. And for that kind of thing, it seems that vector graphics should be more than enough.
In other words, I'd personally love a full-sim city builder in the style of Mini Metro or Mini Motorways. That sort of simple+clean aesthetic can be a lot more informationally-dense than a SimCity game ever could.