Because SimCity was rejected by every publisher he showed it to, designer Will Wright and his friend Jeff Braun got together and founded Maxis to publish the game themselves in 1989. SimCity Classic, 2000 and 3000 have sold a gigantic number – well in excess of six million copies.
This
is the PC version of the original, but you can also play it online at the
SimCity website in a Java version.
When it came out, it looked very different. The isometric graphics and scrolling map were innovative. Populous had done the potty time people thing pretty well but I think SimCity was the first game to evoke a genuine feeling of ownership and creativity. It’s my city and I’ll build if I want to.
This
is Will, the creator.
Took
four years to develop. It is a work of passion and conviction. It was endlessly refined and polished.
Few
of its spin-offs sold as well, although I still get royalty cheques for SimIsle
which we developed for Maxis in the early nineties, and I think the reason is
that any game is a creative response to its subject matter. What works for cities may not work for Jungles and definitely
doesn’t work for Ant Farms.
I
think this is an important lesson for marketing folks. (This is the time when I make the ritual two fingers to marketing people
and since this is a history lecture, I will use a historical insult. They are like Charles II: “here lies our sovereign lord the king //
whose word no man relies on // who never said a foolish thing // or ever did a
wise one”).
You
can have any two of fast, cheap or great; but not all three.
If
a genius presents a great game, sign it. I bet there are a lot of people who feel like they turned down the
Beatles now
Cloning
a game concept without adding anything is going to produce rapidly
diminishing returns
Ironically,
in a cruel twist of fate, even Maxis made this mistake. In an interview in 1984, Will said: “I have in mind a game
I want to call "Doll House." It gives grown-ups some tools to design
what is basically a doll house. But a doll house for adults may not be very
marketable.” I saw an early
prototype at about the same time and this game eventually became The Sims.
Rumour has it that Maxis’s own board rejected the game when he pitched
it to them.
Lastly,
Will’s a very thoughtful and man and I wanted to give you a flavour. My favourite Will Wright quote: “"What I like about The Sims is
that after playing it for a while, you realize how much of your actual life is a
real-time strategy game."”
From Hammurabi through SimCity we get games like Theme This, Tycoon That and Sim Whatever.
*
Play SimCity Classic in a Java-based web version at www.simcity.com