SimCity

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SimCity is a simulation and city-building computer and video game first released in 1989 and designed by Will Wright. SimCity was Maxis' first product, and has since been enhanced into several different versions including SimCity 2000 in 1993, SimCity 3000 in 1999 and SimCity 4 in 2003, while the original SimCity was later rebranded as SimCity Classic. Until the release of The Sims in 2000, the SimCity series was the best-selling line of computer games made by Maxis. SimCity was originally released for several video game consoles and computer platforms, including the Commodore 64, Atari ST, Amiga, DOS and Macintosh.

SimCity spawned an entire series of Sim games. Since the release of SimCity, similar simulation games have been released focusing on different aspects of reality such as empire-building in Civilization and business simulation in Capitalism.

Description

SimCity was originally developed by game designer Will Wright. The inspiration for SimCity came from a feature of the game Raid on Bungeling Bay that allowed players to create their own maps. Wright soon found he enjoyed creating maps more than playing the actual game, and SimCity was born.

The game sparked a new paradigm in computer gaming by creating a game that could neither be won nor lost. This was not immediately recognized by the game publishers, who did not foresee the possibility of successfully marketing and selling such a game. Brøderbund declined to publish the title when Wright proposed it, and he pitched it to a range of major game publishers without success. Finally, founder Jeff Braun of then-tiny Maxis agreed to publish SimCity as one of two initial games for the company.

Wright and Braun returned to Brøderbund to formally clear the rights to the game in 1988, when SimCity was near completion. Broderbund executives Gary Carlston and Don Daglow saw that the title was infectious and fun, and signed Maxis to a distribution deal for both of its initial games.

The subsequent success of SimCity speaks for itself: "Sim" games of all types were developed — with Will Wright and Maxis developing a myriad of titles including SimEarth, SimFarm, SimTown, Streets of SimCity, SimCopter, SimAnt, SimLife, SimIsle, SimPark, SimSafari, Sim Theme Park, The Sims and SimMars, which was never released. They also obtained licenses for some titles developed in Japan, such as SimTower and Let's Take The A-Train (just called A-Train outside of Japan). The most recent development is The Sims, and its sequel, The Sims 2. An upcoming release, Spore, was originally going to be titled "SimEverything" - a name that Will Wright thought might accurately describe what he was trying to achieve. Three SimCity sequels were also spawned - SimCity 2000, SimCity 3000 and SimCity 4.

SimCity is predominantly a single-player game (the exception being a "Network Edition" of SimCity 2000, and an obscure [Unix port] of the original SimCity). SimCity 4 also makes an attempt at multiplayer gaming with the ability to share regional maps and cities with other players, allowing players to collaborate, but not play in real time.

In 1990, SimCity won the Origins Award for "Best Military or Strategy Computer Game" of 1989.

Objective

The objective of SimCity, as the name of the game suggests, is to build and design a city, without specific goals to achieve (except in the scenarios, see below). The player can mark land as being zoned as commercial, industrial, or residential, add buildings, change the tax rate, build a power grid, build transportation systems and many other actions, in order to enhance the city.

Also, the player may face disasters: flooding, tornadoes, fires, riots, earthquakes, etc. Later disasters included lightning strikes, volcanoes, meteors and attack by extra-terrestrial craft.

In the SNES version and later, one can also build rewards when they are given to them, such as a mayor's mansion, casino, etc.

Scenarios

The original SimCity kicked off a tradition of goal-centered, timed scenarios that could be won or lost depending on the performance of the player/mayor. The original cities were all based on real world cities and attempted to re-create their general layout, a tradition carried on in SimCity 2000 and in special scenario packs. While most scenarios either take place in a fictional timeline or have a city under siege by a fictional disaster, a handful of available scenarios are based on actual historical events.

The original scenarios were:

• Bern, 1965 - The Swiss capital is clogged with traffic, the mayor needs to reduce traffic and improve the city.
• Boston, 2010 - The city's nuclear power plant suffers a meltdown, irradiating a portion of the city. The mayor must rebuild, contain the toxic areas, and return the city to prosperity. In some early editions of SimCity (on lower-power computers that did not include the nuclear power plants), this scenario was altered to have a tornado strike the city. Much like the Tokyo scenario below, the mayor needs to limit damage and rebuild.
• Detroit, 1972 - Crime and depressed industry wreck the city. The mayor needs to reduce crime and reorganize the city to better develop. The scenario is a reference to Detroit's declining state during the late 20th century (See also History of Detroit, Michigan).
• Rio de Janeiro, 2047 - Coastal flooding rages through the city. The mayor must control the problem and rebuild. In some early editions of SimCity (on lower-power computers that did not include the flooding disaster), this scenario was altered to have the objective be fighting high crime.
• San Francisco, 1906 - An earthquake hits the city, the mayor must control the subsequent damage, fires and rebuild. The scenario references the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
• Tokyo, 1957 - The city is attacked by a Godzilla-type monster (Bowser in the SNES version). The mayor needs to limit the damage and rebuild.

The CD re-release, as well as the Amiga and Atari ST versions included two additional scenarios:

• Dullsville, USA, 1900 - Boredom plagues a stagnating city in the middle of the United States; the mayor is tasked to turn Dullsville into a metropolis within 30 years.
• Hamburg, Germany, 1944 - Bombing, where the mayor has to govern the city during the closing years of World War II and rebuild it later. This scenario references the bombing of Hamburg in World War II.

In addition, the later edition of SimCity on the Super Nintendo (SNES) included the basics of these two scenarios in two, more difficult, scenarios that were made available after a player had completed the original scenarios:

• Las Vegas - Aliens attack the city. This invasion is spread out over several years, stretching city resources. While somewhat similar to Hamburg, the scenario included casino features as well as animated flying saucers.
• Freeland - Using a blank map without any water form, the mayor must build a game-described megalopolis of at least 500,000 people. There is no time limit in this scenario. While similar to the earlier Dullsville scenario, Freeland took advantage of the SNES version's clear deliniations between city sizes, particularly metropolis and megalopolis. In the center of Freeland is a series of trees that bear the familiar head of Mario. However, the player is unable to build any of the reward buildings from the normal game.

Ports and versions

All of the games were originally released for the personal computer. They have since been re-released with various add-ons including extra scenarios, and some versions have been ported to other platforms.

• SimCity Enhanced CD-ROM was released by Interplay for DOS. Taking advantage of the increased capacity of the then new CD-ROM format, it added a lot of multimedia content to the game in the form digitized photos, sounds and live-action video to the core game.
• SimCity Classic is available for Palm OS and on the SimCity.com website as Classic Live. It was also released by Atelier Software for the Psion 5 handheld computer.
• SimCity 2000 is available for handheld organizers running Microsoft's Pocket PC, as well as the Game Boy Advance, PlayStation and Sega Saturn.
• SimCity and SimCity 2000 were also released for the SNES. The SNES version of SimCity had additional features not found in the original SimCity, including yearly seasons, civic reward buildings, and a very energetic green-haired city advisor named Dr. Wright (after Will Wright), who would often pop up and inform the player of problems with their city. Nintendo also put their stamp on the game, with the most dangerous disaster being a Bowser attack on a city (in place of a generic movie-type monster), and a Mario statue awarded once a Megalopolis level of 500,000 inhabitants is reached. In addition, the SNES version of SimCity had two additional bonus scenarios, accessible when the original scenarios were completed: Las Vegas and Freeland (see section on scenarios). The SNES version of SimCity 2000 was not as successful as the original because the graphics were toned down from the computer version and it suffered from a lot of lag. It only allowed players one saved game, compared to two from the original SimCity on the SNES, and as many as one's computer could hold on the Mac and PC versions.
• In the July 2005 issue of Nintendo Power, a development cartridge of SimCity for the NES was found at Nintendo headquarters. It is reportedly the only one in existence and was never released.

• Additionally a terrain editor and architecture disks were available with tileset graphics for settings of Ancient Asia, Medieval, Wild West, Future Europe, Future USA and a Moon Colony.
• There was also a SimCity 2000 3D hybrid called SimCity 64 (2000) which was produced by HAL Laboratory, Inc. and released only in Japan for Nintendo 64's add-on flop, the 64DD.
• Versions of SimCity for the BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, and Acorn Archimedes computers were published by Superior Software.

For other Sim games, see the list of Sim games.

Parodies

Sim Brick was an extremely simple parody of SimCity. Developed by Sensible Software, it was only ever distributed on a cover disk with an issue of Amiga Power. The game play consists of an ant wandering around the screen, until players press the mouse button, at which point a brick falls down and squashes the ant.

The writers of The Simpsons also lampooned Maxis around the time when they were releasing a plethora of "Sim" titles. Virtual Doctor, a program used in an episode, was cited as "from the creators of SimSandwich…". In the Simpsons episode "Marge Be Not Proud", a video game dubbed "SimReich" is featured.

In the computer game , the main character, Roger, has the opportunity to look through the bargain bin of a software store. Among the titles is SimSim, a simulator where players get to design simulators.

Legacy

SimCity inspired a new genre of video games. "Software toys" that were open-ended with no set objective were developed trying to duplicate SimCity's success. The most successful, however, was most definitely Wright's own The Sims, which went on to be the best selling computer game of all time.

The ideas pioneered in SimCity have been incorporated into real-world applications as well. For example, VisitorVille simulates a city based on website statistics.

A notable catch phrase of Sim games was "[reticulating splines]," a phrase that was mentioned upon opening a game file or creating a random map in SimCity 2000, with certain versions featuring a voice of an unknown female reading the phrase. It appears again in word form in SimCopter, The Sims and SimCity 4, most notably as it appears while a "Sim" game is loading, along with other (meaningless) phrases, such as "Redoubting Boyancy".

See also

• Government simulation
• Municipal government, the basis for SimCity
• Lincity
• Peter Ludlow editor of Alphaville Herald and Second Life Herald

External links

• [Official SimCity website]
• [SimCity Classic Live] (requires registration)
• [SimCity] at MobyGames
• The [SimCity series] at MobyGames
• [SimCity.com Fansite Directory]: Maxis' official and comprehensive SimCity fansite directory.

The Sim Universe and Maxis
City games
SimCity > SimCity 2000 | SimCity 3000 | SimCity 4
The Sims
The Sims > The Sims 2 | The Sims Online
Other Sim games
SimEarth > SimAnt | SimLife | SimFarm | SimTower | SimHealth | SimIsle | SimCopter | SimGolf | Streets of SimCity
Youth Sim games
SimTown > SimPark | SimSafari | SimTunes
Sim related
A-Train > El-Fish | Sid Meier's SimGolf | Spore | Widget Workshop
Cancelled Sim games
SimMars > Simsville

 

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