15
SIMCITY (1989): BUILDING BLOCKS FOR FUN AND PROFIT
Maxis’ SimCity, first published in 1989,1 is one of those games whose premise doesn't sound much fun at all. Only the most open-minded of gamers would have found a game about city planning anything to get excited about, and Will Wright had to work hard to find a publisher. Who wants to be mayor of a virtual town, overseeing seemingly tedious matters as constructing highways and power grids? On paper, the game looks like some disgruntled developer's idea of a joke. Yet Wright was able to use these atypical gameplay concepts to make one of the most critically acclaimed games ever, launching a best-selling series of sequels and spin-offs that is still vibrant today. SimCity not only established ...
Get Vintage Games now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
