SimCity is an open-ended city-building video game series originally designed by developer Will Wright. Developed in Orinda, California, it is published by Maxis (now a division of Electronic Arts) and has spawned several different editions that have sold worldwide, with the first game in the series, SimCity, published in 1989. The ongoing success of SimCity has also sparked the release of many other spin-off "Sim" titles, including 2000's The Sims, one of the best-selling computer games.
In the SimCity games, the player is given the task of founding and developing a city from a patch of green land, defining what buildings are constructed via development zones; residential zones for Sims to live in; commercial zones for Sims to shop and have offices within; industrial zones to provide work through factories, laboratories and farms - as well as ensuring their citizens are kept happy through establishing various services and amenities, all while keeping a stable budget. Since SimCity 2000, players are able to define zones by densities - low density for small buildings, medium density for low to mid-sized buildings, and high density for anything up to large tower blocks - while SimCity 2000, SimCity 3000, and SimCity 4 allow the player to alter the terrain of the city before building upon it. SimCity's game mechanics are based on 20th century California development, with each edition featuring similar gameplay elements. Players start from an undeveloped greenfield, cars are the default form of transportation, and earthquakes happen - but with some differences in what buildings, disasters and elements of city management are available.
Gameplay
The player (acting as mayor) is given a blank map to start with, and must expand the city with the budget provided. As the city matures, the player may get to place government and other special buildings (such as a mayor's house or courthouse), depending on how large the city is. The player must supply the citizens services, which include health, education, safety, parks and leisure. These come in the form of different buildings, where each building covers a circular "range" of service. Inadequate funding of these services can lead to strikes.
Cities must also provide basic utilities, namely electricity, water and (in SimCity 3000 and SimCity 4) waste management.
The primary source of income is taxation, which can be altered by one percent increments in all versions up to SimCity 3000, and by tenths of a percent in SimCity 4. Legalizing gambling and placing certain "special" buildings (such as military bases or federal prisons) can generate income as well. The player may also make deals with neighbouring cities to sell or buy services, as long as a connection is made to the neighbor for that service (this feature was introduced in SimCity 3000).
SimCity is predominantly a single-player game (the exceptions being a "Network Edition" of SimCity 2000, and a Unix port of the original SimCity). SimCity 4 also provides a form of multiplayer gaming with the ability to share regional maps and cities with other players, allowing players to collaborate, but not to interact in real time gameplay.
Personal computer versions
SimCity
SimCity was published in 1989, and was the first game in the SimCity series. 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 Wright to create his own maps during development. Wright soon found he enjoyed creating maps more than playing the actual game, and so the idea for SimCity was created. While developing SimCity, Wright cultivated a real love of the intricacies and theories of urban planning and acknowledges the influence of System Dynamics which was developed by Jay Wright Forrester and whose book on the subject laid the foundations for the simulation. In addition, Wright also was inspired by reading "The Seventh Sally", a short story by Stanisław Lem from The Cyberiad, published in the collection The Mind's I, in which an engineer encounters a deposed tyrant, and creates a miniature city with artificial citizens for the tyrant to oppress.
The first version of the game was developed for the Commodore 64 in 1985, but it would not be published for another four years. The original working title of SimCity was Micropolis. The game represented an unusual paradigm in computer gaming, in that it could neither be won nor lost; as a result, game publishers did not believe it was possible to market and sell such a game successfully. 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. Brøderbund 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. With that, four years after initial development, SimCity was released for the Amiga and Macintosh platforms, followed by the IBM PC and Commodore 64 later in 1989.
Sim City was released in 1990 on the ZX Spectrum 48K & 128K by Infrogrames, programmed by Probe Software Ltd - Antony R. Lill, Simon Butler.
On January 10, 2008, the SimCity source code was released under the free software GPL 3 license. The release of the source code was related to the donation of SimCity software to the One Laptop Per Child laptop, as one of the principles of the OLPC laptop is the use of free and open source software. The open source version will be called Micropolis (the initial name for SimCity), since EA retains the trademark SimCity. The version shipped on OLPC laptops will still be called SimCity, but will have to be tested by EA quality assurance before each release to be able to use that name.
SimCity 2000
The unexpected and enduring success of the original SimCity, combined with other "Sim" titles' relative lack of success at the time, motivated the development of a sequel. SimCity 2000 (SC2K), released in 1993, was a major extension. The view was now isometric instead of overhead, the landscape was not flat, and underground layers were introduced for water pipes and subways.
New types of facility included prisons, schools, libraries, museums, marinas, zoos, stadiums, hospitals (although they appeared randomly on residential blocks in the first SimCity, they could not be built by the player) and arcologies. Players could build highways, roads, bus depots, railway tracks, subways, train depots and zone land for seaports and airports. There are a total of nine varieties of power plants in SC2K, including coal, natural gas, wind turbines, hydroelectric dams (which can only be placed on waterfall tiles) and the futuristic fusion power and satellite microwave plant.
The budget and finance controls are also much more elaborateâ€"tax rates can be set individually for residential, commercial and industrial zones. Enacting city ordinances and connecting to neighboring cities became possible.
Another new addition in SC2K is the query tool. Using the query tool on tiles reveals information such as structure name and type, altitude, and land value. Certain tiles also display additional information; power plants, for example, display the percentage of power being consumed when queried, and querying roads displays the amount of traffic on that tile. Querying a library and selecting 'Ruminate' displays an essay written by Neil Gaiman.
Graphics were added for buildings under construction in the residential, commercial, and industrial zones, as well as darkened buildings depicting abandoned buildings as a result of urban decay.
News comes in the form of several pre-written newspaper articles with variable names that could either be called up immediately or could be subscribed to on a yearly basis. The newspaper option provided many humorous stories as well as relevant ones, such as new technology, warnings about aging power plant, recent disasters and opinion polls (highlighting city problems). SimCity 2000 is the only game in the entire series to have this feature (besides the discontinued children's version, SimTown), though newer versions have a news ticker. The newspapers had random titles (Times, Post, Herald, etc.), and prices based on the simulated year. Certain newspapers have a special monthly humor advice column by "Miss Sim".
SimCity 3000
The successor to SimCity 2000, SimCity 3000 (SC3K) was released in 1999. It introduced many changes both to the city management and to the appearance.
In a pattern which has continued throughout the SimCity franchise, the number and complexity of city services increased between SC2K and SC3K. The issue of waste management was added: once a city has a population greater than 1,000, refuse would begin to accumulate and would have to be disposed of at the expense of the city; in previous versions of SimCity, this issue had been ignored. Farms and agriculture were also introduced, and appeared on large light industrial zones in a city with low land value and little pollution. In Sim City 3000, there are three zoning densities compared to the two densities used in SC2K. In addition to their limited life span, power plants are now vulnerable to decreasing maximum output at a constant rate after they have gone through about three quarters of their life span.
Although the concept of neighbor cities was introduced in SC2K, its role was expanded in SC3K. For the first time, the player could interact with his or her neighbor cities, negotiating rudimentary business deals with other mayors, such as the sale or purchase of water, electricity, or waste management services. These generate a monthly charge which is either added to or subtracted from the player's treasury, in accordance with the deal. Canceling a neighbor deal will incur a substantial cash penalty. From time to time, the simulated mayors of neighboring cities will call meetings to renegotiate the terms or price of these deals.
Although not strictly a city management aspect, SimCity 3000 simulated the effect of land value on construction much more realistically than in SimCity 2000. In the latter, most buildings fell into a wide stratum that did not reflect land value very effectively; every building was more or less suited to neighborhoods of every economic disposition. In SC3K, land value created distinct neighborhoods which tended to contain narrow income bands, creating well-defined slums, middle class areas, and wealthy areas. Land value is also determined by the city center effect where buildings that are at the city center have higher land values and those buildings on the borders have lower land values. The city center effect is determined by the location of buildings within the city. However, over time, land value "inflation" would cause almost every area of a city to become expensive, so that wealthy neighborhoods covered most if not all of the map.
Business deals were another new concept to SC3K. By allowing certain structures to be built within the city, the player could receive a substantial amount of funds from them. The four business deal structures are the maximum security prison, casino, toxic waste conversion plant, and the Gigamall (a large shopping center). Business deal structures however have serious negative effects on a city. The toxic waste dump lowers both the land value and residential desirability in the area surrounding it and produces massive pollution. The prison dramatically decreases land value. The casino increases citywide crime and the Gigamall weakens demand for local commerce.
There were several changes to the graphical interface in SC3K. Although the game retained the pseudo-isometric dimetric perspective of its predecessor, the actual landscape became more complex and colorful. In SimCity and SC2K, the playable landscape was brown, like the color of bare dirt. In SC3K, the playable landscape was a more realistic green color, simulating grassland, along with other colors that progressively change by height, from beige (beach sand) to green to brown (bare ground) to white (snow). In SC2K, land could either be flat or sloped, and all slopes were of the same steepness. In SC3K, there were five distinct steepness of slope, creating more varied landscapes. However, in SC3K, there are no waterfalls and hydroelectric dams, which are common in SC2K. Also, for the first time, there were different types of trees which could appear on the playable map. In SC2K, there were only pine trees, while in SC3K, oak trees prevail, but other types of trees exist, depending on the elevation of the terrain.
SimCity 4
SimCity 4 was released on January 14, 2003. As with previous SimCity titles, SimCity 4 (Sim4) places the player in the role of a mayor (or several mayors), tasked with populating and developing tracts of lands into cities, while fulfilling the needs of fellow Sims who live there. Cities are now located in regions, which are divided into segments, each of which can be developed. Each region represents the metropolitan area of a city, while individual cities represent districts. The player has the option of starting the city in a segment of any of three area sizes; in actual measurement the smallest has a length of 1 kilometer on a side, and the largest has a length of 4 kilometers on a side. A large city is 16Â km2; for comparison the New York borough of Manhattan measures about 60Â km2. The size of a region and its layout of segments can be changed in a bitmap file provided for each region.
Zoning and building size have been improved for SimCity 4. Agriculture is now a separate industrial zone-type, allowing farms to grow regardless of high land value, so long as there exists demand for agriculture and agricultural zones have been provided. Zones are now automatically aligned towards roads; streets are automatically created in a grid formation when zoning on tracts of land. Buildings are now classified into several wealth levels, zone types, and building size stages, which are affected by the region's population and the city's condition. The game simulates urban decay and gentrification with buildings deteriorating or improving accordingly. Buildings originally constructed for occupation by higher wealth tenants can now support lower wealth tenants in the event surrounding factors forces the current tenants to vacate the building; this allows certain buildings to remain in use despite lacking its initial occupants. Buildings and lots can now be constructed on slopes.
SimCity 4 can be used in conjunction with The Sims. Sims can be imported into a city for use in the My sim mode. City layouts created in SimCity 4 can be used as neighborhood templates in The Sims 2; the location of roads, trees, bridges, and map features such as rivers and hills are preserved in the importation.
SimCity Societies
Released in 2007, the gameplay of SimCity Societies is significantly different from previous SimCity titles, with a greater focus on "social engineering".
Public works and a tax system do not play a part in the game. Instead, players get daily income from workplaces in the city. Transportation networks have been reduced to dirt roads, paved roads, subways and bus stops. Players do not build zones, a key element of past SimCity games; instead, they have the ability to directly place individual buildings, something not seen in previous editions, and similar to Monte Cristo's game City Life. There are also six "social energies", called societal values, which allow players to learn about the characteristics of the citizens. The six societal values are productivity, prosperity, creativity, spirituality, authority, and knowledge. The city will look, and act, in accordance with the energies the players choose. Players may focus on satisfying one, several, or all of these values. An improved version of the reward system introduced in SimCity 2000 has been included in the game.
The game is "fully customizable" and allows the players to customize individual buildings, decorations, citizens, and game rules. Prior to its release, when mentioning the depth to which the game will allow customization, a Tilted Mill representative stated that those who were proficient in C# and XML will have easy access to every asset of the game and that basic tools would be provided for building editing.
SimCity (2013)
SimCity's sixth major release was announced on March 5, 2012 for Windows and Mac OS X by Maxis at the "game changers" event. The game was released for Windows on March 5, 2013. A download-only Mac version was released in August 2013 available for digital download on Origin.
It was a dramatic departure from previous SimCity games, featuring full 3D graphics, online multiplayer gameplay, the new Glassbox engine, as well as many other feature and gameplay changes.
The game launch was plagued by connection errors for many users, and this aspect of the game was heavily criticized in user reviews. EA announced that they would offer a free game from their library to all those who bought SimCity as compensation for the problems, and they concurred that the way the launch had been set up was "dumb". As a result of this problem, Amazon temporarily stopped selling the game in the week after release.
EA came furthermore under fire, as the game as released in 2013 required an internet connection to even play the singleplayer mode; however, reports surfaced that the internet connection requirement could be easily removed. According to a blog post in October 2013 by Maxis Emeryville General Manager, Patrick Buechner, the team was considering an offline mode, which would allow for mod support. An offline mode for SimCity was subsequently made available by EA in March 2014.
SimCity 2013 was additionally criticized for its very small maximum city size of 4Â km2, one quarter the size of previous versions. EA has announced that they would not increase the city size in the near future.
Console versions
SimCity SNES
The SNES port of SimCity is very similar to the original edition, but has some unique features. Reward buildings can be built as they are given to a mayor, like a mayor's mansion and a casino. A monster that sometimes attacks cities or is released upon cities by their mayor is Bowser from the popular Nintendo game series, Super Mario Bros. (1985). When a player achieves megalopolis status they are gifted a Mario statue.
SimCity 64
Although general gameplay in SimCity 64 is much like SimCity 2000, the game's graphical textures and building tilesets are considerably different. However, the game provides several advanced features that were not seen in either SimCity 2000 or SimCity 3000 (1999), including the ability to view the city at night (now also available in SimCity 4), pedestrian level free-roaming of a city, and individual road vehicles and pedestrians (which could only be seen while in the free-roaming mode). Cities in the game are also presented in 3D hybrid graphics.
SimCity Creator
SimCity Creator is title for the Wii and Nintendo DS that was first announced on February 12, 2008, by Sims label president Nancy Smithalong with other upcoming EA Sim titles. The title features the ability to directly draw roads and train tracks on the ground using the pointer function of the Wii Remote, as well as several customizable themes for the city's buildings. It was released worldwide for the Wii in September 2008.
Portable and online versions
SimCity DS
SimCity DS is a heavily modified version of SimCity 3000. The game inherits SC3K's graphics, but makes use of the handheld's dual screen to display additional interfaces at once. System specific features are also prominent, such as the use of the systems' integrated microphone, which is used to blow out fires, and the touch screen, which is used to control the interface. Before beginning a city the player must first choose a location in the region, one of five different advisors and then sign the town charter using the touchscreen and stylus. The upper screen of the DS displays the city and the news ticker while the map, advisor, information and the buttons are shown on the touch screen.
SimCity DS features five advisors who help players make decisions in the game by providing recommendations and advice. As opposed to previous versions of SimCity, the player must choose only one advisor to help them when they sign the town charter. The different advisors include Mr. Maxis (A Will Wright cameo), Julie McSim, Ayako Tachibana, Kaishu Tachibana, Servo 3000 and a secret advisor named Alien.
There are also petitioners, many of whom are citizens of the players' cities, who request solutions to problems and changes to city policies, such as lowering tax rates or enacting an ordinance. They may also give the player rewards or request certain structures to be erected in the city.
SimCity DS 2
SimCity DS 2 is a game for the Nintendo DS video game console and is the sequel to SimCity DS. It was released in Japan on March 19, 2008, and was released in the West in September 2008 under the name SimCity Creator. The game introduces a new Challenge Mode that sees players guide their city through different historical periods. Because of this, it is also possible to create cities with a historical theme. For instance, the player can create a medieval city, or a pre-historic city.
SimCity iPhone
A version of SimCity 3000, known simply as SimCity, was released in 2008 for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This version lacks some of the greater details seen in the series. It is a simple version of the other games in the more recent SimCity series. It is no longer offered on the iTunes App Store.
SimCity Deluxe and SimCity Deluxe HD
SimCity Deluxe was released in July 2010 for iPhone as well as Android. It is an improved SimCity 3000 with SimCity 4 buildings. It has improved graphics and an improved interface over the earlier iPhone version of SimCity. On July 29, 2010, the game made its debut on the App Store for iPhone, iPod touch, and SimCity Deluxe HD for iPad. The version is considerably similar to the desktop version, however still lacking several of the key features seen on the desktop version such as God Mode and My Sim mode. This version is no longer available on Apple's iTunes App Store.
SimCity Deluxe for the Blackberry Playbook
This version of SimCity 4 for the Playbook was released on October 10, 2011. This is the same game initially released for the iPad, known as SimCity Deluxe HD.
SimCity Classic
SimCity Classic is an online browser-based version of the first SimCity. It was established in 2008 by Maxis.
SimCity BuildIt
SimCity BuildIt is a remake of SimCity 2013 for iOS and Android mobile devices. It is a freemium game, which means that the player can play without buying virtual currency, although they can use real money to speed up progress. It has 3D graphics and similar gameplay to the rest of the series, adding social media features to interact with other players.
Spin-offs
SimFarm
SimFarm was released in 1993 for DOS, Windows, and Mac and is a spinoff of SimCity. SimFarm focuses on developing a farm, allowing the player to plant crops and grow their farm.
Sim City: The Card Game
Sim City: The Card Game is a collectible card game based on the video game SimCity. It was released in 1995 by Mayfair Games. Several city expansions followed, adding location and politician cards from various cities including: Chicago, Washington, New York City, and Atlanta. A Toronto expansion was planned, but never released.
SimCopter
As the name suggests, SimCopter puts the player in the role of a helicopter pilot.
There are two modes of play: free mode and career mode. The free mode lets the player import and fly through cities of their own or any of the 30 cities supplied with the game. However, user cities sometimes need to be designed with SimCopter in mind, and most of the time the player must increase the number of police stations, fire stations, and hospitals to allow for speedier dispatches. The second modeâ€"the heart of the gameâ€"is the career mode. This puts the player in the shoes of a pilot doing various jobs around the city.
The game gained controversy when a designer inserted sprites of shirtless "himbos" (male bimbos) in Speedo trunks who hugged and kissed each other, who appear in great numbers from time to time. Their fluorescent nipples were drawn with a special rendering mode usually reserved for fog-piercing runway landing lights, so they could easily be seen from long distances in bad weather. An unintended emergent behavior of the code caused hundreds of himbos to swarm and crowd around the helicopter, where they would be slashed up by the blades, and then need to be air-lifted to the hospitalâ€"which earned the player easy money. The easter egg was caught shortly after release and removed from future copies of the game.
Streets of SimCity
Streets of SimCity is a 1997 racing and vehicular combat computer game published by Maxis. One of the game's main attractions was the ability to explore any cities created in SimCity 2000 by car in a cinematic style. The game, like SimCopter, is in full 3D and the player's vehicle can be controlled using a keyboard, a joystick, or a gamepad. Another notable feature is the game's network mode, in which players can play deathmatches with up to seven other individuals. Notably, it is one of the few games in the Maxis series that Will Wright did not work on, and the last Maxis game to be developed and released without supervision by Electronic Arts (which acquired Maxis in 1997 and assisted development of Maxis games thereafter).
SimsVille
SimsVille was intended as a crossover spinoff of The Sims and SimCity, which would have allowed the player to build the city, as well as make sims and play them. The game was supposed to be released in late 2001; however in September 2001, Maxis announced they had cancelled it, along with SimMars, to focus on the future of The Sims expansions, as well as The Sims 2.
See also
- MetroQuest
- List of city-building video games
References
External links
- Official website