SimCity
Encyclopedia
SimCity is a critically acclaimed city-building
simulation video game, first released in 1989, and designed by Will Wright. SimCity was Maxis
' first product, which has since been ported into various personal computer
s and game consoles
, and spawned several sequels including SimCity 2000
in 1994, SimCity 3000
in 1999, SimCity 4
in 2003, SimCity DS
, and SimCity Societies
in 2007. The original SimCity was later renamed 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 spawned a series
of Sim games.
On January 10, 2008 the SimCity source code
was released under the free software
GPL 3 license under the name Micropolis.
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 SimCity was born. 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, 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in 1985, but it would not be published for another four years.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.
Two decades later, in January 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 program, as one of the principles of the OLPC laptop is the use of free and open source software. The open source version is 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. The Micropolis source code has been translated to C++
, integrated with Python
and interfaced with both GTK+
and OpenLaszlo
.
, 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 take many other actions, in order to enhance the city. Once able to construct buildings in a particular area, the too-small-to-see residents, known as Sims, may choose to construct and upgrade houses, apartment blocks, light or heavy industrial buildings, commercial buildings, hospitals, churches, and other structures. The Sims make these choices based on such factors as traffic levels, adequate electrical power, crime levels, and proximity to other types of buildings—for example, residential areas next to a power plant will seldom appreciate to the highest grade of housing.
Also, the player may face disaster
s including flood
ing, tornado
es, fire
s (often from air disasters
or even shipwreck
s), earthquake
s and attacks by monsters
. In addition, monsters and tornadoes can trigger train crashes
by running into passing trains. There was also a reported case of a very rare nuclear meltdown. Later disasters in the game's sequels included lightning
strikes, volcanoes, meteor
s and attack by extraterrestrial
craft. In the Super Nintendo
version and later, one can also build rewards when they are given to them, such as a mayor's mansion
or a casino
.
The original scenarios are:
The PC
version (IBM, Tandy compatible; on floppy disk
) , CD re-release, as well as the Amiga and Atari ST versions included two additional scenarios:
In addition, the later edition of SimCity on the Super NES
included the basics of these two scenarios in two, more difficult scenarios that were made available after a player had completed the original scenarios:
While the scenarios were meant to be solved strategically, many players discovered by dropping the tax rate to zero near the end of the allotted timespan, one could heavily influence public opinion and population growth. In scenarios such as San Francisco, where rebuilding and, by extension, maintaining population growth play a large part of the objective, this kind of manipulation can mean a relatively easy victory. Later titles in the series would take steps to prevent players from using the budget to influence the outcome of scenarios.
Also, several of the original scenarios, such as the Bern scenario, could be won simply by destroying the city, as they checked only one factor, in this case traffic. In the SNES version of the Boston Nuclear Meltdown Scenario, there was a bug, such that when you are pressing any button, nothing can happen in the game, effectively pausing the game but allowing you to build or take any other actions. In this manner, you can bulldoze all the nuclear power plants before any of them can explode, averting disaster. However, the cost of rebuilding the power infrastructure afterwards made winning the scenario even more difficult than normal if you used this tactic.
s, including the Amiga
, Atari ST
and DOS
-based IBM PC. After its success it was converted for several other computer platforms
and video game console
s, specifically the Commodore 64
, Macintosh
, Acorn Archimedes
, Amstrad CPC
, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro
, Acorn Electron
, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
(which was later released on Virtual Console
), EPOC32, mobile phone
, Internet
, Windows
, FM-Towns
, OLPC XO-1
and NeWS
HyperLook on Sun Unix
. The game is also available as a multiplayer version for X11
TCL
/Tk on various Unix
, Linux
, DESQview
and OS/2 operating systems. In addition, a version was developed in 1991 for the Nintendo Entertainment System
, but it was never released. Certain versions have since been re-released with various add-ons, including extra scenarios. An additional extra add on for the Windows version of SimCity Classic was a level editor. This editor could be opened without use of the SimCity Classic disc. The level editor is a simple tool that allows the user to create grasslands, dirt land, and water portions.
In 2007 the developer Don Hopkins
released a free
and open source
version of the original SimCity, renamed Micropolis
for trademark reasons, for the One Laptop per Child XO-1
.
features the same gameplay and scenario features; however, since it was developed and published by Nintendo
, the company incorporated their own ideas. Instead of the Godzilla monster disaster, Bowser of the Super Mario series becomes the attacking monster, and once the city reaches a landmark 500,000 populace, the player receives a Mario
statue that is placeable in the city. The Nintendo port also features special buildings the player may receive as rewards, similar to the rewards buildings in SimCity 2000. The game also includes schools and hospitals, though they can not be placed by the player. Instead, the game will sometimes turn an empty residential lot into one. There are also city classifications, such as becoming a metropolis at 100,000 people. Also unique to the SNES version is a character named "Dr. Wright" (whose physical appearance is based on Will Wright) who acts as an adviser to the player. The soundtrack to the Nintendo version was composed by Soyo Oka
. This edition is featured as Nintendo's Player's Choice
as a million seller.
In August 1996 a version of the game entitled BS Sim City Machizukuri Taikai was broadcast exclusively to Japanese players via the SNES's Satellaview
subsystem. Later, an official Japan-only sequel titled SimCity 64
was released for the Japan-only Nintendo 64
add-on, the Nintendo 64DD
.
For other Sim games, see the list of Sim games.
In addition, SimCity won the Origins Award
for "Best Military or Strategy Computer Game" of 1989 in 1990, and the multiplayer X11
version of the game was also nominated in 1992 as the Best Product of the Year in Unix World. SimCity was named #4 "Ten Greatest PC Game Ever" by PC World
in 2009. It was named one of the sixteen most influential games in history at Telespiele, a German technology and games trade show, in 2007. It was named #11 on IGN
's 2009 "Top 25 PC Games of All Time" list.
The SimCity Terrain Editor was reviewed in 1989 in Dragon
#147 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the expansion 4 out of 5 stars.
The ZX Spectrum version was voted number 4 in the Your Sinclair
Readers' Top 100 Games of All Time.
, SimFarm
, SimTown
, Streets of SimCity
, SimCopter
, SimAnt
, SimLife
, SimIsle
, SimTower
, SimPark
, SimSafari
, and The Sims
, as well as the unreleased SimsVille
and SimMars
. They also obtained license
s for some titles developed in Japan
, such as SimTower
and Let's Take The A-Train (just called A-Train
outside of Japan). A recent development is The Sims
, and its sequels, The Sims 2
and The Sims 3
. Spore
, released in 2008, was originally going to be titled "SimEverything" a name that Will Wright thought might accurately describe what he was trying to achieve. SimCity yielded seven sequels:
A fifth SimCity was revealed by Electronic Arts
chief financial officer Warren Jenson in 2007. The title of the game is SimCity Societies
and it was released worldwide on 13 November 2007. Societies has a larger focus on the city's inhabitants rather than on its architecture. Since Will Wright was busy with Spore and SimCity 4 was deemed too complex by some, Tilted Mill was given the task by EA to create SimCity Societies.
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 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.
The series also spawned a SimCity collectible card game
, produced by Mayfair Games
.
, candidate Herman Cain
's 9-9-9 taxation proposal was widely attributed to a similar tax structure presented in SimCity 4; the CNBC
cable networks relayed the story of the linkage of the SimCity ideal parameters as a possible origin of the taxation proposal (the story itself may have originated in the technical press). However, in SimCity 4, the default tax rates are actually initially the following:
and SimCity's taxation schemes have not and do not fully reflect real world taxation systems; the game was not designed with tax system simulation in mind.
City-building game
City-building games are a genre of strategy computer game where players act as the overall planner and leader of a city, looking down on it from above, and being responsible for its growth and management...
simulation video game, first released in 1989, and designed by Will Wright. SimCity was Maxis
Maxis
Maxis is an American company founded as an independent video game developer in 1987. It is currently a subsidiary of Electronic Arts . Maxis is the creator of one of the best-selling computer games of all time, The Sims and its first sequel, The Sims 2...
' first product, which has since been ported into various personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s and game consoles
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
, and spawned several sequels including SimCity 2000
SimCity 2000
SimCity 2000 is a simulation/city building video game and the second installment in the SimCity series. SimCity 2000 was first released by Maxis in 1994 for computers running Apple Macintosh Operating System...
in 1994, SimCity 3000
SimCity 3000
SimCity 3000 is a city building simulation personal computer game and the third major installment in the SimCity series. It was published by Electronic Arts and developed by series creator Maxis, a wholly owned subsidiary of EA...
in 1999, SimCity 4
SimCity 4
SimCity 4 is a city-building/urban planning simulation computer game developed by Maxis, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. It was released on January 14, 2003. It is the fourth installment in the SimCity series. SimCity 4 has a single expansion pack called Rush Hour which adds features to the game...
in 2003, SimCity DS
SimCity DS
SimCity DS is a city building and management computer game and the first Nintendo DS installment in the SimCity series. It was published by Electronic Arts and developed by the AKI Corporation and EA Japan.-Gameplay:...
, and SimCity Societies
SimCity Societies
SimCity Societies received mixed reviews. GameZone praised the game's increased accessibility and less "sterile" gameplay compared to previous titles in the SimCity series, and Game Informer concluded that the changes to the gameplay were "inventive"...
in 2007. The original SimCity was later renamed SimCity Classic. Until the release of The Sims
The Sims
The Sims is a strategic life-simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. Its development was led by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity...
in 2000, the SimCity series was the best-selling line of computer games made by Maxis. SimCity spawned a series
SimCity (series)
SimCity is an open-ended city-building computer and console video game series and the brainchild of developer Will Wright. It is published by Maxis . The game was first published in 1989 as SimCity, and it has spawned several different editions sold worldwide...
of Sim games.
On January 10, 2008 the SimCity source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
was released under the free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
GPL 3 license under the name Micropolis.
History
Raid on Bungeling Bay
Raid on Bungeling Bay was the first video game designed by Will Wright. It was published by Brøderbund for the Commodore 64 in 1984 and the NES and MSX computers in 1985...
that allowed Wright to create his own maps during development. Wright soon found he enjoyed creating maps more than playing the actual game, and SimCity was born. While developing SimCity, Wright cultivated a real love of the intricacies and theories of urban planning and acknowledges the influence of System Dynamics
System dynamics
System dynamics is an approach to understanding the behaviour of complex systems over time. It deals with internal feedback loops and time delays that affect the behaviour of the entire system. What makes using system dynamics different from other approaches to studying complex systems is the use...
which was developed by Jay Wright Forrester
Jay Wright Forrester
Jay Wright Forrester is a pioneer American computer engineer, systems scientist and was a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Forrester is known as the founder of System Dynamics, which deals with the simulation of interactions between objects in dynamic systems.- Biography :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, 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
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
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
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
did not believe it was possible to market and sell such a game successfully. Brøderbund
Brøderbund
Brøderbund Software, Inc. was an American maker of computer games, educational software and The Print Shop productivity tools. It was best known as the original creator and publisher of the popular Carmen Sandiego games. The company was founded in Eugene, Oregon, but moved to San Rafael,...
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
Jeff Braun
Jeff Braun is an American computer game producer and co-founder of the video game developer Maxis.Braun had successfully published font packs for the Amiga personal computer when he met Will Wright at a pizza party hosted by Chris Doner in 1987. Wright had been unsuccessful in finding a game...
of then-tiny Maxis
Maxis
Maxis is an American company founded as an independent video game developer in 1987. It is currently a subsidiary of Electronic Arts . Maxis is the creator of one of the best-selling computer games of all time, The Sims and its first sequel, The Sims 2...
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
Don Daglow
Don Daglow is an American computer game and video game designer, programmer and producer. He is best known for designing a series of pioneering simulation games and role-playing games, as well as the first computer baseball game and the first graphical MMORPG, all between 1971 and 1995...
saw that the title was infectious and fun, and signed Maxis
Maxis
Maxis is an American company founded as an independent video game developer in 1987. It is currently a subsidiary of Electronic Arts . Maxis is the creator of one of the best-selling computer games of all time, The Sims and its first sequel, The Sims 2...
to a distribution deal for both of its initial games. With that, four years after initial development, SimCity was released for the Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
and Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
platforms, followed by the IBM PC and Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
later in 1989.
Two decades later, in January 2008, the SimCity source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
was released under the free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
GPL 3 license. The release of the source code was related to the donation of SimCity software to the One Laptop Per Child program, as one of the principles of the OLPC laptop is the use of free and open source software. The open source version is 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. The Micropolis source code has been translated to C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
, integrated with Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
and interfaced with both GTK+
GTK+
GTK+ is a cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces. It is licensed under the terms of the GNU LGPL, allowing both free and proprietary software to use it. It is one of the most popular toolkits for the X Window System, along with Qt.The name GTK+ originates from GTK;...
and OpenLaszlo
OpenLaszlo
OpenLaszlo is an open source platform for the development and delivery of rich Internet applications. It is released under the Open Source Initiative-certified Common Public License ....
.
Objective
The objective of SimCity, as the name of the game suggests, is to build and design a cityCity
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
, without specific goals to achieve (except in the scenarios, see below). The player can mark land as being zoned
Zoning
Zoning is a device of land use planning used by local governments in most developed countries. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another...
as commercial
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
, industrial
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
, or residential, add buildings, change the tax
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
rate, build a power grid, build transportation systems and take many other actions, in order to enhance the city. Once able to construct buildings in a particular area, the too-small-to-see residents, known as Sims, may choose to construct and upgrade houses, apartment blocks, light or heavy industrial buildings, commercial buildings, hospitals, churches, and other structures. The Sims make these choices based on such factors as traffic levels, adequate electrical power, crime levels, and proximity to other types of buildings—for example, residential areas next to a power plant will seldom appreciate to the highest grade of housing.
Also, the player may face disaster
Disaster
A disaster is a natural or man-made hazard that has come to fruition, resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment...
s including flood
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
ing, tornado
Tornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
es, fire
Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....
s (often from air disasters
Aviation accidents and incidents
An aviation accident is defined in the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft which takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight and all such persons have disembarked, in which a...
or even shipwreck
Shipwreck
A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....
s), earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
s and attacks by monsters
Godzilla
is a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games,...
. In addition, monsters and tornadoes can trigger train crashes
Train wreck
A train wreck or train crash is a type of disaster involving one or more trains. Train wrecks often occur as a result of miscommunication, as when a moving train meets another train on the same track; or an accident, such as when a train wheel jumps off a track in a derailment; or when a boiler...
by running into passing trains. There was also a reported case of a very rare nuclear meltdown. Later disasters in the game's sequels included lightning
Lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
strikes, volcanoes, meteor
METEOR
METEOR is a metric for the evaluation of machine translation output. The metric is based on the harmonic mean of unigram precision and recall, with recall weighted higher than precision...
s and attack by extraterrestrial
Extraterrestrial life in popular culture
In popular cultures, "extraterrestrials" are life forms — especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin .-Historical ideas:-Pre-modern:...
craft. In the Super Nintendo
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
version and later, one can also build rewards when they are given to them, such as a mayor's mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
or a casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
.
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 scenarios were an addition suggested by Brøderbund in order to make SimCity more like a game. 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 are:
- Bern, 1965 – The SwissSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
capital is clogged with trafficTraffic congestionTraffic congestion is a condition on road networks that occurs as use increases, and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. The most common example is the physical use of roads by vehicles. When traffic demand is great enough that the interaction...
; the mayor needs to reduce traffic and improve the city by installing a mass transit system. - BostonBostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, 2010 – The city's nuclear power plantNuclear power plantA nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.Nuclear power plants are usually...
suffers a meltdownNuclear meltdownNuclear meltdown is an informal term for a severe nuclear reactor accident that results in core damage from overheating. The term is not officially defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency or by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission...
, incinerating 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 – CrimeCrimeCrime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
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) and the 1970's economic recession. - Rio de JaneiroRio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, 2047 – Coastal flooding resulted from global warmingGlobal warmingGlobal warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
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 very high crime rates. - San FranciscoSan Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, 1906 – An earthquakeEarthquakeAn earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
hits the city, the mayor must control the subsequent damage, fires and rebuild. The scenario references the 1906 San Francisco earthquake1906 San Francisco earthquakeThe San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
. - TokyoTokyo, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, 1961 – The city is attacked by a GodzillaGodzillais a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games,...
-type monster (Bowser in the SNES version). The mayor needs to limit the damage and rebuild. The scenario is strongly based on the original series of Godzilla filmsGodzilla (film series)Original movie poster for [[Godzilla |Godzilla]].|thumb is a popular series of giant monster films featuring the character Godzilla. Starting in 1954, the Godzilla series has become one of the longest running film series in movie history....
.
The PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
version (IBM, Tandy compatible; on floppy disk
Floppy disk
A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
) , CD re-release, as well as the Amiga and Atari ST versions included two additional scenarios:
- HamburgHamburg-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, 1944 – Bombing, where the mayor has to govern the city during the closing years of World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and rebuild it later. This scenario references the bombing of Hamburg in World War IIBombing of Hamburg in World War IIThe Allied bombing of Hamburg during World War II included numerous strategic bombing missions and diversion/nuisance raids. As a large port and industrial center, Hamburg's shipyards, U-boat pens, and the Hamburg-Harburg area oil refineries were attacked throughout the war...
. - Dullsville, USAUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, 1910 – 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.
In addition, the later edition of SimCity on the Super NES
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
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 VegasLas Vegas, NevadaLas Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, 2096 – 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, 1991 – 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 delineations between city sizes, particularly metropolis and megalopolis. In the center of Freeland is a series of trees that form the familiar head of MarioMariois a fictional character in his video game series, created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as Nintendo's mascot and the main protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation...
. However, as with all scenarios, the player is unable to build any of the reward buildings from the normal game.
While the scenarios were meant to be solved strategically, many players discovered by dropping the tax rate to zero near the end of the allotted timespan, one could heavily influence public opinion and population growth. In scenarios such as San Francisco, where rebuilding and, by extension, maintaining population growth play a large part of the objective, this kind of manipulation can mean a relatively easy victory. Later titles in the series would take steps to prevent players from using the budget to influence the outcome of scenarios.
Also, several of the original scenarios, such as the Bern scenario, could be won simply by destroying the city, as they checked only one factor, in this case traffic. In the SNES version of the Boston Nuclear Meltdown Scenario, there was a bug, such that when you are pressing any button, nothing can happen in the game, effectively pausing the game but allowing you to build or take any other actions. In this manner, you can bulldoze all the nuclear power plants before any of them can explode, averting disaster. However, the cost of rebuilding the power infrastructure afterwards made winning the scenario even more difficult than normal if you used this tactic.
Ports and versions
SimCity was originally released for home computerHome computer
Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user...
s, including the Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
, Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
and DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
-based IBM PC. After its success it was converted for several other computer platforms
Platform (computing)
A computing platform includes some sort of hardware architecture and a software framework , where the combination allows software, particularly application software, to run...
and video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
s, specifically the Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
, Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
, Acorn Archimedes
Acorn Archimedes
The Acorn Archimedes was Acorn Computers Ltd's first general purpose home computer to be based on their own ARM architecture.Using a RISC design with a 32-bit CPU, at its launch in June 1987, the Archimedes was stated as running at 4 MIPS, with a claim of 18 MIPS during tests.The name is commonly...
, Amstrad CPC
Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...
, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro
BBC Micro
The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, was a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers for the BBC Computer Literacy Project, operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation...
, Acorn Electron
Acorn Electron
The Acorn Electron is a budget version of the BBC Micro educational/home computer made by Acorn Computers Ltd. It has 32 kilobytes of RAM, and its ROM includes BBC BASIC along with its operating system....
, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
(which was later released on Virtual Console
Virtual console
A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux, and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...
), EPOC32, mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
, Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, FM-Towns
FM Towns
The FM Towns system is a Japanese PC variant, built by Fujitsu from February 1989 to the summer of 1997. It started as a proprietary PC variant intended for multimedia applications and PC games, but later became more compatible with regular PCs...
, OLPC XO-1
OLPC XO-1
The XO-1, previously known as the $100 Laptop, Children's Machine, and 2B1, is an inexpensive subnotebook computer intended to be distributed to children in developing countries around the world, to provide them with access to knowledge, and opportunities to "explore, experiment and express...
and NeWS
NeWS
NeWS was a windowing system developed by Sun Microsystems in the mid 1980s. Originally known as "SunDew", its primary authors were James Gosling and David S. H. Rosenthal...
HyperLook on Sun Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
. The game is also available as a multiplayer version for X11
X Window System
The X window system is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a basis for graphical user interfaces and rich input device capability for networked computers...
TCL
Tcl
Tcl is a scripting language created by John Ousterhout. Originally "born out of frustration", according to the author, with programmers devising their own languages intended to be embedded into applications, Tcl gained acceptance on its own...
/Tk on various Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, DESQview
DESQview
DESQview was a text mode multitasking program developed by Quarterdeck Office Systems which enjoyed modest popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s...
and OS/2 operating systems. In addition, a version was developed in 1991 for the Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
, but it was never released. Certain versions have since been re-released with various add-ons, including extra scenarios. An additional extra add on for the Windows version of SimCity Classic was a level editor. This editor could be opened without use of the SimCity Classic disc. The level editor is a simple tool that allows the user to create grasslands, dirt land, and water portions.
In 2007 the developer Don Hopkins
Don Hopkins
Don Hopkins is an artist and programmer specializing in human computer interaction and computer graphics.He inspired Richard Stallman, who described him as a "very imaginative fellow", to use the term copyleft. He coined Deep Crack as the name of the EFF DES cracker, and built "AJAXian"...
released a free
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
and open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
version of the original SimCity, renamed Micropolis
Micropolis (software)
Micropolis is a city-building sim game developed by Don Hopkins. It is based on the original source code of SimCity, which was donated to the One Laptop per Child project by Electronic Arts as free and open source software under the terms of the GNU General Public License in 2008.Micropolis is...
for trademark reasons, for the One Laptop per Child XO-1
OLPC XO-1
The XO-1, previously known as the $100 Laptop, Children's Machine, and 2B1, is an inexpensive subnotebook computer intended to be distributed to children in developing countries around the world, to provide them with access to knowledge, and opportunities to "explore, experiment and express...
.
Super NES variation
SimCity for the Super Nintendo Entertainment SystemSuper Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
features the same gameplay and scenario features; however, since it was developed and published by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
, the company incorporated their own ideas. Instead of the Godzilla monster disaster, Bowser of the Super Mario series becomes the attacking monster, and once the city reaches a landmark 500,000 populace, the player receives a Mario
Mario
is a fictional character in his video game series, created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as Nintendo's mascot and the main protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation...
statue that is placeable in the city. The Nintendo port also features special buildings the player may receive as rewards, similar to the rewards buildings in SimCity 2000. The game also includes schools and hospitals, though they can not be placed by the player. Instead, the game will sometimes turn an empty residential lot into one. There are also city classifications, such as becoming a metropolis at 100,000 people. Also unique to the SNES version is a character named "Dr. Wright" (whose physical appearance is based on Will Wright) who acts as an adviser to the player. The soundtrack to the Nintendo version was composed by Soyo Oka
Soyo Oka
is a Japanese composer, musician and author, formerly employed by Nintendo. She is best recognized for her video game soundtracks during the 1980s and 1990s.-Biography:Oka was born in Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan...
. This edition is featured as Nintendo's Player's Choice
Player's Choice
Nintendo Selects is a marketing label used by Nintendo to promote video games on Nintendo game consoles which have sold well; Nintendo Selects titles are sold at a lower price point than other games...
as a million seller.
In August 1996 a version of the game entitled BS Sim City Machizukuri Taikai was broadcast exclusively to Japanese players via the SNES's Satellaview
Satellaview
The is a satellite modem add-on for Nintendo's Super Famicom system that was released in Japan in 1995. Available for pre-release orders as early as February 13, 1995, the Satellaview retailed for between ¥14,000 and 18,000 and came bundled with the BS-X Game Pak and an 8M Memory Pak.The...
subsystem. Later, an official Japan-only sequel titled SimCity 64
SimCity 64
is a city-building video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64DD. The game and this peripheral were released exclusively in Japan...
was released for the Japan-only Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
add-on, the Nintendo 64DD
Nintendo 64DD
The is a peripheral for the Nintendo 64 game console. It plugged into the N64 through the EXTension Port on the Nintendo 64's underside, and allowed the N64 to use proprietary 64 MB magneto-optical discs for expanded data storage...
.
Comparison of different versions
| Detailed information about ports of SimCity Classic | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform | Version – Release date | Comments | |
| Amiga | V.1.0 – | Alongside SimCity for the Macintosh, this was the first and original version of SimCity. It ran on any Amiga with at least 512 kilobytes of memory, and was distributed on a single floppy disk. | |
| V.2.0 | This version has been enhanced with the ability to switch tile sets. A tile set consists of all the images the game uses to draw the city, and by changing the tile set one can give the city a different look and feel. Because of this new functionality, SimCity 2 requires at least 1MB of memory, twice that of the original version. |
||
| Amiga CDTV | To make the game more pleasant to play when viewed on a distant television, this version of the game shows a closer view of the city. Other changes includes a user interface more suited for use from the CDTV's remote control, use Red Book Audio for music, and the addition of three scenarios. | ||
| Amstrad CPC | V.1.0 – Sim City Amstrad CPC | ||
| Atari ST | V.1.0 – Sim City Atari ST | This version features scenarios but has no music and the game's graphics are less colorful than the graphics of the Amiga version 2.0. | |
| BBC Micro Acorn Electron |
V.1.0 – | ||
| Commodore 64 | V.1.0 – | This version lacks police/fire stations, stadiums, railways and disasters. It also forgoes the stat screen useful for evaluating the city's development. The player can select between eight scenarios or on randomly generated terrain. | |
| Macintosh | V.1.0 – | Features high resolution monochrome graphics. | |
| PC | MS-DOS – | Features high resolution EGA graphics and PC speaker audio. | |
| CD-ROM – | Released by Interplay Interplay Entertainment Interplay Entertainment Corporation is an American video game developer and publisher, founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by Brian Fargo. The company had been a quality developer until they started publishing their own games in 1988, like Neuromancer and Battle Chess. The company was renamed... for DOS DOS DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related... , it featured 256-color graphics and added live-action video. |
||
| Windows – | |||
| Super NES | |
Published by Nintendo under license by Maxis, the SNES version of SimCity had additional features not found in the original SimCity, including graphics changing to match the seasons (trees are green in summer, turn rusty brown in the fall, white in the winter, and bloom as cherry blossoms in the spring), 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. 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 style of the buildings also resemble those in Japan rather than those of North America in Western releases. A Nintendo Entertainment System Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987... port was also planned, but was cancelled. Nintendo also put their stamp on the game, with the most dangerous disaster being Bowser King Bowser Bowser, also known as King Koopa, is a video game character and the primary antagonist of Nintendo's Mario series. In Japan, the character is known as and bears the title of .... attack on a city (in place of a generic movie-type monster), and a Mario Mario is a fictional character in his video game series, created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as Nintendo's mascot and the main protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation... statue awarded once a Megalopolis level (misspelled Megaropolis in game) of 500,000 inhabitants is reached. The SNES version of SimCity has been released for the Wii Wii The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others... 's Virtual Console Virtual console A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux, and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between... service. |
|
| ZX Spectrum | V.1.0 – 1989 | Has all the features (such as scenarios, crime, and disasters) of later versions of the game, only with much more limited sound and graphics. | |
Footnotes:
|
|||
For other Sim games, see the list of Sim games.
Critical acclaim
SimCity was critically acclaimed and received significant recognition within a year after its initial release. As of December 1990 (from a Maxis document by Sally Vandershaf, Maxis P.R. Coordinator) the game was reported to have won the following awards:
|
Video Games & Computer Entertainment VideoGames & Computer Entertainment was an American magazine dedicated to covering video games on computers, home consoles and arcades... . Charles S. Roberts Award The Charles S. Roberts Awards are given annually for excellence in the historical wargaming hobby. It is named after Charles S. Roberts the "Father of Wargaming" who founded Avalon Hill. The award is informally called a "Charlie" and officially called a "Charles S... . |
In addition, SimCity won the Origins Award
Origins Award
The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so the 1979 awards were given at the 1980 Origins.The Origins Award is commonly...
for "Best Military or Strategy Computer Game" of 1989 in 1990, and the multiplayer X11
X Window System
The X window system is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a basis for graphical user interfaces and rich input device capability for networked computers...
version of the game was also nominated in 1992 as the Best Product of the Year in Unix World. SimCity was named #4 "Ten Greatest PC Game Ever" by PC World
PC World (magazine)
PC World is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal-technology products and services...
in 2009. It was named one of the sixteen most influential games in history at Telespiele, a German technology and games trade show, in 2007. It was named #11 on IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's 2009 "Top 25 PC Games of All Time" list.
The SimCity Terrain Editor was reviewed in 1989 in Dragon
Dragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#147 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the expansion 4 out of 5 stars.
The ZX Spectrum version was voted number 4 in the Your Sinclair
Your Sinclair
Your Sinclair or YS as it was commonly abbreviated, was a British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum.-History:...
Readers' Top 100 Games of All Time.
Legacy
The subsequent success of SimCity speaks for itself: "Sim" games of all types were developed with Will Wright and Maxis developing myriad titles including SimEarthSimEarth
SimEarth: The Living Planet, the second life simulation computer game designed by Will Wright in which the player controls the development of a planet. The game was published in 1990 by Maxis...
, SimFarm
SimFarm
SimFarm: SimCity's Country Cousin, developed by Maxis in 1993, is a computer game in which players build and manage a virtual farm. As the title suggests it is the country cousin to the SimCity series.- Gameplay :...
, SimTown
SimTown
SimTown is a 1995 personal computer game published by Maxis, much like the best selling SimCity and Sims but on a smaller scale. SimTown allows the player to construct a town consisting of streets, houses, businesses and parks and then control the people in it...
, Streets of SimCity
Streets of SimCity
-External links:* *...
, SimCopter
SimCopter
SimCopter is a 1996 computer game from Maxis. This game is a 3D offshoot from Maxis's normal fare, putting the player into a 3D city. Like Streets of SimCity, SimCopter lets the user import SimCity 2000 maps into the game.- Objective :...
, SimAnt
SimAnt
SimAnt: The Electronic Ant Colony is a 1991 life simulation computer game by Maxis and Maxis' Third Product, focusing on ants. It was designed by Will Wright, maker of other 'Sim' games such as SimCity and The Sims...
, SimLife
SimLife
SimLife: The Genetic Playground is a computer game produced by Maxis in 1992. The concept of the game is to simulate an ecosystem; players may modify the genetics of the plants and animals that inhabit the virtual world. The point of this game is to experiment and create a self sustaining...
, SimIsle
SimIsle
SimIsle: Missions in the Rainforest is a construction and management simulation game published by Maxis in 1995. It ranks among many commercially unsuccessful Maxis games produced in the 1990s between the various incarnations of SimCity...
, SimTower
SimTower
SimTower: The Vertical Empire is a construction and management simulation computer game developed by OPeNBooK Co., Ltd. and published by Maxis for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS 7 operating systems in November 1994. In Japan, it was published by OPeNBooK that same year and was later released for...
, SimPark
SimPark
SimPark is a 1996 video game by Maxis. The object of the game is to cultivate and manage a successful park. Similar to SimTown, it is targeted more towards children than the average gamer. SimPark attempts to show the importance of ecological balance...
, SimSafari
SimSafari
SimSafari is a construction and management simulation game almost identical to SimPark, except that the park is set in Africa rather than in North America, and therefore has African animals and plants. It was created by Maxis, partly as an educational tool for children to learn about environmental...
, and The Sims
The Sims
The Sims is a strategic life-simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. Its development was led by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity...
, as well as the unreleased SimsVille
Simsville
SimsVille is a cancelled 2001 game by Maxis. The game was to offer the user control of a multitude of houses in a neighborhood in a fashion similar to The Sims. The cancellation came as Maxis decided to apply more of its staff to development of The Sims products...
and SimMars
SimMars
SimMars was a strategy game in development at Maxis around the same time as the release of the wildly popular Maxis game, The Sims. A trailer for the game was included on the SimCity 3000 CD...
. They also obtained license
License
The verb license or grant licence means to give permission. The noun license or licence refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.A license may be granted by a party to another party as an element of an agreement...
s for some titles developed in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, such as SimTower
SimTower
SimTower: The Vertical Empire is a construction and management simulation computer game developed by OPeNBooK Co., Ltd. and published by Maxis for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS 7 operating systems in November 1994. In Japan, it was published by OPeNBooK that same year and was later released for...
and Let's Take The A-Train (just called A-Train
A-Train
is a series of Arcade train simulation video games, originally developed and published by Japanese game developer Artdink in Japan. The first game in the series was published in 1985. The first release in the United States was Take the A-Train II, published in 1989 by the Seika Corporation under...
outside of Japan). A recent development is The Sims
The Sims
The Sims is a strategic life-simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. Its development was led by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity...
, and its sequels, The Sims 2
The Sims 2
The Sims 2 is a strategic life simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to the best-selling computer game, The Sims, which debuted on February 4, 2000. It was first released on September 14, 2004 for Microsoft Windows. A port to Apple Mac OS X...
and The Sims 3
The Sims 3
The Sims 3 is a 2009 strategic life simulation computer game developed by The Sims Studio and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to the best-selling computer game, The Sims 2. It was first released on June 2, 2009 simultaneously for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows...
. Spore
Spore (2008 video game)
Spore is a multi-genre single-player god game developed by Maxis and designed by Will Wright. The game was released for the Microsoft Windows and Macintosh operating systems in September 2008 as Spore...
, released in 2008, was originally going to be titled "SimEverything" a name that Will Wright thought might accurately describe what he was trying to achieve. SimCity yielded seven sequels:
- SimCity 2000SimCity 2000SimCity 2000 is a simulation/city building video game and the second installment in the SimCity series. SimCity 2000 was first released by Maxis in 1994 for computers running Apple Macintosh Operating System...
(1993) - SimCity 3000SimCity 3000SimCity 3000 is a city building simulation personal computer game and the third major installment in the SimCity series. It was published by Electronic Arts and developed by series creator Maxis, a wholly owned subsidiary of EA...
(1999) - SimCity 4SimCity 4SimCity 4 is a city-building/urban planning simulation computer game developed by Maxis, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. It was released on January 14, 2003. It is the fourth installment in the SimCity series. SimCity 4 has a single expansion pack called Rush Hour which adds features to the game...
(2003) - SimCity DSSimCity DSSimCity DS is a city building and management computer game and the first Nintendo DS installment in the SimCity series. It was published by Electronic Arts and developed by the AKI Corporation and EA Japan.-Gameplay:...
(2007) - SimCity SocietiesSimCity SocietiesSimCity Societies received mixed reviews. GameZone praised the game's increased accessibility and less "sterile" gameplay compared to previous titles in the SimCity series, and Game Informer concluded that the changes to the gameplay were "inventive"...
(2007) - SimCity CreatorSimCity CreatorSimCity Creator is a video game in the Sim game series by Electronic Arts. It was released for the Wii in September 2008.-Overview:SimCity Creator follows the basic SimCity formula that sees players managing a city and placing residential, commercial, and industrial zones for buildings in addition...
(2008) - SimCity DS 2SimCity DS 2SimCity DS 2 is a city-building game for the Nintendo DS video game console. The follow-up to SimCity DS, it was released in Japan on March 19, 2008...
(2008) - SimCity Deluxe HD for iPad (2011)
- SimCity Deluxe for Android (2011)
- SimCity Deluxe HD for Blackberry Playbook (2011)
A fifth SimCity was revealed by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
chief financial officer Warren Jenson in 2007. The title of the game is SimCity Societies
SimCity Societies
SimCity Societies received mixed reviews. GameZone praised the game's increased accessibility and less "sterile" gameplay compared to previous titles in the SimCity series, and Game Informer concluded that the changes to the gameplay were "inventive"...
and it was released worldwide on 13 November 2007. Societies has a larger focus on the city's inhabitants rather than on its architecture. Since Will Wright was busy with Spore and SimCity 4 was deemed too complex by some, Tilted Mill was given the task by EA to create SimCity Societies.
SimCity inspired a new genre of video games. "Software toys" that were open-ended with no set objective were developed trying to duplicate SimCity
The Sims
The Sims is a strategic life-simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. Its development was led by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity...
, 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.
The series also spawned a SimCity collectible card game
Collectible card game
thumb|Players and their decksA collectible card game , also called a trading card game or customizable card game, is a game played using specially designed sets of playing cards...
, produced by Mayfair Games
Mayfair Games
Mayfair Games is a publisher of board, card, and roleplaying games. They also license German-style board games and publish them in English throughout the world...
.
In popular culture
During the Republican presidential primaries of 2012Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2012
The 2012 Republican presidential primaries are the selection processes in which voters of the Republican Party will choose their nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 presidential election. The primary contest began with a fairly wide field, and is the first presidential primary...
, candidate Herman Cain
Herman Cain
Herman Cain is a candidate for the 2012 U.S. Republican Party presidential nomination.Cain has a background as a business executive, syndicated columnist, and radio host from Georgia. He served as chairman and CEO of Godfather's Pizza from 1986 to 1996...
's 9-9-9 taxation proposal was widely attributed to a similar tax structure presented in SimCity 4; the CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
cable networks relayed the story of the linkage of the SimCity ideal parameters as a possible origin of the taxation proposal (the story itself may have originated in the technical press). However, in SimCity 4, the default tax rates are actually initially the following:
- 7% for commercial taxes.
- 7% for industrial taxes.
- 7% for residential taxes.
and SimCity's taxation schemes have not and do not fully reflect real world taxation systems; the game was not designed with tax system simulation in mind.
See also
- Construction and management simulation games
- Government simulationGovernment simulationA government simulation or political simulation is a game that attempts to simulate the government and politics of all or part of a nation. These games may include geopolitical situations , the creation of domestic political policies, or the simulation of political campaigns...
- Municipal government, the basis for SimCity.
- Micropolis (video game)
- LincityLincityLincity is a free construction and management simulation game, which puts the player in control of managing a city's socio-economy. Its name is a play on the title of the original city-building game, SimCity, and it was released under the GNU General Public License.- Gameplay :Lincity is a city and...
- Urban planningUrban planningUrban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
- Regional planningRegional planningRegional planning deals with the efficient placement of land use activities, infrastructure, and settlement growth across a larger area of land than an individual city or town. The related field of urban planning deals with the specific issues of city planning...
- The SimsThe SimsThe Sims is a strategic life-simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. Its development was led by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity...
External links
- Official SimCity website
- Official Nintendo Japan SimCity Super Famicom site
- SimCity Classic Live (Windows only, requires registration)
- SimCity.com Fansite Directory: Maxis's official and comprehensive SimCity fansite directory.
- Source code and binary from developer Don Hopkins's website