Lux Capital reposted this
How did Cold War nuclear game theory developed at MIT in the 1950s and 1960s ultimately transform video games in the 1980s and 1990s? It’s the story of SimCity, inspired by 📖 “Building SimCity: How to Put the World in a Machine” 🧵 2/ SimCity begins with Will Wright, who was working on another game called “Raid on Bungeling Bay.” While working on this game, Wright discovered that he enjoyed building the game’s level editor as much as playing the game itself. 3/ Development of the original SimCity began in 1985 for the Commodore 64 under the working title “Micropolis.” Wright faced significant challenges in pitching the game to publishers because the concept of an open-ended game with no win or loss conditions was unprecedented. 3/ Major publishers declined to publish Micropolis, considering it too unconventional. Eventually, Wright partnered with Jeff Braun, and together they founded the storied gaming studio Maxis. 4/ SimCity was finally released in 1989 for the Amiga and Mac, followed by the IBM PC and Commodore 64. The real breakthrough happened in 1993 with the release of SimCity 2000, which was a hit and sold millions of copies worldwide. 5/ What made SimCity unique was its open-ended gameplay: Unlike traditional games with victory conditions and endings, players built their cities in SimCity without any directed goals. Nor did the game end at some pre-determined time. 6/ The key design challenge for Will Wright and the Maxis team was how to model an abstraction of a city capable of running on consumer hardware and that remained fun to boot. 7/ Wright drew inspiration for SimCity from diverse domains, including urban planning theories, Conway’s Game of Life and cellular automata, as well as stories like Stanisław Lem’s “The Seventh Sally.” 8/ SimCity incorporated principles of system dynamics, a methodology developed by Jay Forrester at MIT, which modeled cities and economies as dynamic systems. This approach added a layer of realism and complexity to the game, making the city’s development and management feel authentic 9/ The development of SimCity coincided with advancements in graphical user interfaces (GUI), particularly on the Macintosh platform. Wright’s use of GUI conventions and tools like MacPaint allowed for a more intuitive and engaging user experience . 10/ Thread inspired by The Orthogonal Bet Podcast episode with Chaim Gingold, author of “Building SimCity: How to Put the World in a Machine” 🔊 https://bit.ly/3VRfRUD
