Hi everyone! As you can imagine, SimCity like many other games has a cool story behind. So let's get to know it a bit before we start commenting on the features of this first game.

History

The process of creating SimCity began in an "indie" way in 1985 by a guy named Will Wright. Will was educated in a Montessori school, and he recognizes that the special education he received influenced him in the creation of this game. He had published a game in 1984, Raid on Bungeling Bay, but the one that has made him famous, of course, it's SimCity.

Will created Maxis* with another man named Jeff Braun. They had to create their own company because the major companies of the time did not believe that a game that had no arcade features and no clear win/lose definite conditions could be successful. Only a company called Broderbund (who had published Will's previous game) had agreed to publish it for Commodore, but they wanted the game on more platforms and that's why they created Maxis.

At first, as these companies suspected, the game was not successful. But everything changed when the press started to test it and write very good reviews about it. It went from being a game that sold poorly to a bestseller.

One thing that both journalists and players were in complete agreement on was that the game helped to understand politics and economy in a very easy and fun way.

It was so successful that major companies from various industries asked Maxis to make their custom "Sim" games for them to use as training for their employees. Thus MBS or Maxis Business Simulations was born. Its most important (though unfinished) game was SimRefinery, created for the oil company Chevron. I can consider myself very fortunate to have tried it, very few have. But well, that is another story (which I will develop in depth another day).

I have decided to include here SimCity Classic, which is not the same as SimCity because the gameplay is the same, although some other things change.

Gameplay

It is simple nowadays, but it was very advanced for it's time.

It had no advisors as we know them nowadays (sometimes the past is better than the present), but there is a bar in which sometimes texts appear with small information about what to do.*

As you will see below it is a fully 2d game but it has got very cool animations, such as a dragon that flies around your castle (if you spend all of your budget on a castle, of course).

As old as it is, even in its first release it had bar graphs showing data, and the map view with the different data layers, such as crime or land value. It was also possible to adjust the budget, albeit in a more basic way.

It also had a small section with disasters, and the option to disable them. You could choose different speeds of the passage of time, just like in current games.

There is a sense in which I think it is even better than the current ones, and that is how, as the years go by, changes in the theme of the city and even in the language can be appreciated. 

After all this text I leave you with some screenshots of our city, El Progreso, and I will also put a link to a YouTube video (the video is not mine) in which there is more than 1 hour of gameplay, for those who want to watch it.

SimCity (1989)

Start screen

Zoning (there aren't different densities)

City with some houses and buildings already built

Budget screen

Polling screen (I hadn't inhabitants at the moment I took this screenshot, my fault)

SimCity Classic (1992)

Start screen

City (It's gray because it's supposed to be the moon)

The rest is mostly similar to SC 1989

As I promised, I made a ridiculous meme comparing my experience with these two games. Hope it's not too bad

YouTube video: https://youtu.be/b1j1lwq_YDc?si=XP8D39w_wtOJN9x_

Fun facts

*Fun fact 1: Will and Jeff decided to name their company using this two steps:

1. The name had to be random, meaningless

2. It had to contain atleast one of this letters: z,x,q

The one who came with Maxis was Jeff's father. Both Will and Jeff liked it and chose it.

*Fun fact 2:

The language used changes depending on the era you are in!

*Fun fact 3:

Did you notice? The famous RCI was called CRI in these two games. They changed it in SC2000 and it remained like that since then.

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As I always say, you are welcome to correct, ask or collaborate. Know that any contribution will be greatly appreciated by me and that I love reading your comments.

I obtained the information about the history of the game mostly from Wikipedia, although I also consulted some other sites.

All my gameplay comments are based on my personal experience. To all of you who kept reading, thank you. I hope it wasn't too boring.

Regards, "Cortana"