Born in the fire simulator#

Work started late in the morning and typically ran into the evening. Will wanted to make sure 'The Sims' in its embryonic state was protected from the craziness that was going on,' said Charles London, who joined Maxis in 1997 as a designer on 'The Sims.' There were a lot of staffing changes and the company culture was being changed dramatically. 'There was a lot of unrest at Maxis, post-acquisition. 'The Sims' team worked in isolation from the rest of Maxis, in small offices in San Mateo, a city that is part of the suburban sprawl between San Francisco and San Jose on the San Francisco peninsula. acquired Maxis in an all-stock deal then valued at US$125 million. In 1997, four years after 'The Sims' was conceived, Electronic Arts Inc. He is not the type of person to say that coming up with 'The Sims' was a great moment in his life, people who work with him said. There is not much tangible history behind 'The Sims.' There are hardly any design documents and Wright did not keep notes. Wright founded the company in 1987 with Jeff Braun, whom he met at a pizza party, after being unable to sell his original idea for another Sim game, 'SimCity,' to existing game publishers.

Born in the fire simulator#

With 'SimCity,' 'SimEarth,' 'SimAnt' and 'SimFarm,' Maxis in 1993 already had significant simulator experience.

Development started in 1993 on a game that would be about much more than building houses and that would become a blockbuster hit for Maxis.ДЄ development team of about four people, including Wright, worked on a prototype of 'The Sims.' Once the developers realized 'The Sims' could be a people simulator, they took it beyond an architecture-and-building application. Having to rebuild his home from the ground up, furnishing and decorating it gave him an idea for a game where players could do the same. Wright drew inspiration out of the tragedy. In its path, the fire across the bay from San Francisco destroyed many homes, including that of Will Wright, co-founder and chief designer at game studio Maxis Inc. A large fire blazed through the Oakland Hills in 1991.