Rock, Paper, Shotgun

A mere 19 years after its release, the original Sim City source code is now completely free. And not just money-free, but proper free, the code released under the GNU General Product License.

In order to keep EA happy, the game’s name has been completely changed throughout, instead calling it by its working title, Micropolis. Apparently the ancient code has been tidied up for those wishing to mod and manipulate, and rather peculiarly, the plane crash disaster has been removed because of 9/11. (I’m fairly certain plane crashes were horrific before 9/11 as well, so I’m not quite sure why this was necessary. Earthquakes haven’t exactly proven themselves to be a party-time-fun of late, but they seem to survive the censorship. But nevermind.)

The motivation for getting the code was driven by the wonderful One Laptop Per Child project, which you can find out more about here.

Just spotted this on the ever-lovely Gamershell. Sim City Societies is a fascinating endeavour, as it’s a Sim game without any Maxis/Will Wright involvement, and it’s looking to make a clean break with the series’ chequered but always entertaining past.

This trailer strongly demonstrates that the focus is very different this time around, leaning on the individual buildings and overall aesthetic of your city more than its zone layout and efficiency. I’ve certainly a tinge of regret that the Sim City 2000 lineage seems to been have brutally curtailed, but, if this is going for the sort of self-expression that the Sims allows, it’s potentially very exciting.

I’m also amused that the first style nice-voiceover-lady suggests after saying “create the city that you want” isn’t a cheerful Simstown or rural paradise, but “a city of grim authoritarian oppression” – which rather suggests EA understands gamers more than it sometimes lets on. They know exactly what I’d do, anyway.