October 13 11:32 A.M.
Sims on Mars? It almost happened.
Ever wonder what renowned Sim City developer Maxis would have gone on to make, if its colossal hit The Sims had never materialized?
A rare glimpse into the early game design process was revealed this week by former Maxis artist Ward Moore, who released a handful of concept art for two now-canceled Maxis projects: SimCastle and SimMars.
SimCastle was to have been a kid-friendly medieval-themed game -- but SimMars, foreshadowing modern NASA plans, was planned as a realistic simulation of the challenges facing Martian colonists.
"Aesthetics revolved around the real world constraints of habitats and supplies being packaged and arriving in a chemical propelled rockets, arriving on the martian surface, after which they endure the corrosive effects of wind and radiation. Bots and Rovers are the preferred method of maintenance and travel. Coordinating assets and creatively recycling existing material creates martian civilizations."
The Sims would go on to become the best-selling PC franchise of all time, shifting in excess of 100 million copies and spawning a vast stable of spin-offs and sequels. Would SimMars have done so well? Somehow, we rather doubt it -- but a game with the personalities of The Sims and the management concepts of SimMars would have been quite an achievement.
Via ShackNews.
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Posted: 13 Oct 2009
