SimCity

SimCity was originally developed by game designer Will Wright. The inspiration for SimCity came from a feature of the game Raid on Bungeling Bay that allowed players to create their own maps. Wright soon found he enjoyed creating maps more than playing the actual game, and so began creating SimCity.

The game sparked off a new paradigm in computer gaming by creating a game that could neither be won nor lost. This did not bode well with the game publishers at the time, who did not forsee the possibility of successfully marketing and selling such a game. However, the success of SimCity speaks for itself: "Sim" games of all types were spawned—with Will Wright and Maxis developing a myriad of titles including SimEarth, SimFarm, SimTown, Streets of SimCity, SimCopter, SimAnt, SimIsle, SimPark, and SimMars, which was never released. They also obtained licenses for some titles developed in Japan, such as SimTower and Let's Take The A-Train (just called A-Train outside of Japan). The most recent development is The Sims, which has since gone on to become the most successful computer game of all time.

SimCity is predominantly a single-player game (the exception being a "Network Edition" of SimCity 2000). SimCity 4 also makes an attempt at multiplayer gaming with the ability to share regional maps and cities with other players, allowing you to collaborate, but not play in real time.

The objective of SimCity, as the name of the game suggests, is to build and design a city, without specific goals to achieve (except in the scenarios, which typically require the player to achieve a certain population or bank balance in a given period of time). The player can mark land as being zoned as commercial, industrial, or residential, add buildings, change the tax rate, build a power grid, build transportation systems and many other actions, in order to enhance the city. Also, the player can face disasters: flooding, tornadoes, fires, riots, earthquakes, etc. Later disasters included lightning strikes, volcanoes, meteors and attack by extra-terrestrial craft. In the Nintendo and later versions one can also build rewards when they are given to them, like the mayor's mansion and the casino for gambling sims.