2000 Maxis
Platforms: Apple Macintosh and PC
As part of the launch and release of The Games That Weren’t book, we are adding assets and content that didn’t make it to print as bonus DLC content to share with you.
Within the book is an in-depth and detailed 12 page story about the unreleased SimMars by Maxis. We discuss the history of the development with lead gameplay engineer Jason Shankel, systems engineer Alex Zvenigorodsky, artist and designer B.J. West and associate producer Dan Brazelton, talking about the trials and tribulations, but also the pure excitement and enthusiasm there was within the team producing the game.
Ultimately, the arrival of a new title called “The Sims” would change the course of direction for Maxis and Electronic Arts, leaving SimMars left on the shelf and never to be returned to. A tragic shame for Maxis fans, who would have to later make do with an unofficial SimCity 4 SimMars mod instead.
Although builds of the game are confirmed to still exist, the team didn’t wish to push anything out and risk upsetting EA. It is hoped that something some day will sneak out.
Instead, whilst producing the book – we were kindly provided a few assets showing how the game was going to look, including some of the rendered buildings and vehicles. Not all of these could be included in the book, so here they are all are, along with a short video clip animation of one of the ships, and other various screens collected during our research. Enjoy!
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