Editing SimCity (1989 video game) (section)

==Development==
[[File:Micropolis - big city.png|left|thumb|A large developed city in ''Micropolis'' version (2007)]]
''SimCity'' was developed by [[game designer]] [[Will Wright (game designer)|Will Wright]]. While working on the game ''[[Raid on Bungeling Bay]]'', in which the player flies a helicopter dropping bombs on islands, Wright found he enjoyed designing the islands in the [[level editor]] rather than playing the actual game.<ref name="Keighley">{{cite web|url=http://www.gamespot.com/features/maxis/index.html |title=SIMply Divine |website=[[GameSpot]] |access-date=June 7, 2008 |first=Geoff |last=Keighley |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090204115211/http://www.gamespot.com/features/maxis/index.html |archive-date=February 4, 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> This led him to develop increasingly sophisticated level editors.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=75 Power Players|magazine=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]|issue=11|date=November 1995|page=54}}</ref> At the same time, Wright was cultivating a love of the intricacies and theories of urban planning<ref>{{cite web|title=Inside Scoop – The History of SimCity |url=http://simcity.ea.com/about/inside_scoop/sc_retrospective.php |publisher=Electronic Arts Inc |access-date=March 28, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710162034/http://simcity.ea.com/about/inside_scoop/sc_retrospective.php |archive-date=July 10, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and acknowledges the influence of [[System Dynamics]] which was developed by [[Jay Wright Forrester]] and whose book on the subject<ref>{{cite book|last=Forrester|first=Jay W.|title=Urban dynamics|year=1969|publisher=MIT|location=Cambridge, Mass.|isbn=0-262-06026-4}}</ref> laid the foundations for what would become ''SimCity''.<ref>{{cite book|publisher=Birkhauser|location=Basel|isbn=978-3-7643-8415-9|editor1=Friedrich Borries |editor2=Steffen P. Walz |editor3=Matthias Böttger |editor3-link=Matthias Böttger |contribution=Playing with Urban Life|author=Lobo, Daniel G|title=10.1007/978-3-7643-8415-9_74 |date=2011 |doi=10.1007/978-3-7643-8415-9_74}}</ref> In addition, Wright also was inspired by reading "The Seventh Sally", a short story from ''[[The Cyberiad]]'' by [[Stanisław Lem]], in which an engineer encounters a deposed tyrant, and creates a miniature city with artificial citizens for the tyrant to oppress.<ref name="NY Times Archive">{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE4D71F3AF936A25755C0A96F948260 |title=Making City Planning a Game |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=May 18, 2007 |first=Julie |last=Lew |date=June 15, 1989 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013085818/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE4D71F3AF936A25755C0A96F948260 |archive-date=October 13, 2007}}</ref> The game reflected Wright's approval of mass transit and disapproval of nuclear power; [[Maxis]] president Jeff Braun stated "We're pushing political agendas".<ref name="rivenburg19921002">{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-10-02-vw-391-story.html |title=Only a Game? : Will your town thrive or perish? The fate of millions is in your hands. Or so it seems. It's your turn in SimCity. |work=Los Angeles Times |date=October 2, 1992 |access-date=July 4, 2014 |author=Rivenburg, Roy |archive-date=April 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406185839/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-10-02-vw-391-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

The first version of the game was developed for the [[Commodore 64]] in 1985; it was not published for another four years.<ref name="SimCity.com (history)">{{cite web|url=http://simcity.ea.com/about/inside_scoop/sc_retrospective02.php |title=Inside scoop: The History of SimCity (page two) |work=SimCity.com |access-date=December 17, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090312093210/http://simcity.ea.com/about/inside_scoop/sc_retrospective02.php |archive-date=March 12, 2009}}</ref> The original working title of ''SimCity'' was ''Micropolis''.<ref name="Will Smith. Chat Transcript">{{cite web|url=http://simcity.ea.com/community/events/will_wright_01_08_04.php |title=Will Wright Chat Transcript |work=simcity.ea.com |access-date=November 8, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091031231900/http://simcity.ea.com/community/events/will_wright_01_08_04.php |archive-date=October 31, 2009}}</ref> The game was unusual in that it could neither be won or lost; as a result, [[video game publisher|game publishers]] did not believe it was possible to market and sell such a game successfully. [[Broderbund]] declined to publish the title when Wright proposed it, and he pitched it to a range of major game publishers without success. Finally, Braun, founder of the tiny software company Maxis, agreed to publish ''SimCity'' as one of two initial games for the company.<ref name="Keighley"/>

Wright and Braun returned to Broderbund to formally clear the rights to the game in 1988, when ''SimCity'' was near completion. After Broderbund executives Gary Carlston and [[Don Daglow]] saw ''SimCity'', they signed Maxis to a distribution deal for both of its initial games. With that, four years after initial development, ''SimCity'' was released for the [[Amiga]] and [[Classic Mac OS|Macintosh]] platforms, followed by the [[IBM Personal Computer|IBM PC]] and [[Commodore 64]] later in 1989.<ref name="SimCity.com (history)"/>