Reed
06-08-2007, 11:43 AM
Simtropolis has conducted a short interview with Rod Humble (http://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=368&threadid=89604&enterthread=y), head of the Sims division at EA. Here's a snip:
Dirk: Can you first tell us about EA’s relationship with Titled Mill?
Rod: I had met Tilted Mill at a few E3’s just to chat bout their game design philosophy and keep in touch. Then one year the opportunity came up to work together. We had been working on the Societies concept and prototypes internally for about half a year but realized there was so much in there that ambitious it probably wasn’t going to be able to fit into our line up Then I took a look at what TM had in terms of their technology and expertise and I figured I would see what they thought. Immediately I got back a wave of ideas and documents which took the design in and made it feel fuller and better. From that point on and given the passion here at EA and TM for the game it fell into place very easily.
Dirk: Based on the title, Societies, it implies the game will be going in a particular direction, what will it be?
Rod: We will be revealing more details in the following weeks. But at its highest level when we were thinking about where SimCity could go we started wondering why certain cities feel different from another. So for example what’s the difference between Paris and Mecca? Or Oxford and Munich? Or San Francisco and Salt Lake City? Clearly the feel was the kind of culture and society. By focusing on the society and culture drivers within a society we found we could create many varied and wonderful places.
Also included are 5 new screenshots. Head over (http://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=368&threadid=89604&enterthread=y) to check out the full interview and screens!
Dirk: Can you first tell us about EA’s relationship with Titled Mill?
Rod: I had met Tilted Mill at a few E3’s just to chat bout their game design philosophy and keep in touch. Then one year the opportunity came up to work together. We had been working on the Societies concept and prototypes internally for about half a year but realized there was so much in there that ambitious it probably wasn’t going to be able to fit into our line up Then I took a look at what TM had in terms of their technology and expertise and I figured I would see what they thought. Immediately I got back a wave of ideas and documents which took the design in and made it feel fuller and better. From that point on and given the passion here at EA and TM for the game it fell into place very easily.
Dirk: Based on the title, Societies, it implies the game will be going in a particular direction, what will it be?
Rod: We will be revealing more details in the following weeks. But at its highest level when we were thinking about where SimCity could go we started wondering why certain cities feel different from another. So for example what’s the difference between Paris and Mecca? Or Oxford and Munich? Or San Francisco and Salt Lake City? Clearly the feel was the kind of culture and society. By focusing on the society and culture drivers within a society we found we could create many varied and wonderful places.
Also included are 5 new screenshots. Head over (http://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=368&threadid=89604&enterthread=y) to check out the full interview and screens!