Maxis is an American video game developer and a division of Electronic Arts (EA). The studio was founded in 1987 by Will Wright and Jeff Braun, and acquired by Electronic Arts in 1997. Maxis is best known for its simulation games, including The Sims, Spore and SimCity.
SimCity is a city-building simulation video game developed by Will Wright, and released for several platforms from 1989 to 1991. SimCity features two-dimensional graphics and an overhead perspective. The game's objective is to create a city, develop residential and industrial areas, build infrastructure, and collect taxes for further city development. Importance is placed on increasing the population's standard of living, maintaining a balance between the different sectors, and monitoring the region's environmental situations to prevent the settlement from declining and going bankrupt.
SimCity 4 is a city-building simulation computer game developed by Maxis, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. The game was released in January 2003 for Microsoft Windows and in June 2003 for Mac OS X. It is the fourth major installment in the SimCity series. SimCity 4 has a single expansion pack called Rush Hour which adds features to the game. SimCity 4: Deluxe Edition contains the original game and Rush Hour combined as a single product.
Caesar is a 1992 city-building video game published by Sierra On-Line in which the player undertakes the role of a Roman governor, building ancient Roman cities.
Impressions Games was a British video game developer founded by David Lester. He sold the company to Sierra On-Line in 1995, who was then bought out by Cendant and eventually, Vivendi Universal.
A city-building game, or town-building game, is a genre of simulation video game where players act as the overall planner and leader of a city or town, looking down on it from above, and being responsible for its growth and management strategy. Players choose building placement and city management features such as salaries and work priorities, and the city develops accordingly.
City Building is a series of historical city-building games developed by Impressions Games, BreakAway Games, Tilted Mill Entertainment, and published by Sierra Entertainment. The series began in 1992 with Caesar, set in the Roman Empire, and consists of twelve games to date, including expansion packs.
Rick Goodman is a video game designer and the founder and owner of the now-defunct Stainless Steel Studios. He is best known for the RTS games he designed, such as Age of Empires and Empire Earth.
Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile is a city-building game set in ancient Egypt, developed by Tilted Mill Entertainment. The game was released November 2004 in the United States and February 2005 in Europe. It is part of the City Building series.
Pharaoh is an isometric city-building game released in November 1999. It was created by Impressions Games and published by Sierra Studios for Microsoft Windows. Using the same game engine and principles of Caesar III, it is the first such game in Sierra's City Building series to focus on another civilization of ancient times. Players oversee the construction and management of cities and settlements in Ancient Egypt, micro-managing every aspect of the city to ensure citizens are fed, employed, healthy and protected from diseases, disasters and wars. An expansion pack, Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile, was released in 2000, developed by BreakAway Games. In 2001, both the game and expansion pack were bundled together as Pharaoh Gold. A remake titled Pharaoh: A New Era was released by Triskell Interactive and Dotemu in 2023.
Chris Beatrice is a video game designer and artist noted for primary creative development of popular historical strategy games, including Lords of the Realm series and the City Building series.
Titan is a game engine developed by Stainless Steel Studios used in the real-time strategy genre. It was mainly used as a PC game engine in the early 2000s. The engine was used in Stainless Steel Studio's early games, such as Empire Earth and Empires: Dawn of the Modern World.
SimCity is an open-ended city-building video game franchise originally designed by Will Wright. The first game in the series, SimCity, was published by Maxis in 1989 and was followed by several sequels and many other spin-off Sim titles, including 2000's The Sims, which itself became a best-selling computer game and franchise. Maxis developed the series independently until 1997, and continued under the ownership of Electronic Arts until 2003. EA commissioned various spinoffs from other companies during the 2000s, focusing on console and mobile releases. A 2013 EA-Maxis reboot was subject to what has been described as "one of the most disastrous launches in history", which may have triggered the 2015 shutdown of Maxis Emeryville and the end of the franchise.
SimCity Societies is a city-building simulation video game developed by Tilted Mill Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, and is part of the SimCity series. The gameplay is significantly different from previous SimCity titles, with a greater focus on social development. SimCity Societies was released in 2007, and received mixed reviews, with praise for the game's improved accessibility and visuals, but criticism for being oversimplified and having poor performance.
The Sims is a series of life simulation video games developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide, and is one of the best-selling video game series of all time. It is also part of the larger Sim series, started by SimCity in 1989.
Hinterland is a high fantasy role-playing video game with city-building elements by Tilted Mill Entertainment. It was released on September 30, 2008 on the Steam content delivery system, and has since been made available at other digital distribution websites. Hinterland: Orc Lords, a cumulative expansion, was released to digital distribution and retail in March 2009. As the title suggests, the primary addition to the game was the ability to play as Orc characters.
Mosby's Confederacy is a 2008 turn based strategy and real time tactics video game by Tilted Mill Entertainment.
Keith Zizza is a video game soundtrack composer. He has worked as a composer and audio director for companies such as Electronic Arts, Impressions Games, Sierra Entertainment and Tilted Mill Entertainment. His discography includes more than 25 AAA game titles. In April 2008 Zizza released his debut solo album, Memories of a Forgotten Age.
Marc Mencher is an American executive in the video game industry, who has written multiple articles and books about gaming careers, such as the 2003 book Get in the Game: Careers in the Game Industry. He is best known as co-founder and CEO of the recruiting agency GameRecruiter.com, and is a frequent contributor to game developer trade magazines and websites such as Gamasutra.
