Video: Building SimCity's sandbox

Courtesy of the GDC Vault, this free GDC 2013 video sees Maxis' Dan Moskowitz defining what a sandbox game is and sharing lessons learned from building the team's latest sandbox title, SimCity. Moskowitz defines sandbox games as "goal-free exploration games, where fun is derived from discovering how the game mechanics work." Here, Moskowitz explores how Maxis discovered what worked in its own sandbox using the Glassbox simulation engine, with lessons including determining granularity, finding and re-using patterns that work, figuring out how to scale, and exploring mechanics "breadth first". Session Name: Exploring SimCity: A Conscious Process of Discovery Speaker(s): Dan Moskowitz Company Name(s): Maxis / Electronic Arts Track / Format: Programming Overview: At their core, Maxis games are tools that let players delight in their own discoveries of how a system works. As developers of sandbox-style games, we have the unique challenge of simultaneously creating an underlying system and then discovering the fun hidden inside, before we can package it up and present it to players. In this session, Dan will outline a methodology for building sandbox games, giving specific examples from SimCity's simulation, player tools, and feedback mechanisms. He'll also outline advantages and drawbacks to this type of "discovery-based" methodology.

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