While working on Raid on Bungeling Bay—a game about bombing cities—legendary game designer Will Wright discovered he had more fun designing the cities than destroying them. He then wondered if players would enjoy having that same opportunity.
Four years later, the result was SimCity, a game that broke away from traditional gaming conventions by swapping levels for open-ended gameplay and clear objectives for a sandbox—a blank slate for creativity. Players were given an empty plot of land, a pile of cash, and a few basic planning tools, and then left to do as they pleased.
