The Sims

Often dismissed by so-called serious gamers, I hold the release of the first The Sims to be a groundbreaking moment in gaming history. Combining life simulation presented as a virtual dollhouse combined with intuitive architectural design, it gave an enormous amount of freedom to players through its open-ended gameplay.

As the series progressed, it evolved both in terms of graphics and gameplay. Expansion packs introduced new features, while with the release of the second game the world moved into the third dimension. This trend peaked with The Sims 3, which featured a nearly seamless open world and introduced near-limitless customization through the create-a-style function. I honestly had years of fun without even feeling the need to buy a single expansion pack. Pushing the boundaries regrettably resulted in a demanding and unstable game, leading to the fourth entry scaling back ambitions. The reduced scope, simplified gameplay and expensive piecemeal reintroduction of basic features led me to abandon the series with The Sims 4.

The Sims 1

The Goth family

While I hold the third entry as the technical peak of the series, the first game has two strong aspects that the other games somewhat lack.

First, it has a timeless and coherent visual design paired with an unparalleled soundtrack.

Secondly, it is cerebrally grounded in a way that later entries weren't, possibly because designer Will Wright's efforts were focused elsewhere when later games were developed. Have you ever flipped through the manual? And if so, did you notice that it comes with a recommended reading section? Fundamentally, Build Mode is underpinned by Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language, a book that championed timeless vernacular design patterns and sought to empower ordinary people to (help) design their own houses. The reading list also includes several books on economics and psychology. For your convenience, I have transcribed the reading list:

Beyond these books, you can obviously also recognize concepts like Maslow's hierachy of needs in the way the game is designed.

Custom content

Some custom content I remember using.

Simitone

Simitone is a project to develop a modern frontend for the first Sims game, based on work already done for the FreeSO reimplementation of The Sims Online. Development seems have stalled after complaints from Maxis.