Sims Designer Chris Trottier on Tuned Emergence and Design by Accretion. ![Will Wright, Gordon Walton and Chris Trottier brought us an exciting look into The SIMS align=right border=0></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style=]() The Armchair Empire interviewed Chris Trottier, style="MARGIN: 0px 5px; mso-layout-grid-align: none">
Chris' honest analysis of
how and why "the gameplay didn't come together until the months before
the ship" is right on the mark, and that's the secret to the success of
games like The Sims and SimCity.
The essential element that was missing until the last minute was tuning: The approach to game design that Maxis brought to the table is called "Tuned Emergence" and "Design by Accretion".
Before it was tuned, The Sims wasn't missing any structure or content,
but it just wasn't balanced yet. But it's OK, because that's how it's
supposed to work!
In justifying their
approach to The Sims, Maxis had to explain to EA that SimCity 2000 was
not fun until 6 weeks before it shipped. But EA was not comfortable
with that approach, which went against every rule in their play book.
It required Will Wright's tremendous stamina to convince EA not to
cancel The Sims, because according to EA's formula, it would never
work.
If a game isn't tuned, it's a drag, and you can't stand to play it for an hour. The Sims and SimCity were "designed by accretion":
incrementally assembled together out of "a mass of separate
components", like a planet forming out of a cloud of dust orbiting
around star. They had to reach critical mass first, before they could
even start down the road towards "Tuned Emergence",
like life finally taking hold on the planet surface. Even then, they
weren't fun until they were carefully tuned just before they shipped,
like the renaissance of civilization suddenly developing science and
technology. Before it was properly tuned, The Sims was called "the
toilet game", for the obvious reason that there wasn't much else to do!
Here are some questions and answers from the interview with The Sims designer Chris Trottier:
[...]
Q: On paper, a game
where you simulate daily life doesn’t sound that interesting. Yet The
Sims is really fun to play, so much so that it is now the
biggest-selling PC game ever. Although any development team working
with Will Wright has to feel confident in the product they are
creating, has the unbelievable popularity of the franchise shocked even
the development team?
A: Absolutely. When I was
first assigned to The Sims, it was not-very-affectionately-known within
the company as "the toilet game." Will Wright had tremendous stamina
for the risk involved with trying something very new, but there were
certainly a lot of head-scratchers both on the team and outside of it.
In all honesty, the gameplay didn't start to really come together until
a couple of months before ship. Being involved in that tuning process,
and seeing the game take shape from what had previously been a mass of
separate components, was style="MARGIN: 0px 5px; mso-layout-grid-align:
none">
Q: What makes The Sims massively popular with female gamers, who traditionally don’t make up a big number of gameplayers?
A: It's so hard to answer
that question without making broad, sweeping statements that anyone of
my gender would probably resent. But... I can say that there are
several untraditional forms of gameplay in The Sims. For instance,
there are many people who spend most of their time decorating and
redecorating their homes. Since there's so much user-created content
being posted on websites, they spend a lot of time collecting more
looks to add to the game. There are also a lot of people who enjoy
having a fantasy life where they get to call the shots... for good or
for bad. I've heard a lot of stories of people creating their own
family in the game and then making it do what they want. Or "marrying"
a crush in-game, etc.
[...]
Q: The Sims has
received its fair share of expansion packs. Will we see the same with
The Sims style="MARGIN: 0px 5px; mso-layout-grid-align: none">
A: Yes, that's my favorite thing about working on The Sims style="MARGIN: 0px 5px; mso-layout-grid-align: none">
[...]
Q: After a slow
selling start (due to an early problem getting the game into stores),
has the development team been pleased with the growing success (and
sales) of The Sims style="MARGIN: 0px 5px; mso-layout-grid-align:
none">
A: As a designer,
I'm more focused on the in-game experience than the numbers. I've seen
this development team pick up tremendous momentum behind adding new
features to the game. Now that we have basic architecture, scaling
issues, and stability in place, it allows us to focus primarily on
making the game better. So I'm personally very rewarded to see some of
the coolest features coming into the game, with many others right
around the corner. [Don Hopkins' RadiOMatic BlogUTron] 
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* Weaving flexible transistors into textiles! 
