New Images of Maxis' Cancelled SimMars, SimCastle Games Revealed

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Former Maxis artist Ward Moore has shed some more light on two late-90s Maxis projects that were eventually cancelled in favor of The Sims franchise: SimCastle and SimMars.

Superannuation discovered new SimMars images on Moore's website, while artist Corey Keller's site features art from the cancelled Castle sim. Though SimCastle was intended for a younger audience, SimMars was set to be a realistic simulation of Mars colonization based on real NASA science and technology.

Click through for Moore's description of the colony sim:

Title: SimMARS
Type: Role Playing -- Colonization of MARS in 2020-2050
Goal: Colonize Mars using real science technology (no Star Trek!)
Platform: PC

Summary:
SimMARS was intended as a role playing game, using KIM STANLEY ROBINSON Trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars) as an inspiration. The goal is to successfully colonize Mars using NASA inspired technology. The user had to creatively impliment the available martian resource and plan their living around the 6-month cycle of supply ships. (6 months being the time Earth launch to Martian arrival).

Because of this premise, aesthetics revolved around the real world constraints of habitats and supplies being packaged and arriving in a chemical propelled rockets, arriving on the martian surface, after which they endure the corrosive effects of wind and radiation. Bots and Rovers are the preferred method of maintenance and travel. Coordinating assets and creatively recycling existing material creates martian civilizations.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    October 12, 2009 7:03 PM

    aw maaaaaan. this could have been Outpost done right. and I liked Outpost

    • spl legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      October 12, 2009 7:28 PM

      When I bought Outpost I registered through the mail with the registration card.

      About a year or more after that I got a package in the mail. Inside was 6 (I believe) floppy disks containing an updated version of the game which I think was 1.5. I was totally amazed and excited when it arrived. I reinstalled the game on my 486 with the updated floppies and man what an improvement it was. Those were some good days for computer games. =D

    • reply
      October 13, 2009 12:13 AM

      This is EXACTLY what I was thinking. I liked Outpost, despite how unfinished it was. Probably because I was too young to realise it. Those screenshots really remind me of Outpost. Fuck them for not finishing SimMars. :(

    • reply
      October 13, 2009 10:16 AM

      NO kidding. I loved Outpost even though I was too young to really understand how to play the game well.

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