Interview With Sid Meier

Here is a quick interview with Sid Meier on EA.com where he chats about SimGolf and working with Will Wright.

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Sid Meier Talks About Sid Meier's SimGolf

While almost 3 years have passed since Sid Meier and Electronic Arts first collaborated on Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Sid Meier's name is still synonymous with strategy. Last year, he completed the third edition to his signature turn-based strategy series, Civilization. And instead of relaxing, Mr. Meier and his team at Firaxis again partnered with Electronic Arts and Maxis to create the next game in the popular Sim series, Sid Meier's SimGolf.

On Friday, Sid Meier's SimGolf arrived at Electronic Arts and retailer's shelves nationwide as players nationwide rediscovered that Meier's formula for highly-addictive gameplay can easily make hours evaporate for anyone (whether they enjoy a day on the golf course or not).

We had a chance to ask Meier a few questions to delve a little further into how Sid Meier's SimGolf came to be.

EA GAMES: Sid, you've already had a great 2001 with the release of Civilization III and it comes as no surprise that even after finishing such a massive undertaking, you've already finished another game. How did the initial idea that became Sid Meier's SimGolf come about?

Sid: The idea for this game came last summer as I was at the library leafing through a golfing magazine. In the middle of the magazine was this cool map showing a lovely piece of land with a stream, hills, grass, trees, and wetlands. There was a contest to use this piece of land to design the three most interesting, varied, and attractive golf holes possible. Hey, (I said to myself, quietly) that might make a cool computer game. Nobody had really made a fun game out of designing and building a golf course. So I grabbed some trees and textures from Gettysburg, built a couple of golfer animations in Poser, and threw together a quick prototype and started playing.

EA GAMES: SimGolf seems to take all the best elements of The Sims and your turn-based experience and stitch them together into a really fun game that even non-golfers can enjoy. What type of player do you think would have the most fun with the game?

Sid: SimGolf has something for everyone: golf course design, building, managing, playing the course and a lot of fun player and story customization. I think this game will appeal to fans of sims games and gamers that have played and enjoyed some of my other titles like Railroad Tycoon and Civilization. You don't have to be an avid golfer or a fan of golf simulations to enjoy this game but I think if you do play those games you'll find that it can test your knowledge of golf and course design as well. There really is something for everyone here.

EA GAMES: The game takes place on 16 fictional courses worldwide. Are any of them directly inspired by courses that you've played on?

Sid: Players may develop property in 16 different locations around the world and can choose from 4 different environments from which to play. Many of the elements in the four environments are inspired by real courses around the world. You may build an Eastern Woodlands course (grass, trees, lakes, ducks) or an English links course (heather, sheep and pot bunkers). They'll also be a Southwest Desert course (sand, cactus, and target golf) and a lush Tropical course (beaches, palm trees, and crocodiles). In addition, you can customize your courses with landmarks reminiscent of some of the most famous courses.

EA GAMES: In the past you've stated that the SimCity series inspired you to create Civilization. How does it feel to finally have a chance to collaborate on a game with SimCity's creator, Will Wright?

Sid: I've always been a big fan of Will's games and have spent countless hours playing Simcity and the Sims. Of course, being a game designer, I soon came to the conclusion that I'd like to write a game like this - to borrow some of the ideas that Will has pioneered and combine them with my own. Once we (Firaxis) began design on SimGolf we presented it to Will and his group at Maxis. While all the coding and design was completed at Firaxis, Maxis has been very supportive and has given us some great design feedback. The game has been a lot of fun to work on and I think once you play SimGolf you'll find it's a totally unique experience.

EA GAMES: Who's the better golfer?

Sid: That's yet to be determined

EA GAMES: Considering that you and Wright are considered household names in the gaming industry, was it challenging to get all of your ideas into SimGolf?

Sid: Actually, I'm amazed at the number and variety of features we were able to put in the game. Not only can you build an endless variety of courses, you can then customize your golfers, get to know their different personalities, create your own stories for the golfers, customize a world class golf pro, play your courses, hold sanctioned championship tournaments at your resort, entice the rich and famous to build homes on your courses…the fun goes on and on…

EA GAMES: Golf really is a lot like turn-based strategy. You have to figure out how one move will affect your next move. How closely does SimGolf's strategy elements simulate the intricate balance that you've achieved in your other games?

Sid: The design and gameplay philosophy of SimGolf is very similar to some of my other games. A golf course is really just a big playground for grown-ups - whether you're a golfer or not, I think player's will find lots of different ways to play and explore this world. We've come a long way from the earliest prototype - but always with the idea of leaving players free to choose their own path. You can create the world's most beautiful, most challenging, or most outrageous course -- the choice is yours. You can pamper your players with lovely gardens, comfy benches, and a luxury hotel or torment them with monstrous sand traps, tacky vacation homes, and spine-chilling golf shots -- the possibilities are endless.

EA GAMES: Now that SimGolf is done, what next? Maybe play a little real golf?

Sid: We've got a lot exciting ideas in the pipeline but we're not ready to talk about them yet. As always, we'll let you know as soon as we can.