While Maxis has rather predictably continued to create sequels to their best selling SimCity, they have also begun a promising series of products for younger computer users. But let's start with the more familiar SimStuff, shall we?
SimTower is like SimCity, but it's all one building! The player constructs a towering skyscraper and tries to maintain it as a balanced and profitable piece of commercial real estate by leasing out space inside for apartments, offices, restaurants and shops. While those first three letters generally guarantee high sales, Maxis has also managed to keep a high level of quality in production and gameplay within the "Sim" family. This newest sibling will be available for Macintosh in the fourth quarter of '94, with a Windows version to follow soon after.
Maxis will also soon be opening the doors of its Sim games to a younger audience. SimTown will let kids aged 8-12 build and manage a small town and influence the lives of the people who live there. This game will even allow simulations on an individual level: yes, you can make your own SimCitizen, all the way down to favorite foods. Why should adults have all the fun? It will be available for Macintosh CD-ROM this Fall, and PC CD-ROM in the Winter.
Also from the new child-oriented side of Maxis, Click 'n Play is a game creation toolkit. In minutes, you can design your own computer games, whether they be arcade, strategy, educational, logic puzzles or whatever you like. No programming skill required! Click 'n Play should be available for Windows this Fall.
While Widget Workshop doesn't mention cartoonist Rube Goldberg by name, the product was almost certainly inspired by his work. Kids aged 8 and up can build their own inventions with hundreds of joinable objects. The resulting widgets have one advantage over Goldberg's creations: they are scientifically accurate. Widget Workshop also includes a game where the player has to figure out what a pre-built invention does. There are even some real life widgets in the game box to play with, like a wooden top, a thermometer, a compass, and more. The Mac version of Widget Workshop will be available this Fall, and the DOS and Windows versions in the first quarter of 1995.
The last Maxis product, Gift Maker, is not a game, but is really an electronic order form for a personalizing store. You can design coffee mugs, t-shirts, or whatever, using the application and then send the template off to Artistic Greetings to be made. They'll even gift wrap it for you. Look for Gift Maker this fall.
