SimMars

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Title screen from a short promotional video for SimMars released on the SimCity 3000 installation CD.

Screenshot from a short promotional video for SimMars released on the SimCity 3000 installation CD.

SimMars was a strategy game in development at Maxis around the same time as the release of the wildly popular Maxis game, The Sims. A trailer for the game was included on the SimCity 3000 CD. From the trailer, the premise of the game seemed to be a manned mission to the planet Mars, followed by a terraforming and colonization scenario, typical of the Maxis world-building game style. The game presumed to be an integration of previous Maxis titles presented in 3D, possibly including elements of SimEarth, SimLife, and SimCity.

In The Sims: Vacation, there was an arcade game titled SimMars and it had a detailed description about the game. This may or may not have been the real premise of the game:

"Direct mankind’s first mission to the red planet! Launch rockets and deploy robot probes! Deploy teams to search for alien resources! Establish and run a network of specialized colonies to create a self-sufficient civilization! Provide your colony with food, shelter, and power! Fast, furious, adrenaline-pumping action!"

As of May 12, 2000, Maxis has stated that "SimMars is on hold and we do not have staff at Maxis currently working on the game. With the phenomenal success of The Sims, we've decided to move resources to support that franchise as well as other titles that we haven't even announced yet." [1]

Many fans of SimCity 4 have decided to work together and create a similar mod known as SimMars. The mod was inspired by the failure of SimMars. The modders are based on the SimCity 4 community known as Simtropolis. Since early 2005, the project has fallen causing the members to lose interest and SimMars is currently dead. Little has been done to bring the project back to life. On December 20, 2004, a beta version was released [2].

Some elements of SimMars are used in the upcoming Maxis game Spore.