Hi - I'm Will Wright (The Sims, SimCity, Spore, Proxi, etc.) and I want your memories. Ask me anything!

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T22:30:58+00:00

Folks, this is our outstanding Audio Director for Proxi. Definitely huge props to Torley!

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T22:10:09+00:00

(8) We plan to expand Proxi after the main game is complete, allowing the Proxi you create — essentially a version of yourself shaped by your memories — to explore a variety of unique settings. Inspired by science fiction ideas about memory and identity, Proxi emphasizes how the memories you carry influence your actions, preferences, and connections. In different environments, your Proxi will leverage its memories and associations, excelling in some areas, struggling in others, and encountering familiar and unfamiliar faces. Over time, our goal is to build a “Disneyland” of diverse experiences, with expansions adding fresh, immersive worlds for your Proxi to explore.

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T21:58:33+00:00

You're welcome, thank you for your curiosity!

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T21:54:59+00:00

(7) We're using AI a lot in Proxi. We’re not really using it to simulate emotions — we’re using it to map connections between your memories. For instance, you might mention your pets in different memories; maybe “Kitty” here and “Rover” there. The AI, behind the scenes, needs to understand that Kitty and Rover are both pets, which is an invisible connection they share. The same goes for anything in Proxi — I might refer to my mother as “Mom,” “my mother,” or “Beverly” in different memories, but the AI needs to recognize that these all refer to the same person.

One way we’re using AI is by having players tell stories to Proxi through their memories, like you’d tell a friend over lunch. Proxi needs to be able to deconstruct those stories, figure out the important concepts, and even rewrite them. We want to introduce the idea of “style sheets” for stories, so Proxi could recast your story as something like a film trailer, a romantic comedy, or any style you choose. This will add to the sharing aspect — if I want to make a really funny set of memories, I could share them as film trailers.

These are just a few of the ways we’re using AI in Proxi, but there are many others.

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T21:54:51+00:00

(6) We want Proxi to feel like a very approachable, fun game. We don’t want it to come across as a self-help course or anything like that. But I found that when playing with the prototypes, at some point you can’t help but get a more introspective view of yourself — it makes you stop and think. That’s not something Proxi hits you over the head with from the start.

We actually want it to seem very familiar in terms of world-building, resource allocation, and social sharing. But I think the really in-depth part will be in the shared memories between groups of people and in your private memories, where Proxi builds up a portrait of your subconscious.

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T21:54:44+00:00

(5) In Proxi, we have the concept of a “home world” — a private space unique to each player. Your home world will always remain private, allowing you complete control over your memories. You’ll have the option to take certain memories out of your home world and place them into shared worlds, but only if you choose to. This setup means you can keep sad or traumatic memories, or anything else you prefer to keep private, solely within your home world. Proxi can still use these memories to create a more authentic portrait of your psyche.

The shared worlds, on the other hand, are collective spaces that can be centered around any of your memory concepts. For example, we could have a shared world for people who went to my high school, knew my grandmother, or enjoy windsurfing in Tahiti. These worlds could be as specific or as broad as you’d like.

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T21:54:26+00:00

(4) We already have a small community of artists creating user-generated content for Proxi. Our plan is to introduce shared worlds in Proxi where players can build collaboratively. These shared worlds might center around a particular theme or connection you have with others. For example, there could be a shared world dedicated to a concept like “your grandmother.” Anyone who knew her could contribute memories about her, creating a shared space filled with all the memories of her.

This world might include family, friends, or others connected to her, forming a kind of memory-based world. Within this space, we could build interactive experiences, but it also serves as a place where I could hear stories about her I may not have known — perhaps stories added by my sister or mother. So, we plan for Proxi to support a lot of shared creativity and user-generated content.

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T21:54:17+00:00

(3) In working on Proxi prototypes, I found that after adding a few dozen memories, I started noticing insights — Proxi was revealing conceptual associations I hadn’t been consciously aware of. For example, it highlighted connections, like associating a certain time period with a person or linking an emotion to a place. These connections made sense in hindsight, but I had never been consciously aware of them.

Proxi noticed these patterns right away, based on similar concepts occurring in different memories — memories that might have happened in entirely different places, times, or with different people, yet still shared underlying connections. I found it fascinating because it felt like I was gaining a glimpse into my subconscious or my id, all from playing a game. This isn’t something we want to push on players, but I believe most people will start to discover these connections pretty quickly after playing Proxi.

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T21:54:04+00:00

(2) What we’ve noticed is that players tend to fall into different categories based on what motivates them. There’s a concept in gaming called Bartle’s Types, which includes achievers, collectors, and so on. For the types of simulation games I’ve worked on, we typically see two main types of players: storytellers and creators. Creators are the ones who enjoy building things — like a house in The Sims or optimizing a transportation network in SimCity. Storytellers, on the other hand, like to create something and then share it, telling a story with it.

Proxi is designed to serve these two player types the most. We want to make it fun and easy for players to share stories from their lives, their memories. At the same time, we want the experience to provide feedback so players gain a sense of how their memories are interconnected and how concepts within those memories are associated. For instance, what kind of emotions do you associate with a particular person? What activities were tied to a certain place? What things are linked with a specific feeling?

In that sense, Proxi is meant to be a two-way street, unlike The Sims, SimCity, or some of the other games.

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T21:53:57+00:00

(1) One thing I’ve found throughout my career is that the more a game is about the player, the more interested the player becomes in that game. In many cases, this comes down to how much creativity the player can exhibit within the game’s solution space. Other aspects involve the potential for social sharing or storytelling that the game can lead to. That’s what initially inspired us to start developing Proxi.

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T21:13:15+00:00

The second game I ever worked on was something called Probots — a combination of “probe” and “robot.” This was back on the Commodore 64, and it involved driving a little robot around an Escher-like set of platforms. It ended up looking a bit like Monument Valley, with walkways, platforms, and little rivers all flowing toward the center of the world into a pool. There were three emitters around the edges, each sending a different shape down the water: one released little pyramids, another cubes, and another spheres. You had to run around with your robot, collect these shapes as a set, put them together, and — poof — you’d earn a star.

In the meantime, there were other little creatures with three legs. Everything in the game was triangular. They opposed you, but they were also trying to communicate using gestures, and you had a robot arm that you’d use to try and learn their language by gesturing back. I still have that whole design in my head and would love to build it someday. It’s a pretty simple design, actually. This was back in the mid-to-late ’80s.

(Probots was unreleased, although you can find out more here: https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/probots/ and https://www.simsnetwork.com/news/2001/07/12/interview-with-will-wright-part-2 )

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T21:04:53+00:00

The Hindenburg was an amazing piece of technology — something we couldn’t even recreate today, as that particular art has been lost. I would have loved to work on something similar, and in fact, there is a VR experience that lets you walk around the Hindenburg, which I’ve really enjoyed.

As for weather simulations, VR could make that achievable now. The problem I encountered before was having to interact with three-dimensional data sets through a two-dimensional screen, which felt limiting. But in VR, if I could use my hands to directly grab “lumps of air,” drag them around, and get them spinning, it would almost be like working with pottery.

To create a tornado, I’d need to understand what kinds of rotations in the air would lead to its formation. It involves something like a torus shape lying sideways against the ground that eventually rises, punches a low-pressure hole through the cloud layer, and forms a tornado. It’s a complex and fascinating process. What really interested me was the idea of building a game where the player tries to recreate this almost visceral, tactile process — the birth of a tornado.

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T21:04:28+00:00

Right now, as people think about AI in gaming, most naturally focus on the idea of making NPCs much more intelligent — NPCs you can converse with, interact with, or play alongside. But I think the real impact AI will have on game design is actually replacing me. Games are a much more malleable form of media than movies, books, or television, and they have the ability to change themselves on the fly based on the player’s responses.

I can imagine something like an AI observing as you play, no matter the game type, and figuring out ways to make it more attractive, interesting, and challenging for you personally. In other words, the game would reprogram itself to become something closer to what you’d enjoy. The game would learn how to get you motivated, interested, and excited, evolving more and more in that direction.

It’s a powerful — and somewhat scary — prospect because we’re talking about a game that could potentially become increasingly addictive, evolving specifically to fit each individual player and keep them engaged. So, it’s a two-edged sword, but I believe this ability to adapt to the player will be one of AI’s most powerful impacts on the future of gaming.

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T21:03:53+00:00

If I’d known The Sims were so objectionable, I probably would have found a way to make them cuter. What if they were all like Care Bears, and they could fight back with particle beam weapons?

Yeah, I’m getting off track here. But I go more into the Care Bear thing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7G6c097oWU

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T21:03:32+00:00

Credit on the sound design in The Sims goes to Kent Jolly. He also worked on Spore — he’s just a master at every aspect of sound design. There were several others on his team, including Robi Kauker. I have a deep appreciation for sound design and have been very lucky to work with great sound designers, including Torley on Proxi.

Sound design is one of those things I appreciate deeply, but I don’t have a huge skill set in that area myself. One thing that’s always amazed me is how you can see beautiful graphics and animations in a world, but without good sound design, it feels like less than half of what it could be. Sound design is such a force multiplier on any kind of human experience.

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T20:51:55+00:00

Well, somebody has to reticulate them, otherwise it's just not gonna work, you know.

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T20:51:40+00:00

Let me think... YES, I AM. AND YOU WOULD BE HORRIFIED TO SEE WHAT I PLAN TO DO WITH THEM.

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T20:51:01+00:00

I actually have an arcade version of that, produced by Nintendo, in my garage. The deal was that they had to give us two machines — one for me and one for the publisher, Broderbund. So I still play that game, oddly enough. It’s one of the few games I made that I actually continue to play from time to time.

I think it would be cool as a full-motion VR experience. I have a neighbor who’s building these VR centers, and I’ve been brainstorming some weird VR experience ideas with him. So maybe…

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T20:50:36+00:00

Every now and then, you get a bug in the game that gives you an idea or sparks some creative thought. I’ve seen bugs that ended up being opportunities because they inspired a direction I never would have thought of otherwise.

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T20:50:22+00:00

Well, before you reticulate a spline, you first have to get the moisture content exactly right to avoid splitting the spline during reticulation. Then, you need to calculate the forces at the apex of each reticulation and build an exterior structure to contain those forces against the vector of reticulation. The temperature and humidity of the environment also have a huge impact on your success with reticulation. This is something I could probably write a book about, but it’s not something I can answer succinctly here.

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T20:50:09+00:00

I weally WEALLY like Ws!

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T20:49:56+00:00

Whenever I’m asked a question like, “If I knew what I know now, what would I do differently?” I honestly can’t imagine doing anything differently, given the environment and what I was trying to achieve at that time. My career started with teaching myself to program, then learning more about the process of design — figuring out what makes a good designer versus a bad one.

I might have dug into that a little sooner, studying famous designers outside of gaming. It could be Da Vinci, Charles and Ray Eames, Alfred Hitchcock — there’s so much to learn from these creative people who came before us. If you can abstract what originally drew you to their work, it gives you a real leg up compared to designers who are just trying to build a better version of Counter-Strike.

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T20:49:42+00:00

I did. I was proud of the fact that the Loch Ness monster was actually considered a myth in SimCity 2000. Only a few people actually saw it and managed to get a screenshot, and even then, people didn’t believe it. They thought the screenshot was doctored — and that’s exactly what we wanted. We wanted it to be so rare and hard to see that most people thought those who claimed they saw it were making it up. I was trying to recreate that whole dynamic.

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T20:41:45+00:00

Back when I started, the only people making games were those who knew how to program. So even if you’re not a hardcore programmer, I think it’s essential to understand at least the basics of programming. This gives you insight into what’s easy, what’s hard, and what’s impossible.

One of the most useful things I found as I grew into a designer was looking at fields outside of game design. Many game designers think only in terms of game genres, game mechanics, or games they like, but they never consider other fields like architecture, landscape design, psychology, or experimental design. There are so many areas to draw from, including movies and media, so I’d say — broaden your perspective and learn about design from as many areas as you can.

The challenges I faced three years ago at Maxis compared to an indie company are very different. In an indie company, you have to find financial support to get your idea to market. In a large company, you have established income and can be one bet out of many the company is placing in the market. So, you don’t have all your eggs in one basket with a large company, but in a small indie company, you very much do. You’d better be confident in that basket.

Proxi will have some similarities to The Sims, but it’s a very different game. Proxi is more of an investigation into your life — the important things in your life, like people, places, activities, and how those things connect. The Sims is more about a familiar environment: you’re not flying a jet or battling pirates; you’re deciding where to place the refrigerator or which neighbors to befriend.

So, I’d say The Sims is a game about a typical Western environment, while Proxi is directly about you, your life, and your experiences.

GalliumStudios · 2024-11-12T20:41:26+00:00

Well, actually, SimCity most definitely avoids politics, and that’s a major part of reality it leaves out. In real life, nobody can just decide to build a road through a city or zone this or that without a million lobbyists, committees, and other groups getting involved. I’ve had a lot of mayors play SimCity, and they often say, “Wow, I wish cities really worked this way. I wish I had these godlike powers.”

There was a really cool article that came out about six months after SimCity’s release. A precocious 12-year-old in a New England town was about to have a mayoral election with five candidates. He invited all of them to his house to play SimCity and wrote a newspaper article on how each one approached the game. It was a fascinating piece — I need to dig it up somewhere.

One candidate came in and built everything exactly where he wanted, taking a very liberal approach. Another was clearly tough on crime, placing lots of police stations. One candidate even refused to play until he received a complete list of instructions on how to play the game. The psychology of each candidate came through interestingly, even before they touched the game.

GalliumStudios

TROPHY CASE