Will Wright originally conceived The Sims from his interest in design and architecture, intending a tool for creating and experimenting with living spaces before the project evolved into a life simulation about managing virtual people
Origin and idea
Will Wright’s design work on SimCity and his fascination with systems and design led him to explore tools that let players build and arrange environments, an idea that branched into a game focused on houses and the lives inside them.
From architecture to life simulation
The project shifted from a pure architecture or home‑design concept to a life simulation when Wright added autonomous virtual people whose needs and behaviours responded to the spaces they occupied, transforming a design toy into The Sims franchise.
Gameplay and design goals
Early design goals emphasised creativity, open‑ended play and social simulation rather than linear objectives, allowing players to construct homes, arrange furniture and then observe how simulated characters interacted with those choices.
Impact and legacy
The Sims grew into one of the best‑selling and most influential video‑game franchises, celebrated for its sandbox design, creative freedom and wide audience appeal that arose from combining architectural play with emergent social simulation.
Takeaway
An initial impulse to build a digital architecture tool expanded into The Sims, a life simulator that married home design with behavioural systems and in doing so created a long‑lasting, culturally significant game franchise.