After two decades as the uncontested king of the genre, The Sims is suddenly surrounded by aspiring usurpers. Today yet another life sim has been announced, and this one is from an unexpected source: the former creative director of XCOM 2 and Marvel's Midnight Suns. In an interview with PC Gamer, Midsummer Studios co-founder and creative director Jake Solomon divulged how his career making strategy games has actually always been building towards his longtime dream of a relationship simulator and his plans for a small town full of Gilmore Girls-style drama.
Solomon says he learned everything he knows from Firaxis Software co-founder and simulation game tycoon Sid Meier, who's best known for the Civilization series. After working on Civilization games himself, the games Solomon later took creative lead on started to zoom in on characters and relationships with the soldier bond system in XCOM 2, and then the friendship system in Marvel's Midnight Suns, a game he affectionately describes as his "little hero dating simulator" that he "lavished way too much attention on."
