This article is from the first edition of The Video Game Librarian website I published between 2008 and 2010. It was originally written on September 30, 2010.
Will Wright, the creative genius behind SimCity, The Sims and Spore has donated a collection of his personal papers to the International Center for the History of Electronic Games in Rochester, New York.
Wright’s contribution comes in the form of nine graph paper notebooks filled with drawings, hand-written notations and inventive doodles that he kept during the development of SimCity 2000, SimCopter, The Sims and Spore. According to the ICHEG, “[the notebooks] reveal his philosophies and methods of game design.”
“Games do not spring out of the minds of game designers full grown, like Athena from the head of Zeus,” says ICHEG director Jon-Paul Dyson. “These papers document the creative process behind some of the most important games of our time. They have transformed our society, and we are pleased to preserve this record of how Wright created them.”
Says Wright, “I’m proud to help support the International Center for the History of Electronic Games. They are preserving an important part of our culture that is frequently overlooked by society yet has a fundamental influence on who we are. I know of no other institution that is covering this topic as comprehensively as they are.”
The notebooks will be part of an exhibit the center plans to launch on November 20 known as “eGameRevolution.” Organizers said that the 5,000-square-foot exhibit “will follow the history of video games from pioneer Ralph Baer’s first Brown Box games to today’s high tech Xbox 360.”
Wright’s papers join a collection of games, consoles, handhelds and related materials that currently numbers over 22,000 pieces, making it one of the largest game archives in the world.
The Video Game Librarian Pick of the Week is Batman: Arkham Knight (PS4, Xbox One), the finale of Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham. Following up on the critically-acclaimed (and very popular) Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City, Arkham Knight follows Batman as he battles an army of supervillains led by Scarecrow.