The First Design for Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City Was Built in Sim City
The Cyberpunk 2077 setting of Night City seems set to become one of the largest city-scapes ever depicted in a video game; although fans have only seen less than an hour of gameplay footage so far, it’s clear that the futuristic city is enormous. As it turns, out, the first designs for Night City made for the original Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop RPG were a little different. In fact, the game’s creator mapped out the city in Sim City!
The First Designs for Night City in Sim City
Mike Pondsmith, the creator of Cyberpunk 2020, spoke to fans earlier this month at PAX West. Talking about how he designed the setting for the game, he explained how he built the first designs for Night City in the game Sim City, on an old Apple II computer; “I did it on the Apple II and I said, ‘how badly can I screw this thing up?'” he says; “Night City evolved because I wanted to have a city where people who didn’t know anything about Cyberpunk could really grasp what the world was like. It’s designed on what I call the Disneyland Principle. If you look at it there’s a China Land, a Japan Land, a Mafia Land, a Corporate Land. It is also fairly well researched.”
“I built it in the early versions of Sim City and then I screwed it up deliberately to be the most difficult place to travel around,” continues Pondsmith; “Night City is a place where the Cyberpunk world comes together. It has a life of its own.”
Night City in 2020 and Night City in 2077
Mike Pondsmith has been working with CD Projekt Red on Cyberpunk 2077 for a long time; since the early days when the studio first approached him about the project. He has voiced his support for the studio numerous times in the past. In his talk, he continued to discuss the details of Night City and how the studio is planning to use them; “One reason Night City is interesting in 2077 is it’s so insanely detailed,” he explains; “you know what’s going on, not just where you are, but when you are; what groups of gangs are running around, what’s the news like, who’s running the politics, who’re the important people. When you hand a team like CDPR that much information they’re going to use it. While we’ve made changes in it, Night City is a hell of a fun place.”