SimCity is “built to be moddable,” say Maxis

SimCity is “built to be moddable,” say Maxis
Tom Senior at 12:32pm March 8 2012

EA Maxis have been talking more about next year’s SimCity reboot, and the new GlassBox engine that’s powering it. Just earlier we went inside the GlassBox engine to talk a bit about how the new tech will work differently to SimCity games of old, but there’s even more good news. Shacknews sat in on a GDC panel in which Maxis confirmed that the new engine has been designed with modders in mind.

Creative director Ocean Quigley said that the new SimCity will use the “same package format The Sims and SimCity 4 used,” which means it’ll be more familiar to seasoned SimCity tweakers. “We know modding is hugely important to our community,” Quigley said. “We know the reason why people are still playing SimCity 4 ten years later is because the modding community has kept it alive. GlassBox is built to be moddable, but beyond that we haven’t announced anything.”

We don’t know if there’s an official SDK in the works, then. Yet. Even without one, top modders will hopefully be able to tinker with the new engine’s insides and bring us a new wave of add-ons and updates, so hooray for that. Have a look at the SimCity trailer for an early look at how it’s coming along.