More drama for SimCity gamers as three crucial developers for the game have resigned their posts at EA Maxis to form their own indie studio. Former creative and art director Ocean Quigley is among them.
Also walking out the door is Andrew Willmott, a leading engineer for SimCity, and Dan Moskowitz, a lead gameplay engineer. They’re already ”hard at work” on their first title - a mobile game.
”We’re a few recovering ex-AAA game developers, now looking to make the kinds of games we love on mobile,” blurbs the official Jellygrade website.
”We’re hard at work on our first project, and should have something to show soon.” The new indie outfit will be posting ”behind-the-scenes dev stuff” on their official Tumblr. Meanwhile their first project has been revealed a little as a ”simulation about the dawn of life on earth; about lava, water, rock and the emergence of the first primordial creatures.”
Sound familiar? This seems another try at the likes of Spore which was widely criticised when it launched for appearing to be incredibly shallow compared to its initial vision teased to the community.
”It was time - I have lots of affection for Maxis, but eventually you have to move on,” tweeted Quigley when asked by others why he left. Was it office politics? ”No, it’s the desire to do something new.”
What lies ahead for SimCity now that such key figures have skipped town?