14 DAY TRIAL // Don Hopkins has released the original SimCity source code under the GNU General Public License (GPL). The source code contains no references to the original SimCity game, as it will be renamed to Micropolis. This was the original working title, and some work had to be done to the code so that the open source version will not use copyrighted elements.
The original system got modified, featuring a new splash screen, removal of the plane crash disaster as a result of the event that took place on September 11, 2001, etc. The initial release is the Linux version based on Tcl/Tk, adapted for the OLPC.
The "MicropolisCore" project includes the latest Micropolis (SimCity) source code, cleaned up and recast into C++ classes and integrated into Python using the SWIG interface generator tool. A Cairo-based TileEngine and a cellular automata machine CellEngine were included, so the tile engine can display cellular automata cells, as well as SimCity or other simulation game tiles.
SimCity was created before 1983, so Don Hopkins had a lot of work to do with cleaning the code up ? ANSIfying and reformatting it, optimizing and bullet-proofing it ? and he did a good job. This game has been a model used for urban planning, thanks to the complex business rules, ecosystem modeling, social dependencies and some other interesting aspects.
Releasing Micropolis under the GPL license could make developers invest their time and coding skills in it, to replace the very old graphics with new ones, to rewrite the graphic routines with modern code, etc.
If you are a developer ? or not - I think you should download the source code and try it out, maybe even modify it and make a new and improved game. What are you waiting for?! You can get it right now from Softpedia!