In 1994, my mother, who works as an interior designer, jumped on the home computing bandwagon, 3D home architect (opens in new tab)The Broderbund program was part of a nasty and strange wave. Computer-aided design (CAD) software adapted to the fast-growing domestic market (opens in new tab)— your average Joe looking to refurbish and remodel in an exciting new digital world. Seeing my mother on the drafting table, I was already familiar with floor plans and architectural drawings. Although her mother valiantly tried to familiarize herself with the program, she was a staunch traditionalist and eventually returned to working with her trusty pencil and paper. 3D Home Architect, which her parents never thought of as a video game (so no worries), was suddenly all mine.
It was a cultural fascination that made users imagine that they could extend their lives through computing.
Dr. Rain Nooney
Decades later, I’ve spent time furnitureing in Animal Crossing and laying out Free Company rooms in Final Fantasy 14. But initially, the world of digital home design was a very different animal. The easy-to-use consumer CAD program that shaped a generation of home computer users.
“When these products first came out in the 1990s, people wanted to play with them because they literally made things possible on a computer that were previously impossible… as if they were part of the ‘future’. I felt like,” he says. Dr. Rain Nooney (opens in new tab)specializes in historical, cultural and economic analysis of the video game and home computing industries. Like me, Nooney remembers that her mother played with her 3D home design and landscaping programs in her mid-to-late 90’s, when her family was going through an upswing period. I remember well.
“Even in the mid-90s, only about one-third of American homes had computers. We put in a lot of effort,” explains Nooney. “Home Her idea of computing wasn’t just about having a computer at home.
Even with its raunchy, unpolished graphics, 3D Home Architect in my eyes was a gateway drug to the pure, uncut idea of a fantasy home. There was a cost estimator, but I lightly ignored it. After all, I was a child. If I could build a physically impossible sprawling mansion with the best materials available, I would absolutely do so. It was the first time I was able to experiment in an unrestricted digital space. Barbie Dream Cottage (opens in new tab)it looked like there wasn’t enough space.
In the gaming realm, I had already blasted 1991’s Jones in the Fast Lane, Sierra Entertainment’s wickedly entertaining social life sim where you started in a crumbling, run-down apartment and worked your way up to a luxury condominium. It gave us a basic screen showing a house full of hard-earned furniture and appliances, but we didn’t have any control over where items and modification options were placed.
While “playing” 3D Home Architect, I treated it as a free-form game, imagining a future fictional home for myself and a fictional character. Maxis began developing more focused Sim games that took a more granular approach to smaller scale life simulations. sim tower (opens in new tab)— the first sim game to really get psychological about how and where to place the various amenities of the famous skyscraper.
Unlike SimCity 2000, it was both a literal and figurative close-up of modern life, exemplified by skyscraper opulence and futurism. There was a much more instinctive and emotional connection between For the first time, I had to seriously think about where to place restaurants, entertainment venues, and building elevators (if residents waited too long or got too impatient, they would simply disappear from existence in a blazing rage). increase).
When Maxis released The Sims in 2000, the psychospatial and psychogeographic aspects of social/life simulation games really came to mind. Struggling to parse this new cultural phenomenon (opens in new tab), also included the idea that we should create a comfortable space where computer people can play an active role. For kids like Sophie Marinson who grew up in home design programs, it was easy.
It’s funny to think that I used to play with interior design software, but now I use video games to plan my home.
Sophie Marinson
One of Marinson’s earliest computer memories was a free CD-ROM demo of a home design program that came with his mother’s interior magazine. “These products were clearly aimed at adults, with bland aesthetics and built-in cost estimates, but to me, as an eight-year-old, everything on the computer was a game,” says Maxis, now a simulation game designer. “I remember being blown away by my ability to navigate realistic 3D environments,” says Marinson, who works at the company. My imagination ran wild.”
In 2000, drawn to the fascination of homebuilding and the imagination of home design, Marinson decided to pick up what quickly became her favorite game, The Sims. “Not only were we able to design our home with a catalog of different furniture, from heart-shaped beds to inflatable chairs, but everything was interactive,” she says. “I could see my Sims living in the space I created for them, each with items that I had carefully selected.”
Marinson, who recently bought her first home, recreated the Sims 4 floor plan to test her renovation ideas. “It’s funny to think that I used to play with interior design software, but now I’m using a video game to plan my house,” she says, noting that more work is needed to integrate The Sims core. I added that I am always thinking about better and more accessible ways. She incorporates components (architecture and house design) into gameplay.
Today, the concept of homes, home decor, and customizable dwellings is a familiar feature in everything from fantasy RPGs and chill puzzlers to mobile games dedicated to interior design. The role of 3D home design programs in fostering this standard, and its impact on generations of game designers and simulation fans who grew up fascinated by the likes of 3D home architects, is largely unexplored. Although there hasn’t been much research done in this area, Laine Nooney notes how games approach the organization of rooms and units, and how 3D home design programs present homes as divisible units of space. I think there are some “interesting resonances” in between.
“I think we seriously misunderstand the history of video games and computers when we draw a very clear line between games and other kinds of software,” said Nooney, noting that these programs are It suggests that it may be considered one of the first “sandbox” 3D rendering tools available on average. Home computer user. Ultimately, in our research trying to understand human fascination and the cultural fascination of computers, early novelty software like 3D Home Architect has ample credit for influencing modern game design. not getting “Interestingly, I think we are seeing a resurgence of these kinds of tools in the form of augmented reality offered by furniture and upholstery retailers,” he adds Nooney. “Novelty, by itself, never seems to get old.”
