Jake Solomon, the former creative director of the XCOM franchise and Marvel’s Midnight Suns, has started a new game studio called Midsummer Studios.
He is working with experienced developers who have worked on games like Sid Meier’s Civilization, XCOM, and The Sims. Together, they are creating a new “next-generation” Life Simulation game.
Solomon, who worked at Firaxis for 23 years, is now the CEO and creative director of Midsummer Studios.
He is joined by co-founder Will Miller, another ex-Firaxis developer, who is the game director for this new project. Miller was at Firaxis for 16 years and was the lead designer of Civilization: Beyond Earth and the lead engineer on Marvel’s Midnight Suns.
Firaxis’ Jake Solomon launches Midsummer Studios
Jake Solomon, the former lead of XCOM and a key figure in strategy games, announced this week that he’s co-founded a new game studio. Their focus will be on creating a life simulation game, which is quite different from the strategy games he’s known for.
Some news.
New studio, new game. Right off the bat, it’s going to seem very different from what I’ve done before. But this is where my passion is: emergent player stories. I want to make a game that you can’t play without writing a story.https://t.co/B2198BsPA4
— Jake Solomon (@SolomonJake) May 14, 2024
“This is where my passion is: emergent player stories,” Solomon said after the announcement. “I want to make a game that you can’t play without writing a story.”
In an interview with PC Gamer last week, Solomon described a systems-driven life simulation game where players can choose what kind of story they want to tell. Whether it’s a romantic tale, a family saga, or a successful business venture, the game will generate characters and relationships to make the story interesting from the start.
“We pre-seed the town with relationships,” Solomon explained. “When you start the game, your character already has relationships in the town. If you want to tell a romantic story, for example, your ex-lover might be your coworker, your high school boyfriend might be your neighbor, and your secret crush might be a town rival.”
When asked if the game is like Dwarf Fortress, Solomon agreed, saying it’s a good comparison, though there are important differences. While it aims to simulate an environment, it won’t overwhelm players with detailed text about the town’s history every time they start a new game.
“After choosing their story style and getting the starting town created,” Solomon said, “players can edit characters if they want to change those relationships.”
Solomon emphasized that players will always be able to create their own stories in the game. He envisions an audience similar to Sims players on Tumblr who share screenshots of their dramatic storylines.
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For longtime Sims players who sometimes feel uninspired to start a new project, Solomon’s game sounds like it will provide plenty of dramatic tension right from the beginning.
This is the first project from Midsummer Studios. It doesn’t have a name yet, and there are no screenshots or trailers available, but you can read more details about Solomon’s vision for this small-town drama life simulation in our longer interview.