Jake Solomon (Jake Solomon) – one of the key creators Xcom 2012, Xcom 2 (including War of the Chosen) And Marvel’s Midnight Suns. He spent in the studio Firaxis about 23 years, but at the beginning of 2023 he left her and founded his own company- Midsummer Studios. There he will do not at all a tactical strategy, but his version of the simulator of life in the style The Sims.
Place of action – a small town. It allows you to create dense stories, because in small towns between people there are many unexpected connections: for example, your former love will turn out to be a work colleague, and a girl from school will settle in a neighboring house.
The household drama generator should become one of the main differences from other life simulators: they say, players will fall into such interweaving of relations that they will want to see how they will develop.
Relations can be changed at any moment, but the game is arranged in such a way that without drama (large or small) it cannot exist. "The player has no other choice but to write an interesting story", – tells Solomon.
Midsummer Already found a key investor Zebra-wins.uk – Taiwanese company Transcend. Some other companies invested in the game, and the total investment at the moment amounted to $ 6 million.
The game has no release yet.
Here’s what Solomon says in an interview:
Solomon It is admitted that it was difficult to look for an investor: the crisis in the game industry is now strangling even the most eminent teams.
When there is a leading investor, it becomes easier to attract other people. But there are still moments when you stare at the ceiling and think: “And if it does not work?"
There was such a joke: they say, a couple of years ago, if you were the head of anything in Riot, it was only worth sneezing – and they immediately said: “Hmm, how about sowing $ 10 million?". But there is no more.
Usually successful games immediately have imitators, but The Sims for some reason they were not very long. Now there are at least three such (Inzoi, Paralives, Life by You), but when Solomon I went to investors, they said that they had been waiting for someone who would offer them such an idea-clones The Sims were considered the "blue ocean" of the gaming industry, that is, an untouched and large market.
U Midsummer Studios an interesting connection with Firaxis: it is located in the old office Firaxis, and the first employee to hired Solomon, It turned out Ryan Mayer (Ryan Meier) – Son Sida Mayer (Sid Meier), founder Firaxis.
According to Solomon, one of the causes of a commercial failure Midnight Suns – cards as the basis of the gameplay. Like, many people tell him how they were surprised to find that they really liked the gameplay Midnight Suns – That is, the cards for many really turned out to be a restraining factor that prevented the sales of the game, concludes Solomon.
