Laid-off 'SimCity' Developer Creates Buildings For "Cities: Skylines"

IN PHOTO: A man plays a computer game at an internet cafe in Beijing May 9, 2014. As growing numbers of young people in China immerse themselves in the cyber world, spending hours playing games online, worried parents are increasingly turning to boot camps to crush addiction. Military-style boot camps, designed to wean young people off their addiction to the internet, number as many as 250 in China alone. Picture taken May 9, 2014. Reuters

Bryan Shannon, a developer formerly working with Maxis, has set up crowdfunding campaign to kick-start his endeavour for creating "Cities: Skylines" content. What makes this development rather interesting is that Shannon was employed at Maxis Emeryville before he got laid off.

In March 2015, Electronic Arts had pulled the plug on the legendary studio known for providing the videogame industry with gems such as "SimCity," "Sims" and "Spore." Shannon was one of the ex-Maxis employees who weren't retained within other departments of the parent company EA. "Cities: Skyline" is widely considered a deserving current-gen successor to the legacy of the "SimCity" franchise.

Ironically, the developer who would have otherwise created content for the less-fortunate reboot is now making add-on content for the original city-building simulator's rival. Eurogamer reports that Bryan's modifications for Paradox Interactive's hit game "Cities: Skylines" include "Coal Power Plant 01" and "In-and-Out Burger." The two buildings have already been enabled by the Patreon campaign.

Shannon is currently focusing on creating bespoke buildings for the game through the Steam Workshop programme. Valve's unique feature allows Steam users to generate content for games and make money in the bargain. The success of the official user mod programme is pretty evident from the fact that the creators have made more than $57 million as of 2014, according to a previous International Business Times report.

Shannon has launched the Patreon crowdfunding campaign to further his mod-making endeavour for the game. The basic premise of the campaign is to support the ex-"SimCity" developer while he works on add-ons for "Cities: Skylines," even as he simultaneously hunts for the job in the videogame industry, as reported by VG247.

"I enjoy content creation for Cities: Skylines (CSL), and I'm currently in between jobs in the games industry," wrote Shannon in his Patreon page. "I'd love to generate content for a community that loves to mod their games, but the process takes a bit of time that takes away from my job search, so while I'm on the lookout for full-time work, or contracts as they come up, this is something I feel like we can all enjoy!"

Shannon's crowdfunding page says that each building takes approximately 15-30 hours. This is time that could otherwise be devoted to hunting for new jobs, he argues. The "SimCity" developer implores potential patrons to donate anywhere between $1 and $25 per building. The ultimate goal is to give him an opportunity to continue working on his art, without being forced to "work at a fast-food joint" in order to pay off his student loan, which amounts to $80,000.

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