Review Fix Exclusive: SomaSim’s Matt Viglione Talks ‘1849’

Review Fix chats with SomaSim’s Matt Viglione who discusses, “1849,” the developers’ new simulation title that takes place during the Gold Rush of 1849. Discussing everything from the development cycle to his eventual hopes for the game, Vigilone gives us an inside look at what appears to be one of the deepest simulation games on the iOS.

Review Fix: How much historical research went into the game?

Matt Viglione: Quite a bit, actually – especially in terms of art direction. Everything about the visual and scenario design of 1849 is directly inspired by the California Gold Rush. Since the Gold Rush is in many ways seminal founding event of California, 1849 is in many ways a California simulator. Visually we were inspired by the vistas and views of Northern California and by the towns and cities that descend from the Gold Rush. From Victorian workers’ cottages in San Francisco to the mines of the Mother Lode to the vineyards and wineries of St. Helena, we tried to capture the essence of 1850s California in the buildings and characters of the game. For a game with a concrete historical setting, it’s essential that the visuals of the game reflect that inheritance.

We also did quite a bit of research on the Gold Rush itself, looking through census records to get a sense of what kinds of people were coming to California and how our NPCs should look. Also, because there are 20 different cities, we looked into what each of those towns and cities did during the Gold Rush. Some towns were lumber towns, some were supply points and some were focused on producing food and drink for the miners.

Review Fix: What has the development cycle been like thus far? Any triumphs or challenges?

Viglione: In a word, fast. We started in April of 2013 and we released on May 8, 2014. Our biggest challenge has been to remain focused on what can be done in that relatively short development cycle with a limited team of just two full-time devs and two part-time artists. When we thought of a new feature or a new piece of UI or a new element, we had to be hyper-realistic about our ability to do it in our timeframe. And that challenge really became an asset to us – it kept us really glued to our original vision and prevented too much feature creep from cluttering up the game and getting in the way of our vision for a rather pure management sim.

Review Fix: What do you think is the game’s most endearing quality?

Viglione: I really enjoy the visual activity of a large, developed city. There are NPCs going every which way with carts, sheriffs walking around town, saloon keepers outside their establishments sweeping up, teachers calling students to class, preachers stand in front of churches and lots of people are about mining, farming, hammering and working. It’s fun to just watch the activity that you built from just a few shacks into a bustling settlement.

Review Fix: What’s your favorite platform to play the game on? Why?

Viglione: I’ve been really enjoying playing it on our new iPad Mini. Not sure if it’s because it’s a new device for us, but it’s been a lot of fun to sit on the couch with the game. I thought that I would end up with shorter play sessions on the tablet compared with the PC, but it seems like that’s not the case and I’m playing just as long if not longer on the tablet.

Review Fix: What do you think you’ve learned while creating the game?

Viglione: Since our main skill sets before creating 1849 were in making things, I think we were surprised by how much time things like store set-up, marketing, PR and other things take. There’s a whole set of skills that are necessary to game development that go beyond design and coding and I think we’ve learned how much time those take and the need to plan for them and hopefully how do it better for our second game.

Review Fix: What are your hopes for it?

Viglione: We hope that the game sparks interest more simulation games. We vividly remember a time when there were a lot more simulation games available – when Railroad Tycoon and Caesar II and Zeus were big titles. We’re hoping that a lot of people play the game on tablets and PCs and demonstrate that there’s a demand for this type of game. Specifically for this title, we’re hoping we can support a few rounds of expansion content that would take players to a few other places where similar rushes occurred.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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