SimCity is a 1989 Macintosh game from Maxis, catalogued here for 4 defining game mechanics.
Macintosh1989Complexity 70/1002D TopdownPopular
SimCity is a city-building simulation video game developed by Will Wright, and released for several platforms from 1989 to 1991. SimCity features two-dimensional graphics and an overhead perspective. The game's objective is to create a city, develop residential and industrial areas, build infrastructure, and collect taxes for further city development. (via Wikipedia)
The genre SimCity helped define
City-building simulation. an open-ended city with no win condition: just zoning, budgets, and a living simulation.
The game mechanics of SimCity
Economy Buy SellResourcePlayer earns and spends currency at merchants; price and value decisions are meaningful.
Upgrade PurchasingResourcePlayer spends accumulated resources or currency on permanent stat or ability improvements chosen from a menu.
Tile Map WorldWorldWorld is built from a grid of discrete terrain tiles; position on the grid is the primary navigation primitive.
Simulation TickSimulationWorld state advances on a regular clock independent of player input; player decisions are responses to the advancing simulation rather than…
Each mechanic links to how to build it in Godot, with the retro games that share it.
Study the source
Open source (GPL-3.0). Maxis open-sourced the original SimCity engine as Micropolis (GPL-3.0; the SimCity name is separately trademarked). https://github.com/SimHacker/micropolis