Will Wright started working on "The Sims" after releasing "SimAnt" in 1991. However, the game's concept was very poorly received by a focus group, so Wright had difficulty getting the project off the ground. He managed to convince his company to let him work on the project (codenamed "Project X" at the time) in the background while developing "SimCity 2000" and "SimCopter". He was lent one programmer for the project, Jamie Doornbos, who went on to become the lead programmer for "The Sims". During the first few years of the project, Wright and Doornbos were primarily developing an open-ended system of character behavior. As the project continued, Wright found that the social aspect of the game turned out to be highly engaging, and the team started to focus more on the characters of the game, such as by letting Sims visit one another's houses and by implementing long-term relationships.