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Life simulation games form a subgenre of simulation video games in which the player lives or controls one or more virtual characters (human or otherwise). Such a game can revolve around "individuals and relationships, or it could be a simulation of an ecosystem". [1] Other terms include artificial life game [1] and simulated life game (SLG).
Life simulation games are about "maintaining and growing a virtual life", [2] where players are given the power to control the lives of autonomous people or creatures. [1] Artificial life games are related to computer science research in artificial life. But "because they're intended for entertainment rather than research, commercial A-life games implement only a subset of what A-life research investigates." [2] This broad genre includes god games which focus on managing tribal worshipers, as well as artificial pets that focus on one or several animals. It also includes genetic artificial life games, where players manage populations of creatures over several generations. [1]
Artificial life games and life simulations find their origins in artificial life research, including Conway's Game of Life from 1970. [1] But one of the first commercially viable artificial life games was Little Computer People in 1985, [1] a Commodore 64 game that allowed players to type requests to characters living in a virtual house. The game is cited as a little-known forerunner of virtual-life simulator games to follow. [3] [4] One of the earliest dating sims, Tenshitachi no gogo , [5] was released for the 16-bit NEC PC-9801 computer that same year, [6] though dating sim elements can be found in Sega's earlier Girl's Garden in 1984. [7]
In the mid-1990s, as artificial intelligence programming improved, true AI virtual pets such as Petz and Tamagotchi began to appear. Around the same time, Creatures became "the first full-blown commercial entertainment application of Artificial Life and genetic algorithms". [8] By 2000, The Sims refined the formula seen in Little Computer People and became the most successful artificial life game created to date. [1] In 2007, the game Spore was released, in which the player develops an alien species from the microbial tide pool into an interstellar empire.
Digital pets are a subgenre of artificial life game where players train, maintain, and watch a simulated animal. [1] The pets can be simulations of real animals, or fantasy pets. [2] Unlike genetic artificial life games that focus on larger populations of organisms, digital pet games usually allow players to interact with one or a few pets at once. [1] In contrast to artificial life games, digital pets do not usually reproduce or die, [2] although there are exceptions where pets will run away if ignored or mistreated. [1]
Digital pets are usually designed to be cute, and act out a range of emotions and behaviors that tell the player how to influence the pet. [1] "This quality of rich intelligence distinguishes artificial pets from other kinds of A-life, in which individuals have simple rules but the population as a whole develops emergent properties". [2] Players are able to tease, groom, and teach the pet, and so they must be able to learn behaviors from the player. [1] However, these behaviors are typically "preprogrammed and are not truly emergent". [2]
Game designers try to sustain the player's attention by mixing common behaviors with more rare ones, so the player is motivated to keep playing until they see them. [1] Otherwise, these games often lack a victory condition or challenge, and can be classified as software toys. [2] Games such as Nintendogs have been implemented for the Nintendo DS, although there are also simple electronic games that have been implemented on a keychain, such as Tamagotchi . [1] There are also numerous online pet-raising/virtual pet games, such as Neopets.[ citation needed ] Other pet life simulation games include online show dog raising games, and show horse raising games.
Some artificial life games allow players to manage a population of creatures over several generations, and try to achieve goals for the population as a whole. [1] These games have been called genetic artificial life games, [1] or biological simulations. [9] Players are able to crossbreed creatures, which have a set of genes or descriptors that define the creature's characteristics. [1] Some games also introduce mutations due to random or environmental factors, which can benefit the population as creatures reproduce. [10] These creatures typically have a short life-span, such as the Creatures series where organisms can survive from half an hour to well over seven hours. [1] Players are able to watch forces of natural selection shape their population, but can also interact with the population by breeding certain individuals together, by modifying the environment, or by introducing new creatures from their design. [10]
Another group of biological simulation games seek to simulate the life of an individual animal whose role the player assumes (rather than simulating an entire ecosystem controlled by the player). These include Wolf and its sequel Lion , the similar WolfQuest , and the more modest Odell educational series.
In addition, a large number of games have loose biological or evolutionary themes but do not attempt to reflect closely the reality of either biology or evolution: these include, within the "God game" variety, Evolution: The Game of Intelligent Life and Spore , and within the arcade/RPG variety, a multitude of entertainment software products including Eco and EVO: Search for Eden .
Social simulation games explore social interactions between multiple artificial lives. In some cases, the player may simply be an observer with no direct control but can influence the environment of the artificial lives, such as by creating and furnishing a house and creating situations for those characters to interact. These games are part of a subcategory of artificial life game sometimes called a virtual dollhouse. [1] The Sims is the most notable example of this type of game, and was itself influenced by the 1985 game Little Computer People . [11] [12]
In other games, the player takes a more active role as one character living alongside other artificial ones, engaging in similar life pursuits as to make money or sustain their character while engaging in social interactions with the other characters, typically seeking to gain beneficial relations with all such characters. Several of these fall into the subgenre of farming simulations, where the player-character runs a farm in a rural setting, growing crops and raising livestock to make money to keep their farm going while working to improve relations with the local townspeople. [13] Such games include the Story of Seasons and the Animal Crossing series, and Stardew Valley . [14] Dating sims are related to this type of game, but generally where the play-character is seeking a romantic relationship with one or more computer-controlled characters, with such titles often aimed at more mature audiences compared to the typical social simulation game. Dating sims may be more driven by visual novel gameplay elements than typical simulation gameplay. [15]
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Some games take biology or evolution as a theme, rather than attempting to simulate.
A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in which simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the simulation represents the evolution of the model over time. Another way to distinguish between the terms is to define simulation as experimentation with the help of a model. This definition includes time-independent simulations. Often, computers are used to execute the simulation.
A game controller, gaming controller, or simply controller, is an input device or input/output device used with video games or entertainment systems to provide input to a video game. Input devices that have been classified as game controllers include keyboards, mice, gamepads, and joysticks, as well as special purpose devices, such as steering wheels for driving games and light guns for shooting games. Controllers designs have evolved to include directional pads, multiple buttons, analog sticks, joysticks, motion detection, touch screens and a plethora of other features.
SimEarth: The Living Planet is a life simulation game, the second designed by Will Wright, published in 1990 by Maxis. In SimEarth, the player controls the development of a planet. English scientist James Lovelock served as an advisor and his Gaia hypothesis of planet evolution was incorporated into the game. Versions were made for the Macintosh, Atari ST, Amiga, IBM PC, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega CD, and TurboGrafx-16. It was re-released for the Wii Virtual Console. In 1996, several of Maxis' simulation games were re-released under the Maxis Collector Series with greater compatibility with Windows 95 and differing box art, including the addition of Classics beneath the title. SimEarth was re-released in 1997 under the Classics label.
A virtual pet is a type of artificial human companion. They are usually kept for companionship or enjoyment, or as an alternative to a real pet.
Simulation video games are a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate real world activities. A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for various purposes such as training, analysis, prediction, or entertainment. Usually there are no strictly defined goals in the game, and the player is allowed to control a character or environment freely. Well-known examples are war games, business games, and role play simulation. From three basic types of strategic, planning, and learning exercises: games, simulations, and case studies, a number of hybrids may be considered, including simulation games that are used as case studies. Comparisons of the merits of simulation games versus other teaching techniques have been carried out by many researchers and a number of comprehensive reviews have been published.
Dating sims, or romance simulation games, are a video game subgenre of simulation games with romantic elements. While dating sims share a similar visual presentation with visual novels, they are distinct genres. Dating sims are largely dependent on statistical calculations to drive the plot, whilst visual novels focus on telling a branching story. Nevertheless, the term "dating sim" has become a generic term for romance-driven games in the West.
SimLife: The Genetic Playground is a video game produced by Maxis in 1992. The concept of the game is to simulate an ecosystem; players may modify the genetics of the plants and animals that inhabit the virtual world. The point of this game is to experiment and create a self-sustaining ecosystem. SimLife was re-released in 1993 as part of the SimClassics Volume 1 compilation, alongside SimCity Classic and SimAnt for PC, Mac and Amiga.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to video games:
A government simulation or political simulation is a game that attempts to simulate the government and politics of all or part of a nation. These games may include geopolitical situations, the creation of domestic political policies, or the simulation of political campaigns. They differ from the genre of classical wargames due to their discouragement or abstraction of military or action elements.
Combat flight simulators are vehicle simulation games, amateur flight simulation computer programs used to simulate military aircraft and their operations. These are distinct from dedicated flight simulators used for professional pilot and military flight training which consist of realistic physical recreations of the actual aircraft cockpit, often with a full-motion platform.
Construction and management simulation (CMS), sometimes also called management sim or building sim, is a subgenre of simulation game in which players build, expand or manage fictional communities or projects with limited resources. Strategy video games sometimes incorporate CMS aspects into their game economy, as players must manage resources while expanding their project. Pure CMS games differ from strategy games, however, in that "the player's goal is not to defeat an enemy, but to build something within the context of an ongoing process." Games in this category are sometimes also called "management games".
Vehicle simulation games are a genre of video games which attempt to provide the player with a realistic interpretation of operating various kinds of vehicles. This includes automobiles, aircraft, watercraft, spacecraft, military vehicles, and a variety of other vehicles. The main challenge is to master driving and steering the vehicle from the perspective of the pilot or driver, with most games adding another challenge such as racing or fighting rival vehicles. Games are often divided based on realism, with some games including more realistic physics and challenges such as fuel management.
Social simulation games are a subgenre of life simulation game that explore social interactions between multiple artificial lives. Some examples include The Sims and Animal Crossing series.
A space flight simulation is a genre of flight simulator video games that lets players experience space flight to varying degrees of realism. Common mechanics include space exploration, space trade and space combat.
A flight simulation video game refers to the simulation of various aspects of flight or the flight environment for purposes other than flight training or aircraft development. A significant community of simulation enthusiasts is supported by several commercial software packages, as well as commercial and homebuilt hardware. Open-source software that is used by the aerospace industry like FlightGear, whose flight dynamics engine (JSBSim) is used in a 2015 NASA benchmark to judge new simulation code to space industry standards, is also available for private use. A popular type of flight simulators video games are combat flight simulators, which simulate combat air operations from the pilot and crew's point of view. Combat flight simulation titles are more numerous than civilian flight simulators due to variety of subject matter available and market demand.
Artificial life is a field of study wherein researchers examine systems related to natural life, its processes, and its evolution, through the use of simulations with computer models, robotics, and biochemistry. The discipline was named by Christopher Langton, an American computer scientist, in 1986. In 1987, Langton organized the first conference on the field, in Los Alamos, New Mexico. There are three main kinds of alife, named for their approaches: soft, from software; hard, from hardware; and wet, from biochemistry. Artificial life researchers study traditional biology by trying to recreate aspects of biological phenomena.
Farm life sims are a subgenre of life simulation games which fuse social simulation, dating sim and farm simulation elements. The games generally feature a protagonist going out to a rural setting and taking upon a farm, oftentimes because of an inheritance from a deceased relative, or because of urban boredom. The player-character grows crops and raises livestock to make money, and can interact with a wide cast of characters who are inhabitants of the town, and work toward the main plot's objective, if one exists. The game plots often featured dying ghost towns that must be revitalized by the player's actions. The games tend to feature simplified and less realistic farming as opposed to a simulation, such as Farming Simulator.
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