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This is a comprehensive index of city-building games, sorted chronologically. Information regarding date of release, developer, platform, setting and notability is provided when available. The table can be sorted by clicking on the small boxes next to the column headings.
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Year | Game | Developer | Setting | Platform | Notes |
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1964 | The Sumerian Game | Mabel Addis | Historical | MAIN | Text-based game based on the ancient Sumerian city of Lagash. [1] |
1969 | The Sumer Game | Richard Merrill | Historical | MAIN | Adaptation of The Sumerian Game . [1] |
1975 | Hamurabi | David H. Ahl | Historical | MAIN | Expanded version of The Sumer Game . Published later as part of BASIC Computer Games . |
1978 | Santa Paravia en Fiumaccio | George Blank | Historical | MAIN, 9+ other platforms | |
1981 | Kingdom [2] | David Allen [3] | Historical | BBC | A conversion of the game "Hamurabi", it was included as part of welcome package to BBC Microcomputers.[ citation needed ] |
1982 | Utopia | Don Daglow | Contemporary | AQUA, INT | |
1989 | SimCity | Maxis | Contemporary | AMI, MAC, 27+ other platforms | First title in the SimCity series. |
1990 | ActRaiser | Quintet | Fantasy | MOBI, SNES, VC | 2D platform game mix. |
1990 | Moonbase | Wesson | Sci-fi | AMI, DOS | |
1991 | Utopia: The Creation of a Nation | Celestial | Sci-fi | AMI, DOS, SNES, ST | |
1992 | Caesar | Impressions | Historical | AMI, DOS, ST | First title in the City Building series. |
1993 | Lunar Command | Wesson | Sci-fi | DOS | Updated version of Moonbase . |
1993 | SimCity 2000 | Maxis, Full Fat | Contemporary | AMI, DOS, GBA, MAC, N64, PS1, PSP, SAT, SNES | Sequel to SimCity . |
1993 | The Settlers (a.k.a. Serf City: Life is Feudal) | Blue Byte | Fantasy | AMI, DOS | First title in the series. |
1993 | Stronghold: Kingdom Simulator | Stormfront | Fantasy | DOS, FMT, PC98, WIN, LIN, OSX | Hybrid with RTS elements. |
1994 | Outpost | Sierra | Sci-fi | MAC, WIN3X | Sci-fi version of SimCity. |
1995 | Caesar II | Impressions | Historical | MAC, WIN | Sequel to Caesar . |
1995 | Lincity | Various | Contemporary | CROSS | Open source clone of Sim City . |
1995 | SimIsle: Missions in the Rainforest | Intelligent | Contemporary | DOS, MAC, WIN3X | |
1995 | SimTown | Maxis | Contemporary | MAC, WIN, WIN3X | |
1996 | Afterlife | LucasArts | Fantasy | DOS, MAC, WIN9X | |
1996 | Holiday Island | Sunflowers | Contemporary | WIN9X | |
1996 | The Settlers II: Veni, Vidi, Vici | Blue Byte | Fantasy | DOS, DS, MAC | Sequel to The Settlers . Nintendo DS port was released in 2007. |
1996 | The Settlers II Mission CD | Blue Byte | Fantasy | DOS | Expansion to The Settlers II: Veni, Vidi, Vici . |
1997 | Constructor | System 3 | Contemporary | PS1, WIN | |
1998 | Anno 1602: Creation of a New World | Max | Historical | WIN9X | First title in the series. RTS mix. |
1998 | Caesar III | Impressions | Historical | MAC, WIN9X, Not | Sequel to Caesar II . |
1998 | The Settlers III | Blue Byte | Fantasy | WIN9X | Sequel to The Settlers II: Veni, Vidi, Vici . |
1999 | Mobility | Glamus | Contemporary | WIN, LIN | |
1999 | Pharaoh | Impressions | Historical | WIN9X | |
1999 | SimCity 3000 | Maxis | Contemporary | iPhone, LIN, MAC, WIN | Sequel to SimCity 2000 . |
2000 | Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile | Impressions | Historical | WIN9X | Expansion to Pharaoh . |
2000 | Master of Olympus: Zeus | Impressions | Fantasy | WIN | |
2000 | SimCity 64 | HAL | Contemporary | N64 | Spin-off of the SimCity series. |
2000 | SimCity 3000 Unlimited | Maxis | Contemporary | LIN, WIN | Re-release of SimCity 3000 . |
2000 | StarPeace | Oceanus | Sci-fi | WIN | MMOG. |
2001 | Master of Atlantis: Poseidon | Impressions | Fantasy | WIN | Expansion to Master of Olympus: Zeus . |
2001 | StarTopia | Mucky Foot | Sci-fi | WIN | |
2001 | Stronghold | Firefly Studios | Fantasy | WIN | Hybrid with RTS elements. |
2001 | The Settlers IV | Blue Byte | Fantasy | WIN | Sequel to The Settlers III . |
2001 | Tropico | PopTop | Contemporary | MAC, OSX, WIN, WIN9X | |
2002 | Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom | BreakAway, Impressions | Historical | WIN | |
2002 | Metropolismania | Media Factory | Contemporary | PS2 | First title in the series. |
2002 | Moonbase Commander | Humongous | Sci-fi | WIN | |
2002 | Stronghold: Crusader | Firefly Studios | Historical | WIN | Hybrid with RTS elements. |
2002 | Tropico: Paradise Island | BreakAway | Contemporary | WIN, WIN9X | Expansion to Tropico . |
2003 | Anno 1503: The New World | Max | Historical | WIN9X, WIN | Sequel to Anno 1602: Creation of a New World . RTS mix. |
2003 | Anno 1503: Treasures, Monsters and Pirates | Max | Historical | WIN | Expansion to Anno 1503: The New World . |
2003 | SimCity 4 | Maxis | Contemporary | OSX, WIN | Sequel to SimCity 3000 . |
2003 | SimCity 4: Rush Hour | Maxis | Contemporary | OSX, WIN | Expansion to SimCity 4 . |
2003 | Tropico 2: Pirate Cove | Frog City | Historical | OSX, WIN | |
2004 | Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile | Tilted Mill | Historical | WIN | |
2004 | Outpost Kaloki X | NinjaBee | Sci-fi | WIN, X360 | |
2005 | Medieval Lords: Build, Defend, Expand | Monte Cristo | Historical | WIN | |
2005 | Stronghold 2 | Firefly Studios | Fantasy | WIN | Hybrid with RTS elements. |
2005 | Settlers: Heritage of Kings, The | Blue Byte | Fantasy | WIN | Sequel to The Settlers IV . |
2005 | The Settlers: Heritage of Kings - Expansion Disk | Blue Byte | Fantasy | WIN | Expansion to The Settlers: Heritage of Kings . |
2005 | The Settlers: Heritage of Kings - Legends Expansion Disk | Blue Byte | Fantasy | WIN | Expansion to The Settlers: Heritage of Kings . |
2006 | Anno 1701 | Related | Historical | WIN | Sequel to Anno 1503: The New World . RTS mix. |
2006 | Caesar IV | Tilted Mill | Historical | WIN | Sequel to Caesar III . |
2006 | City Life | Monte Cristo | Contemporary | WIN, DS | |
2006 | CivCity: Rome | Firefly, Firaxis | Historical | WIN | |
2006 | Dwarf Fortress | Bay 12 Games | Fantasy | WIN, LIN, MAC | |
2006 | Glory of the Roman Empire | Haemimont | Historical | WIN | |
2006 | The Settlers II 10th Anniversary | Blue Byte | Fantasy | WIN | Remake of The Settlers II: Veni, Vidi, Vici . |
2006 | Tycoon City: New York | Deep Red | Contemporary | WIN | |
2007 | Anno 1701: Dawn of Discovery | Keen | Historical | DS | Hybrid with RTS elements. |
2007 | Anno 1701: The Curse of the Dragon | Related | Historical | DS | Expansion to Anno 1701: Dawn of Discovery . RTS mix. |
2007 | SimCity DS | EA Japan, AKI Corporation | Contemporary | DS | |
2007 | SimCity Societies | Tilted Mill | Contemporary | MOBI, WIN | Spin-off of the SimCity series. |
2007 | The Settlers II: 10th Anniversary - The Vikings | Blue Byte | Fantasy | WIN | Expansion to The Settlers II (10th Anniversary) . |
2007 | The Settlers: Rise of an Empire | Blue Byte | Fantasy | WIN | Sequel to The Settlers: Heritage of Kings . |
2008 | A Kingdom for Keflings | Ninja Bee | Fantasy | X360 | |
2008 | Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King | Square Enix | Fantasy | Wii | Hybrid with RPG elements. |
2008 | Hinterland | Tilted Mill | Fantasy | WIN | Hybrid with RPG elements. |
2008 | Imperium Romanum | Haemimont | Historical | WIN | Sequel to Glory of the Roman Empire . |
2008 | Micropolis | Don Hopkins | Contemporary | CROSS | Open source version of SimCity . |
2008 | SimCity DS 2 | EA Japan, AKI Corporation | Contemporary | DS, Wii | Aka SimCity Creator ww. |
2008 | SimCity Societies: Destinations | Tilted Mill | Contemporary | WIN | Expansion to SimCity Societies . |
2008 | Settlers: Rise of an Empire - The Eastern Realm, The | Blue Byte | Fantasy | WIN | Expansion to The Settlers: Rise of an Empire . |
2009 | Anno 1404 | Related, Ubisoft, Blue Byte | Historical | WIN, OSX, DS, Wii | Sequel to Anno 1701: Dawn of Discovery . RTS mix. |
2009 | Cities XL | Monte Cristo | Contemporary | WIN | |
2009 | Grand Ages: Rome | Haemimont | Historical | WIN | Sequel to Imperium Romanum . |
2009 | OpenCity | Duong-Khang Nguyen | Contemporary | CROSS | Open source. A development version is available. |
2009 | Tropico 3 | Haemimont Games | Contemporary | OSX, WIN, X360 | Successor to Tropico . |
2010 | A World of Keflings | Ninja Bee | Fantasy | X360 | |
2010 | Cities XL 2011 | Focus Home Interactive | Contemporary | WIN | |
2010 | Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom, The | Blue Byte | Fantasy | OSX, WIN | Sequel to The Settlers: Rise of an Empire . |
2011 | Anno 2070 | Related Designs | Sci-fi | WIN | |
2011 | Cities XL 2012 | Focus Home Interactive | Contemporary | WIN | |
2011 | MegaCity | ColePowered Games | Contemporary | iOS, X360, DROI | Puzzler with city-building looks. |
2011 | Stronghold 3 | Firefly Studios | Fantasy | WIN, OSX, LIN | Hybrid with RTS elements. |
2011 | Tropico 4 | Haemimont Games | Contemporary | WIN, X360, OSX | |
2012 | SimCity Social | Playfish, Maxis | Modern | BROW | Defunct online, social SimCity spin-off. |
2012 | Stronghold: HD | Firefly Studios | Historical | WIN | Modest enhancement of Stronghold (2001) . RTS hybrid. |
2012 | The Simpsons: Tapped Out | EA Mobile | Parody | iOS, DROI | Freemium title. Delisted 2024. |
2012 | Towns | Xavi Canal, Ben Palgi | Fantasy | WIN, LIN, OSX | RPG hybrid with few influences. Abandoned in 2014. |
2013 | SimCity | Maxis | Contemporary | WIN, OSX | Relaunch of Simcity Series. |
2014 | Banished | Shining Rock Software | Historical | WIN | |
2014 | Stronghold Crusader II | Firefly Studios | Historical | WIN | Hybrid with RTS elements. |
2014 | Tropico 5 | Haemimont Games | Contemporary | WIN, OSX, LIN, X360, PS4 [4] | |
2015 | Anno 2205 | Blue Byte | Sci-Fi | WIN | Sequel to Anno 2070 . |
2015 | Cities: Skylines | Colossal Order | Contemporary | WIN, OSX, LIN, PS4, XOne, NX | Based on the engine used for Cities in Motion 2 . |
2015 | Cities XXL | Focus Home Interactive | Contemporary | WIN | |
2015 | Concrete Jungle | ColePowered Games | Contemporary | WIN, OSX, iOS, DROI | City-planning deck-builder. Sequel to MegaCity . |
2015 | Planetbase | Madruga Works | Sci-fi | WIN, OSX, XOne, PS4 | Survival city-builder. |
2015 | Valhalla Hills | Funatics Software | Mythology | WIN, LIN, OSX, Cloud, XOne, PS4 | City builder, RTS. |
2016 | Clockwork Empires | Gaslamp Games | Alternate History, Lovecraftian | WIN, OSX | Lovecraftian colony sim. Delisted 2019. |
2017 | Aven Colony | Mothership Entertainment | Sci-Fi | WIN, PS4, XOne | |
2017 | Block'hood | Plethora Project | Modern | WIN, LIN, OSX | Neighbourhood builder. |
2017 | Life is Feudal: Forest Village | Bitbox | Historical | WIN | Survival town builder. |
2017 | Kingdoms and Castles | Lion Shield | Fantasy | WIN, OSX, LIN, XOne, PS4, XSX/S, PS5 | |
2018 | Frostpunk | 11 bit studios | Sci-Fi | WIN, OSX, PS4, XOne | |
2018 | Judgment: Apocalypse Survival Simulation | Suncrash | Post-apocalypse, Demons | WIN | Colony sim & real-time tactics. |
2018 | Maia | Machine Studios | Hard sci-fi | WIN, LIN, OSX | Survival colony sim with a first person mode. |
2018 | Surviving Mars | Haemimont Games | Sci-Fi | WIN, OSX, LIN, PS4, XOne | |
2019 | Anno 1800 | Blue Byte | Historical | WIN, XSX/S, PS5 | Industrialization-age exploration building sim. |
2019 | Dawn of Man | Madruga Works | Historical | WIN, OSX | Prehistoric city builder. Eras: Paleolithic to the Iron Age. |
2019 | Islanders | Grizzly Games | Fantasy | WIN, OSX, LIN | Casual city builder with low-poly aesthetic. |
2019 | Outlanders | Pomelo Games | Contemporary | iOS, WIN | |
2019 | Rise of Industry | Dapper Penguin Studios | Historical | WIN, LIN, OSX | Tycoon sim with minimalist 3D graphics. Former name: Project Automata. |
2019 | Rise to Ruins | Raymond Doerr | Fantasy | WIN, OSX, LIN | Indie city-builder with survival and god game elements. |
2019 | Tropico 6 | Limbic Entertainment | Contemporary | WIN, OSX, LIN, PS4, XOne | |
2020 | Before We Leave | Balancing Monkey Games | Sci-fi | WIN, OSX, NX, XOne, PS4, XSX/S, PS5 | |
2020 | Per Aspera | Tlön Industries | Sci-fi | WIN | City-builder about terraforming Mars. |
2020 | Airborne Kingdom | The Wandering Band | Sci-fi | WIN, OSX, PS4, PS5, XOne, XSX/S, NX | Steampunk flying city. |
2021 | Actraiser Renaissance | Sonic Powered, Square Enix | Fantasy | iOS, DROI, NX, WIN, PS4 | Big remaster of ActRaiser . |
2021 | Dice Legacy | DESTINYbit | Fantasy | WIN, NX, XOne, PS4, XSX/S, PS5 | Roguelike survival with dice rolls. |
2021 | Endzone: A World Apart | Gentlymad Studios | Post-apocalypse | WIN, XOne, XSX/S, PS5 | Post-apocalyptic survival city-builder. |
2021 | Nebuchadnezzar | Nepos Games | Historical | WIN, LIN | Set in Ancient Mesopotamia. |
2021 | Patron | Overseer Games | Historical | WIN | Survival city-builder. |
2021 | Surviving the Aftermath | Iceflake Studios | Post-apocalypse | WIN, NX, PS4, XOne, XSX/S | Survival city-builder. Sequel to Surviving Mars . |
2021 | Townscaper | Oskar Stålberg | Fantasy | WIN, OSX, MOBI | Indie city-builder with a specially intuitive gameplay and interface. |
2022 | Floodland | Vile Monarch | Post-apocalypse | WIN | Survival city-builder. |
2022 | Urbek City Builder | Estudios Kremlinois | Contemporary | WIN, PS4, PS5, XSX/S, NX | Puzzle aspects with voxels. |
2023 | Against the Storm | Eremite Games | Dark fantasy | WIN | Roguelike. |
2023 | Aquatico | Digital Reef Games | Historical | WIN | |
2023 | Cities: Skylines II | Colossal Order | Contemporary | WIN, XSX/S, PS5 | Sequel to Cities: Skylines . |
2023 | Stranded: Alien Dawn | Haemimont Games | Sci-fi | WIN, XOne, PS4, PS5, XSX/S | Survival sim. |
2024 | Bulwark Evolution: Falconeer Chronicles | Tomas Sala (Person) | Fantasy | WIN, LIN, XOne, PS4, PS5, XSX/S | Open world builder. |
2024 | Frostpunk 2 | 11 Bit Studios | Alternate history | WIN, PS5, XSX/S | Sequel to Frostpunk . |
2024 | Olympics Go! Paris 2024 | Nvizzio Creations | Contemporary | WIN, iOS, DROI | Sports game mix. Based on 2024 Summer Olympics. |
2024 | Summerhouse | Friedemann Allmenröder | Contemporary | WIN, OSX | Open-ended sandbox game. |
2024 | Tiny Glade | Pounce Light | Historical | WIN, LIN | Medieval, cosy diorama builder. |
2024 | Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic | 3Division | Historical | WIN | City builder with a focus on a communist economic system. |
2025 | Anno 117: Pax Romana | Ubisoft Mainz | Historical | WIN, PS5, XSX/S | Sequel to Anno 1800 . RTS mix. |
2025 | Builders of Egypt | Strategy Labs | Historical | WIN | Ancient Egypt city builder. Covers full pharaonic Egypt history. |
2025 | Foundation | Polymorph Games | Historical | WIN | Medieval indie city-builder. |
TBA | Flotsam | Pajama Llama Games | Post-apocalypse | WIN | Survival town builder on water. |
TBA | Infection Free Zone | Jutsu Games | Post-apocalypse | WIN | Survival city-builder. |
TBA | Manor Lords | Slavic Magic | Historical | WIN, XOne, XSX/S | City-building & real-time tactics. |
TBA | The Wandering Village | Stray Fawn | Sci-fi | WIN, LIN, OSX, XOne, XSX/S | Mobile city-builder. |
TBA | Timberborn | Mechanistry | Fantasy, Futuristic | WIN, macOS | Beaver colony. |
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. Importance is placed on increasing the population's standard of living, maintaining a balance between the different sectors, and monitoring the region's environmental situations to prevent the settlement from declining and going bankrupt.
SimCity 2000 is a city-building simulation video game jointly developed by Will Wright and Fred Haslam of Maxis. It is the successor to SimCity Classic and was released for Apple Macintosh and MS-DOS personal computers in 1993, after which it was released on many other platforms over the following years, such as the Sega Saturn and SNES game consoles in 1995 and the PlayStation in 1996.
Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic racing simulations and more fantastical arcade-style racing games. Kart racing games emerged in the 1990s as a popular sub-genre of the latter. Racing games may also fall under the category of sports video games.
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.
A city-building game, or town-building game, is a genre of simulation video game where players act as the overall planner and leader of a city or town, looking down on it from above, and being responsible for its growth and management strategy. Players choose building placement and city management features such as salaries and work priorities, and the city develops accordingly.
Choplifter is a military-themed scrolling shooter developed by Dan Gorlin for the Apple II and published by Broderbund in 1982. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers the same year, and also to the VIC-20, Commodore 64, Atari 5200, ColecoVision, MSX, and Thomson computers.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to video games:
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.
Business simulation games, also known as tycoon games or economic simulation games, are video games that focus on the management of economic processes, usually in the form of a business. Pure business simulations have been described as construction and management simulations without a construction element, and can thus be called simulations. Micromanagement is often emphasized in these kinds of games. They are essentially numeric but try to hold the player's attention by using creative graphics. The interest in these games lies in accurate simulation of real-world events using algorithms, as well as the close tying of players' actions to expected or plausible consequences and outcomes. An important facet of economic simulations is the emergence of artificial systems, gameplay and structures.
Hamurabi is a text-based strategy video game of land and resource management. It was first developed under the name King of Sumeria or The Sumer Game by Doug Dyment in 1968 at Digital Equipment Corporation as a computer game for fellow employee Richard Merrill's newly invented FOCAL programming language.
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".
Strategy is a major video game genre that focus on analyzing and strategizing over direct quick reaction in order to secure success. Although many types of video games can contain strategic elements, as a genre, strategy games are most commonly defined as those with a primary focus on high-level strategy, logistics and resource management. They are also usually divided into two main sub-categories: turn-based and real-time, but there are also many strategy cross/sub-genres that feature additional elements such as tactics, diplomacy, economics and exploration.
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 sandbox game is a video game with a gameplay element that provides players a great degree of creativity to interact with, usually without any predetermined goal, or with a goal that the players set for themselves. Such games may lack any objective, and are sometimes referred to as non-games or software toys. More often, sandbox games result from these creative elements being incorporated into other genres and allowing for emergent gameplay. Sandbox games are often associated with an open world concept which gives the players freedom of movement and progression in the game's world. The term "sandbox" derives from the nature of a sandbox that lets people create nearly anything they want within it.
A serious game or applied game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. The "serious" adjective is generally prepended to refer to video games used by industries like defense, education, scientific exploration, health care, emergency management, city planning, engineering, politics and art. Serious games are a subgenre of serious storytelling, where storytelling is applied "outside the context of entertainment, where the narration progresses as a sequence of patterns impressive in quality ... and is part of a thoughtful progress". The idea shares aspects with simulation generally, including flight simulation and medical simulation, but explicitly emphasizes the added pedagogical value of fun and competition.
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.
Mainframe computers are computers used primarily by businesses and academic institutions for large-scale processes. Before personal computers, first termed microcomputers, became widely available to the general public in the 1970s, the computing industry was composed of mainframe computers and the relatively smaller and cheaper minicomputer variant. During the mid to late 1960s, many early video games were programmed on these computers. Developed prior to the rise of the commercial video game industry in the early 1970s, these early mainframe games were generally written by students or employees at large corporations in a machine or assembly language that could only be understood by the specific machine or computer type they were developed on. While many of these games were lost as older computers were discontinued, some of them were ported to high-level computer languages like BASIC, had expanded versions later released for personal computers, or were recreated for bulletin board systems years later, thus influencing future games and developers.
The Sumerian Game is an early text-based strategy video game of land and resource management. It was developed as part of a joint research project between the Board of Cooperative Educational Services of Westchester County, New York and IBM in 1964–1966 for investigation of the use of computer-based simulations in schools. It was designed by Mabel Addis, then a fourth-grade teacher, and programmed by William McKay for the IBM 7090 time-shared mainframe computer. The first version of the game was played by a group of 30 sixth-grade students in 1964, and a revised version featuring refocused gameplay and added narrative and audiovisual elements was played by a second group of students in 1966.