SimCity, also known as Micropolis or SimCity Classic, is a city-building simulation video game developed by Will Wright, and released for a number of 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 situation to prevent the settlement from declining and going bankrupt.
William Ralph Wright is an American video game designer and co-founder of the game development company Maxis, which later became part of part of Electronic Arts. In April 2009, he left EA to run Stupid Fun Club Camp, an entertainment think tank in which Wright and EA are principal shareholders.
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 personal computers in 1993, after which it was released on other platforms over the following years, such as the Sega Saturn and SNES game consoles in 1995 and the PlayStation in 1996.
SimCity 3000 is a city building simulation video game released in 1999, and the third major installment in the SimCity series. It was published by Electronic Arts (EA) and developed by series creator Maxis. It was released for Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, and, through an arrangement with Loki Games, Linux.
SimEarth is a life simulation video game, the second designed by Will Wright and 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 Apple Macintosh, Commodore Amiga, IBM PC, SNES, Sega Mega-CD and TurboGrafx-16. It was also subsequently re-released on 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.
SimAnt: The Electronic Ant Colony is a 1991 life simulation video game by Maxis and the company's third product, focusing on ants. It was designed by Will Wright. In 1992, it was named "Best Simulation Game" at the Software Publishers Association's Codie awards. SimAnt was re-released in 1993 as part of the SimClassics Volume 1 compilation alongside SimCity Classic and SimLife for PC, Mac and Amiga. In 1996 SimAnt alongside 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.
Creatures is an artificial life video game series, created in the mid-1990s by English computer scientist Steve Grand whilst working for the Cambridge video games developer Millennium Interactive.
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.
Creatures 2 is the second game in the Creatures artificial life game series made by Creature Labs, and the sequel to 1996 game Creatures. It features three species: the cute, dependent Norns, the cantankerous Grendels and the industrious Ettins. The game tries to simulate life, and includes a complex two-dimensional ecology of plants, animals and insects, which provide the environment for the three main species to live and develop in. The player interacts with the world using a hand-shaped cursor, and tries to encourage the creatures' development by manipulating various objects around the world, guiding the creatures using the cursor and encouraging the creatures to speak.
E.V.O.: Search for Eden is a side-scrolling action video game developed by Almanic Corporation and published by Enix for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Released in 1992 for Japanese audiences, the game was later translated and released in North America in 1993. Combining traditional platforming mechanics with experience and leveling mechanics originating from role playing games, E.V.O.: Search for Eden involves the player navigating a creature through a number of side-scrolling levels while undergoing bodily evolution to cope with ever-changing environments. It is heavily based on Almanic's original title, 46 Okunen Monogatari ~The Shinka Ron~, released exclusively in Japan for the PC-9801 home computer in 1990.
SimFarm: SimCity's Country Cousin is a video game in which players build and manage a virtual farm. It was developed by Maxis and released in 1993 as a spin-off of SimCity. The game included a teacher's guide to teaching with SimFarm with blackline masters to be photocopied for the class and a user manual. In 1996, SimFarm and several other Maxis simulation games were rereleased under the Maxis Collector Series, with greater compatibility with Windows 95 and differing box art, including the addition of Classics beneath the title.
El-Fish is a fish and fish-tank simulator and software toy developed by Russian game developer AnimaTek, with Maxis providing development advice. The game was published by Mindscape (v1.1) and later by Maxis in 1993 on 5 diskettes.
Project Eden is a 2001 action-adventure video game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. It was released for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 2. The planned Dreamcast version was cancelled. The plot involves a squad of four law enforcement agents investigating the disappearances of people by working their way downwards through layers of a towering mega-city. Project Eden's gameplay emphasises puzzle-solving, requiring the player or players to control each of the four characters and use their individual abilities to make progress. A single player can control any one of the characters, and jump between them at will or up to four players can play simultaneously as different members of the team.
Life simulation games form a subgenre of simulation video games in which the player lives or controls one or more virtual characters. Such a game can revolve around "individuals and relationships, or it could be a simulation of an ecosystem". Other terms include artificial life game and simulated life game (SLG).
SimRefinery is a computer management simulation game designed to simulate Chevron's Richmond refinery operation. It was developed by the Maxis Business Simulations division of Maxis in 1993. John Hiles, who was the head of the Maxis division, was a lead designer on the project.
Evolution: The Game of Intelligent Life, also known as Genetic Evolution: The Race for Intelligent Life in Germany and Evolução: O Jogo da Vida in Brazil, is a life simulation and real-time strategy computer game that allows players to experience, guide, and control evolution from an isometric view on either historical earth or on randomly generated worlds while racing against computer opponents to reach the top of the evolution chain, and gradually evolving the player's animals to reach the "grand goal of intelligent life".
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.
Spore is a 2008 life simulation real-time strategy God game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Designed by Will Wright, it covers many genres including action, real-time strategy, and role-playing games. Spore allows a player to control the development of a species from its beginnings as a microscopic organism, through development as an intelligent and social creature, to interstellar exploration as a spacefaring culture. It has drawn wide attention for its massive scope, and its use of open-ended gameplay and procedural generation. Throughout each stage, players are able to use various creators to produce content for their games. These are then automatically uploaded to the online Sporepedia and are accessible by other players for download.
Niche: A Genetics Survival Game is an indie simulation video game developed and published by Stray Fawn Studio, and was released on Steam Early Access for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, and Linux-based systems on September 15, 2016 after a successful Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign. Its main aim is to breed certain traits or genes into a group of canine or feline creatures to make the pack genetically perfect for its environment.
