Learn About Simulation Games What are Simulation Games? A simulation game is a video game which seeks to recreate some aspect or aspects of the real world. This can mean anything from operating a vehicle, to organizing a business or sports franchise, to running the lives of a virtual family. The subject matter of simulation games varies greatly from game to game, but all simulations share a desire to accurately reproduce a complex activity or system in a virtual environment. The History of Simulation Games Because there are so many different subgenres of simulation games, it is best to look at the histories of each in turn. Perhaps the crown jewel of simulation games, at least in terms of influence and popularity, is Maxis’s SimCity (1989). Its creator, Will Wright, first hit upon the idea for a city simulator when he realized that he preferred the map-building feature of Raid on Bungling Bay more than playing the game itself. This preference for creation and planning over destruction is emblematic of the entire simulation genre. SimCity sought to recreate the challenges of urban planning, with factors such as power, zoning, transportation, taxation, crime, and natural disasters. Four sequels of increasing complexity have followed over the years, the most recent being SimCity: Societies (2007), but the standard-bearer being the earlier SimCity 4 (2003). Various other city-building games have followed on SimCity’s success. Some, such as Caesar (1992) and Pharaoh (1999) by Impressions, feature historical settings; others, such as Outpost (1994) by Sierra are based on science fiction. PopTop’s Tropico (2001) and its two sequels feature a Caribbean “banana republic” setting.
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September 2018
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