Life simulation games (or Artificial life games)[1] are simulation games The simulation game or simply game is simulation or reenactment of various activities or "real life" in the form of a game for various purposes: training, analysis, or prediction. Well-known examples are war games, business games, and roleplay simulation in which the player lives or controls one or more artificial lifeforms. A life simulation game can revolve around "individuals and relationships, or it could be a simulation of an ecosystem".[1]
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Types
The usually falls into one or more of the following subgenres:
- Biological simulations may allow the player to experiment with genetics Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding. However, the modern science of genetics, which seeks to understand the process of, survival or ecosystems An ecosystem consists of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving, physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water, and sunlight. It is all the organisms in a given area, along with the nonliving factors with which they interact; a biological community and its, often in the form of an educational package A serious game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. The "serious" adjective is generally prepended to refer to products used by industries like defense, education, scientific exploration, health care, emergency management, city planning, engineering, religion, and politics.
- Pet-raising simulations A pet-raising simulation is a video game that focuses on the care, raising, breeding or exhibition of simulated animals. These games are software implementations of digital pets. Such games are described as a sub-class of life simulation game. The concept originated from Enix's console role-playing game, Dragon Quest V (1992) (also known as artificial pets[2] or digital pets A digital pet , is a type of artificial human companion. They are usually kept for companionship or enjoyment. People may keep a digital pet in lieu of a real pet) focus more on the relationship between the player and one or few life forms. They are often more limited in scope than other biological simulations. Notable examples include Tamagotchi The Tamagotchi is a handheld digital pet created in Japan by Akihiro Yokoi of WiZ Co. Ltd., and Aki Maita of Bandai Co. Ltd. It was first sold by Bandai in 1996 in Japan. Over 70,000,000 Tamagotchis have been sold world-wide as of 2008. Most Tamagotchis are housed in a small egg-shaped computer with an interface usually consisting of three buttons,, the Petz Petz is a series of games dating back to 1995, in which the player can adopt, raise, care for and breed their own virtual pets. Petz has sold over 3 million copies worldwide.[citation needed] series, Viva Piñata Viva Piñata is a life simulation game developed by Rare, for the Xbox 360 video game console. The project was headed by Gregg Mayles and the team behind the Banjo-Kazooie series, based on an idea from Tim Stamper. Although rumors of the title circulated among fans for some time, Viva Piñata was officially announced on March 15, 2006, and first and Nintendogs Nintendogs is a real-time pet simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It was first released in Japan, and was later released in North America, Australia, Europe, and other regions. It was originally released in three different versions: Dachshund & Friends, Lab & Friends,.
- Social simulation games Social simulation games are a subgenre of life simulation game that explore social interactions between multiple artificial lives. The most famous example from this genre is The Sims series of games base their gameplay on the social interaction In social science, a social relation or social interaction refers to a relationship between two , three (i.e. a triad) or more individuals (e.g. a social group). Social relations, derived from individual agency, form the basis of the social structure. To this extent social relations are always the basic object of analysis for social scientists between game entities, such as The Sims The Sims is a strategic life-simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It was created by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity. It is a simulation of the daily activities of one or more virtual persons in a suburban household near SimCity.
Overview
Life simulation games are about "maintaining and growing a manageable population of organisms"[2]. Games may involve a population or one or many organisms. Games may simulate animal or human intelligence.
Artificial life games are related to computer science Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation, and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems. It is frequently described as the systematic study of algorithmic processes that create, describe, and transform information. Computer science research in artificial life Artificial life is a field of study and an associated art form which examine systems related to life, its processes, and its evolution through simulations using computer models, robotics, and biochemistry. The discipline was named by Christopher Langton, an American computer scientist, in 1986. There are three main kinds of alife, named for their. "Because they're intended for entertainment rather than research, commercial A-life games implement only a subset of what A-life research investigates."[2]
Players are given the power to control the lives of autonomous creatures or people, which can sometimes appeal to the fantasy of omnipotent power.[1]
Subgenres
While life simulation games are a relatively young genre, it includes several subgenres.
Biological simulation
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Various games simulate either entire ecosystems An ecosystem consists of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving, physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water, and sunlight. It is all the organisms in a given area, along with the nonliving factors with which they interact; a biological community and its controlled by the player where the organisms may evolve Evolution is the change in the inherited traits of a population of organisms through successive generations. After a population splits into smaller groups, these groups evolve independently and may eventually diversify into new species. Ultimately, life is descended from a common ancestry through a long series of these speciation events, (similar to God games A god game is a construction and management simulation that casts the player in the position of controlling the game on a large scale, as an entity with divine/supernatural powers, as a great leader, or with no specified character , and places them in charge of a game setting containing autonomous characters to guard and influence) or the life of an individual animal whose role the player assumes (similar to arcade An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, public houses, and video arcades. Most arcade games are redemption games, merchandisers , video games, or pinball machines or role playing games).
A typical representative of the biological "God game" variety is SimLife SimLife: The Genetic Playground is a computer 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, which, albeit rather abstract, aims to simulate ecosystems similar to those of the Earth. Another example is Darwinbots DarwinBots is an open source artificial life simulator, originally developed by Carlo Comis, providing a virtual environment in which a number of digital organisms called "bots" interact, fight for resources, and eventually reproduce and evolve, an even more abstract artificial life Artificial life is a field of study and an associated art form which examine systems related to life, its processes, and its evolution through simulations using computer models, robotics, and biochemistry. The discipline was named by Christopher Langton, an American computer scientist, in 1986. There are three main kinds of alife, named for their program which seeks to simulate the general principles of biology, but is also used as a programming game A programming game is a computer game where the player has no direct influence on the course of the game. Instead, a computer program or script is written in some domain-specific programming language in order to control the actions of the characters . Most programming games can be considered environments of digital organisms, related to artificial with shooting "bots" similar to Robot Battle Robot Battle is a programming game for Microsoft Windows where players design and code adaptable battling robots. Robot Battle takes strategy rather than reflexes, accuracy, or timing to succeed. What differentiates one robot from the next is its programming, for which the player is responsible. The game is inspired by the similar game RobotWar. While these two focus on the simulation of life itself rather than the entertainment value and feature no fictional story or fantasic elements, such may be found in the Creatures series Creatures is an artificial life computer program series, created in the mid-1990s by English computer scientist Steve Grand whilst working for the Cambridge computer games developer Millennium Interactive. The program is one of the few games (as of 2008) to employ machine learning and in a multitude of games in the tycoon genre Business simulation games, or economic simulation games, are 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 management simulations. Indeed, (e.g. the Wildlife Tycoon Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa is an adventure game set in Africa. Players create and control lions, elephants, zebras and more in this unique and deceptively deep strategy game. To succeed the player must discover the unique behaviors of each species and build food and water sources to suit them. They must plan their ecosystem well so that it series or Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis is a video game for the PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 based on the novel and film series Jurassic Park. The main point of the game is to recreate Jurassic Park - building a 5 star theme park with dinosaurs, and turning John Hammond's dream into reality. In the park, the player builds paths, amenities for visitors): these nevertheless also attempt to simulate, in a detailed and partly realistic fashion, the natural behaviour of animals, plants, and sometimes ecosystems (as in Wildlife Tycoon) and genetics and evolution (as in Creatures).
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 Wolf is a life simulation game where the player takes the role of a wolf and its sequel Lion Lion is an animal simulation game where the player plays the role of a lion. It is a sequel of sorts to Wolf, the similar WolfQuest WolfQuest is a 3D wildlife simulation video game by the Minnesota Zoo and game developer company Eduweb. The demo was released on October 31, 2007. On December 21, 2007 it was released as a free downloadable game for Macintosh and Windows computers. The official deluxe version was released on April 23, 2008. There is a second episode of the game, and the more modest Odell Odell Lake was an early educational life simulation game, produced by MECC for the Apple II and Commodore 64 computers. In the game, the player is a fish living in Odell Lake , a real-world lake in Oregon. It was followed up by the game Odell Down Under educational series.
In addition, a large number of games have loose biological or evolutionary themes but don't attempt to reflect closely the reality of either biology or evolution: these include, within the "God game" variety, Evolution: The Game of Intelligent Life 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 & 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 and Spore In biology, a spore is a reproductive structure that is adapted for dispersal and surviving for extended periods of time in unfavorable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many bacteria, plants, algae, fungi and some protozoans. A chief difference between spores and seeds as dispersal units is that spores have very little stored, and within the arcade/RPG variety, a multitude of entertainment software products including Bird Week Bird Week is a Nintendo Family Computer life simulation game. The player plays as a bird and can either play the normal game or the study game. Both game modes are nearly identical except the study game only allows the player to play through one level. The player must feed butterflies to the baby birds so that they can grow big and eventually, Eco Eco is an evolution life simulation game developed by Denton Designs for the Amiga and Atari ST. It was released in 1988 and published by Ocean Software and EVO: Search for Eden E.V.O.: Search for Eden, originally released in Japan as 46 Okunen Monogatari: Harukanaru Eden e , is an action role-playing video game developed by Almanic Corporation and published by Enix for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Initially released in 1992 for Japanese audiences, the game was translated and made available in North America in.
Pet-raising simulation
Pet-raising simulation A pet-raising simulation is a video game that focuses on the care, raising, breeding or exhibition of simulated animals. These games are software implementations of digital pets. Such games are described as a sub-class of life simulation game. The concept originated from Enix's console role-playing game, Dragon Quest V (1992) games can be "simulations of real animals, as in the Petz Petz is a series of games dating back to 1995, in which the player can adopt, raise, care for and breed their own virtual pets. Petz has sold over 3 million copies worldwide.[citation needed] series"[2] or "fantasy ones like the Tamagotchi The Tamagotchi is a handheld digital pet created in Japan by Akihiro Yokoi of WiZ Co. Ltd., and Aki Maita of Bandai Co. Ltd. It was first sold by Bandai in 1996 in Japan. Over 70,000,000 Tamagotchis have been sold world-wide as of 2008. Most Tamagotchis are housed in a small egg-shaped computer with an interface usually consisting of three buttons,"[2]. The pets are called 'virtual pets'. Unlike biological simulations, the pet does not usually reproduce or die[2].
The pet is capable of learning to do a variety of tasks. "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 In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. Emergence is central to the theories of integrative levels and of complex systems".[2] For artificial pets, their behaviors are typically "preprogrammed and are not truly emergent".[2]
Pet-raising simulations often lack a victory condition or challenge, and can be classified as software toys Non-games define a class of software that lies on the border between video games, toys and applications. The original term non-game game was coined by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. The main difference between non-games and traditional video games is the apparent lack of goals, objectives and challenges. This allows the player a greater degree.[2] A large amount of pet-raising games can be found on the Nintendo DS. There are also numerous online pet-raising/virtual pet games, such as Neopets Web browser with Adobe Flash Player plugin. Adobe Shockwave and 3D Life Player or wajas.
Social simulation
Social simulation games Social simulation games are a subgenre of life simulation game that explore social interactions between multiple artificial lives. The most famous example from this genre is The Sims series of games explore social interactions between multiple artificial lives Artificial life is a field of study and an associated art form which examine systems related to life, its processes, and its evolution through simulations using computer models, robotics, and biochemistry. The discipline was named by Christopher Langton, an American computer scientist, in 1986. There are three main kinds of alife, named for their. The most famous example from this genre is The Sims The Sims is a strategic life-simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It was created by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity. It is a simulation of the daily activities of one or more virtual persons in a suburban household near SimCity[3], which was influenced by the 1985 game Little Computer People Little Computer People, also called House-on-a-Disk, is a life simulation game/god game released in 1985 by Activision for the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum and Apple II. An Amiga version was released in 1987. A Famicom Disk System version, published in Japan by DOG , also exists.[4]
Example titles
Biological simulations
- Bird Week Bird Week is a Nintendo Family Computer life simulation game. The player plays as a bird and can either play the normal game or the study game. Both game modes are nearly identical except the study game only allows the player to play through one level. The player must feed butterflies to the baby birds so that they can grow big and eventually - a simple game for the Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe and Australia in 1985. In most of Asia, including Japan (where it was first launched in 1983), China, Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines, it was released as the Family Computer (ファミリーコンピュータ?), commonly where the player assumes the role of a bird feeding its young
- Creatures Creatures is an artificial life computer program series, created in the mid-1990s by English computer scientist Steve Grand whilst working for the Cambridge computer games developer Millennium Interactive. The program is one of the few games (as of 2008) to employ machine learning series, by Creature Labs/Gameware Development
- Lion — the sequel to Wolf
- Odell Lake and Odell Down Under, simple educational games about aquatic life and food chains
- Science Horizons Survival — an early game which also teaches about food chains.
- SimAnt — a Maxis game that allows the player to assume control of an ant colony
- SimEarth
- SimLife — Another Maxis game which experiments with genetics and ecosystems.
- SimPark
- Seaman — a virtual pet game that simulates the raising of a talking fish with a human face that develops into a frog-like creature.
- Wolf — simulates the life of a wolf.
- WolfQuest
Loosely biology- and evolution-inspired games
Some games take biology or evolution as a theme, rather than attempting to simulate.
- Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest (2002, Nintendo) – an action adventure.
- Eco (1998, Ocean)
- E.V.O.: Search for Eden (1992, Enix) — an arcade game which portrays an evolving organism across different stages. "Evolutionary points" are earned by eating other creatures and are used to evolve.
- flOw (2006, Jenova Chen) — a Flash game similar to E.V.O.
- Lack of Love (2000, ASCII Entertainment) - a role playing game; the player assumes the role of a creature which gradually changes its body and improves its abilities, but this is done by means of more varied achievements, often involving social interactions with other creatures.
- Seventh Cross Evolution (1999, UFO Interactive Games) - an action game.
- Spore (2008, Electronic Arts) - a multi-genre god game. The first and second stages are biology-themed, although the second stage also has more role playing game elements.
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New York Times (blog) It appears he will live, though that was most certainly not simulation . But it leaves Slovakia, however briefly, without a left back Robben's side. ...
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Download source files 136 Kb Introduction This program simulates Insect Bugs or Virus life cycle All Insects have some life cycle They are born then live for their life period or die before their life period
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NASA's new astronaut . simulator. , Moonbase Alpha, set on a lunar outpost in 2025. Erik Sofge argues that if the . game. is meant to inspire the next generation of astronauts and engineers, it should focus on the real winners of the space race ... Distributed for free online (via the Steam network) and developed in partnership with America's Army, the PC . game. is set on a lunar outpost in 2025. After a meteor strike disables the expedition's . life. -support systems, ...
