Life simulation game

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Simulation video games

Life simulation (or artificial life games)[1] is a subgenre of simulation video games in which the player lives or controls one or more virtual lifeforms. A life simulation game can revolve around "individuals and relationships, or it could be a simulation of an ecosystem".[1]

Definition

Life simulation games are about "maintaining and growing a manageable population of organisms",[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 manages populations of creatures over several generations.[1]

History

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 1986, the early biological simulation game Bird Week was released.

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 2008 also came the game Spore (2008 video game) in which you develop an alien species from the microbial tide pool into intergalactic gods.

Types

Digital pets

Main article: Digital pet

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. Today online games which allow you to raise show dogs or sim horse games are also quite popular.

Biological simulations

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 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 and Spore, and within the arcade/RPG variety, a multitude of entertainment software products including Bird Week, Eco and EVO: Search for Eden.

Social simulation

See also: Dating sim

Social simulation games explore social interactions between multiple artificial lives. The most famous example from this genre is The Sims,[11] which was influenced by the 1985 game Little Computer People.[12][13] These games are part of a subcategory of artificial life game sometimes called a virtual dollhouse,[1] a category which includes Animal Crossing by Nintendo.[14]

Examples

Biological simulations

Loosely biology- and evolution-inspired games

Some games take biology or evolution as a theme, rather than attempting to simulate.

Social simulations

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Rollings, Andrew; Ernest Adams (2006). Fundamentals of Game Design. Prentice Hall.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Rollings, Andrew; Ernest Adams (2003). Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design. New Riders Publishing. pp. 477–487. ISBN 1-59273-001-9.
  3. ↑ "Unsung Heroes: Little Computer People". GameSpot.
  4. ↑ Kidd, Graham (August 1996). "Get A-Life". Computer Shopper.
  5. 1 2 Tenshitachi no Gogo at MobyGames
  6. 1 2 Tenshi-Tachi no Gogo, GameSpot
  7. ↑ AtariAge at CGE2010, Atari Age
  8. ↑ Andrew Stern (1999). "AI Beyond Computer Games" (PDF). AAAI Technical Report.
  9. ↑ Ringo, Tad. 1993. On the cutting edge of technology. Sams Pub.. "In SimLife, a biological simulation, you custom design the environment and life- forms"
  10. 1 2 Ernest Adams (2003-04-01). "More Sex(es) in Computer Games". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2010-05-23.
  11. ↑ Wright, Will. "Presentation: Sculpting Possibility Space". Retrieved 2008-03-16.
  12. ↑ Wright, Will. "A chat about the "The Sims" and "SimCity"". CNN. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
  13. ↑ "Little Computer People Review". Eurogamer.
  14. ↑ "GameSpy: Top 25 Games of All Time". GameSpy.
  15. ↑ "Star Wars: The Gungan Frontier". IGN.
  16. ↑ NTSC-uk review > Nintendo GameCube > Animal Crossing
  17. ↑ Peeples, Jeremy (December 29, 2014). "Shenmue Reaches Milestone 15th Anniversary". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved September 18, 2016.
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