''SimLife: The Genetic Playground'' is a

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

produced by

Maxis Maxis is an American video game developer and a Division (business), division of Electronic Arts (EA). The studio was founded in 1987 by Will Wright (game designer), Will Wright and Jeff Braun, and acquired by Electronic Arts in 1997. Maxis is ...

in 1992. The concept of the game is to simulate an

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

; players may modify the

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

of the plants and animals that inhabit the

virtual world A virtual world (also called a virtual space or spaces) is a Computer simulation, computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many simultaneous users who can create a personal Avatar (computing), avatar and independently explore th ...

. The point of this game is to experiment and create a self-sustaining ecosystem. ''SimLife'' was re-released in 1993 as part of the ''SimClassics Volume 1'' compilation, alongside '' SimCity Classic'' and '' SimAnt'' for PC, Mac and Amiga.

Development

The producers of ''SimLife'' refer to it as "The Genetic Playground". The game allows users to explore the interaction of life-forms and environments. Users can manipulate the genetics of both plants and animals to determine whether these new species could survive in the Earth's various environments. Players can also create new worlds with distinctive environments to see how certain species (earth's species or their own) fare within them. ''SimLife'' gives players the power to: * Create and modify worlds. * Create and modify plants and animals at the genetic level. Exclusive animals appearing in this game are the Killer Penguin, the Monkeyphant, and the Orgot. * Design environments and ecosystems. * Study genetics in action. * Simulate and control evolution. * Change the physics of the universe in your computer.

Reception

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...

'' in 1993 praised ''SimLife'', stating that "By neatly bridging the gap between entertainment and education, ''SL'' brings the engrossing science of genetics within reach of any interested person". Games Finder gave ''SimLife'' a score of 7 out of 10. In 1993, ''SimLife'' received a Codie award from the

Software Publishers Association The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) is a trade association dedicated to the entertainment, consumer and business software industries. Established in 1984 as the Software Publishers Association (SPA), the SIIA took its new nam ...

for Best Simulation.

References

External links

*
SimLife : Maxis
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

Manual
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simlife 1992 video games Amiga games Amiga 1200 games Classic Mac OS games DOS games God games Biological simulation video games Maxis Sim games Video games about evolution Video games about genetic engineering Video games developed in the United States Video games scored by Mark Knight Video games scored by Russell Lieblich Windows games Single-player video games

Development

Reception

See also

References

External links