''Odell Lake'' is a 1986

educational Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education also fol ...

life simulation game Life simulation games form a subgenre of simulation video games in which the player lives or controls one or more virtual characters (human or otherwise). Such a game can revolve around "individuals and relationships, or it could be a simulation ...

produced by

MECC The Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (later Corporation), most commonly known as MECC, was an organization founded in 1973 best known for developing the edutainment video game series ''The Oregon Trail (series), The Oregon Trail'' and i ...

for the

Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...

and Commodore 64. The player is a fish living in Odell Lake (Oregon), Odell Lake, a real-world lake in Oregon. It is based on a 1980 BASIC program of the same name. It was followed-up by '' Odell Down Under''.

Gameplay

As a fish, the player could "go exploring" or "play for points". The object was to decide which fish to eat, while trying to survive and avoid other enemies; such as otters, ospreys, and bait from fishermen. When simply exploring, the player could select from six different species of fish, such as Mackinaw Trout, Whitefish, or Rainbow Trout; when playing for points, however, the computer randomly assigned the type of fish that the player will play as. In addition, the titles for each of the types of fish and other creatures are removed when playing for points, forcing the player to rely on memory; also the game was timed. After every five moves, the player played as a different type of fish. When playing for points, the best decision netted the player the most points, with less intelligent decisions earning the player fewer or no points, or in the case of the fish eating something disagreeable, actually taking them away. If no decision was made when time ran out, it counted as "Ignore". If at any time the player's fish was attacked by an enemy, or the player got caught by an angler, the game ended immediately. In Israel the game was published in Hebrew in 1987 for Apple II.

Main fish

The

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of fish found in Odell Lake included the following: *

Rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

Dolly Varden trout The Dolly Varden trout (''Salvelinus malma'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. Despite the name "trout" (which typically refers to freshwater species from ...

* Mackinaw trout, the largest fish in the game * Blueback salmon * Whitefish *

Chub Chub is a common fish name. It pertains to any one of a number of ray-finned fish in several families and general. In the UK, the term ''chub'' usually refers to the species '' Squalius cephalus''. In addition, see sea chub. In family Cyprinid ...

, the smallest fish in the game The game is heavily random; the same situation played in the same way can have different outcomes. For the most points, players must play the game safely, choosing the action that has the greatest chance of leading to a positive outcome. It is helpful to remember the typical locations of food and predators (shallow or deep), and not every situation will have the same outcome.

Other species

In addition to the other species of fish, the player's fish could come across the following in or above the lake: *

Otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...

s, who would eat any fish not making a deep escape (except the Mackinaw Trout, because it can only swim in deep water) *

Osprey The osprey (; ''Pandion haliaetus''), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and a wingspan of . It ...

s, who would grab any fish not making a deep escape (except the Mackinaw Trout, because it can only swim in deep water) *

Algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...

(only a good food to the Chub; any other fish would find it disgusting if eaten) *

Plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against ocean current, currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are ca ...

Fishermen A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishermen may be professional or recr ...

, whose presence would not be known unless the player ate a baited chub or a fisherman's fly concealed as

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s and

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

* Bottom organisms *

Insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s and

Actions

The actions a fish could take when it approached (or was approached by) another fish, animal, or object included: * Attempting to eat the item * Attempting to chase away the item * Ignoring the item (by default when the player ran out of time in "Play for points") * Making a "shallow escape" (heading for high water) * Making a "deep escape" (heading for low water)

References

External links

*
''Odell Lake'' Apple II game at VirtualApple.org
* {{gb64 game, id=9294 Life simulation games Biological simulation video games Apple II games Commodore 64 games Video games developed in the United States Video games set in Oregon Single-player video games The Learning Company games 1986 video games Video games set underwater Video games about fish MECC games