Everything about Simearth totally explained
is a
life simulation computer game designed by
Will Wright and published in
1990 by
Maxis, in which the player controls the development of an entire
planet. Although the game was much admired when it was released, it wasn't a big seller compared to its hit predecessor
SimCity. Versions were made for the
Apple Macintosh,
TurboGrafx-16 /
TurboDuo,
Commodore Amiga,
IBM PC and the
SNES (which was developed and published by
FCI in 1992).
Overview
In
SimEarth, the player can vary a planet's
atmosphere,
temperature,
landmasses, etc, then place various forms of
life on the planet and watch them
evolve. Since it's a
software toy, the game doesn't have any required goals. The big (and difficult) challenge is to evolve
sentient life and an advanced
civilization. The development stages of the planet can be reverted and repeated, until the planet "dies" 10 billion years after its creation, the estimated time when the
Sun will become a
red giant and kill off all of the planet's life.
The game models the
Gaia hypothesis of
James Lovelock (who assisted with the design and wrote an introduction to the manual), and one of the options available to the player is the simplified "
Daisyworld" model.
The player's control of the planet in the game is quite comprehensive; display panels allow the player to regulate everything from atmospheric gases, with percentages to three decimal places, to the rate of
continental drift, to the rate of reproduction and mutation of lifeforms. In addition, the player is given options to place
equipment or items that interfere with the planet's development, such as
Oxygen Generators, which increase the composition of oxygen in the atmosphere, and the
Monolith, a take on the one found in, which aids in increasing intelligence of a lifeform through extraterrestrial contact.
The list of disasters ranges from natural occurrences, such as
hurricanes and wild
fires, to population-dependent disasters, such as
plagues and
pollution. Effects on the planet may be minor or major depending on the current conditions. Increased
volcanic eruptions, for example, increase the amount of dust in the atmosphere, lowering global temperature;
earthquakes in a body of water may produce
tsunamis; and the shortage of nuclear fuel for a nuclear power-dependent civilization may potentially trigger
nuclear war.
All player-triggered actions have a cost specified in "energy units" or "omega (Ω) units"; for example, 50 energy units are required to lay down a single terrain square, while 500 units are required to lay down a terraforming device. The energy budget is determined by the level of development of the planet, and the chosen difficulty level; on the lowest difficulty level, the energy budget is unlimited.
Despite the humor, both in game and manual, game play itself can be somewhat mystifying; species may thrive or die out for no apparent reason.
Mass extinctions, however, are often followed by periods of renewed evolutionary diversification, allowing the player to experiment with new sets of species and ecosystems.
Taxa
A feature of the game is that all
taxa of multicellular organisms are on an equal footing, and thus it's possible to evolve intelligent
molluscs. The two single-celled lifeform taxa,
Prokaryotes and
Eukaryotes (or
Bacteria and
Amoebas, in-game respectively) are treated specially. Some examples of animal taxa include
Radiates and
Cetaceans as well as more well known taxa such as
fish and
birds. As an "
Easter egg," there's also
machine life, which can appear if a city of the highest technology level (
nanotechnology) is destroyed by a nuclear explosion. Machine life can thrive in any biome or environmental conditions, generally out-competing any other life forms present, and can itself eventually evolve intelligence and build cities. Additionally, there are Carniferns, which are mutated,
carnivorous plants, which can occur only naturally. Having an abundance of insects allows for these life-forms to develop. Carniferns are able to develop
intelligence just as animals can. In addition to the familiar types, the long-extinct "
trichordates" are included. The game states that "we [thegame's developers] felt sorry for them, and are giving them a chance for survival in
SimEarth".
Further Information
Get more info on 'Simearth'.
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