SimLife
Encyclopedia
Maxis
Maxis is an American company founded as an independent video game developer in 1987. It is currently a subsidiary of Electronic Arts . Maxis is the creator of one of the best-selling computer games of all time, The Sims and its first sequel, The Sims 2...
in 1992. The concept of the game is to simulate an ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting 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....
; players may modify the genetics
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
of the plants and animals that inhabit the virtual world
Virtual world
A virtual world is an online community that takes the form of a computer-based simulated environment through which users can interact with one another and use and create objects. The term has become largely synonymous with interactive 3D virtual environments, where the users take the form of...
. The point of this game is to experiment and create a self sustaining ecosystem.
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;
- Design environments and ecosystems;
- Study genetics in action;
- Simulate and control evolution;
- Change the physics of the universe in your computer.
Animals
- Keel-billed ToucanKeel-billed ToucanThe Keel-billed Toucan , also known as Sulfur-breasted Toucan or Rainbow-billed Toucan, is a colorful Latin American member of the toucan family. It is the national bird of Belize.- Description :...
- African Elephant
- Gray WolfGray WolfThe gray wolf , also known as the wolf, is the largest extant wild member of the Canidae family...
- Gray Squirrel
- DromedaryDromedaryThe dromedary or Arabian camel is a large, even-toed ungulate with one hump on its back. Its native range is unclear, but it was probably the Arabian Peninsula. The domesticated form occurs widely in North Africa and the Middle East...
- Flying fish
- Black RhinocerosBlack RhinocerosThe Black Rhinoceros or Hook-lipped Rhinoceros , is a species of rhinoceros, native to the eastern and central areas of Africa including Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Angola...
- Giant AnteaterGiant AnteaterThe Giant Anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla, is the largest species of anteater. It is the only species in the genus Myrmecophaga. It is found in Central and South America from Honduras to northern Argentina...
- TigerTigerThe tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
- JaguarJaguarThe jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...
- MonkeyMonkeyA monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...
- Grey KangarooKangarooA kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...
- StegosaurusStegosaurusStegosaurus is a genus of armored stegosaurid dinosaur. They lived during the Late Jurassic period , some 155 to 150 million years ago in what is now western North America. In 2006, a specimen of Stegosaurus was announced from Portugal, showing that they were present in Europe as well...
- GrasshopperGrasshopperThe grasshopper is an insect of the suborder Caelifera in the order Orthoptera. To distinguish it from bush crickets or katydids, it is sometimes referred to as the short-horned grasshopper...
- LlamaLlamaThe llama is a South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since pre-Hispanic times....
- DogcowDogcowThe dogcow, also known as Clarus the Dogcow, is a bitmapped image first introduced by Apple. It is the shape of a dog, originally created in 1983 as part of the Cairo font by Susan Kare as the glyph for “z.” That image was later chosen for the Mac OS Print Setup dialog box, though it needed to be...
- DragonDragonA dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
- Monkeyphant
- Orgot
See also
- SporeSpore (2008 video game)Spore is a multi-genre single-player god game developed by Maxis and designed by Will Wright. The game was released for the Microsoft Windows and Macintosh operating systems in September 2008 as Spore...
- Impossible CreaturesImpossible CreaturesImpossible Creatures is a real-time strategy game released on December 29, 2002 developed by Relic Entertainment in conjunction with Microsoft Game Studios. Its unique feature is that the armies used are all created by the player...
- L.O.L.: Lack of LoveL.O.L.: Lack of LoveL.O.L.: Lack of Love, or simply Lack of Love, is an evolutionary adventure game developed by Love-de-Lic and published by ASCII Entertainment for the Sega Dreamcast...
- Seventh Cross: EvolutionSeventh Cross: EvolutionSeventh Cross: Evolution, known in Japan as simply Seventh Cross, is a video game for the Sega Dreamcast video game console. It was released on December 18, 1999. A sequel titled Ninth Will was announced shortly after the game's North American release, but it was apparently cancelled.-Gameplay:The...
- Evolution: The Game of Intelligent LifeEvolution: The Game of Intelligent LifeEvolution: 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...
- E.V.O.: Search for EdenE.V.O.: Search for EdenE.V.O.: Search for Eden, originally released in Japan as , is a side-scrolling action role-playing video game developed by Almanic Corporation and published by Enix for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Released in 1992 for Japanese audiences, the game was later translated and released in...
- CreaturesCreatures (artificial life program)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...
- SimEarthSimEarthSimEarth: The Living Planet, the second life simulation computer game designed by Will Wright in which the player controls the development of a planet. The game was published in 1990 by Maxis...