From: Rick Russell Subject: REVIEW: SimLife Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 0:20:39 CST The following is a review I posted to comp.sys.mac.games right after I bought Maxis' latest, SimLife. I thought you might like a copy for the archives. ----------------------------------- CUT HERE ---------------------------------- SIMLIFE - The Review 8 Oct 1992 William R. Russell, Jr. wrr3118@tamsum.tamu.edu SIMLIFE - What is it? While I suppose it begs comparison to other MAXIS products, I'll try to succintly describe SimLife without using previous MAXIS releases as my guideline. SimLife is a program designed to simulate the behavior and activities of biological organisms inside a [mostly] closed ecosystem. An organism (or 'orgot' as they are called in SimLife... they're not organisms, they're SIMULATED organisms) is characterized by a genetic pattern which is determined by the user. The orgot behaves in a way appropriate to its genetics and its environment (the 'map'). Orgot behaviour occurs in finite time steps, called 'ticks'. Ticks are arranged into 'days', and days into 'years'. If this is beginning to sound like a vastly more complicated version of the old Conway LIFE simulation, or a revved up version of the popular Mac Freeware BUGGLINGS (based on a Scientific American article), that's because the basic concepts are exactly the same: a map grid, rules for movement and/or reproduction, and finite time steps. The user can control almost all aspects of the orgots and the environment. While it would be impossible to create an exhaustive list of user-adjustable 'knobs' without reproducing the documentation, here is a non-exhaustive list: Orgot Control: Movement (flying, walking, swimming, climbing, frequency and angle of turns, tenedency to roam when not doing anything else, persistence when following trails left by prey and/or mates) Physical characteristics (lifespan, adult size, gestation time for females/asexuals, number of offspring, offspring size, % female offspring, weaponry [for attacking prey or defending against predators], sensory capabilities ['vision', affects ability to follow trails and find mates], natural stealth [affects prey ability to hide from predator, and predator ability to sneak up on prey]) Sympathy/Antipathy (flags allow organisms to be attracted or repelled by other organisms, good for simulating symbiotic or herd relationships) Basic survival characteristics (food storage, water storage, health storage, when to take action as stores get low, mutation probability) Species genetics (distribution of genetic difference in initial population, genetic difference necessary to cause speciation, % of genes inherited from 'father') Dynamic editing of orgots (direct adjustment of individual or species genetics during simulation, direct adjustment of orgot variables [orgot food storage, health, size, weight, water, age]) Environmental Control: Time parameters (ticks/day, days/year, day length variation over year, temperature variation over year, rainfall/soil moisture variation over year, 'speed' of soil and climate change, base lifespan of lifeforms) Energy parameters (amount of energy necessary for: movement, gestation; health cost of: toxins, mutagens, pred/prey combat; energy gained by eating various food sources) Initial environment parameters (size/height of mountains, average temp, average moisture, size of rivers/lakes, random placement of toxins, mutagens, and barriers) Dynamic editing of environment (manual adjustment of temperature distribution, rainfall, elevation, open water; manual placement of orgots, toxins, mutagens and 'magically' unlimited food sources [UltraFood!] Predefined 'Disasters' (drought, flood, plague, fire, STDs, etc) Simulation Control: limits on amount of animal/plant life (to keep exploding populations from slowing down simulation), speed control (slow, medium, fast, and ultra-fast), various tools for automatic pausing of the simulation at critical points, data recording, etc etc. While there are no doubt several controls missing from the above list, it's clear that SimLife provides a lot of control options for the budding ecological engineer. Operation of the Simulation SimLife is operated in two basic ways: via one of the provided scenarios, or in 'experimental' mode. SimLife is not a game per se; there are never any victory conditions, and the simulation never 'ends'. The scenarios only provide a 'set-up' for a planned exercise, such as investigating why ratios of males and females are critical to a population, and the dynamics of a predator/prey system. Experimental mode provides a blank slate; an user-definable planet with a set of predesigned 'terrestrial' creatures (elephants and fruitbats and such). Rather than cover every aspect of game operation, I provide the following list of 'pros' and 'cons': PROS - The user interface is excellent. It follows all Macintosh conventions, and provides multiple levels of data presentation. For detail, look at the map directly. For general information, use any of the summary graphs (Mortality, Population, Food Web, Genetics, etc etc). I can say without hyberpole that the interface really epitomizes the Mac 'standard' for human interfaces. Clean, easy to use, and amazingly complete. - Considering the complexity of the simulation, simulation speed is fairly good. SimLife provides a complete selection of speed options to help optimize the simulation on your platform. - SimLife has an excellent hand-holding 30 minute tutorial to intoduce the game. It covers all of the major features. - Control of the simulation is almost total. You can simulate a phenomenal array of life forms, in a wide array of environments. CONS - Because of the complexity of the simulation, it's bound to run slow, even on high-end hardware. I've run huge simulations over the course of several hours, smaller ones can run a few decades in only an hour. That's on a IIfx with an 8.24 video card. The author runs his simulations on a Quadra 950. - It's hard. Very hard. I have yet to develop a stable ecosystem with predators, prey, and vegetation. Maybe this is a good thing for simulation-addicts like myself, but I feel that this complexity might dismay prospective users. The author claims that a stable ecosystem with multiple levels of carnivores/herbivores and a diversified food web is in fact a 'goal' of the simulation. OPINIONS Time for the inevitable comparisons. I think it's better than SimEarth or SimAnt, it's much more of a 'software toy'. No omega-energy, no win conditions, no arcade-game element. In fact, it's quite like SimEarth, except the geodynamic systems are eliminated, while the biologic systems are vastly more complicated. There's no question that it's more polished than any other MAXIS product. The user interface is smooth and very professional, and the fundamental algorithms seem more robust. For example, the map-builder uses fractal mathematics to generate the terrain and river systems. Thankfully, MAXIS has finally shaken free of the 'gameplay' stigma. Like SimCity, SimLife is totally free-form. In execution, it's their most ambitious and polished product yet. In concept, I still think SimCity has the edge, but SimLife is still a fantastic product. Personally, I give SimLife an 8 out 10. Compare that to 9 out of 10 for SimCity, and 7 out of 10 for Microsoft Flight Simulator. Your mileage may vary. # Rick Russell | TAMU Meteorology | wrr3118@tamsun.tamu.edu #