How Life Simulation Games Have Developed And Changed?

All of us love to play games that match real lives and the player is allowed to control the events without any restrictions. Such games are known as video simulation games, however, if we get down to them and study them more deeply, we come to know that they are part of one of the subgenres of simulator games and are known as life simulation games. After the life simulation games development, we can observe a lot of changes in the everyday lives of people, especially children.

With the increase in the interest and curiosity of the people, the game development companies have introduced highly advanced and latest versions of these games.

These games revolve around relationships, real-life events, occasions, parties, and everything that individuals do in their lives. The player of these games in the life genre can perform the actions with his free will and there are very few restrictions and limitations.

How have games changed with time?

If we look a decade back, we notice the games in which you can maintain and grow a virtual life but not as advanced because there was relatively little power to control the lives of autonomous people. However, with time various channels are explored and amongst these games there’s casino which offers an amazing gaming experience and free spins when registering.

The game dev story of these best games will bring you towards the positive side of life and you feel more modern. You can feel like working on your own farm and enjoy animal crossing in the two-point hospital game. You can choose any simple game to play on the Microsoft Windows compatible device, and almost every game starts with fun titles and other such titles that bring about excitement.

Major types of simulation games that came into being after going through various development phases:

Digital Pets

In artificial life games, these digital pet games play a vital role in which the players are responsible for maintaining and watching assimilated animals. The interesting part about these games is that the pets act naturally and look similar to the real ones. Remember that these games are different from genetic games because they involve dealing with only one or two pets, so you can easily enjoy all life activities with it.

However, there is a major difference and development observed in Pet games over the past few years and that is the pet never dies and does not reproduce in these games. However, you can deal with the pets with a wide variety of emotions and can use them for the completion of various virtual tasks and missions. Although their learning behaviors are completely preprogrammed, the players can really enjoy themselves by teaching them new things and interacting with them in the way they want.

Extensive development of these games has given rise to the term software toys.

Examples Of Pet Games

• Nintendogs is a simple electronic digital pet game.
• Some electronic games are also implemented on a keychain, such as Tamagotchi
• There are also numerous online pet-raising/virtual pet games, such as Neopets.
• Online show dog raising games
• Show horse raising games.

Biological Simulations

Another very developed category of life games is biological simulations. These games are also known as the genetic artificial life games in which the individual or player controls a large population of people, takes care of their needs, and interacts with them in various ways. These creatures are often able to reproduce and the life span of each individual is almost 1 hour to 7 hours.

Some other games in which there is a depiction of biological or revolutionary themes also lie under this category. Examples of such games include Evolution, The game of intelligent life, and Spore. However, these games are not very close to reality and only you can see the loose depiction of biological themes.

Examples Of Biological simulations

• SimLife – another Maxis game that experiments with genetics and ecosystems. It is also referred to as the life sim game.
• SimPark is one of the PC games. This game lets you enjoy everyday life where you learn to manage routes and other characters. It resembles an amusement park game and you can play it for entertainment purposes.
• Star Wars: The Gungan Frontier simulates a planet that the player populates with creatures that compete for limited supplies of food.
• Wolf – simulates the life of a wolf, made by Sanctuary Woods.
• WolfQuest
• Seaman – a virtual pet game that simulates the raising of a talking fish that develops into a frog-like creature.

Loosely biology- and evolution-inspired games

Some games take biology or evolution as a theme, rather than attempting to simulate.

• Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey (2019, Panache Digital Games) – a survival game, in which the player guides a clan of primates in their open – but hostile – environment, while overseeing their evolutionary course.
• E.V.O.: Search for Eden (1992, Enix) – an arcade game that portrays an evolving organism across different stages. “Evolutionary points” are earned by eating other creatures and are used to evolve.
• flOw (2006, Jenova Chen) – a Flash game similar to E.V.O.
• Creatures (artificial life program) (1998–2002, Creature Labs) – an early artificial life program, the Creatures franchise features creatures called ‘Norns’, each of which has its own ‘digital DNA’ that later generations can inherit. The Norns are semi-autonomous but must be trained to interact with their environment to avoid starvation.
• L.O.L.: Lack of Love (2000, ASCII Entertainment) – a role-playing game; the player assumes the role of a creature which gradually changes its body and improves its abilities, but this is done by means of more varied achievements, often involving social interactions with other creatures.
• Seaman (video game) (2000, Vivarium) – a virtual pet video game for the Sega Dreamcast.
• Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest (2002, Nintendo) – an action-adventure.
• Eco (1988, Ocean)

Social Simulation

This is the most interesting category of life simulation game in which the individual does not have direct control or anything but can interact with the environment in a variety of ways. The most notable example of this game is The Sims. Other games in this genre include a nearby village, fallout shelter, Nintendo switch, Stardew valley, rollercoaster tycoon, dream house days, sandbox mode, and other mini-games.

The major development of this game is observed in the past five years in which the player of the game can choose to live with other artificial creatures. Moreover, he can also perform various virtual tasks of making money and engaging in other social interactions. The player can also make long-lasting friendships, interact with friends, and fall in love with females. Romantic relationships also greatly resemble real-life events and some things are often aimed at major audiences.

Examples Of Social simulations

• Roots of Pacha (2021) – farming simulator in prehistoric setting in development by Soda Den.
• Tenshitachi no gogo – One of the earliest dating sims and best simulation games, released for the 16-bit NEC PC-9801 computer that same year.
• The Sims – by Will Wright, published by EA for the PC (2000), and sequels, The Sims 2 (2004), The Sims 3 (2009), and The Sims 4 (2014).
• Tomodachi Life – by Nintendo
• True Love – (1995), a Japanese erotic dating sim and general life simulation game where the player must manage the player’s daily activities, such as studying, exercise, and employment.
• The Virtual Villagers series – by Last Day of Work.
• Moon RPG Remix Adventure – a social RPG released only in Japan, created by the same designer as Lack of Love and GiFTPiA
• New York Nights: Success in the City – a social life simulator created and designed by Gameloft released for mobile phones.
• Second Life – a multi-user virtual community without a specific objective or traditional gaming mechanisms, created and designed by Linden Lab in 2003.
• Shenmue – an open-world video game series that simulates life in Japan and China in the year 1986. So it is a great life simulator game that you will love to play.
• Real Lives – an educational life simulator by Educational Simulations where the player is randomly “born” somewhere in the world and often must deal with third-world difficulties such as disease, malnutrition, and civil war.
• Yakuza – a video game series based in modern-day Japan featuring beat ’em up mechanics developed and published by Sega.
• Wall Street Kid – a life simulation about balancing love with high finance.
• Paralives – an upcoming indie life simulation game for the PC

Various farming simulator games are also included in this category.

Are Simulation Games Developed Enough To Change Real Lives?

According to the research conducted at the University of RBT, games can be used as planning tools because they allow the users to generate 3D visualization of everything that can possibly be done in the real world. So whenever it comes to finding the most popular form of media; music, books, and movies are far behind video games, especially games in the genre of life simulation. Almost every individual in the world gets affected by these games because there are more than 2.5 billion gamers today.

Developers are making use of technology in the designing of new and advanced characters and making these characters interactive as if they are family members. One of the examples is the Nintendo game in which an advanced business strategy is used to attract users. Thus, it can be regarded as a great simulator.

By playing these games, especially social simulation games, you will learn to work in the thriving community and virtual families. The use of technology in these simulators makes them an essential part of the life simulation genre.