Construction and Management Simulation - History

History

The Sumer Game, a later version of which was called Hamurabi, was a relatively simple text-only game originally written for the DEC PDP-8 in which the player controlled the economy of a city-state.

Utopia was released in 1982 for the Intellivision, and is credited as the game that spawned the construction and management simulation genre. Utopia put players in charge of an island, allowing them to control its entire military and economy. The population had to be kept happy, and the military had to be strong enough to thwart attacks from rebels and pirates. This game required complex thought in an era where most games were about reflexes. The game sold fairly well, and it had an influence on games of all genres.

In 1983, Koei released the historical simulation game Nobunaga's Ambition, where the player takes the role of the historical figure Oda Nobunaga and must conquer, unify and manage the nation of Japan. It combines number crunching, Japanese history, and grand strategy simulation, including elements such as raising taxes and giving rice to prefectures. Nobunaga's Ambition went on to define and set the standard for most console simulation games, and has had many sequels, while Koei continued to create other simulation games since, including the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series from 1986 and Bandit Kings of Ancient China in 1989. That same year, Capcom released a simulation game of their own, Destiny of an Emperor, also based on Chinese history.

Utopia had a notable impact on SimCity in 1989, which is considered the first highly successful construction and management simulation. The game allows players to build a city from the ground up and then manage it, with challenges such as balancing a budget and maintaining popular opinion, and was considered a sophisticated simulation of city planning when it was released. It appealed to a wide audience in part because it was not a typical high-speed, violent game, and was notable for shunning a traditional win-or-lose game paradigm. SimCity has spawned numerous successful sequels and spinoffs, is credited with inventing the city-building subgenre. SimCity also led to several other successful games in the same mold such as SimTower and SimFarm, and launched its designer Will Wright into a position as one of the most influential people in the game industry. These games influenced the eventual release of the Tycoon series of games, which are also an important part of the genre.