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I was wracking my brain trying to think of early '80s job-simulator games, mostly because there aren't many at all. I'm not sure that I'd class Trashman, Paper
by bgeeek 8y ago
I was wracking my brain trying to think of early '80s job-simulator games, mostly because there aren't many at all. I'm not sure that I'd class Trashman, Paperboy or Tapper (fond of all 3 btw) as job-simulators. Other than driving and flightsims, I can't think of any from the early '80s :) Late '80s perhaps.
- jmkd 8y agoYou're probably right. Over time I conflate the concepts found in games like Skool Daze, Make a Chip, My Name is Uncle Groucho, Software Star, Grand National and suchlike that brought together semi-prosaic simulation tasks with a startling self-awareness.
- bgeeek 8y agoTLL was way ahead of its time, IMHO. Fast forward 10 years and Desert Strike is a hit on the Megadrive! I can vaguely remember proper flightsims on the Speccy (one required a lens-lock! remember those?) :) This is going to bug me now - I'm going to be sat here all evening trying to think up games from back in the day!
- NikkiA 8y ago> (one required a lens-lock! remember those?) :) This is going to bug me now That would probably be Tomahawk by Digital Integration Hmm, ACE - Air Combat Emulator was apparently lenslok'ed too.
- aasasd 8y agoStar Trader from '74 seems to be the inspiration for Trade Wars and Drugwars of '84―they're essentially ‘grind simulators’ with the player looking at sheets of numbers for a lot of the time. However, the apex of popularity of such games was likely in the early-mid 90s when office drones apparently sought to get their minds off the grind with a different grind, and countless knock-offs appeared for DOS. Still, this ‘spreadsheet’ gameplay is rather different from box stacking. Some Game & Watch titles might be closer.
- myself248 8y agoI always took Tradewars and [Barren|Solar] Realms Elite to be descendents of Lemonade Stand, 1973. If there's an earlier instance in the genre, I don't know it.
- aasasd 8y agoHuh, Lemonade Stand does look closer to the static reports of Drugwars clones. However, Chris Sherrick apparently specifically modeled Trade Wars on Star Trader—according to Wikipedia. And, if those Realm Elites are anything like the other Elite, they should also involve travel like Star Trader and unlike, fittingly, the Stand.
- Nerada 8y agoLoved Trade Wars, it feels like at least once or twice a year I'll find a BBS that has it installed and play around. Aurora 4X is definitely a descendant of this spreadsheet simulator genre. That's a great game, but I wish there was more variety in the genre for wanna-be beancounters.
- aidenn0 8y agoRight, the 3 you mention are largely mechanically identical to shooters. Earliest thing I can think of that is even close is Alter Ego which was '86, though I'm sure there are some job-simulator games in basic code in a magazine somewhere. Somewhat off-topic, but searching for something older than Alter Ego turned up "Little Computer People" which Wikipedia lists as the Ur-example of "life simulation" and looks a lot like "The Sims" but on the C64.
- bgeeek 7y agoYeah, the 3 mentioned are listed in the link in the article. Agree about Little Computer People. As a speccy owner, I can vaguely remember being envious at the time!