4 ms·
Star 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
by aasasd 8y ago
Star 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.