生命模擬遊戲

生命模拟游戏（或人工生命游戏） 是模拟游戏的一个子类型，玩家在其中控制一個或更多的虛擬生命。一個生命模擬遊戲可以圍繞“個人和關係，也可能是一個模擬的生態系統。“

定義

生命模擬遊戲重點在於「維持和成長一個易於管理人口的生命」，在遊戲中玩家有能力控制有自主性的生物的生命。人工生命遊戲則跟電腦科學中的人工生命有關，但是因為它較偏向娛樂性質而非研究，商業化人工生命遊戲只包涵人工生命研究中的一個主題。這個廣大的類別包含上帝模擬遊戲這種專注在管理部落信徒的及人工寵物這種只控制一隻或數隻的動物的。也包涵基因人工生命，代表要管理一種生物多達數個世代。

歷史

Artificial life games and life simulations find their origins in artificial life research, including Conway's Game of Life from 1970. But one of the first commercially viable artificial life games was Little Computer People in 1985, a Commodore 64 game that allowed players to type requests to characters living in a virtual house. The game is cited as a little known forerunner of virtual-life simulator games to follow. One of the earliest dating sims, Tenshitachi no gogo, was released for the 16-bit NEC PC-9801 computer that same year, though dating sim elements can be found in Sega's earlier Girl's Garden in 1984. In 1986, the early biological simulation game Bird Week was released.

The first digital pets began appearing from the late 1980s, some of the earliest examples being role-playing video games such as Megami Tensei in 1987, and Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride in 1992. Dragon Quest V, which revolves around the growth of the player character, was also the first game to feature a playable pregnancy, a concept that has since appeared in later life simulation games such as Harvest Moon, The Sims 2 and Fable II. In 1990, an early biological simulation game revolving around the theme of evolution, 46 Okunen Monogatari, was released. A revised version of the game was released in 1992 as E.V.O.: Search for Eden.

In the mid-1990s, as artificial intelligence programming improved, true AI virtual pets such as Petz and Tamagotchi began to appear. Around the same time, Creatures became "the first full-blown commercial entertainment application of Artificial Life and genetic algorithms".2000年模擬市民將Little Computer People的方程式放進遊戲內成為至今為至最成功的生命模擬遊戲。

類型

虛擬寵物

虛擬寵物可讓玩家訓練、管理以及觀察牠們。寵物可以模式現實或完全虛構。與其他模擬遊戲不同，焦點不在增加人口，玩家在同時間只能在照顧數頭甚至一頭而已。在這些遊戲中，寵物多不會繁殖甚至是死亡，但可能因為疏忽及失誤導致寵物離家出走。

Digital pets are usually designed to be cute, and act out a range of emotions and behaviors that tell the player how to influence the pet. "This quality of rich intelligence distinguishes artificial pets from other kinds of A-life, in which individuals have simple rules but the population as a whole develops emergent properties". 玩家可以戲弄、打扮和教導寵物, 因此牠們必須能夠從玩家那裡學習行為。 不過, 這些行為通常是"事先規劃的和非真實的況狀"。

遊戲設計者用擁有多項一般行為的特殊創造物來維持玩家的關注，使玩家有足夠的動力玩到他們得到牠們。 Otherwise, these games often lack a victory condition or challenge, and can be classified as software toys. Games such as Nintendogs have been implemented for the Nintendo DS, although there are also simple electronic games that have been implemented on a keychain, such as Tamagotchi. There are also numerous online pet-raising/virtual pet games, such as Neopets. Today online games which allow you to show dogs or sim horse games are also quite popular.

生物模擬

Some artificial life games allow players to manage a population of creatures over several generations, and try to achieve goals for the population as a whole. These games have been called genetic artificial life games, or biological simulations. Players are able to crossbreed creatures, which have a set of genes or descriptors that define the creature's characteristics. Some games also introduce mutations due to random or environmental factors, which can benefit the population as creatures reproduce. These creatures typically have a short life-span, such as the Creatures series where organisms can survive from half an hour to well over seven. Players are able to watch forces of natural selection shape their population, but can also interact with the population by breeding certain individuals together, by modifying the environment, or by introducing new creatures from their design.

Another group of biological simulation games seek to simulate the life of an individual animal whose role the player assumes (rather than simulating an entire ecosystem controlled by the player). These include Wolf and its sequel Lion, the similar WolfQuest, and the more modest Odell educational series.

In addition, a large number of games have loose biological or evolutionary themes but don't attempt to reflect closely the reality of either biology or evolution: these include, within the "God game" variety, Evolution: The Game of Intelligent Life and Spore, and within the arcade/RPG variety, a multitude of entertainment software products including Bird Week, Eco and EVO: Search for Eden.

上帝模擬遊戲

玩家可以在該類遊戲的獲得一定的權力，例如飾演古希臘神話角色。 The player's power comes from simulated worshipers, who are usually simple or tribal in nature. Players must economize quantities of power or mana, which are derived from the size and prosperity of their population of worshipers. The player consumes this power by using godly powers to help their worshippers, such as blessing their crops or flattening hills to make better farmland. This results in a positive feedback loop, where more power allows the player to help their population grow which helps them gain more power. However, more powerful abilities typically require more power, and these usually take the form of natural disasters that can damage rival populations rather than improve life for the player's worshipers.遊戲通常採用鳥瞰視點。

上帝模擬遊戲是生命模擬遊戲子分類，原因是玩家只能間接操控人口。雖然生命模擬遊戲與建設模擬遊戲及即時戰略遊戲，但通常在遊戲中只能間接操控祂們不能控制部隊如何做，即使玩家在多人遊戲模式對戰。此外，玩家可以獲得神力在其他建設及管理遊戲中不會出現的功能，例如控制天氣、改變地型以及透過祈禱改變人口。

社交模擬遊戲

社交模擬遊戲人工生命體互動的遊戲。最著名的例子是模擬市民。受到1985年遊戲Little Computer People所影響。 這些遊戲是人工生命遊戲的子分類的一部分，有時候被稱為虛擬娃娃屋, 一個包含Nintendo製作的Animal Crossing的分類。.

範例

Biological simulations

• Bird Week - a simple game for the Famicom where the player assumes the role of a bird feeding its young
• Creatures series, by Creature Labs/Gameware Development
• Lion — the sequel to Wolf only now with lions
• Odell Lake and Odell Down Under, simple educational games about aquatic life and food chains
• Science Horizons Survival — an early game which also teaches about food chains.
• SimAnt — a Maxis game that allows the player to assume control of an ant colony
• SimEarth
• SimLife — Another Maxis game which experiments with genetics and ecosystems.
• SimPark
• Seaman — a virtual pet game that simulates the raising of a talking fish with a human face that develops into a frog-like creature.
• Star Wars: The Gungan Frontier simulates a planet which the player populates with creatures that compete for limited supplies of food.
• Wolf — simulates the life of a wolf, made by Sanctuary Woods.
• WolfQuest

Loosely biology- and evolution-inspired games

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

• Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest (2002, Nintendo) – an action adventure.
• Eco (1988, Ocean)
• E.V.O.: Search for Eden (1992, Enix) — an arcade game which 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.
• 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.
• Seventh Cross Evolution (1999, UFO Interactive Games) - an action game.
• Spore (2008, Electronic Arts) - a multi-genre god game. The first and second stages are biology-themed, although the second stage also has more role playing game elements.
• Creatures (artificial life program) (1998-2002, Creature Labs) - pet game. In this game you rase creatures called norns, Also there are of health problems your norn can experience, such as a flu.

Social simulations

• Alter Ego — a personality computer game released by Activision in 1986
• Animal Crossing (series) — a life simulator series by Nintendo. It has also been dubbed as a "communication game" by the company as had Cubivore, Doshin the Giant and GiFTPiA.
• Eccky — by Media Republic.
• Façade (interactive story)- An artificial-intelligence-based interactive story created by Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern.
• The Harvest Moon series — by Marvelous Entertainment, farming simulator, role-playing game, and dating sim rolled into one.
• THE iDOLM@STER - an idol raising sim by Namco.
• Jones in the Fast Lane — by Sierra Entertainment is one of the earliest life simulators.
• Little Computer People — by David Crane, published by Activision for Apple II and Commodore 64 (1985)
• Money Game — a Famicom life simulation about balance love with high finance
• The Money Game II: Kabutochou no Kiseki the Famicom sequel to Money Game
• My Life My Love: Boku no Yume: Watashi no Negai — a life simulation for the Japanese Famicom system
• The Princess Maker series — by Gainax, a raising sim which the player have to raise an adoptive daughter until she reaches adulthood. The final result varies from a ruling queen to an ordinary housewife, or even a prostitute if the player looks after her poorly
• 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.
• Tenshitachi no gogo — One of the earliest dating sims, 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 its sequels, The Sims 2 (2004) and The Sims 3 (2009).
• True Love — (1994), 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 game released only in Japan, created by the same designer as Lack of Love and GiFTPiA