SimAnt

SimAnt: The Electronic Ant Colony is a 1991 life simulation video game by Maxis and Maxis's third product, focusing on ants. It was designed by Will Wright. In 1992, it was named "Best Simulation Game" at the Software Publishers Association's Codie awards.[2] SimAnt was re-released in 1993 as part of the SimClassics Volume 1 compilation alongside SimCity Classic and SimLife for PC, Mac and Amiga.[3] In 1996 SimAnt alongside several of Maxis' simulation games were re-released under the Maxis Collector Series with greater compatibility with Windows 95 and differing box art, including the addition of Classics beneath the title.[4]

SimAnt: The Electronic Ant Colony
Original cover art
Developer(s)	Maxis[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s)	Maxis
Designer(s)	Justin McCormick Will Wright
Series	Sim
Platform(s)	Macintosh, MS-DOS, Windows 3.x, Amiga, FM Towns[1], NEC PC-9801, Sharp X68000, Super NES
Release	Mac, DOS, Windows 1991 Amiga 1992 FM Towns, PC-98, X68000, SNES 1993
Genre(s)	Life simulation game
Mode(s)	Single player

Gameplay

The game is a simulation of an ant colony. Wright was inspired by E. O. Wilson's study of ant colonies.[5][6] The game consists of three modes: a Quick Game, a Full Game, and an Experimental Game. It was released for the IBM PC, Amiga, Macintosh, and Super NES. The Super NES version adds eight scenarios, where the goal in each is to eliminate the enemy red ants in various locales, each with different hazards.

In SimAnt, the player plays the role of an ant in a colony of black ants in the back yard of a suburban home. The ant colony must battle against enemy red ants. The ultimate goal is to spread throughout the garden, into the house, and finally to drive out the red ants and human owners. In this respect, SimAnt differed from other 'Sim' games that were open-ended and had no victory conditions.

In the Quick Game, the player establishes a black ant colony in a small patch of yard, shown in top-down perspective. The computer opponent establishes a competing red ant colony in the same patch. Underground ant colonies are depicted in a side view. The player has direct control of a single ant at a time, indicated by a yellow color, and may switch control to a different ant at any time by either double-clicking the desired ant or choosing Exchange from the Yellow Ant menu and clicking on it. The player's yellow ant may influence the behavior of other black ants by leaving pheromone trails to destinations such as food and enemy ant colonies and can control the other ants in a limited way (by ordering a certain number to follow it, for instance). The quick game is won or lost when either the red or black colony in said patch is defeated.

The player's yellow ant may pick up food and pebbles, engage in trophallaxis (by receiving regurgitated food from friendly ants), and attack enemy ants. Groups of ants (or yellow ant with her recruits) may attack and kill bigger enemies like spiders, caterpillars, and antlions. Natural hazards include human footsteps, electrical outlets, bugspray, spiders, antlions, lawnmowers, and rain, which washes away pheromone trails and can flood the bottom of ant nests.

In the Full Game, the player begins with an ant colony in an overhead view, much like the Quick Game. The region of this overhead view is a single square of a map containing a yard and house. The player spreads to other areas by producing young queens and drones to mate with each other. The full game is lost when the black colonies are eliminated and won when the red colonies are eliminated and the humans are driven out of the house.

The Experimental Game is similar to the Quick Game, except the player can also control red ants and spiders and has access to a set of experimental tools. These tools allow the player to place pheromone trails, maze walls, rocks, ants, pesticides and food.

The boxed game also comes with a thoroughly researched instruction manual, which not only covers game mechanics, but also contains a large amount of information regarding ants and ant societies.

Reception

According to the game box, using a statistic from the Software Publisher's Association, more than 100,000 copies of the PC version had sold by April 10, 1992.

The game was reviewed in 1992 in Dragon #178 by Patricia Hartley and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 5 out of 5 stars.[7] Computer Gaming World stated that "players seeking a non-linear, unconventional and provocative strategy simulation will hit paydirt with SimAnt. The game is easy to get into, stimulating, fun, and increasingly challenging ... students will love it".[8]

GamePro named it "Educational Game of the Year", commenting that "SimAnt is a delightful combination of simulation, strategy, and adventure."[9]

Legacy

SimAnt was rereleased by Maxis as part of the SimClassics suite.

Will Wright, creator of the Sim series, said he got the idea for The Sims while working on SimAnt.[10]

References

Notes

1. Ported to FM Towns, PC-98, X68000 and SNES by Imagineer

Footnotes

1. "FM Towns ROM Archive". SimAnt FM Towns ROM.
2. "1992 Excellence in Software Awards Winners: Best Simulation Program". Archived from the original on December 11, 2008. Retrieved 2007-03-13.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
3. "SimClassics Volume 1 Compilation Advertisement". The One. No. 70. emap Images. August 1994. p. 116.
4. "Maxis SimAnt Store Webpage". Archived from the original on 1998-01-13. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
5. Baker, Chris (August 2012). "The Creator". Wired.
6. Seabrook, John (6 November 2006). "Game Master". The New Yorker. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on 22 July 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
7. Lesser, Hartley; Lesser, Patricia & Lesser, Kirk (February 1992). "The Role of Computers". Dragon (178): 57–64.
8. Eden, Maxwell (March 1992). "The Game Is Afoot". Computer Gaming World. p. 44. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
9. "Editor's Choice Awards". GamePro (65). IDG. February 1994. p. 27.
10. Will Wright Chat Transcript Archived 2009-10-31 at the Wayback Machine, Jan 8, 2004 - SimCity.com

External links

• SimAnt at MobyGames
• SimAnt at the Internet Archive