Ah, simulation software. Flight simulators, driving simulators, space simulators… you think of it, someone has probably coded a simulator for it. Hell, there’s even a joke name for a genre of game today called “walking simulator” where most of what you do is simply, well, walk.
Computer simulations hold an interest to gamers in that they are interactive worlds, but unlike a video game, they don’t have any real goals – unless that’s part of the element being simulated, like combat training software for the military. Simulators were, and still are, a way to re-create the experience of doing something – anything – that might well be too expensive to practice in the real world.
Spaceflights for example are heavily simulated before the actual event – crews practice the entire mission many times over, for example, training on just how to go about each stage of the mission and getting to experience critical emergency situations, all in a safe environment.
Of course, simulations can be used for fun, like flight simulators – many will fire up these programs just to relax or enjoy something they couldn’t normally do due to cost limitations. Of course, this crosses over in to video games and we have games that are also simulators – Sim City, for example, is a prime subject that, while not designed to be absolutely accurate to how a city works, takes the basic idea and really runs well with it through its iterations to create a fun simulation experience that still plays well as a standard risk-reward game.
While the hardware has advanced, and simulation software has grown to match these improvements, the core principles have been the same since the beginning. For now, let’s go back to 1983 and take a look at simulation software from 35 years ago!