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Author Topic: Looking for some sort of colonization/terraforming sim  (Read 14116 times)

The13thRonin

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Re: Looking for some sort of colonization/terraforming sim
« Reply #30 on: November 18, 2012, 05:26:07 pm »

I don't download abandonware. It's technically not legal and although I'm sure no-one would sue over it I'd still like to have a legal copy.
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Frumple

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Re: Looking for some sort of colonization/terraforming sim
« Reply #31 on: November 18, 2012, 05:28:15 pm »

Amazon looks like it has some copies, so I imagine it'd be pretty easy to find online for sale, if you don't want to go through them.
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Virex

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Re: Looking for some sort of colonization/terraforming sim
« Reply #32 on: November 18, 2012, 08:37:49 pm »

Outpost 1 and 2 would probably qualify.
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Brotato

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Re: Looking for some sort of colonization/terraforming sim
« Reply #33 on: November 19, 2012, 05:49:10 pm »

Thanks guys for the help.  But I take it that the colonization and/or terraformation style of game hasn't exactly come into being?  SimEarth sounds cool, but is there any way I can get it legally, and would I need DosBox to play it?
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Seraphim342

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Re: Looking for some sort of colonization/terraforming sim
« Reply #34 on: November 19, 2012, 06:20:58 pm »

I think SimEarth had two versions, one for DOS and one for Win95.  I remember playing it on my old Win95 rig alongside DigDug, The Magic School Bus and Command and Conquer with no problems back when I was a wee lad.  Just have to find the 95 version. 

*EDIT*  I actually found my disk in my "ancient" box, it's Windows 3.1 and higher.  Would probably run in Win95 Compatibility, but you might need to do some tweaking.  I actually have an easier time getting MSX2 games to run on a Win98-version MSX emulator than Windows 95/3.1 games >.<

Also, fun note, the minimum system requirement is 4MB of RAM and a computer that supports 256 colors.  Brought back some fond memories of my folks upgrading our hard drive to 1GB and being told that it was all we'd ever need.  Could have quadrupled the storage space on that computer with a modern $5 thumb drive... if it had had a USB port =p

« Last Edit: November 19, 2012, 06:32:18 pm by Seraphim342 »
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Jetman123

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Re: Looking for some sort of colonization/terraforming sim
« Reply #35 on: November 19, 2012, 10:25:54 pm »

Unfortunately, obtaining games that are out of print legally is a bit of a nightmare. Even if you found a used copy kicking around on ebay somewhere, there's no guarantee that it would work in your modern system, or that you'd be able to extract it from the media contained to run it in an emulation program. Though I think SimEarth's 95 version can run on modern versions of Windows with some help.

All the same, you're not harming anyone by downloading these games, and until the ESA (which buys the rights to games and then does nothing with them in the name of 'protecting' the IP, though let's not get into that) steps in and protects them they are functionally legal to obtain, as nobody exists to sue you. I wouldn't lose sleep over it.
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Jetman123

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Re: Looking for some sort of colonization/terraforming sim
« Reply #36 on: November 19, 2012, 10:26:15 pm »

Oops. (Double post.)
« Last Edit: November 19, 2012, 10:32:15 pm by Jetman123 »
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Moogie

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Re: Looking for some sort of colonization/terraforming sim
« Reply #37 on: November 20, 2012, 01:52:24 am »

Your money will never see the original developers of the game, no matter how you buy or aquire a copy.
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ScriptWolf

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Re: Looking for some sort of colonization/terraforming sim
« Reply #38 on: November 20, 2012, 03:17:00 am »

Thank you for who ever posted waking mars I have been playing the fuck out of that game recently, I love the science element to like, like ohh what happens if I push this runny little creature into the nest of floaty creatures :P

Anyway anymore like waking mars which people have found ? I'm rather fond of the ecosystem type games. And I have played viva piņata to death :P
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Ivefan

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Re: Looking for some sort of colonization/terraforming sim
« Reply #39 on: November 20, 2012, 04:11:58 am »

Anyway anymore like waking mars which people have found ? I'm rather fond of the ecosystem type games. And I have played viva piņata to death :P
Well, aquaria feels very similar but plays differently.
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Imp

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Re: Looking for some sort of colonization/terraforming sim
« Reply #40 on: November 20, 2012, 05:22:57 am »

Anyway anymore like waking mars which people have found ? I'm rather fond of the ecosystem type games. And I have played viva piņata to death :P

There's a couple of evolution/ecosystem sims/games I know of that you might enjoy.

Darwin's Pond is a game that gives you a little bit of ecosystem control.  The main way the game's played is to spawn a hundred 'swimmers' of random genetics, most of whom can barely move.

All swimmers are vegetarians, they eat 'algae' that reproduces over time.  You can set how far the algae spores can go before they create a new plant.  Swimmers have priorities based on their hunger level, and you can set global conditions that control how much food value plants give and what hunger level swimmers consider 'adequate' to allow seeking a mate.  A hungry swimmer ignores all other swimmers and tries only to approach the nearest food.  A full swimmer ignores food and seeks a mate with the most color that it finds attractive (color and color preference are both genetic, and independant of each other, as is body size, number of limbs, number of joints, joint angles, motion period and a few other variables).  Mating or being mated with decreases your food level, and old age or starvation are both deadly.

Over a fairly long period of time (a few hours) you'll usually find that the descendants of those mostly inept swimmers can now move at a fairly good clip; at any point you can cause new random swimmers to appear, or directly manipulate all of one's genetics yourself.  You can save specific swimmers and later reintroduce their clones into their original or future ponds.  Occasionally mass starvation ensues and you'll come back to your computer to find a pond empty of all but algae.  In addition to passing genetics from the parents, mutations do occasionally happen.

Biogenesis Jar has a bit of a different flavor and a rather faster pace; The plants here are not algae, but animals like all the other swimmers, these 'plants' often are quite mobile and may also be predators, either directly by feeding from (with or without outright killing) other swimmers, or indirectly by taking over their prey's reproductive systems to spawn their own young.

Swimmers have genetics and a highly variable body design, but that design does not directly control how they move.  Instead each segment can have one of several colors, and those colors do unique things.  One color produces food, based on the size of that color's segments and how much CO2 is in the world (plants can starve, plants very much do compete in the jar even if there's nothing there but other plants - dead swimmers decay and release CO2 back into the environment for the surviving plants).  One color allows for movement, with the size of that color's segments affecting how fast that movement occurs.  One color feeds from others that it touches, and another color kills anything it touches, except for one specific color that has no use except to shield from being touched by that killing color.  In the Jar, swimmers never interbreed or share genetics, with the sole 'exception' that parasitic breeders force other swimmers to produce the parasite's children instead of its own when it is able to breed - but it is still a form of cloning.  Mutations do occur, at a rate players can change.

In Darwin's Pond, swimmers are always trying to 'do' something.  They might be trying to feed, or they might be trying to mate; the very old or very desperately hungry are writhing their death throes.  Hungry swimmers that can't find food will swim randomly trying to find some.  But the only way two swimmers can interact is if at least one of them wants to mate with the other.  They cannot fight or otherwise affect each other (although it is entirely possible for a hungry slower swimmer to be 'mated to death' by a pack of full, faster swimmers who find it the most attractive mate opportunity around).

In Biogenesis Jar, swimmers are unable to combine movement with purpose.  They may be starving or stuffed and about to breed; regardless they move or not in random directions at speeds controlled by their genetics.  However, most of the colors affect how swimmers interact when two randomly encounter each other; most swimmers have several colors around their edges so each contact tends to produce different results.

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Re: Looking for some sort of colonization/terraforming sim
« Reply #41 on: November 21, 2012, 02:24:50 pm »

I think SimEarth had two versions, one for DOS and one for Win95.  [...] Just have to find the 95 version. 

*EDIT*  I actually found my disk in my "ancient" box, it's Windows 3.1 and higher.  Would probably run in Win95 Compatibility, but you might need to do some tweaking.

Be advised that SimEarth, like all 16-bit Windows programs, will not run on a modern 64-bit Windows installation.  (One solution: an entire second 32-bit Windows installation in a virtual machine.)
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Eagle_eye

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Re: Looking for some sort of colonization/terraforming sim
« Reply #42 on: November 21, 2012, 03:43:52 pm »

alternative solution: Dosbox
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