Simulation games are not too far off from strategy genre, as some simulate city building, war waging or managing an economy. However simulations are more about the continuous management of the assets rather than completing story-lines or defeating an opponent. Simulation games can continue indefinitely if there are no objectives set for an end-game, so if the simulation has an aspect of city or architectural design, the growth and expansion of the city or architecture could be continuous and infinite.
Simulation games existed in the earliest days of computer gaming, however many credit the development of architectural simulations to a game called Micropolis released in 1989 on Commodor 64 and re-released as SimCity on Macintosh. Players would essentially become the civil engineers and urban designers of a virtual city, managing every aspect of it from street layouts, different types of buildings, infrastructure management, disaster prevention, etc. The game spawned an entire world of simulation sequels and spin-offs such as SimAnt and Sims. I particularly enjoyed playing Sims 2 for its ability to design houses for virtual dwellers by managing income and buying furniture and home extensions with the earned money.
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| Berlin City in Pizza Tycoon 2. Image from GOG.com |
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| Basic startup restaurant in Pizza Tycoon 2. Image from GOG.com |
Another simulation that I remember playing long hours was Pizza Tycoon 2 (the first version of which came out in 1994), in which you would not only make different pizza recipes but also build and manage restaurants with every single detail from furniture to layouts to even what type of music played in it. The entire city was available and visible in the game with patrons walking in the street going about their business, showing their moods. Any building in the city could be potentially turned into a restaurant while analyzing the surrounding neighborhoods for potential customers. There were competitor restaurants in the game as well and options to sabotage them with rats and cockroach infestations. Many aspects of this simulation game were so lifelike and incredibly detailed that could be a learning tool for real-life situations. I've played many similar games such as Gangster 2 (first one released in 2001) in which the player takes on the responsibilities of Mafia boss managing underground worlds of entire cities. Another simulation type game worth mentioning is Anno, which allows management of cities in different eras in each sequel.
Read more about simulation games and history of it here:
From SimCity to Real Girlfriend, 20 years of sim games by Richard Moss (June, 2011) arsTechnica
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