fdeming@lappi.uucp (Frank Deming {x6088}) (12/12/90)
How does SimEarth compare to Chris Crawford's two games Balance of the Planet and (the name escapes me)? Frank Deming fdeming@aecmail.prime.com
zippy@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Patrick Tufts) (12/18/90)
In article <1141@cvbnetPrime.COM> fdeming@lappi.uucp (Frank Deming {x6088}) writes:
How does SimEarth compare to Chris Crawford's two games Balance of the
Planet and (the name escapes me)?
Frank Deming
fdeming@aecmail.prime.com
Chris Crawford currently has made *four* Mac games:
Balance of Power
Balance of Power '90
Balance of the Planet
??? <- I saw it last week, can't remember the name
Anywhose, SimEarth v. BotP:
SimEarth is a ``God's eye view'' game. You terraform planets, hurl
meteors, cause earthquakes, and in general promote the evolution of a
robust planet.
Good points: you can cause intelligent carnivorous plants to evolve.
lots of good earth science, evolution, earthy-crunchy info
Bad points: game occaisionally crashes, has `look up word in manual'
protection scheme
Balance of the Planet: you are given powers to levy taxes on
activities that harm the enviroment, and can allocate funds in areas
that benefit it.
Good points: politically correct (yak! I *hate* that phrase),
lot's of good info on the ecology, pollution, quality of life
Bad points: very easy to `win'. Just tax the hell out of the bad
things, and dump money on the good ones.
*requires*hard*disk* Auuuugh! Crawford made lots of
hinky-dinky data files that all have to be in one folder.
Even if you have 4M memory, you can't run this without
loading the stuff onto a ram disk.
I bought both. Were I to choose, I'd pick SimEarth if only because it
offers more variety.
--PatAPPLEREP@MTUS5.BITNET (12/18/90)
(Talk about how Balance of the Planet is easy to win and "Politically Correct") Hmm. I have this game, and I have not come to the same conclusions. First of all, I have not found it very easy to win at all. Trying to implement a philosophy of "Taxing the Hell out of everything Bad" can lead to different results than you initially think. If I have ever been able to make any headway in BotP, it has been through careful consideration of all of the wide ranging concequences of my desicions--usually leading to a modified "centrist" policy. Of course, your milage may vary. I really think that the esteemed Mr. Crawford did not write (or intend to write ) a program that is "Politically Correct." (Assuming you mean "Politically Correct" in its usual interpetation--kind of leftward leaning.) Rather, he has created a program that tries to cut through all of the ideological crap (pardon the expression) on both sides of the environmental debate. People with "Radical Environmentalist" viewpoints find that their agendas may just backfire causing worse problems, and "Industrialists" see the ugly end result of the road _they_ travel. This is why I like the game so much, and like demoing it to other people. Peoples' eyes get opened--they have to think about something deeply, thoroughly--look at a problem from someone else's perspective--and maybe even learn something from the "Enemy Camp". Needless to say, it makes a great conversation starter. BTW, you can adjust the "perspective" that you play with (meaning that if you personally favor, say, Nuclear Power, that policies favoring Nukes will help the status of the planet). However, I just play it straight. Tom Amberg
barry@playfair.Stanford.EDU (Barrett P. Eynon) (12/18/90)
In article <ZIPPY.90Dec17182027@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu> zippy@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Patrick Tufts) writes: > >Chris Crawford currently has made *four* Mac games: > > Balance of Power > Balance of Power '90 > Balance of the Planet > ??? <- I saw it last week, can't remember the name Just to set the record straight, Chris Crawford has programmed at least 6 Mac games: Patton vs. Rommell Trust & Betrayal/The Legacy of Siboot Balance of Power Balance of Power '90 Balance of the Planet Global Dilemma: Guns and Butter -- Barry Eynon barry@playfair.stanford.edu