SimPark is a 1996 video game by
MaxisMaxis Software is an American company founded as an independent video game developer in 1987. It is currently a subsidiary of Electronic Arts . Maxis is the creator of the best-selling computer game of all time, The Sims and the sequels The Sims 2 and The Sims 3...
. The object of the game is to cultivate and manage a successful
parkA park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment. It may consist of, rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas....
. Similar to
SimTownSimTown is a 1995 computer game published by Maxis, much like the best selling SimCity on a smaller scale. SimTown allows the player to construct a town consisting of streets, houses, businesses and parks...
, it is targeted more towards children than the average
gamerHistorically, the term "gamer" usually referred to someone who played role-playing games and wargames. More recently, however, the term has grown to include players of video games...
.
SimPark attempts to show the importance of
ecologicalEcology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the interactions between organisms and the interactions of these organisms with their environment....
balance. It could well be considered a 'lite' version of
SimIsleSimIsle: Missions in the Rainforest is a construction and management simulation game published by Maxis in 1995. It ranks among many commercially unsuccessful Maxis games produced in the 1990s between the various incarnations of SimCity...
.
Players have to quickly learn how doing (or not doing) various things will affect how their park grows.
SimPark is a 1996 video game by
MaxisMaxis Software is an American company founded as an independent video game developer in 1987. It is currently a subsidiary of Electronic Arts . Maxis is the creator of the best-selling computer game of all time, The Sims and the sequels The Sims 2 and The Sims 3...
. The object of the game is to cultivate and manage a successful
parkA park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment. It may consist of, rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas....
. Similar to
SimTownSimTown is a 1995 computer game published by Maxis, much like the best selling SimCity on a smaller scale. SimTown allows the player to construct a town consisting of streets, houses, businesses and parks...
, it is targeted more towards children than the average
gamerHistorically, the term "gamer" usually referred to someone who played role-playing games and wargames. More recently, however, the term has grown to include players of video games...
.
SimPark attempts to show the importance of
ecologicalEcology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the interactions between organisms and the interactions of these organisms with their environment....
balance. It could well be considered a 'lite' version of
SimIsleSimIsle: Missions in the Rainforest is a construction and management simulation game published by Maxis in 1995. It ranks among many commercially unsuccessful Maxis games produced in the 1990s between the various incarnations of SimCity...
.
Objective
Players have to quickly learn how doing (or not doing) various things will affect how their park grows. For instance, if certain
flowerA flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds...
types aren't planted, the park won't attract
beeBees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...
s. If the bees aren't flying around the park, then
pollinationPollination is the process by which pollen is transferred in plants, thereby enabling fertilization and sexual reproduction. Pollen grains, which contain the male gametes to where the female gamete are contained within the carpel; in gymnosperms the pollen is directly applied to the ovule itself...
won't occur, which is an important aspect of keeping the park growing. On top of properly managing the
plantPlants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The scientific study of plants, known as botany, has identified about 350,000 extant species of plants, defined as seed plants,...
and
animalAnimals are a major group of mostly multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously...
population, players are also required to identify the park's plants and animals.
Humor
Players often receive in-game email, such as their boss telling them to make the park more diverse, or their virtual mother telling about life back at home (ex: "I baked you a cake..." etc.) Occasionally, the Boss's pet frog Rizzo will make an appearance on the screen to give the player advice, or nag about the way they're handling things. In addition to having the option to turn him off, one can also turn off any combination of four different disasters. These disasters include:
- Garbage
Waste is unwanted or unusable material.In living organisms, waste is the unwanted substances or toxins that are expelled from them. More commonly, waste refers to the materials that are disposed of in a system of waste management.Waste is directly linked to human development, both technologically...
Dump
The Garbage Dump is just a big pile of rubbish. As soon as it is made, rats start to produce from it and inhabit your park. The only way to get rid of the garbage dump is to put water on it or place lots of garbage-eating animals such as rats and black bears, around the garbage dump.
- Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a combustible material releasing heat, light, and various reaction products such as carbon dioxide and water. If hot enough, the gases may become ionized to produce plasma. Depending on the substances alight, and any impurities outside, the color of the flame and the...
- Kudzu
Kudzu, Pueraria lobata is one of about 20 species in the genus Pueraria in the pea family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. It is a climbing, coiling, and trailing vine native to southern Japan and southeast China...
- Alien invasion
The alien invasion is a common theme in science fiction stories and film, in which an extraterrestrial society invades Earth with the intent to exterminate and replace human life , enslave it under a colonial system , to harvest humans for food , or sometimes to destroy the earth altogether .The...
The Alien Invasion consists of flat, pink-and-blue creatures that litter the park grounds and sometimes float on the water. If the map is clicked to get a zoomed-out map view, the pattern the Aliens form may be in the shape of letters. One example of this is a message which reads: "Surrender, Dorothy". This is a parody to the movie
The Wizard of OzThe Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical / fantasy film directed mainly by Victor Fleming from a script by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allan Woolf, and others and based on the 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum...
. The only way to get rid of aliens, aside from using cheat codes, is to bulldoze them with the "Bulldozer" tool.