By Selby Bateman — originally published in December 1986 (Vol. 4, No. 12)
Pilot a plane over the Golden Gate Bridge, command the Army of the Potomac, manage a major league baseball team to a World Series win. Simulations of the real world are among the most popular forms of computer entertainment and education today, both at home and in a variety of professions. There are dozens of such simulations available for your Commodore 64 or 128, and more arriving almost every day.
A young Air Force pilot repeatedly crashes his jet and walks away unscratched. A businessman sees his stocks plummet and doesn’t lose a dime. An engineer spots a costly error in an experimental automobile and fixes it in seconds.
All of these potentially dangerous and costly situations are simply computer simulations, digital models of real life. Simulating the real world is a task that computers have been doing since the days of the early mainframe computers. There’s nothing more going on at the core of these simulations than number crunching—the processing of millions of different instructions in seconds.
As computers have grown more powerful—with larger memories and improved graphics and sound—the range of things that can be simulated has expanded radically. The first simulations were really just statistical what-if situations in which a given set of numbers produced its results when applied in different ways. In this respect, even a computerized spreadsheet can be considered a good what-if simulator. That’s how it’s most often used in financial modeling, and the spreadsheet today is regularly used to assist in making business decisions. Yet computers now allow far more to be simulated: not just numbers, but the visual and aural representation of those numbers as well. Computer-aided design (CAD), for example, can include a computer-generated construction so lifelike it almost seems real. Large mainframe computers and minicomputers that control the most advanced flight simulators produce realistic views from the mock cockpit, including three-dimensional landscapes, shaded objects that can also move, sound effects, and much more.
At the heart of these simulations, however, is the same basic numerical manipulation that accompanied the first computer modeling. What’s changed, of course, is the computer’s ability to handle many millions of additional numbers in a far shorter time.
Computer modeling and simulations are used extensively today by the armed forces in order to teach personnel to operate sophisticated equipment without the expense and danger of using the real thing. Engineers, architects, chemists, and many other professionals can experiment with simulations that would have seemed like magic just ten years ago.
While the Commodore 64 or 128 obviously doesn’t have the power of the giant mainframes and minicomputers, it does offer a rich environment for certain kinds of simulations. And software developers have been quick to discover just how flexible this Commodore 64 environment can be.
Flight, Sports, And History
There are several different kinds of simulations available for the 64 and dozens of examples within these categories. For the most part, Commodore simulations fall into three categories: realtime, sports, and historical. Although just about any activity can be simulated, these three categories have generated the most interest among Commodore owners.
Among the realtime simulation programs available for the 64, flight simulators are the most popular. A quick look at “A Buyer’s Guide to Commodore 64 Simulation Software,” accompanying this article, shows just how many of the simulations are based on flying.
Some of them, such as SubLOGIC’s Flight Simulator II, MicroProse’s F-15 Strike Eagle, and Microsoft’s Flight Simulator, have been on software best-seller lists for a year or two and show no signs of disappearing.
Although the first commercial flight-simulation machine was created and used as far back as 1929, it wasn’t until the mid-1970s that computers actually became powerful enough to allow simulation systems based on computerized images. Now, little more than a decade later, the flight simulators available for the Commodore 64 and 128 surpass the capabilities of the mainframe systems used in the 1970s.
What’s the allure of these flying simulations? The chance to experience the thrill of flying—without the expense and danger—is a powerful attraction in this airborne age. But the flight-simulation packages also offer much more. When you’re in the cockpit of a World War II fighter or bomber, and are given a variety of specific challenges, suddenly the simulation is also a game.
Although most of these games trade off differing degrees of realism for easier and more interesting game play, there seems to be something for just about everyone—from the would-be pilot who wants nothing but realism to the game buff who’s willing to sacrifice a bit of the rigors of flying in order to enjoy the entertainment of combat simulations.
In fact, a new genre is emerging based on these flight simulators. Two recent best-selling books, 40 Great Flight Simulator Adventures and its sequel, 40 More Great Flight Simulator Adventures, (COMPUTE! Books) offer custom-made flying excursions complete with sightseeing and flying adventures.
But flight’s not the only subject of realtime simulations for Commodore owners. MicroProse Software, which produces more realtime simulations than any other software publisher, also offers you the chance to command a submarine, an attack helicopter, an acrobatic jet, and even an airport control tower.
MicroProse, which prides itself on the realism of its simulation programs, even offers its F-15 Strike Eagle owners the chance to recreate the April 1986 bombing attack by American F-111’s against Libya. But, as the company’s ads have stated, “the best part is…no one gets hurt.”
Sports and historical recreations are also among the most popular topics for Commodore simulation programs. Almost any listing of the top-20 best-selling Commodore entertainment software will reveal that almost half of the products fall into the categories of realtime, sports, or historical simulations.
Most of the historical simulations available for Commodore owners are based on strategy war games, a genre that grew out of the earlier board games before the emergence of computers. Dominating this category is Strategic Simulations (SSI), which has some 30 computer strategy games in its Commodore product line. The subjects range from up-to-date themes such as Germany 1985 and Geopolitique 1990 to such historical topics as the Old West recreation, Six-Gun Shootout, and the Civil War’s Battle of Antietam.
A variety of other companies also offer strategic war games, including MicroProse, Avalon Hill, and SSG. Although World War II forms the backdrop for most of these strategy games, just about any period of history can be targeted. Vietnam, for example, is the subject of a growing number of games, including MicroProse’s Conflict in Vietnam and SSI’s NAM (see review elsewhere in this issue).
Sports simulations for the Commodore 64 usually fall into one of two categories: arcade-action games, in which fast reflexes with a joystick are paramount, and strategy games, which are closer in style to war games.
An entire series of popular fast-action sports games, originally based on Olympic events such as pole vaulting, track, and swimming, has been produced by Epyx. Summer Games and its sequels (Summer Games II, Winter Games, and World Games) feature a variety of contests in each package, colorful graphics, and sound effects.
Others in this genre have concentrated on different sports. Access Software’s Leader Board is an action golf simulation and Accolade’s Hardball is an action baseball simulation. There are karate simulations that have grown out of the popularity of martial-arts instruction, including Data East’s Karate Champ and Kung Fu Master, and Epyx’s World Karate Championship.
In fact, as a glance at the accompanying guide to simulations shows, just about any sport, from bowling and boxing to football and tennis, can be the subject of a simulation game.
Sports strategy games for the Commodore 64 have often evolved from earlier board games in much the same manner as the computerized war games. With baseball and football fans eager to recreate their favorite teams and seasons, the strategy games in these two areas have fared especially well.
SubLOGIC’s Football and the new Pure-Stat Baseball, Epyx’s The World’s Greatest Baseball Game, and Gamestar/Activision’s Championship Baseball ’86 are just a few of the popular sports simulations.
Although new simulations—realtime, historical, and sports—crop up every day, Commodore owners always seem ready for one more good program in their particular areas of interest. Other topics haven’t generated as much enthusiasm in the Commodore market as these three. But with an installed base of several million 64s and 128s, there are likely to be new categories and topics available in the future.