Life Simulators

[asper]

This topic is decidated to the microgenre of Life Simulators.

I was looking for "Jones in the Fast Lane" recently and found out the complete game has been ported to flash, including speech and original music!

http://home.broadpark.no/~kboye/jones/jones.html

There were some modern games like this. One even got discussed on the Codex, but I forgot the title.. You could end up as a millionaire living in a cardboard box.. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Please post any games in this genre that you know of!

 

[Pony King]

Alter ego?

 

[Fens]

might want to give Kudos (pretty good) a try. there's also Kudos: Rock Legend (meh) and Kudos 2 (didn't try).

 

[Pony King]

I'm pretty sure that Kudos 2 is an improved Kudos (i.e. don't bother with the original) and both of them had problems with no real goal and no real difficulty.

 

[convivialist]

What's the difference between these and games like The Sims and Europa 1400?

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

The Sims and Europa 1400 can be fun.

 

[EG]

What's the difference between these and games like The Sims and Europa 1400?

Alter Ego isn't a glorified fishbowl, like The Sims. Can't speak for the others -- I will acquire Europa 1400.

Don't forget Princess Maker.

 

[convivialist]

Saying what they're not doesn't tell me much. I ask because I've never played any of these games, so I don't know what kind of features they have.

 

[EG]

Saying what they're not doesn't tell me much. I ask because I've never played any of these games, so I don't know what kind of features they have.

Alter Ego (paraphrase):
You see a something shiny!
A) Grab it!
B) Scream bloody murder
C) Punch

The mirror shatters and cuts you!
Constitution decreases by 10 points
Stress increases by 8 points

The game is played through a decision tree, each leaf an experience of a certain type. Each experience (such as the above) represents a moment in time -- you can only have so many experiences in a period of your life (say, 12 as an infant). These control your attributes (such as constitution and stress) that determine your success in other experiences. The game covers everything from your time in the womb, to whether you get into a stranger's car, to cheating on your wife.

The Sims is mainly about providing for a family's basic needs through placement of furniture and basic interaction among family members.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Huh, Alter Ego is pretty cool. Never played that before. Was playing the most horrendous little shit I could, but welp.

"Once you are in the car he turns away from the school and heads for the highway. This man is very sick. You are tortured, killed and buried in a landfill. Your body is never recovered. This game is over."
Was hoping that creepy guy in the car could be my character once I grew up. FOILED.

 

[EG]

Huh, Alter Ego is pretty cool. Never played that before. Was playing the most horrendous little shit I could, but welp.

"Once you are in the car he turns away from the school and heads for the highway. This man is very sick. You are tortured, killed and buried in a landfill. Your body is never recovered. This game is over."
Was hoping that creepy guy in the car could be my character once I grew up. FOILED.

Once, I was strong enough to resist, remember the license plate, and get him arrested.

http://www.playalterego.com/

For those who'd like the slightly-updated, slightly-maintained Web-based version.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Resist after willingly entering the car, or does he jump out and grab you if you try to get away? I naturally went into his car because BROS HELP BROS WITH DIRECTIONS

 

[EG]

Resist after willingly entering the car, or does he jump out and grab you if you try to get away? I naturally went into his car because BROS HELP BROS WITH DIRECTIONS

Ah, well. Now that you mention it, I'm not so sure. I believe I resisted getting into the car, so he tried to pull me in.

You're a good kid, Multi.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

It never hurts to help!

 

[DwarvenFood]

You help Gabe the most though

On topic, there was this C64 game where you did absolutely nothing and just watched some people live in a house. Well you could control a character and do stuff like play piano and shit but there was no plot or whatever. Sims Medieval is rumoured to be fun but I'm trying to think of games like this but there is not much out there.

 

[SCO]

Alter ego is pretty great

I had some relationships with some ho's in the job, but the last bitch left me in the altar.

Joke's on her:
I got lucky and made a early retirement when my culinary hobby hit jackpot, i was offered 1 million $ for a fucking recipe.

On my death bed i shafted everyone and left my ill-gotten fortune to charity.

Fuck yeah storyfaggotry.

 

[asper]

What's the difference between these and games like The Sims and Europa 1400?

You control a character actively instead of watching one, and they are actual games with a challenge, not sandboxes. They are mostly hilarious; for example the best paying job in Jones in the Fast Lane is factory manager that pays 13 dolla/hour (!) and the winning opening strategy is to live only on fries each week...

Thanks for the Alter Ego reccomendation, it is great. I've read about it some time ago but didn't know there was a webversion. I find it quite lacking in subtlety (mostly really biowarian good/evil choices) but it is an interesting concept for sure.

Anyway, I have found the game I was looking for: LIFEBIZ...

http://z3.invisionfree.com/Osiris_Games ... topic=7432

Check the old topic here

http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic ... 7b86044802

Anything else like this out there?

 

[Phelot]

Alter ego?

LOL I just caught my parents having sex

 

[markec]

A prefect game for Codex:

http://anonymousmangames.blogspot.com/p/cursed.html?zx=15b60f68a804e2a2

 

[visions]

Huh, Alter Ego is pretty cool. Never played that before. Was playing the most horrendous little shit I could, but welp.

"Once you are in the car he turns away from the school and heads for the highway. This man is very sick. You are tortured, killed and buried in a landfill. Your body is never recovered. This game is over."
Was hoping that creepy guy in the car could be my character once I grew up. FOILED.

Got the same result the first time I tried it . Think he grabbed/catched me or something, I didn't willingly go into his car.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Round two of Alter Ego, fat out of shape middle aged broke angry womanizer with a drug problem drowned to death.

I AM ADDICTED. Think next time I'll try for a manipulative bastard. Try to boost my social skills as high as I can at the detriment of physical and intellectual. I love shit like this.

 

[Teepo]

Alter Ego is okay.

I keep on getting rejected by women like IRL.

 

[oscar]

Was a creative intellectual type who was fairly well off and respected but had a wife and died in a car crash and had no kids.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Falling out of love with Alter Ego. It's less directed than the "Choice of" games, and as a result a lot of the actions don't feel as meaningful since they don't have an impact/consequence beyond whatever happens at the end of the event.

Also seems impossible to get a wife if you're an untrustworthy shithead, which doesn't seem realistic at all.

 

[BLOBERT]

BROS THERE WAS A THREAD A FEWE YEARS AGO ABOUT SOME SHIT LIKE THIS THERE WAS A REAL LIFE GAME AND USUALLY YOU WERE SOME BUTFUCK IN ETHOPUA WHO DIED OF FUCKING THE PLAGUE OR SOME SHIT