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PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION TEACHING ROUNDTABLE
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Software SimulationSoftware simulations are attractive teaching resources. For example, they allow students to act as a mayor or city planner. Acting as the mayor or city planner, fighting with crime, unemployment, and pollution, keeping a budget balanced, deciding the tax rate and funding levels of the city services, etc.
http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/red_tape/o&e9501.htm Try your hand at entitlement reform. Download BUDGET SHADOWS, a challenging, fun, interactive program that puts you in the driver's seat. See what effect different policy decisions would have on entitltement programs, the U.S. budget, and U.S. citizens. Decide for yourself what choices and trade-offs you think the federal government should make to address our fiscal challenges. (Lotus for Windows is required.) [http://www.charm.net/dcarolco/] Click here. Budget Shadows is a byproduct of the Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform's year long study of the nature and scope of America's long-term fiscal-dilemma. The Bipartisan Commission, jointly chaired by Senator Bob Kerrey (D) and Senator Jack Danforth (R), is scheduled to deliver a final report to President Clinton by the end of the year describing possible reforms. Source: Internic Scout Report, December 9, 1994 http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/usgd/cdlist/president.html A simulation which allows the user to assemble his or her own entitlement reform package and determine its future fiscal impact on the nation It is a part of “Crossroads: the Future of Entitlements in America (1995).” Crossroads is an educational tool designed to provide an interactive look at the fiscal choices facing America. The CD documents the activities of President Clinton's Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform.The Commission's Lotus-based simulation "Budget Shadows" is also located on this CD. Budget Shadows allows the user to assemble his or her own package of entitlement reforms and to see the effects of those decisions on the Nation's fiscal future. For Macintosh and Windows; requires Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows to run Budget Shadows
CIVILIZATION III http://www.civ3.com/features.cfm Sid Meier created the original Civilization computer game in 1990. Civilization instantly set the standard and defined a new genre of empire-building strategy games and is still recognized as one of the greatest games of all time. The game is an addictive blend of building, exploration, discovery and conquest. Players match wits against some of history's greatest leaders as they strive to build the ultimate civilization to stand the test of time. The legacy of this incredibly fun, addictive series continues today with the development of Civilization III. More interactions, alliances and realistic artificial intelligence responses put players in the middle of negotiations, trade systems and diplomatic actions. Advanced trade system to manage resources, trade routes and spread of technology. Improved combat options provide finer levels of control for enhanced war-making capabilities. Technologies, Wonders Of The World and Great People expand the scope of the game. New elements of Culture, Nationality and the Arts help players plan a new peaceful pathway to victory. Active world generator creates more realistic maps and organic terrain features. The most detailed and beautiful art, animations and sound ever found in the genre. Easier-to-use interface for streamlined management and better control.
CIVILIZATION III: PLAY THE WORLD FEATURES Multiplayer Modes: Includes Turn-Based and Simultaneous game types and appearing for the first time in a Civilization game, a Turn-less mode. Provides full TCP-IP/LAN, Hotseat and Play be Email support. Multiplayer games: Face off against the best Civilization players worldwide with fast-paced multiplayer games like Elimination, Domination, Regicide and Capture the Flag. Eight new Civilizations featuring new Leaders including: Genghis Khan Temujin, King Hannibal, Queen Isabella and King Brennus, and all new units will challenge your diplomatic and combat skills. Enhanced Scenario Editor, including new unit and tile sets lets players construct a Scenario from any time period
Players
can strengthen their empire with: Updated interface improvements like auto bombard, rally points, stacked movement and a streamlined espionage interface allow for more efficient management. A dazzling new opening cinematic and combat animations bring your Civilization world to life like never before
CIVILIZATION III: CONQUESTS FEATURES More Civilizations: Seven new powerful civilizations from the innovative Sumerians to the mystical Mayans More Units: Use Trebuchets to batter down the enemy's walls or Sumerian Enkidu Warriors to quickly gain military dominance More Techs: Map the world using Satellites to explore the entire map More Disasters: Beware the volcanoes, or Pompeii could become your reality More Diplomacy Options: Locked alliances allow good vs. evil conflicts you'll never forget. More Map Features: Bombard the enemy and leave behind craters. More Resources: Fight for control over Tobacco, Bananas, Oasis, Salt, Sugar, Jade, and Exotic Birds. More Wonders: Build 5 all new wonders, including the statue of Zeus and the even all new commerce bonuses More Government Types: Fascism, Feudalism, Tribal Council, and Imperialism are just a few of the new ways to rule your people More Unit Abilities: Including Stealth Attack, Enslavement, and other bonus attack modifiers (e.g. damage multipliers can now be applied to units). More Attributes: Including two new Civ-Types: Agricultural and Seafaring. More City Specialists: Including Civil Engineers and Police Forces. More Improvements: Including improvements to the AI, Combat System, Interface, Rally Points, Governors, Leaders, Unit-Stacks, and even Game Balance! ...And much, much, more!
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Operating System: Windows® 98/2000/XP Processor: Pentium® II 400MHz Memory: 128 MB RAM Hard Disk Space: 1.5 GB available hard drive space CD-ROM Drive:4X Speed or higher Video: DirectX® 8.0a-compatible video card (must be able to display @ 1024 x 768) Sound: DirectX® 8.0a-compatible sound card DirectX: DirectX® version 9.0b (included) or higher Multiplayer: LAN or Internet connection required for some multiplayer modes Broadband connection recommended for 5 or more players
DOONESBURY ELECTION GAME-CAMPAIGN ‘96
The
Doonesbury Election Game: Campaign ‘96 is a fun, but largely forgotten,
simulation of 1996 US Presidential Election that allows the players to
create their own tickets, pick campaign staffs from dozens of comic strip
Doonesbury characters, and run the campaign. Designed by Randy Chase,
Doonesbury Election Game plays like an updated version of his 1993 classic
Power Politics, except this time there are many more options and
trimmings, although not necessarily a brighter AI.
The Global Simulation Workshop is a 3-hour interactive game that builds critical skills and teaches its participants about global issues. Developed by our team of experienced educators and researchers over the past three decades, the game has been played by more than 350,000 people from around the world. More than 2,500 educational institutions, organizations, and corporations from 35 countries have used the game to teach their participants about how the world works, and how to make it work better. History. Economics. Geography. Political science. Ethics. Social studies. Technology. Media. Culture. All of these elements are integrated into the Global Simulation Workshop. In a world so intricate and dynamic, it is easy for individuals to lose sight of the "big picture". The Global Simulation Workshop helps them reconnect with the global perspective by putting the world into their hands. In the late 1940's, the world was coping with the ravages of world war and nationalism. Buckminster Fuller, the American inventor, educator, and visionary, conceived a tool to help address these critical problems: the World Game.™ Fuller's vision for the World Game™ grew out of his earlier studies of war games at the U.S. Navy War College. He envisioned a "great logistics game," like a war game, but he at first called his version a "World Peace Game." Fuller's game was intended to be a tool that could be used by people around the world to understand and develop solutions to what he called the real enemies of humanity: hunger, illiteracy, lack of health care, environmental degradation, and "you or me" thinking. Later, Fuller proposed to house The World Game™ in a giant geodesic dome that he designed as the U.S. Pavilion for the 1967 Montreal World's Fair. His giant dome was built, but the USIA rejected his World Game™ exhibit as too "revolutionary". Undaunted, Fuller continued to develop his World Game.™ In 1972, the World Game Institute was established by Fuller and two colleagues, o.s.Earth founders Howard Brown and Medard Gabel. The World Game Institute brought the World Game™ experience to hundreds of thousands of participants around the world. The World Game Institute also developed the world's largest and most accurate map of the world, one of the most detailed and substantive databases of global statistics available anywhere, and educational resources designed to teach interdependence, collaboration, respect for diversity, and individual participation in a global society. The o.s.Earth Global Simulation is a direct descendent of Fuller's "World Peace Game." In a Global Simulation, Fuller's original idea is enhanced with state of the art multimedia, the inclusion of relevant current issues, and dynamic game play. What results is a challenging and moving experience that participants remember for a very long time.
THE IOWA ELECTRONIC MARKETS http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/iem/about/ The IEM is a real time and real money electronic futures market designed specifically as a teaching and research tool. Students use real money accounts to trade contracts with payoffs based upon real-world events such as political outcomes, stock price rates of return, movie box office receipts, and federal reserve policy decisions. The markets run continuously with new sets of contracts opening at least once a month. Participating in the IEM provides students with real incentives to learn about markets and follow economic, financial and political news. Trading in the markets requires students to apply class concepts to real decisions. Thus, the markets reinforce ideas from class and enhance student understanding. The IEM provides students with a broader learning experience. It allows them to participate directly in a market instead of simply reading and talking about markets. This experiential learning improves pedagogy, stimulating students to develop their own intuition for concepts developed in class. The markets operate with user friendly, menu-driven technology and are easily accessed through the Internet. In addition, many of our market pages include links to other resources on the web. Trading in the IEM helps students integrate concepts from economics, statistics, accounting and finance. It provides hands-on experience with markets, one of the key ways in which wealth is distributed and acquired. The IEM is an interactive case study in which students' own behavior generates economic transactions. These transactions can be used as a forum for discussing the underlying economic events which instigated the trading, or used to prepare financial statements which: Investigate how to value assets: Historical cost vs. market value vs. expected return, and valuing individual assets purchased as a bundle Investigate how to measure earnings matching costs to assets: specific ID, LIFO, FIFO, weighted average Recognizing gains and losses: differentiate recognition from realization Instructors must set up an IEM Class Description before their students can open their IEM trading accounts.
This simple simulation should give you a better feel of the trade-offs which policy makers need to make in creating federal budgets and dealing with deficits. This simulation asks you to adjust spending and tax expenditures in the the 2006 budget proposed by the White House in order to achieve either a balanced budget or any other target deficit. In order to make the choices we face in the budget clearer, we assume that you make the adjustments all in one year. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the 2006 fiscal deficit is projected to be $296 billion. This does not include the costs of the Iraq War, so in the simulation the deficit has been increased by $105 billion, the costs of the supplemental appropriations for Iraq and Afghanistan operation for fiscal 2005, for a total projected deficit of $401 billion. These costs and the associated deficits can be adjusted in the similuation based on your estimates of the likely continuing costs of the war or whether to scale back or end those operations. The Simulation also allows you to adjust the costs of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, either cutting or cancelling them to raise revenue, or increasing them to create larger tax cuts. It also allows you to increase or decrease tax expenditures, also known as tax deductions, credits or "loopholes." How to play the game. There are two ways to play the game: a simple version that challenges you to cut major categories of spending and/or eliminate tax loopholes, or a longer version with sub-categories of spending. We suggest that you do the simulations first without knowing their budgets. You may be surprised that cutting certain programs yield little revenue. This makes the simulation a bit more challenging since it tests whether your perception of where money goes in the budget matches the reality. A graph will be produced showing the distribution of spending and tax expenditures in the main categories. Just remember: increasing any category, whether a spending or a revenue category, will increase the deficit, while cutting any category will decrease the deficit Why this simulation uses a one-year budget rather than projections over a number of years. Why does this simulation cut this coming year's budget, rather than projecting cuts over many years like Congress and the President often do? The primary reason is that thinking about dealing with the budget in one year is simpler: simpler to present, simpler to program and simpler to understand the issues at stake in the budget debate. And that simplicity is a virtue since long-term budget projections have an obvious history of obscuring hard choices and, frankly, allowing politicians to lie about ultimate results. This is one of the main reasons we have seen the return of the present budget deficit. The reality is that it is no easier to cut the deficit over a few years than in one year--the choices are the same. The only difference is that various budget gimmicks over time obscure those choices. There are three major reasons projections into the future obscure these choices: inflation, changes in revenues due to population growth, and changes in numbers in need for government services due to population changes. Inflation cuts the value of dollars spent on programs each year. A "freeze" in spending that ignores inflation will mean a real cut in that program. As an example, if we assume 3% inflation each year, a "freeze" in spending means almost a 20% real cut in the program over seven years. It is a much more clear and honest debate if we discuss whether to cut the program 20% up front. Changes in revenue due to population growth means that the government can expect to raise more revenue each year without doing anything. This is on top of revenue increases due to inflation. Some budget projections play games with this expectation in order to argue for a budget. The massive tax cuts in the early 1980s projected much larger revenue increases than ever materialized, allowing "projections" of much smaller deficits than we actually ended up with by the end of the decade. Along with revenues increasing with population growth, there are changes in the numbers in need of government services due to population changes. Population growth means more children in school, more total people unemployed (even with the same unemployment rate), more people qualifying for Medicare and Social Security and so on. What this means is that even if a program's spending increases with inflation, those benefits will be divided between more and more people, meaning fewer textbooks per child, lower benefits for Medicare recipients and so on. Increasing revenues due to population changes can often match increasing needs, but playing with projections with either number allow budget-cutters to obscure real cuts in programs for those using them. The bottom-line is that adjusting the present budget (using fiscal year 2006 in our simulation) is the simplest way to show the choices we face in balancing the budget. In fact, it is a lot easier to make these cuts or raise revenue now, since as our population ages, the need for Medicare and Social Security is projected to grow much faster than both inflation and the growth in revenues. So if we can't balance the present budget, we can't do it any easier in the future. Note that the gross totals for the national budget combine both spending, tax expenditures and the losses of revenue from the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. Such number totals in budgets are always a bit arbitrary; concentrate on the deficit number as the target in this simulation. What categories of spending are used in this simulation? The categories of spending used in this simulation generally match the categories used in the official budget of the United States under its "Functions and Sub-functions" perspective on the budget, Table 27–1. Budget Authority and Outlays by Function, Category and Program. Most of these categories match the way most people discuss the budget, even when some of the specific programs may be unknown. This simulation makes a few changes, breaking out a number of additional major categories. It divides the "Education, training, employment, and social services" category into an "Education", "Training, Labor and Unemployment" and a "General Family Support" category. Instead of the encompassing "Income Security" category, which is a grabbag of retirement programs, welfare programs, and work-related spending like unemployment compensation, this simulation: Merges miltary retirement and military health programs into the veterans retirement and disability category. Merges unemployment into the "Training, Labor and Unemployment" category. Merges Adoption and Child Support functions into the "General Family Support" category. Creates a new "Aid to Low-income Families" category. There is also an additional category for the "Iraq and Afghanistan Operations" Sub-functions in the "long" version of the game generally remain the same although some small programs have been grouped together in new categories. How the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts are used in this simulation. As a standin for a whole range of tax rate adjustments, the $103 billion in lost revenue from the 2001 tax cut and the $110 billion in additional lost revenue from the proposed 2003 tax cuts are included in the simulation. These can be increased or decreased as people feel tax rates should be adjusted. Some people may feel that with a recession, a new round of tax cuts are needed to simulate the economy, so this gives you that option as well as eliminating the tax cut altogether. In the long budget version, you have the option to selectively eliminate the tax cut for different economic groupings. This allows you to adjust the progressivity of the tax cut. Note that there is some overlap between the 2001/2003 tax cuts and the numbers used in tax expenditures, so if you cut in both these categories and the tax expenditures categories, the final deficit numbers will not be perfectly accurate. Why tax expenditures are treated like general spending in this simulation. Along with the giving you the ability to control the over $2 trillion in yearly spending, this simulation gives you the opportunity to adjust what are called officially "tax expenditures" and are unofficially referred to as tax loopholes. These tax entitlements loom large in the overall budget picture; in fact, the total of all tax expenditures comes to over $1 trillion, enough to eliminate the deficit and cut income tax rates across the board by 50% to boot. Since such tax expenditures for specific political goals are paid for by either deficits or higher taxes on the general population, they are little different from general spending, aside from the fact that the money is spent with less accountability and political review. Such expenditures are tabulated each year by both the Congressional Joint Commitee on Taxation and the Treasury Department along with their annual estimated cost. What distinguishes a "tax expenditure" from a general tax deduction is defined by the Joint Tax Commitee on Taxation as follows: "Special tax provisions are referred to as tax expenditures because they are considered to be analogous to direct outlay programs...Tax expenditures are most similar to those direct spending programs which have no spending limits, and which available as entitlements." The tax expenditures in this simulation follow the official tax expenditure lists established by the Office of Management and Budget. Numbers for tax expenditures come from the White House's Analytic Perspectives document, Table 19-1 Tax Expenditures.
POLITICAL MARKET PRIZEShttp://www.marketgames.com/politics.html "The Political Market" is part of Market Games, the first totally interactive web site game. Every page is customized for you based on your actions and the actions of other traders. In Market Games, you build a portfolio buying and selling shares of politicians, stock car drivers and other sports teams. The price for each share changes in real-time based on all trades in the market. Buy low, sell high, and make a profit on the Trading Floor. Track your portfolio value with customized Account Statements and Graphs. Research potential trades through individual Profile and Statistics pages. Discuss news, events and strategies in the Market Notes section. See how you measure up on the Top Traders page. Depending on how well you play, you can become famous and earn prizes. There is no cost to open an account, become a trader and win prizes! If you have an account: Enter The Markets To become a trader: Open An Account (Free!) To surf anonymously: Use A Guest Account Raspberry Hill Publishing/Market Games Home Page
http://accuratedemocracy.com/s_sim_ad.htm
Political Simulated voters rank the candidates, giving 1st choice to the closest, 2nd choice to the 2nd closest, and so on. Their positions on the screen may represent geography or political opinions. Games: Players take the roles of party leaders positioning rival candidates to maximize support. Moving a candidate requires paying for ads and answering interview questions can win donations. Four players controlling candidates in 2 parties create a challenging mixture of conflict and cooperation. Elections for research or fun may have 2 to 16 candidates, competing for 1 to 7 seats.
Political You can develop an intuitive feel for statistical patterns by playing with them. You can put voters in random, normal, uniform, or checkerboard patterns. You can spread the candidates out wide or cluster them near the center, developing a feel for "standard deviation" as you play.
Students, Activists, Professors and Pollsters:
In addition to games that teach some political science and statistics,
Political The sim can record charts of voters' top choices for each step in a LER or STV tally. It also calculates a council's "utility" score and the percentages of voters with their first, second or third choices elected. These statistics and more can be recorded from the results of several rules over many elections and later analyzed.
The history of videogames is short and violent. As technology ramped up, early, pacifist fare like Pong gave way to the 8-bit sound and fury of Space Invaders, Asteroids, Defender and their brethren, creating a trend in gaming that continues to this day. Perhaps it is for these reasons that the original SimCity was met with, if not outright derision, then certainly bewilderment and skepticism when SimCity creator Will Wright was shopping the concept to publishers. Here was a game where the emphasis was on creation instead of destruction. Game-play could continue virtually indefinitely, at a time where most games of the time were designed to last mere minutes. In an era where most games cast you in the role of fighter pilot, spaceship commander or some other variant of the square-jawed hero, SimCity was all about the decidedly un-heroic concept of…city planning. Gamers were bestowed with the very dry and civic-minded honorific of Mayor and asked to manage the growth and planning of a simulated metropolis. All together, this strange game seemed like it would disappear altogether from the annals of video game history in a flash. Instead, SimCity disappeared off stores shelves, as consumers turned out in droves to purchase the game. Millions of copies of the SimCity games have been sold over the years, and SimCity has arguably formed the cornerstone of a genre in itself - God Games, also known as System Simulation Games. Ironically, SimCity arose from the ashes of a more typical videogame, The Raid of Bungeling Bay. Bungeling Bay featured a heavily armed helicopter laying siege to equally heavily armed islands. Will quickly discovered that he was having more fun creating the islands than he was blowing them up with his helicopter. At the same time, Will cultivated a real love of the intricacies and theories of urban planning, particularly those of MIT professor Jay Forrester, and decided that building and maintaining a city was a topic worthy of a videogame. The stage was set, and Will spent an entire year turning his idea into a reality. An early incarnation of SimCity was written for the venerable Commodore 64 in 1985, though the game would sit, unpublished, for four years. In 1987, Maxis was formed by Will Wright and Jeff Braun, after the two met at a now-legendary pizza party. In 1989, after a long search to find a publisher for the game, Macintosh and Amiga versions of SimCity made it to store shelves, courtesy of Broderbund. A PC version followed later that year, and the original, Commodore 64 version of SimCity finally saw the light of day as well. Initially, sales were so meager that all technical support for the game was handled by Will and Jeff, out of Jeff's apartment. Fortunately, you can't keep a good game down, and SimCity started to garner word-of-mouth recognition, which eventually resulted in a full page story in Newsweek magazine. This brought about a complete reversal of fortune for the game. Suddenly, SimCity was achieving mainstream success at a time when PC games were still very much a marginalized medium. System simulation games were such a new concept at the time that Maxis suddenly found itself fielding phone calls from governmental agencies the world over, including the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense Department. One can only imagine what creations would have resulted from such a pairing. SimCity was also getting noticed as an educational tool, and made its way into more than 10,000 classrooms, a noteworthy feat for any commercial videogame, even today. With SimCity firmly established as a runaway success, a sequel was practically a foregone conclusion, but Will Wright, ever the visionary, was more inclined to forge ahead with several new ideas he wanted to explore (including the concept for what would later become The Sims), and handed over the reins for a time to Fred Hasslam. Fortunately, Will eventually decided that a SimCity sequel was still fertile grounds for his imagination, and stepped back in to aid Fred in creating a worthy successor to the original SimCity game. What resulted was a quantum leap over the first game. It greatly benefited technologically and experientially from the five years that had elapsed between releases. Will abandoned the top-down view of the first game in favor of the isometric model that has been used in all subsequent SimCity releases. He also incorporated rotation, so users could view their city from different angles. Will beefed up the whole feature set considerably, so it was no surprise when SimCity 2000 was released in January 1994, it became the top-selling game in the world, and held on to that position for half a year. Game play aside, one of the most amazing things about SimCity 2000 was just how many of the new features were the direct result of communication between Maxis and fans of the game- a tradition that continues to this day. Sure, there was no Lot Exchange, No Lot Editor, no downloadable content of any sort, and initially, not even a website to visit. Still, untold legions of diehard fans made themselves heard via e-mail, snail mail and direct communication, and Maxis made sure that many of their requests actually ended up in the game, just like we do today. The original SimCity had become an instant classic, and SimCity 2000 proved to the world that it was no mere fluke, and established Maxis as a development studio synonymous with quality. Our story is far from over here! There's still two more versions of SimCity to talk about! Check back in four weeks time when we take a comprehensive look at SimCity 3000 and SimCity 4!
The History of SimCity Pt. II - SimCity 3000 Let's travel back to that bygone era of 1999, specifically January of that year. Maxis has already established itself as one of the most innovative game developers in the world on the strength of titles like SimAnt, SimEarth, and particularly a little game called SimCity and it's 1993 sequel, SimCity 2000. Maxis and its parent company Electronic Arts are poised to release the newest iteration of the SimCity franchise, SimCity 3000. Nearly six years had passed since the release of SimCity 2000, and both Maxis and the world at large saw some pretty drastic changes. In the intervening time since the release of the first SimCity sequel, Maxis went public (1995), received an executive mandate that resulted in the release of four titles in 1996 (SimCopter, SimTunes, SimPark, and Full Tilt! Pinball) and was finally bought by gaming giant Electronic Arts in 1997. The world outside Maxis has seen some pretty radical transformations in the interim as well, mostly thanks to the explosive growth of the personal computer, a bit of clever software engineering, and the irresistible force that is Moore's Law (which posits that technology will enable a doubling in computer processing power every couple of years). In 1993, the year of SimCity 2000's release, the World Wide Web and the Internet were obscure telecommunications protocols used mostly by physicists and defense contractors. Bill Gates was only the wealthiest man in America, as opposed to the entire world, with a laughable net worth of only $8 billion (how did he cope?). And the typical computer of the era was, roughly speaking, about 500 times less powerful than what's sitting on your desk or lap today. By 1999, on the other hand, the Internet had turned everyone into a computer geek and a day-trader all at once, as an explosion of technologies lead to both the irrational exuberance of the dot-com era, and a real, bona fide sea-change in how people interacted with computers. So, in only six years time, Maxis was looking out at an extremely different landscape and marketplace while planning the release of SimCity 3000. Video games, being a technology driven medium, had also witnessed a paradigm shift during this time, moving from flat, two-dimensional images into a brave new world of 3D where polygons reigned supreme and computing horsepower often dictated the features found in many games of the time. What's more, the driving force behind the first two SimCity games, Will Wright, was busy championing an idea he had for a virtual dollhouse videogame that people had taken to calling The Sims, and was handing over the reins of the SimCity franchise to Executives brought over from Electronic Arts following the 1997 buyout of Maxis. For the first time since its inception, SimCity was in the hands of others. The question on fans minds was, would a new version of SimCity be able to distinguish itself in an increasingly crowded and dazzling video game marketplace, and would it grow and thrive without Will Wright at the helm? The answer, of course, was a resounding yes!
SimCity Retrospective Pt III -SimCity 4, Rush Hour, and the Web Last week we looked at the SimCity franchise on the eve of the New Millennium, and just how much things had changed between the release of SimCity 2000 and SimCity 3000. Well, as you may have already surmised, we're well into the first decade of this New Millennium now, and once again, the world has changed. Computers still keep getting more and more powerful. The raging bull market of the dotcom era transmogrified into a bear, made some feeble attempts to change shape again, and finally settled some place in between. Additionally, the son of the U.S. President in office for the initial SimCity release in 1989 has become the new de facto leader of the free world. It was these conditions that set the tone for the release of SimCity 4 on January 14, 2003. The decision to increment the version number for the game was not an easy one. The gap between SimCity 2000 and 3000 had been nearly six years, and that time was essentially halved for this new iteration of the game. SimCity 3000, particularly with the SimCity 3000 Unlimited update, was an incredibly rich and full-featured game, but once again, Moore's Law proved to be a significant factor in the decision to release a new SimCity. Modeling the growth and development of an entire virtual metropolis is an incredibly processor-intensive task, and more powerful computers always open the door for new features that designers weren't able to implement in the previous version of the game, as well as new ways to make the game more life-like and visually arresting. Eventually, the decision was made to go for the "wow factor" that an entirely new version of the game would bring, rather than continue to expand the framework of SimCity 3000. Early on in the process, the decision was made for the game to use in-game 3D rendering this time around. Artists had very meticulously built 3D models for everything that appeared in SimCity 3000, but what appeared on players' computer monitors while playing the game were essentially highly detailed, extremely gorgeous 2D sprites. In SimCity 4, this would no longer be the case - everything that appeared on screen, excepting user interface, would be fully rendered in 3D. The foresight that SimCity 3000 designers had shown while building SimCity 3000 became immediately beneficial to the SimCity 4 team. The first thing the SimCity 4 team set about doing was the conversion of the existing SimCity 3000 building sets into the SimCity 4 framework. Within a short amount of time, the architects behind SimCity 4 had many of the SimCity 3000 buildings working in the game, in 3D. Semi-controversially, the decision to retain the locked perspective of earlier versions of the game was made by the SimCity design team. By this time, most new videogames hitting stores were created in 3D, and allowed for free camera movement on the part of the player. While a few simulation games of the time had already successfully implemented free camera movement into game play, it did seem like holdouts in this area were mostly limited to simulation games and real-time strategy games, where locked orthographic views had a historical basis and, in some cases, were actually beneficial to game play. Still, free camera movement throughout the city remains one of the most requested additions to the SimCity feature set. One welcome addition to SimCity 4 was added levels of magnification in the game. It's interesting to see how much this has changed since the creation of the original game. For the initial SimCity, there was no way to zoom in any closer on your city, for a better look at what's going on, and most of the windows on buildings were just a few darkened pixels. Standing in sharp relief to this was SimCity 4, which allowed players to zoom in so close to their city, they could make out minute details such as window treatments! Also along these lines were the automobiles traveling in the city. Autos had really started to become an exciting part of the game in SimCity 3000, but SimCity 4 really upped the ante, and soon players were losing hours at a time just watching tiny, virtual SimCitizens traversing the city in their cars, and trying to optimize traffic flow throughout their city. Another major addition to SimCity game play was the increased emphasis on regional play. Like it's older brother, Mayors would be able to barter for resources with other cities in SimCity 4, but this time around, they might also find themselves playing Mayor in the neighboring city as well, effectively managing a whole region consisting of several small, interconnected cities that collectively comprise a greater area of play. This feature, coupled with the ability to split cities into districts that behaved uniquely, added whole new layers of verisimilitude to the game. In SimCity 4, it was now possible to tailor a city to very specific needs, based on tax rates and zoning. For instance, a neighborhood without schools or healthcare would immediately begin to attract poorer Sims. These Sims would take factory jobs, and soon factories would begin appearing in the nearby industrial sector. Conversely, a neighborhood with schools and hospitals would begin to attract a wealthier class of Sims, and as a result, high tech industry would begin to flourish in the industrial sector. In this manner, it was possible to dictate how the different areas of your city behaved, as well as determine the behavior of your populace with a fine degree of control. SimCity 4 also upped the ante on terrain editing, offering a wealth of terrain modification options to the game, so the geographic foundation on which your city rests could be tailored to your whims. With all these and even more new features added to such a visually compelling title renowned for its open ended game play and rabid fan-base, it was no wonder that SimCity 4 was one of the top ten selling PC games for 2003 when it came out. Still, success aside, the game team always struggled with just how big the game should be upon it's release, and while SimCity 4 on it's own was an amazing feat and an absolutely sprawling game, there was still room for more. So almost immediately following the completion of SimCity 4, work began on an expansion pack for the game. The focus of said expansion pack was transportation, hence the name - Rush Hour.
Overview of SimCity 4Play God Sculpt mountains, gouge valleys, and seed forests to lay the groundwork for your creation. Drop a disaster anywhere in your city--set buildings ablaze, pelt your metropolis with meteors, unleash a twister, or wreak havoc with a volcano. Populate your terrain with animals that graze and roam … and sometimes stampede into your city! Play Mayor Create, build and run the most realistic city you can imagine. Connect your metropolis with other cities you've created to form a massive region of SimCities, each sharing and competing for resources. Deploy police cruisers and fire trucks to the scene--you’re up close and part of the action as they deal with fires, striking mobs, crime, and more. Play With Your Sims Place your Sims in your city--they'll give you valuable feedback. Follow your Sims to work and home. Experience life in the big city, from mellow traffic to commuter hell, noontime crowds to nighttime calm
http://www.klhess.com/unclesam/ Uncle Sam's Budget Balancer for DOS or Windows computers empowers you to balance the FY 1995 federal budget using actual numbers provided by the Congressional Budget Office. I first created Uncle Sam's Budget Balancer as a public service during the 1992 presidential campaign. At the time I was president of Banner Blue Software, a company I founded and have since sold to Broderbund Software. The program has been updated with new budget information several times. When I left my company I retained the rights to the program, available as freeware. My objectives today remain the same as they were in 1992: First, I want to demonstrate the advantages of using a computer to educate citizens about dollars and cents public policy issues like the federal deficit. Full, accurate, undistilled information can be provided in a form that is much more approachable than the hundreds of pages of text from which it is condensed. And, as a "working model" of the budget, citizens can quickly test the validity of their ideas and preconceptions. Second, I want to empower citizens to evaluate the performance of their representatives and the accuracy of the media by giving them a powerful analytical tool. Quite literally, citizens can see whether what they are told "adds up." Third, I want to show that the budget can be balanced and what it takes to do so. To me, balancing government spending transcends politics and economic theory--it's a simple matter of discipline. I hope you agree. If there is sufficient interest, I will convert the program to run on the Web itself. --Kenneth L. Hess |
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Sim
lets players taste 41 flavors of democratic voting. From Australia to
Zuidland there are many ways to elect reps. Each country's voting rule
creates hot spots on the electoral field. But the strong positions move
if the voting rule is changed. Some rules elect only centrists, some
elect moderates, and others are just erratic.