Sim Tower

Sim Tower (Japanese original title The Tower ) is a computer game by the Japanese company OPeNBook, which released the game for the Macintosh in Japan in July 1994 . The basic principle of the game, the organization of a complex elevator system, was devised in 1993 by the developer Yutaka "Yoot" Saito. The US game developer Maxis then acquired the license to the game and published the localized Windows port of the game in November 1994 .

The content of the game is to design a high-rise building that will both satisfy its residents and be economical. A functioning transport system is essential for the growth of the high-rise. The player receives awards for their efforts in the form of stars, which increase the choice of facilities.

The player expands the building with facilities such as offices and apartments as well as hotel rooms and shopping areas. In the basement, for example, he can set up parking spaces and a subway station. A number of unexpected events, such as a bomb threat or fire, affect the course of the game. Furthermore, the player must design a transport regulation in order to keep waiting times at elevators as short as possible.

In March 1996, the game appeared in Japan on the 3DO platform in a partially modified version. In 1998 Sega and Yoot Saito released the unofficial successor, Yoot Tower . In 2004 the Clone Tower Mogul was launched for the Pocket PC . The original was released under the name The Tower SP in 2005 in Japan and 2006 in the USA again for the handheld Game Boy Advance . In June 2008, a new edition of the game, under the name The Tower DS , was released in a slightly modified form for the Nintendo DS .

Basic idea and development

The idea of developing a high-rise simulation initially arose from the desire to understand complex elevator systems. In the early 1990s, the inventor and developer Yoot Saito investigated the question of how elevators work and how they can be combined in a schedule. Yoot Saito on the creation of the basic idea:

“Then I started with my partner and programmer Abe to develop the project that is now known as SimTower. In the course of the work we discovered why there were no books on the subject - the movements of an elevator are like dance steps, hardly describable with words alone. "

- Yoot Saito : 1993

Yoot Saito took a liking to the previously released city building simulator SimCity . He describes himself as a simulation fan who has little interest in action games. More important for him are games that focus not on a single hero but on a large number of people.

Furthermore, the developer thought of the game as a kind of "mediation role" between the West and Japan in order to eliminate conflicts and misunderstandings between these two parts of the world. Outdated clichés and prejudices, such as the derogatory designation of the Japanese as "samurai" or "kamikaze heroes", should be dispelled in this way and show the true face of the country.

Sim Tower is one of the many games that was published as part of the well-known Sim series (also Sim-Line ) by Maxis. It all started in 1989 with SimCity , which attracted a large number of fans. In the following years further simulations were developed, including SimEarth (1990), SimAnt (1991) and SimCity 2000 (1993). In 1994 the games Sim Tower and SimHealth were launched .

Sim Tower itself remained a single item in the Sim series and was not reissued or expanded several times like other games (SimCity or The Sims ).

Graphics and sound

Two-dimensional raster graphics with SVGA graphics in 256-color mode are used. It is one of the few commercial games that uses the WinG graphics interface . The user interface consists of the actual playing area, the toolbar, the info window and the drop-down menu. Various windows, such as budget or elevator control, can also be displayed. An impression of depth is created by the appropriate design of the building objects and the overlaying of elevators and (escalator) stairs. In the background of the high-rise is a high-rise skyline and the sky.

The game sound consists of background music and individual game noises. The latter were chosen so that the most realistic sound possible is played. Both were taken over unchanged from the Japanese version. A special feature is the ringing of bells at the end of the year, which is the same as the ringing of bells in the movie Lights of the Big City with Charlie Chaplin .

Game flow

Game objective

The game does not have a clearly defined goal. The player focuses on coping with the challenges of the gameplay and making the residents of the high-rise building happy. If the player complies with these tasks and expands the equipment of the high-rise building accordingly, additional awards in the form of stars can be acquired.

Depending on the number of inhabitants and the facilities available, the player can acquire different awards. Awards once received do not expire. The following table shows the five possible awards:


A star	At the beginning of the game, each high-rise receives a star. This means that basic facilities are available and enable a small high-rise building to be built.
Two stars	Two stars can be earned when the skyscraper reaches 500 residents. Then the player can expand the high-rise building with hotel rooms and service facilities.
Three stars	Three stars are awarded if the number of residents exceeds 1,000 and there is at least one monitoring room in the high-rise. The range of facilities is supplemented by shops, restaurants and a parking garage.
Four stars	If the number of residents has risen to over 5,000 and if the hotel suite, recycling center and doctor's practice are housed in the high-rise, four stars can be awarded. Furthermore, a positive evaluation of a satisfied VIP is necessary.
Five stars	The five-star award requires the presence of a subway station and 10,000 residents. The player also has the option of building a chapel on the top of the high-rise building (100th floor).

The highest award "Tower" requires 15,000 residents (during a church service).

Play facilities

The player has a number of play facilities to choose from, which he can insert in the high-rise. Prerequisites for this are sufficient financial resources and the availability of the facility through a corresponding award. Some devices are limited in number or cannot be removed after installation.

The transport facilities are essential for horizontal and vertical traffic in high-rise buildings. The lobby , which serves as an entrance hall, forms the basis of the high-rise . Furthermore, so-called sky lobbies can be set up on every 15th floor as a transfer option. Because of their low operating costs, stairs and escalators are suitable for short transport routes.

For transport over longer distances, the player can choose between the standard elevator and the express elevator . The standard elevator is at a disadvantage compared to the express elevator in terms of range, capacity and travel speed. Special service elevators are available to transport service and cleaning staff . Using a complex control system, all elevators can be adapted to the mobility needs of the residents.

Parking ramps and parking spaces offer tenants and hotel visitors the opportunity to park their vehicles. The construction of a subway station brings many additional visitors to the skyscraper, who flock to the surrounding shops and restaurants.

The permanent residents of the high-rise include people who work in an office or live in a condominium there. Condominiums are sold once and no longer generate any income.

Office space is rented and is only occupied on weekdays. There is an increased noise level in the immediate vicinity of the office, which annoys neighboring residents (such as hotel rooms or homeowners).

Additional income can be generated through income from hotel accommodation. The player can choose between single rooms , double rooms and suites . After the guest has left the room, the room must be cleaned by the service staff. If this is not done, vermin can appear in the room after a few days and make it unusable. Hotel guests are put off by excessively high prices and neighborhood noise.

Suites serve the wishes of the wealthy hotel guests. You will expect a parking space on arrival. The house cleaning is cleaning staff available that are dedicated to the dirty hotel rooms.

In addition to catering facilities such as fast food or restaurants, there is also the option of placing shops in the high-rise. Especially on weekends, more and more visitors come from outside and stay in the shopping areas.

Leisure facilities include the cinema and the party hall . The cinema attracts visitors to the skyscraper who go shopping or dining after the performance. The coronation of the skyscraper is the chapel . There is a church service there on the weekend and a wedding ceremony takes place at irregular intervals.

The recycling center is used to collect the waste produced by the residents. The first aid station and the security office meet the needs of the residents in terms of medical care and safety. In the event of a fire or a bomb threat, these emergency services are deployed.

Game mechanics

The time calculation of the game is shown in a very streamlined form. It is divided into days, quarters (so-called "quarters") and years. The day consists of 24 hours, whereby the simulation calculates six different daily phases. The natural daily rhythm is made clear to the player by means of sunrise and sunset. The quarter consists of two weekdays and one weekend day. Four quarters result in a year, the end of which can be recognized by the ringing of a bell.

Every person in the skyscraper has their own stress level. The player is informed of the person's stress level via a color (from black to red as the stress level increases). This level is influenced by the quality of stay (ambient noise) or the quality of transport (waiting times). Tenants who have had a red color for a longer period of time become dissatisfied and terminate the lease at the next opportunity.

Game events

So-called game events can occur at a fixed point in time or randomly and make the course of the game varied. In the event of a bomb threat , the player has the choice of either paying the requested sum of money or having the security personnel search for the bomb. A fire can also occur randomly and destroy many facilities if it is not contained quickly. For this purpose, either the security staff can be called in or a fire-fighting helicopter can be commissioned.

At the end of each year, Santa Claus flies through the picture in his sleigh at night. A wedding can also take place at irregular intervals in the chapel on the top floor of the high-rise building.

The visit of a VIP is announced when the requirements for an award are met. In this case, the VIP must be satisfied during his stay in the high-rise, otherwise an award will be denied.

Bugs nestle when the cleaning staff does not clean the hotel rooms for several days. Every now and then rainy weather causes a decline in visitor numbers and thus a loss of sales in shops and restaurants. A treasure find is possible if the basement of the high-rise building is accessible.

successor

A short time after publication, the game appeared in Japan in March 1996 on the 3DO platform . The course of the game was adopted unchanged, only some graphic elements (such as the exterior view) were added.

The game Yoot Tower (also Tower II ), which builds on the elements of Sim Tower , should be mentioned as the unofficial successor . For example, published by SEGA and Yoot Saito in 1998, it includes new facilities and small animations. The player can choose the location of the high-rise building at the beginning of the game and look at it from the outside during the course of the game. The game play or the graphics engine were not changed. A built-in plug-in system made it possible to integrate new tower locations and new facilities (sold as a so-called “tower kit”). The programming was done in C ++ , the graphics were edited with Photoshop .

Despite some changes, Yoot Tower could offer little new compared to Sim Tower , so that the unofficial successor also received bad reviews. There was no official sale in Europe.

In 2004 the game was transferred to the Pocket PC and named Tower Mogul . This was only a Japanese clone version without any changes being made. The original was released in Japan in 2005 under the name The Tower SP for the handheld Game Boy Advance . A market launch in the USA followed in 2006.

Since June 2008 a new edition for the Nintendo DS has been published by the Japanese game manufacturer DigiToys under the name The Tower DS . According to the developer, the player is given more freedom with regard to the choice of location, and new scenarios and game events have been added. A sale in the USA or Europe is not currently planned.

On August 5th, 2010 DigiToys released a new edition for the Apple iPad in the Japanese iTunes App Store under the name The Tower for iPad .

Award and reviews

After its release, the game was praised but also criticized from many quarters. A frequent criticism was that it could not compete with the Maxis games released up to that point. For example, the following PC magazines write:

“It is clearly one of the better Maxis programs, but without reaching the SimCity 2000 class. But I have a lot more fun with the cute SimTower than some pseudo-complex business simulation brand "extra dry", which is all about balancing out colonies of numbers. "

- PC Player : June 1995

“This time Maxis can only scratch the clouds in the seventh heaven of games. I was already hoping for a worthy heir to the throne of my all-time favorite SimCity 2000 program, but the Californians didn't do us that favor. "

- PC Games : June 1995

"Despite the original game idea and although this simulation is by no means lacking in complexity, the constant motivation in the tower leaves a little to be desired"

- PC Joker : August 1995

The opinion picture shown above also reflects the expectations of many simulation fans. Many of them express their disappointment after it has been established that Sim Tower offers neither the depth of the game, the ease of use nor the constant motivation, as the urban planning simulators SimCity and SimCity 2000 did before. The lack of interaction and the quality of the sound were also criticized. Nevertheless, the game received an award in 1995 in the “Best Simulation Program” category. On the positive side, Sim Tower (and its successors mentioned above) is the only game that is dedicated to the simulation of high-rise buildings and their transport systems.

In addition to six other games of different genres, Sim Tower was the subject of a research project at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences on the subject of "problem-solving processes in computer games". As part of an empirical study, it was analyzed to what extent computer games train the process of problem-solving. The result of this investigation is:

“SimTower offers a large number of options for action and decision-making, which requires a high level of concentration and the ability to think complex, networked from the player. He has to develop a strategy that requires forward-looking and calculative thinking and makes it necessary to consider the interactions of the elements as well as ecological relationships. "

- Research report Cologne University of Applied Sciences : 2001

The various successors, which were developed for different platforms, did not receive any new awards. Yoot Tower attracted attention in Japan and the USA due to its improved operation and new game elements. The attempt at a new edition by the manufacturer DigiToys in summer 2008 proves that Sim Tower has not been forgotten.

literature

Game test Sim Tower , PC Joker, August 1995
Sim Tower game test , PC Games, June 1995
Game test Sim Tower , PC Player, June 1995

Web links

Further information and test reports on Sim Tower

Individual evidence

↑ Description of the game by Tower Mogul at esoft interactive . Retrieved May 26, 2008

^ "The Tower DS" (Japanese) ( Memento from November 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved February 28, 2009

^ Maxis: Sim Tower, The Vertical Empire, User Manual, 1994, p. 6

↑ ^a ^b Interview with Yoot Saito on My Mac Online ( memento of the original from February 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved May 26, 2008 @1@ 2

^ Maxis: Sim Tower, the Vertical Empire, User Manual, 1994, p. 8

↑ Review "Sim City Classic" at MobyGames . Retrieved May 28, 2008

↑ ^a ^b Trivia information from MobyGames . Retrieved May 27, 2008

↑ Review Yoot Tower at Gamespot.com . Retrieved May 27, 2008

↑ ^a ^b Information on Sim Tower at MobyGames . Retrieved May 26, 2008

↑ Game test of PC Joker at Kultboy . Retrieved May 26, 2008

↑ 1995 Codie Awards Winners ( Memento of the original from August 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved May 26, 2008 @1@ 2

↑ Federal Agency for Civic Education: Playing smarter, computer games demand and promote the ability to solve problems, Nadia Kraam-Aulenbach . Retrieved May 27, 2008

↑ Research report "Problem-solving processes in computer games" (PDF; 628 kB). Retrieved May 27, 2008

[1] Description of the game by Tower Mogul at esoft interactive . Retrieved May 26, 2008

[2] "The Tower DS" (Japanese) ( Memento from November 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved February 28, 2009

[3] Maxis: Sim Tower, The Vertical Empire, User Manual, 1994, p. 6