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Utopia: The First
Multiplayer Real-Time Sim
In Gamecenter's "The
Hall of Game Innovation" story, we identified Bullfrog's 1988
game Populous
as the first god game, and Ozark Software's 1983 classic M.U.L.E.
as the first multiplayer, economics-based strategy game for the PC.
However, when it comes to the first real-time multiplayer "sim" game
on any platform, the nod must go to Mattel's 1981 Intellivision game
Utopia. A sim game in this context models a complex lifelike system,
such as a business, city, or country.
In general, sim gameplay focuses on some form of economics and/or
resource management. The term sim didn't become associated
with this type of strategy subgenre until 1989, when Maxis created its classic SimCity.
Traces of Utopia's gameplay can be found in later games, including
Civilization, M.U.L.E., Populous, SimCity, and even WarCraft. Utopia
went on to become one of the most endearing Intellivision titles,
selling a respectable 243,800 units.
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Utopia was the only game in the
Intellivision's Strategy Network that wasn't based on a
classic board game.
| Utopia was the only game in
the Intellivision's Strategy Network that wasn't based on a classic
board game (such as chess, checkers, backgammon, and reversi). Kudos
to Dan Daglow (designer/programmer), Kai Tran (graphics), and Russ
Lieblich (sound) for squeezing such an innovative game into 4K of
memory at a time when original strategy games were more rare than
seeing Gary Coleman working a Rubik's Cube at a Go-Go's concert.
Utopia allowed one or two players to collect resources (gold) and
oversee the well-being of an island. The gold was used to buy
services necessary for the island dweller's survival: agriculture,
industry, housing, education, military, and so on. Meanwhile,
unpredictable hurricanes, pirates, and rebels were all bent on
making the player's job more difficult. Players who took the best
care of their people received the most points. The player with the
most points won.
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