SimAnt: The Electronic Ant Colony is a 1991 life simulation video game created by Maxis, the company's third product. The game focuses on the life cycle of ants and was designed by Will Wright. In 1992, it won the "Best Simulation Game" award at the Software Publishers Association's Codie awards. In 1993, SimAnt was re-released as part of the SimClassics Volume 1 compilation, which included SimCity Classic and SimLife for MS-DOS, Mac, and Amiga computers. In 1996, SimAnt was re-released again alongside other Maxis simulation games as part of the Maxis Collector Series. This version had improved compatibility with Windows 95 and featured different box art, with the word "Classics" added beneath the title.
Gameplay
The game is a simulation of an ant colony. The creator, Wright, was inspired by E. O. Wilson's research on ant colonies. The game has three modes: Quick Game, Full Game, and Experimental Game. It was released for MS-DOS, Amiga, Mac, and Super NES. The Super NES version includes eight scenarios, where the goal in each is to defeat enemy red ants in different areas, each with unique dangers.
In SimAnt, the player controls an ant in a colony of black ants in the backyard of a suburban home. The ant colony must fight against enemy red ants. The main goal is to spread throughout the garden, into the house, and eventually drive out the red ants and human owners. Unlike other "Sim" games, which allow open-ended play without clear goals, SimAnt has a specific objective.
In the Quick Game, the player starts a black ant colony in a small area of the yard, shown from above. The computer opponent creates a competing red ant colony in the same area. Underground areas are shown from the side. The player controls one ant at a time, shown in yellow, and can switch control by clicking on another ant or selecting "Exchange" from the Yellow Ant menu.
The yellow ant can guide other black ants by leaving chemical trails to places like food or enemy ant colonies. It can also direct a group of ants to follow it. The yellow ant can dig new tunnels underground and expand the black colony's network. The Quick Game ends when either the red or black colony is defeated in that area.
The yellow ant can pick up food and small objects, receive food from friendly ants through a process called trophallaxis, and attack enemy ants. Groups of ants, including the yellow ant and its followers, can fight and kill larger enemies like spiders, caterpillars, and antlions. Natural dangers include human footsteps, electrical outlets, bug spray, spiders, antlions, lawnmowers, and rain, which can wash away chemical trails and flood ant nests.
In the Full Game, the player starts with an ant colony shown from above, similar to the Quick Game. The area shown is one square on a map with a yard and a house. The player expands to other areas by creating new queens and drones to reproduce. The Full Game ends when the black colonies are destroyed or when the red colonies are defeated and the humans are driven out of the house.
The Experimental Game is similar to the Quick Game, but the player can control red ants and spiders. It also includes tools to place chemical trails, maze walls, rocks, ants, pesticides, and food.
The boxed version of the game includes a detailed instruction manual that explains how to play and provides information about ants and their societies.
Development
Scientists have studied social insects like ants to learn how complex behaviors and intelligence can develop from simple actions by many individuals. This process is better understood than how the human brain works. Ants fascinate people, especially children, because they work together in highly organized ways that seem almost magical. It surprised many that no game about ants existed, so creating one became a personal goal for the game's designer.
SimAnt was created by Maxis, a company co-founded by Will Wright. He worked with his high school friend, Justin McCormick, who helped design and code the game. Both contributed equally to the project. The game was developed in less than a year because Wright and McCormick worked nonstop. Wright focused on the game’s simulation during the day, while McCormick handled the user interface at night. They met twice daily to review progress. This was Wright’s third simulation game, following SimCity (1989) and SimEarth (1990). While SimEarth explored complex scientific ideas, Wright wanted SimAnt to be simpler and more fun, avoiding the serious tone of SimEarth.
Wright was interested in social insects and had hoped for a computer simulation of an ant farm. When none existed, he decided to create one himself. Many of his games were inspired by his academic research, and SimAnt was no exception. The game was based on research by Harvard biologist E. O. Wilson, especially his 1990 book The Ants, written with Bert Hölldobler. This book explains how ants behave and how their colonies function. Wright admired Wilson’s work and used it to model the game’s systems. He was especially interested in the concept of "emergence," where simple actions by individual ants lead to complex colony-wide results.
Using Wilson’s research, Wright and McCormick designed SimAnt to reflect real ant behavior, allowing players to learn through exploration. They tried to contact Wilson during development but learned he had just won a Pulitzer Prize for The Ants. Wilson praised the game for accurately showing the complexity of ant colonies and suggested it could be useful for students studying insects. In October 1991, Wright lost his home in a fire during the Oakland firestorm. He had moved the game’s code to his office just two weeks earlier, saving it from destruction.
Release
Maxis worked with Broderbund to first make SimAnt available in North America in November 1991. The game was released for Mac, MS-DOS, Windows 3.x, and Amiga systems. The Macintosh version allowed players to choose between monochrome or color displays. The Amiga version also offered options for low and high resolution graphics. Ocean Software distributed the game in Europe in 1992. In Japan, Imagineer released SimAnt for Macintosh in November 1991. Later, in February 1993, the company released versions for FM Towns, PC-98, X68000, and Super Famicom systems. The Super Famicom version, created by Tomcat System, included eight gameplay scenarios, unique graphics and music, and was compatible with the Super NES Mouse. Maxis adapted this version for the North American Super NES in November 1993.
SimAnt was released multiple times on PC. The original game was included in the SimClassics Volume 1 collection in September 1994, along with SimCity and SimLife. SimAnt was also sold separately as part of the Maxis Collector's Series in 1996. A planned enhanced CD-ROM version was canceled and was intended for release in November 1993. It would have included Super VGA graphics, digital sound, 20 minutes of full-motion video, and a character named SimAntha to assist and entertain players.
Reception
In 1992, Patricia Hartley and Kirk Lesser wrote about the game in Dragon #178's "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 5 out of 5 stars. Computer Gaming World stated, "Players seeking a non-linear, unconventional, and provocative strategy simulation will hit paydirt with SimAnt. The game is easy to get into, stimulating, fun, and increasingly challenging… students will love it."
GamePro named it "Educational Game of the Year," commenting that "SimAnt is a delightful combination of simulation, strategy, and adventure."
Legacy
SimAnt, like its earlier version SimEarth, had moderate sales. It sold over 50,000 copies by February 1992. A game box stated that by April 10, 1992, more than 100,000 copies of the PC version had been sold, based on a statistic from the Software Publishers' Association. Will Wright, the game's designer, said in 1994 that he considered SimAnt his greatest disappointment because he felt he did not fully show how fascinating ants are. In a 1996 review, Wright described SimAnt as educational but too simple and less creative than the original SimCity. Although adults did not find it as appealing, its simpler design connected best with children, especially boys aged ten to thirteen. Wright learned that misunderstanding a game's main audience was an important lesson. In 2003, he said he would want to remake SimAnt with a more immersive, first-person perspective if possible. Wright continued studying books about ants for years after finishing the game.
Working on SimAnt inspired Wright to create The Sims, a highly successful social simulation game released by Maxis in 2000. The way ants use pheromone trails in SimAnt influenced how human-like characters in The Sims express their needs and desires. The crowdfunded real-time strategy game Empires of the Undergrowth, released for early access on Steam in 2024, is seen as a spiritual successor to SimAnt.