In my day-job, I have long worked in archives. My focus mainly was on digital archives and I remember the thrill of uncovering some piece of information long lost.
On The Obscuritory, Phil Salvador, a librarian by trade, uncovers what he calls “games unplayed and unknown”. And believe me, it is a thrilling rabbit hole to dive into.
I strongly recommend to read the entire website, but in this post, I want to focus on a recent “tycoony” find. At the end of May, an article was published regarding the “serious games” division of Maxis, called Maxis Business Simulations.
SimRefinery
Part of that article was a look at SimRefinery, software in the vein of SimCity and other Maxis classics, but with a very serious focus. In this case on how to run a refinery.
The game was commisioned by Chevron and the goal was to use it for training purposes. Unfortunately the game was never finished.
However, a prototype has been unearthed and is playable on Archive.org. It is a prototype, so you will not be playing a finished game, but it is a great look into the past and into different applications of the tycoon genre. A closer look at SimRefinery is available here.
Keep in mind, while it is a great way to glimpse at the past, it is not a great game. It is hard, it is unfinished and it is definitely not a polished experience for today’s gamer.
Done Playing? Go to the simulation section of The Obscurity and read about other more-or-less obscure Tycoon games.
