S.I.M. Combat

S.I.M. Combat, originally named S.I.M., is an unfinished text-based role-playing game made for the TI-83 Plus calculator by Gregory McLeod and published by McLeodGaming. It is the most recent role-playing game to be created by Gregory McLeod, as well as the final game he would create for the TI-83 Plus.

The game was initially planned to release in July or August of 2004, but after numerous delays, it was divided into several parts to be released individually, and a demo containing the first chapter and four parts of the second chapter was released on January 30, 2005. The remaining parts were planned to be released in the future, most likely as a Flash game instead, but there has been no additional word about the game since the demo's release.

Plot
The game begins in the year of 3000, and a man named Dr. Fritz has completed S.I.M. (Semi-ficial Intelligence Mechanism), an advanced combat-centric robot that he says will bring a new age of fight simulation. He awakens the first S.I.M. of millions, who he names Primo.

Sometime later in Newport City, a boy named Mitchell Fisher is hoping to get an S.I.M. for his birthday, as his friend Ben had already gotten a Gun Type. He soon receives a Spirit Type from his friend Sandra, and Mitch bets that his will be stronger than Ben's. After unboxing the S.I.M. and turning it on, it explains itself to Ben, revealing that it is just like a human except it cannot feel physical pain and that it can eat by consuming food or absorbing light.

Mitch names his S.I.M. Pryce, and he brings it to Ben's house to fight his own S.I.M., Sniper. Mitch wins, and Ben recommends that Mitch goes outside of town to train elsewhere and make Pryce stronger. After receiving the Town Key from Sandra, Mitch and Pryce leave town and find a Monorail Station to travel to new places. After arriving in La Plaza Verde, they find a Novice S.I.M. Competition to enter in which Mitch must win several consecutive matches in a row and a prize awaits the champion. The Verde Cup Match begins, and Mitch is first to fight against Geo and his S.I.M., Quake. Mitch wins this battle.

The remainder of the plot is unknown, as the game is yet to be completed.

Gameplay
The gameplay of S.I.M. Combat is similar to that of other role-playing games. The player must progress by entering certain landmarks around a linear overworld map, talking with and battling certain characters encountered along the way. The player also has to manage their health points (HP) that decrease every time they are attacked, as losing all HP will result in the game ending. Similarly, the player has a limited amount of Tricity points (TP) that can be used during combat to use Tricities. They also can collect certain items to restore a certain amount of HP or TP, as well as money to buy more items from S.I.M. shops.

Much of this game is presented with text, including the overworld, where the player and environment are represented by symbols. However, unlike other text-based role-playing games from McLeodGaming, the frequent conversations between characters and the battles are mainly presented with images of the characters. Aside from the overworld, the player progresses by selecting from a list of options on the screen. These options can be selected either by scrolling to them and pressing "Enter" or by pressing the numbered button corresponding to the option. The options themselves are separated into two sections of gameplay, with one being a pause menu used when traversing the overworld and the other being used for battling against opponents.

Trivia

 * This is the first game by McLeodGaming to have a demo released, as well as the only TI-83 Plus game to have one.
 * Because the weapons required to use certain Tricities including Energy Blast, Slice 'N Dice, Element and Clipse Bomb were never implemented into the game, these Tricities are inaccessible by normal means.
 * Additionally, the lack of competitions in the demo means that TP cannot be upgraded, so the player’s maximum TP (20 TP) will not be high enough to use Slice 'N Dice, which requires 30 TP, Element, which requires 40 TP, or Clipse Bomb, which requires 50 TP.

External link

 * Download the S.I.M. Combat demo to your computer (requires a TI-83/84 Plus to run).