SimCity

The classic '90s game [L1 ].

A UNIX version was released with a Tcl/Tk scripting/GUI interface. The source code was recently released in a GPL version called "Micropolis". Source and Linux binaries available from http://www.donhopkins.com/home/micropolis/

To be included as educational software with the OLPC project. OLPC Git repository for Micropolis: [L2 ].

Discussion

• Bil Simser discusses the release [L3 ].
• The author Don Hopkins blogs on SimCity [L4 ].
• Discussion of future plans by the author: [L5 ].
• Slashdot articles: [L6 ], [L7 ].
• OSnews: [L8 ].

Micropolis uses patched versions of Tcl 6.4, Tk 2.3 and TclX 6.4c; the version numbers date these tools to the period August to December 1992 (see Tcl chronology). Unpatched versions of Tcl 6.4 and Tk 2.3 are available for comparison (see Where to find old Tcl source distributions).

Any GUI based on these 15-year-old tools will look old-fashioned, and while others rush to port the code to Python/GTK+, it will be interesting to see if anyone can upgrade the code to Tcl/Tk 8.5.

Aud 'Tis disappointing that there's such an effort for the Python port while it sounds like those same people haven't even tried to update this to modern Tcl. It would certainly be a fun project, sounds like low-hanging fruit to me!

Screenshots