Games were different then. While the price of a game has remained fairly fixed over the years, the amount of resources that represents has gone down. A $40 game back in 1990 had a lot more value to it compared to a $40 game in 2020. Based on inflation, that would be an $80 in 2020 dollars - you can do a lot more with a $80 game.
Next, the internet wasn't there. Anything you wanted someone playing the game to have you put in the box on paper. Sometimes that was also the DRM (enter the 5th word on page 44). There wasn't a "look it up online" or "watch this video to understand the game."
And then there was also the this was supposed to be a simulator - not a game. Read the intro part of the manual.
> SimEarth is a planet simulator - a model of a planet. It is a game, an educational toy, and an enjoyable tool. With SimEarth you can take over many included planets, or design and create your own.
> ...
> SimEarth isn't exactly a game. it's what we cal a "Software Toy." Toys, by definition, are more flexible and open-ended than games.
> ...
> So when you play with SimEarth, or any of our Software Toys, don't limit yourself to trying to "win." Play with it, Experiment. Try new things. Just have fun.
In order to use it to the fullest amount that the creators wanted you to be able to, it required a short course on earth science that not everyone may have been exposed to.
i do remember from back then. many games came with fun packaging/etc. DRM, I remember. Infocom games - early iterations had great packaging.
This SimEarth manual is just on a different level, imo. Perhaps SimCity had something similar - I would see copies of it around school, but never saw a manual for it.
I do remember some 'larger' games. Populous was one... that was rather complex, and had a 'tutorial' IIRC, but no manual anywhere near the size of that SimEarth one.
