How do you call these games that let you macro-manage people/creatures/processes and you can watch your engine run?

Examples are Rimworld, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Factorio.

I don’t like fast action-based RTS, micromanaging games, I just love to create a world and watch it running on it‘s own!

Is there a specific name for this mechanic? And what are your favorite examples?

  • To be honest, I’ve never been able to get over the hump in ONI. I play for hours, have a blast but eventually things start falling apart and I’m not usually able to recover. That being said, I know there’s been some updates since last I played so I may go back to it soon.

    Back in 2011 or so I got really into Minecraft mods. I think it was literally just Buildcraft and Industrialcraft. It involved many steps, putting folders inside the Minecraft JAR file, deleting meta INF files, etc. I stuck with it for a few years during which the scene exploded. I actually paid to host a website for my friend’s only server that just included links to the specifics mod versions and step by step instructions how to install them. It was around the same time FTB modpacks came out that I fell off, I played one or two SP worlds with FTB Infinity Evolved and had a lot of fun but Factorio and eventually Satisfactory scratched that same itch.