A strange little side quest
One reason simulation games keeps producing good game ideas around Scratch Minecraft is that its history is full of strange turns. M.U.L.E. arrived in 1983 with multiplayer competition built around gathering resources and keeping a colony alive, an early example of resource-driven strategy play. There is another connection worth keeping in the same mental pocket: Early computer role-playing games helped turn rules, inventories, exploration and character progression into systems that could support long-form digital adventures. That gives Scratch Minecraft a little more company than it first appears to have.
