The user's role in the simulation was the plant manager of a refinery. The game resembles SimCity with different graphics, disasters, and rules, the former to represent oil tanker ports, petroleum storage and piping systems. This emulated version reveals more details about the "gameplay" of SimRefinery. The anonymous commenter then uploaded a digital copy to the Internet Archive to work within its DOSBox emulator. Ars Technica reported on the article, which led to a commentor on the website uncovering a floppy disc that contains an in-development build of the game. In May 2020, librarian Phil Salvador published a long form investigative article about Maxis Business Simulations and SimRefinery featuring interviews with Hiles and other members of the division.
and continued to develop similar corporate simulations, but eventually had to shutter itself, and most of its assets were destroyed. The division rebranded itself as Thinking Tools Inc. Most of the assets stayed with Maxis Business Simulations, which Maxis eventually divested in 1996. Until 2020, little information about the game had existed, though Maxis had discussed its creation and some screenshots existed. Īs a commissioned business aid, it was not made available to the public. It wasn't so much for the engineers as it was for the accountants and managers who walked through this refinery every day and didn't know what these pipes were carrying. a simulation of their refinery operation, for orienting people in the company as to how a refinery works. After rejecting many requests from other companies, the team eventually agreed to make a prototype of SimRefinery for Chevron: Īfter the success of SimCity, Maxis received numerous requests from various companies to develop simulations for their industries. John Hiles, who was the head of the Maxis division, was a lead designer on the project. It was developed by the Maxis Business Simulations division of Maxis in 1993. SimRefinery was a computer management simulation game designed to simulate Chevron's Richmond refinery operation. A screenshot of SimRefinery, similar in its user interface to SimCity, but featuring structural elements based on an oil refinery operation
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