⚙ Historical Design Knobs
1. Starting Budget
$800
Capital for oxen, flour, ammunition, wagon wheels, and medical supplies at Matt's General Store.
2. Hunting Yield Efficiency
0.65
Meat carrying ceiling. High yields buffer calorie deficit but slow daily wagon travel.
3. Travel Pace
Strenuous (2)
Miles covered daily. Faster pacing risks broken axles, exhausted draft animals, and injury.
4. Ration Level
Normal
Caloric distribution (Meager, Normal, Filling). Meager saves food but spikes typhoid and cholera.
5. Brutality Difficulty Index
4 / 10
Random hazard frequency: snakebites, river drownings, blizzard mountain passes, dysentery outbreaks.
Design Status:
Generational Icon Achieved
Drag wagon or click canvas to perturb pioneer axle physics • Watch river buoyancy
APPLE II // MECC SIM-MONITOR
MILE 1,024
> BOOTING MECC OREGON TRAIL ENGINE V.1985...
> INITIALIZING DRAFT OXEN TEAM & COVERED CONESTOGA.
> BUDGET ALLOCATED: $800. HUNTING EFFICIENCY: 0.65.
> 6 MILESTONES CLEARED: WILLAMETTE VALLEY IN REACH.
> PROJECTED DYSENTERY RATE: 3 EPISODES EXPECTED.
> STATUS: GENERATIONAL ICON ACHIEVED (94/100).
📜 Historical Evolution Log
1. 1971 Mainframe Birth (Carleton College)
1971
History teachers Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann, and Paul Dillenberger build a teletype edutainment drill on an HP 2100 mainframe.
2. MECC State Distribution Network
1974
Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium loads code to central time-share, delivering historical simulation to thousands of students statewide.
3. Apple II Graphic Reinvention
1985
Philip Bouchard expands mechanics with river crossings, graphic hunting mini-game, Matt's General Store, and granular health models.
4. Generational Tombstone Culture
1988+
Persistent user tombstones and the ubiquitous "You Have Died of Dysentery" create an iconic collective memory for American school students.
Curatorial Design Briefing & Simulation Telemetry
Export reproducible design parameters, survivor models, and physics log conforming to MECC 1985 historical records.