Evolution Video

January 9, 2013

Happy New Year! Yes, I’ve taken a couple weeks off of posting for the holidays. But the world still seems to be intact. Phew!

But let’s get back into the thick of things with this Wednesday(s) Update.

Evolution Simulation

The Evolution Simulation has advanced along nicely. In fact, you can check out a video of where things stand:

Basically, you can watch stick creatures evolve of over the course of generations. Though these creatures may have very simple, mechanical bodies, the necessary steps of evolution are in place:

1.Selection – The creatures race. Whoever makes it the furthest wins and gets to reproduce

2.Mutation – a creature will make 6 offspring, but they are each a bit different. Longer limbs, different motions, or even different shapes.

There are a bunch of options that you can change as you play around with it. In the video, the ground is flat, but you can select different terrains (bumpy, or with pits, etc). Change the basic starting body shape, and even compete head-to-head, gladiator style, in a pushing match with another creature.

So that’s the short and long of what the simulation is. It is still a work in progress, though. For instance, I’m still working on getting the evolution to occur at the right pace (too little mutation, it goes too slowly; too much and your creatures flounder). I’m hoping I can release the simulation in the upcoming weeks.

Evolution Game

I’ve started working this past week on a game that’s connected to the simulation. It is in the style of Defend-your-Castle. Imagine the video you just watched above, but you are trying to stop the creatures from reaching the far end of the screen. Each generation they get better and better, and thus the game gets more and more challenging.

Ever-increasing difficultly is central to games, and with evolution this emerges naturally. And I can imagine some clever twists. The creatures should adapt to your various strategies… and you’ll need to be careful who you first attack. Should it be the weak creature or the strong one? Whoa.

-Andy