Here is a small evolution simulator that I made recently.

The Idea

Spawn a bunch of creatures of varying parameters (mass, radius, movement force magnitude (i.e. speed)). Spawn food in the world. Watch the creatures randomly move around and consume food. If a creature lives long enough, it will replicate, but its offspring will be slightly diffrent than it (thus modeling genetic mutation).

The type of creatures you spawn, where you spawn them, how much food you spawn, and where you spawn the food, will determine which type of creatures will begin to dominate.

This is a prototype, which only models a few creature parameters (mass, radius, movement force) and only models 1 evolutionary parameter (genetic mutation), future versions will include much more detailed modeling (genetic recombination, etc).

The Controls

  • scroll wheel to zoom in/out
  • right click + drag to pan
  • to create some creatures
    1. fill in desired attributes for the creatures (mass, radius, and movement force magnitude)
    2. fill in how many creatures you want spawned with these attributes
    3. click the first create button
  • to put food in the world
    1. go to the world tab
    2. click on paint food button (your cursor will change into a chicken icon)
    3. click and drag in the world to draw food

Spawn creatures of various masses, radii, and movement force magnitudes. Change food spawn rates, drop food in specific places. See which creatures thrive under which envirionmental conditions.

Note: The lighter the creature, the more mass it has (i.e. lightness encodes mass).

The Simulator

Full Window Version