Critterding
| Developer(s) | Bob Winckelmans |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 2005 |
| Platform | Windows, Linux |
| Type | Artificial life simulator |
Critterding is an artificial life simulator created by Bob Winckelmans and released as open source under the GPL.
Critterding is a 3D/Physics based simulator, in which critters try to survive by developing a form of locomotion, find food and reproduce. Critters are made up of two types of body parts which are linked together by joints. The head, coloured red, is where the vision and mouth is located. The body segments are used for locomotion and display the colour of the critter. On an initial run, random seed critters are generated in a food rich environment, eventually a seed critter is generated that is able to eat and reproduce before dying. The new offspring have a chance to receive a mutation to either the body or neural network, some of which will be detrimental, causing the critter to fail and die while other mutations will be beneficial allowing it and its offspring to flourish over their siblings. Once the critter population reaches a preset maximum, the population is halved and the available food in the system is slightly reduced.
Critters see with a 16 x 16 retina grid by default, though this value may be changed. Each pixel in the grid is able to see red, green, blue and alpha channels.
Critterding supports 2 main environment types. A tray/petri dish style flatworld with walls to keep critters from falling into the void and the roundworld environment where critters and food are held on with planet like gravity. Beta 14 introduces .obj loading for fully customisable terrain, critter and food skins, skydome and dynamic lighting.
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