This is sooo great! Is there any way to zoom out and see the entire world? Your interface for following individuals is wonderful, but I really want to look at the entire ecosystem in order to see interactions on the population level as well.
Is there a setting the prevents the camera from bouncing from one creature to another so quickly? Can't really see what's going on. I have the camera set to follow no-one and auto-Follow is unticked.
Hi, thanks for your interest, and sorry for the late reply.
I think the continuous camera change you are talking about is what happens when during evolution the number of creatures (by gender) present goes below a certain threshold. At this point, random ones are automatically added at random locations with random genes. (and the camera focuses on the newly added one).
It takes a long time in the beginning to get interesting creatures that can survive.
I suggest adding lots of them with the "Add Random" button.
Or activate "Turbo" and minimize the window to greatly increase the speed. Then occasionally maximise the window and see the results. (Check "Draw Graph" to see the trend in the number of creatures and food).
Another tip: After a long period of evolution, I recommend selecting "oldest male" and "Oldest Female" and clicking "Save this Creature".
Then they can be retreived in a new simulation by using the "Add Creature" button. (which adds a random creature from among those saved.)
I should add that the creatures are saved in directories with a name indicating the "neural network topology".
EG folder name "Creatures 36-12-8-6 (EG5)" ... where the numbers from the second to the penultimate one indicate the hidden layers. (First and last are Input/output layers)
The default topology (visible in Settings...) should have evolved creatures ready to add with the "Add Creature" button.
To ZOOM In/out hold down the right mouse button and move left and right
It would be really useful to possibly give us more direct camera control, instead of just zooming. It would be nice to pan by holding down the left mouse button, for example. Would love it if the jumping around were selectable, like so many other camera options.
This is a fantastic little simulation. My only problem with it is that it makes a noise every time the view moves from one creature to another. Barring that, however, this simulation is great.
Edit: It also appears to automatically follow a creature whenever it gets randomly generated. This is in part why the sound effect is so annoying.
Thanks for the compliments ! Speaking of sound (noise), yes it's true it's annoying. It was a wrong choice. The beep means that the population is dying out. The sound is reproduced when the number of males or females falls below a certain threshold. At this point, a creature with random genes is added. If you put the turbo and minimize the window the program should run much faster. In theory, after a long simulation, the population should no longer risk extinction, and therefore should no longer hear the sound. Maybe I will remove it in a future update.
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This is sooo great! Is there any way to zoom out and see the entire world? Your interface for following individuals is wonderful, but I really want to look at the entire ecosystem in order to see interactions on the population level as well.
Thank you very Much!
To Zoom move mouse with right button pressed.
Aha...it took me a few minutes to understand what you meant. So you push the right mouse button and drag right to zoom out and drag left to zoom in.
Is there a setting the prevents the camera from bouncing from one creature to another so quickly? Can't really see what's going on. I have the camera set to follow no-one and auto-Follow is unticked.
Hi, thanks for your interest, and sorry for the late reply.
I think the continuous camera change you are talking about is what happens when during evolution the number of creatures (by gender) present goes below a certain threshold. At this point, random ones are automatically added at random locations with random genes. (and the camera focuses on the newly added one).
It takes a long time in the beginning to get interesting creatures that can survive.
I suggest adding lots of them with the "Add Random" button.
Or activate "Turbo" and minimize the window to greatly increase the speed. Then occasionally maximise the window and see the results. (Check "Draw Graph" to see the trend in the number of creatures and food).
Another tip: After a long period of evolution, I recommend selecting "oldest male" and "Oldest Female" and clicking "Save this Creature".
Then they can be retreived in a new simulation by using the "Add Creature" button. (which adds a random creature from among those saved.)
I should add that the creatures are saved in directories with a name indicating the "neural network topology".
EG folder name "Creatures 36-12-8-6 (EG5)" ... where the numbers from the second to the penultimate one indicate the hidden layers. (First and last are Input/output layers)
The default topology (visible in Settings...)
should have evolved creatures ready to add with the "Add Creature" button.
To ZOOM In/out hold down the right mouse button and move left and right
It would be really useful to possibly give us more direct camera control, instead of just zooming. It would be nice to pan by holding down the left mouse button, for example. Would love it if the jumping around were selectable, like so many other camera options.
Loving the simulation so far!
Thank you!
interesting suggestion
This is a fantastic little simulation. My only problem with it is that it makes a noise every time the view moves from one creature to another. Barring that, however, this simulation is great.
Edit: It also appears to automatically follow a creature whenever it gets randomly generated. This is in part why the sound effect is so annoying.
Thanks for the compliments !
Speaking of sound (noise), yes it's true it's annoying. It was a wrong choice.
The beep means that the population is dying out. The sound is reproduced when the number of males or females falls below a certain threshold. At this point, a creature with random genes is added.
If you put the turbo and minimize the window the program should run much faster.
In theory, after a long simulation, the population should no longer risk extinction, and therefore should no longer hear the sound.
Maybe I will remove it in a future update.