The Evolution Game by EvoGenGames
The Evolution Game is an idle game where you can watch creatures learn to survive in this small world (:wink:).
Links
- Windows: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwwX3MFZYvSKRGh5WXotallDdGM/view?usp=sharing
- WebGL: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwwX3MFZYvSKTFpfekNoWFpLd00/view?usp=sharing
Description
We use artificial neural networks as brain for the creatures. The creatures learn how to act in this environment by moving around and eating food. Evolutionary algorithms will breed new creatures and generate descendants that are most fit for survival.
This version does not provide user interaction. The recommended way to enjoy this game is by using follow algorithm: 1. Take a beer 2. Look at the marvelous creatures in the center of the screen 3. Read the achievements your creatures have to accomplish 4. Open another LD game, play it and give them a rating 5. Come back to this screen and look at what your creatures have learned
You can use the graphs at the bottom to analyse the population of creatures. Most of the time, we just like staring at the screen :nerd: and look at the different kind of survival strategies the creatures are trying.
Ratings
| Overall | 623th | 2.947⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 705th | 2.389⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 50th | 3.95⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 378th | 3.45⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 715th | 2.158⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 493th | 2.278⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 699th | 2.444⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 11🗳️ | 10🗨️ |
It's not super easy to 'see' the learnings outside of the graphs at the bottom, but there's only so much you can do graphically. I can see the creatures interacting with the environment thorugh movement however - which is very cool.
What's the longest you've let it run for? What was the result? If you say 'immortality' you're getting an automatic higher rating!
Unfortunately like @la-mecanique-du-plastique I also found difficult to understand what's was going on, for example thers is no feedback of energy level or age of the creatures on the global map.
Overall i appreciated your entry, it's definitevly really different from the others.
Sorry for the barrage of questions, This stuff is very intriguing to me :). Of course feel free to ignore any/all of the questions too if you feel the need to keep it private ^^. Either ways great work!
Thanks for the game :)
I know it's a jam and it probably wasn't easy implementing the neural networks, but since this is an idle game, I feel some more effort could've been put into SHOWING the learning (as mentioned by
@burgee).
I realise it's quite an abstract/complext algorithm, but must be some ways? I can think of a few:
- energy level could be shown by facial expression
- age could be shown by size, or colour, maybe they could get more dull as they age
- does moving require energy? if show it could be shown by a facial expression, or a very simple animation to make it look effortfull
- do the creatures interact in any way? If so it should be shown somehow as well
As it is, much is left to the imagination. Perhaps this was deliberate? But I still think it would be cooler to somehow get an idea of the inner workings of the creatures.
Also, it would've been nice to have a little tick or something to show which achievements have been completed.
With all that criticism, I still thought this was very cool! Well done and thanks!
- Tracking how units are learning is difficult with only graphs on bottom
- Looking at simulation like that is nice, but it would be better if there were some differences in units (dependent on age, energy and so on)
- I liked how achievements shown percent of completness, but there don't seem to be any indication which achievement you got?
You can not see the number of guys in the same cell. It is true that a different face showing if they have enought food would be great.
As @bestnickname I have many questions, but mainly, what is the input of the NN? The whole map or the neighborhood?