Recurring Theme Worm - Evolved Virtual Creature

This creature is from a population evolved in 3DVCE. This body plan is produced so often I've decided to call this one the Recurring Theme Worm.

To give some idea of how far behind I am in my creature postings, this creature was sent to me on September 18th 2008.

Processing time for the evolution was kindly donated on the PC of Rob Cattral.

Want to evolve unique creatures of your own? Visit the project web site at:
http://www.stellaralchemy.com/lee/virtual_creatures.html

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• 3D
• virtual
• creature
• evolution
• genetic
• algorithm

[Yumminess0]

how is it recurring? Ive never gotten that shape once... Ive never been able to figure out how to upload creatures into evolutions either... I kinda wish we had control over the overall shape (like the minimum amount of links, the opposite of the second option in the creature bodies menu. itd be VERY helpful in designing if you want to have worms, worm like thingies, or not wormy things)

[kjlg74]

Good suggestion. Others have suggested similar enhancements. Constrained body types is something I'd like to add at some point, as well as having the ability to "freeze" the body and evolve only the control system.

[ecreif]

how about a mutation rate that not fix but random each time a creature is created. i mean that the evolution can "decide" by itself whether to fine tune a creature or try to create a complete new one. of course it should be more likely to have a small mutation rate than a total mutation. i am creating my own evolution software maybe i will try those things out :D

[kjlg74]

Not a bad idea. I expect you might get a boost out of that, especially at the beginning of your runs because of the increased genetic diversity you'll produce. I would guess that that kind of mutation would start to become a hinderance later on in a run though - maybe set a number N, and after generation N those mutations become less frequent or don't occur at all. Just a suggestion.

[inthefade]

did you ever get my rolling worm? I thought it was quite good, but I never saw it posted.

[kjlg74]

Yep. Definitely got it. The problem is that I have a queue of creatures waiting to be posted and I can only get through it very slowly lately. The worm you mention is the one after the next one, though ;)

[inthefade]

suh-weet.

[kjlg74]

No. This worm is from an entirely independent evolution. Worm/snake-shaped bodies seem to occur quite a lot.

[AtlasRedux]

Are these the "ancestors" of the common end-over-end as well?

[kjlg74]

Yeah, I think that's right. The worm-shaped body is probably easy to hit upon early on and doesn't take a complex brain to make it move a large distance (although moving in one direction consistently seems to be tricky), so many populations get "stuck" early on with this kind of body.