Suggestions for 3DVCE

I'm going to try to use this video and its comments as a main central repository for features, ideas, and modifications that people would like to see in 3DVCE. Like I say in the video, I can't make any promises, even with regard to the features already listed in the video, but I welcome your ideas and thoughts and I'll see what I can do :)

3DVCE on the web:
http://www.stellaralchemy.com/lee/virtual_creatures.html

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• 3DVCE
• 3D
• virtual
• creature
• evolution
• genetic
• algorithm
• programming
• features

[MrBiketool]

create some predator that kill your creature and the fitness is based on the survival time of the creature

[kjlg74]

@MrBiketool Thanks for the suggestion!

[Danmill23]

Hey Kj.

Great channel. Great program. Been playing with it.

Wish list.

1) More user friendly interface. Visual feedback.

2) Symmetry! Call me shallow, but I need to see those blocks looking less random. Chaotic I mean. I must have symmetry. Must. Creatures are symmetrical. Nuff said. You have 24 hrs! (; jking ...

Well done.

[kjlg74]

@Danmill23 Thanks :)

I'm fairly certain it won't be too difficult to add an option to enforce totally symmetrical bodies. Should be easy.

[theinquisitor]

How about plant-like organisms? They could be selected for the amount of surface area being exposed to a light source and spreading out to acquire ground resources or something. Perhaps that would work better if they could be simulated in a community, so they would have to compete with each other for resources.

It would be fascinating to see a forest of simulated plants competing with each other. Towering higher and higher to get to the light.

[walker19990]

and how do you build your own creatures?

[walker19990]

have creatures be able to have hands

[Kram1032]

Do you know arxiv dot org?

It's a science site where all kinds of papers freely available.

One big part is evolutional algorithms.

Here is an especially interesting paper you might want to view. As far as I get it, it doesn't sound too complicated to be implemented, and it has the potential to improve creatures more efficiently...

arxiv dot org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1109/1109­.0085.pdf

[Kram1032]

@kjlg74 (answer to a comment to RoySchl):

There are ways that worlds are just partially seperated. Two different creatures could interact and try to solve three different problems. One is better at one, the other at the second but both keep fighting about the third, in some way contradicting the other problems. That way, they'll keep fighting about the corresponding territory until one eventually develops a good solution. - But both populations will keep alive.

[Kram1032]

The apparently not yet developed "goal" feature wouldn't be bad either.

[Kram1032]

Oh, what I'd also love would be a multi-run option where each creature has to directly take multiple tests instead of changing after so-many generations.

E.g. instead of using the repeat sim option for minimizing luck, make it possible that one of the runs gives fitness to walking far distances while the other one is for catching spheres. - Would be interesting if there is a different outcome between direct or seperated fitess testing...

[Kram1032]

I totally love that list of yours :)

What I missed in there are:

An Elitism setting (Don't use a TOTALLY new population but keep the best n creatures of the old population)

and a different kind of co-evolution (essentially solving puzzles by cooperating, rather than killing each other. - probably way harder to find fitness functions for that, though...)

Also, maybe the brain settings could be extended... For instance, add arcsin to the mix.

[jodroboxes]

maybe a funtion that makes multiple creatures in a evolution work together to cross obstacles. like ants do. and better visuals, like organic looking bodies. preset sandboxes that represent different kinds of planets with different gravity and fluids. obstacles in the evolution like trees, bushes, gravel, sand, bodies of water and wind. loads of interesting stuff can be done with this software.