Download this project!Project Notes
This is an experiment in Artificial Life. I wanted to see how hard it was to build a simulated bug.
Note that Computer Bug 2 with reproducing bugs is now online. Pretty laggy though, so I kept this version.
The Bug
======
+ Eats green "Plants" when it is hungry (low on energy)
+ Shows it's energy state by the green beads on it's back...more beads, higher energy
+ Finds plants with its antenae
+ Remembers and returns to the last place it ate food, if it doesn't find something to eat within 20 steps.
+ Burps when it is full and will avoid food until it is hungry again (at half energy level)
+ Turns grey and stops when it dies
+ Can be picked up by you, using the mouse
The Plants
========
+ Like to grow next to existing plants but will also spawn new plant colonies
+ Adjust their growth rate depending on the current plant density.
+ Can be produced by you by clicking on the stage
Possible Improvements:
=================
+ Bug reproduction is a goal. It would be a much more interesting way of controlling equilibrium, rather than the current plant growth rate approach.
+ If reproduction can be solved, I also think it would be fun to implement Evolution with genetic variation and Natural Selection.
+ Sleep? Waste elimination? Predators?
Credits:
======
Sounds from <A href="www.soundsnap.com">http://www.soundsnap.com">www.soundsnap.com</A> with editing done in Audacity
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OMGOSH! i luv spore! my species is awesome!
u R a genious!
Thanks for your nice comments! I don't have Spore (yet) but I have been thinking about getting it.
I like the idea of artificial life.
It's a favorite topic of mine. Have you seen my sequel to this project? It has reproducing bugs and is my best effort to date in the area of Artificial Life. (link to project)
ohhh ok, i love the reproducoing version
how do i make it die
You can keep them away from the food by dragging them.
(view all replies)who is nice and wants to be my friend?
Then, go to their home page and click on the "Add to Friends" link below their icon.
(view all replies)One way to find friends is to look for projects you like and leave helpful comments on them :)
I love it, and the reproducing version to!!!!
Amazing! Impossible! Astounding!
awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! i love it!!!!!! can we be friends....... maybe......
Heh, This project made me hungry. 0_0
What inspired you to make this project? Why a bug? Are you gonna be making more of these in the future/ Do you wanna be a scientist some day
Am I going to make more? Very possibly...I've got asexual reproduction working with Computer Bug 2 but I still haven't been able to model Evolution and Natural Selection. I'm not even sure how to go about it...but it's an interesting challenge!
What inspired me? Probably "Spore" and "The Sims". The idea of building your own creatures and worlds and watching the work is very appealing to me. Plus, you can learn something about populations and resources, if you model them accurately enough.
(view all replies)Well, I knew I wanted to use the antenae to sense with...and I wanted to model really simple behavior - basically just eating and walking. So that kind of said "bug" to me! A scientist...that would be cool but I'm a little old to be starting a new career as a scientist. I'm a retired Engineer.
This is Really a GREAT project, but then ALL your projects are! LOL.
Great!
Thanks! If you liked this, you might enjoy my follow-up project, Computer Bug 2 which has reproducing bugs.
its really interesting. cool how the bug kinda thinks for itself. rather simple yet it could become pretty extravagant. also could you try out my game called ryoku i'm looking for feedback. here's the link (link to project)
wow
I'm starting my own series of scratch magizines on Scratch. May I interview you about this project for my magizne? I'll post comments on this with questions for you to answer if you say yes.
Sure...be happy to!
how do you reproduce it?
Try my project Computer Bug 2 - it has reproducing bugs!
Are you a member of the scratch team now?
No...but they did give me some more administrative functions...maybe that's why my title changed?
(view all replies)hmm. this project appears not to be working. it has a bug in it!
great project!
(link to forums) can u please look at this forum entry I made its really cool
Now that was random
Very much so! Just randomly wandering around, eating all the time...kind of reminds me of some people I know...Check out the new version (Computer Bug 2) if you want bugs that can reproduce, over populate their environment, then go extinct and so on. Kind of depressing actually...
(view all replies)Nice
COOL!!!
Good Concept
Yup. This project definitely has a bug in it :P
Hi this is incredible i was searching something to use in one of my projects for fishs well this wont work but its and idea...ooh and i am making too an AI project with fire and water when its ready i say you
wow this is great you should improve it soo coool
Uh, I think my scratch application has a bug! I deleted a project to change it, so I changed it, and then I sent it back to Scratch. It said it was on the Scratch website, but it isn't! CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME???
it just takes a while to get on it. happens to me all the time.
you have to name the project a different name before you post it then change its name back online
I absolutely love it! you should have something where the sand blows over the bug's tracks sometimes, especially when the bug is over the tracks... this is so cool. I'm going to add it to my favorites! maybe you could make a game where you are trying to make a garden or lawn but the bugs keep eating all of your leaves, so you have to try to drag them off or use insectisides... but then if you use too many pesticides the environment gets ruined! :)
You've got some great ideas! Right now, I'm trying to make it so the bug can have baby bugs...it almost works but it's really laggy.
(view all replies)top loved
oh. yay!
Very nice
cool! burping bug!
Wow! How do you do that it go to a plant when it is hungry?! Exelent job (another great project by paddle2see!!)
Thank you! Actually, it's not a very smart bug...it just walks around until it touches the plant colors with it's antenae; then it turns towards the plant. The only other thing it knows how to do is turn back and look for more food where it last ate, if it walks for 20 steps without finding any food.
(view all replies)This would be hard, but probably much easier than VR (Virtual Reality).
Paddle2See? I know that you replied to a comment in here (in my messages), but I can only see my 'I congratulate you' comment. Can you see my comments?
Yes, I can see them. Are you clicking on "view all replies"?
(view all replies)hey paddle 2 see have been thinking of wat i wanna be 4 months but now i am shure even if it will take many years of school i wanna be a wildlife vtrenarianbut i dont like animals kept in captivity it just makes me mad/sad
Well, that sounds like a very interesting career choice! I know there are all kinds of veteranarians out there...but I wasn't aware that there were vets for wildlife...do they work for the State? Maybe making sure the Deer herds are healthy; that sort of thing?
(view all replies)u should add a ghost layer that is sight :)
Well, the bug seems to do a pretty good job of finding food with just the antenae...and if I'm going to ever get to reproducing bugs, it will be easier if I keep the bug a single sprite.
(view all replies)Hey paddle on the forums it says scratch team for u :)
Yeah...not sure why that is.
iv got a suprise for you paddle (link to project)
lol! i love the led indicators on its back. great simulation. now if it only had a competitor...
Maybe in the near future...unfortunately, I used a lot of Broadcasts which don't work well when you go to reproduce a sprite.
(view all replies)My bug has walked and ate for about two hours long without loosing its temper neither its happy way of life. I went to dinner and left it alone to die without my cares in feeding it leaf by leaf as I did for 30min before dinner. Well, I’m joking. This is more than a happy bug. Congratulations Paddle2See.
Once it gets off to a good start, the bug usually does pretty well. I tried hard to make it a fairly balanced little world, not so much food that the plants took over, not so little that the bug died very often. Maybe it should be a little less happy to be more interesting to people?
(view all replies)cool.
Did you record the sounds?
No, I got them from Soundsnap.com, then I editted the eating sound with Audacity. The bell sound (when it dies) is from the Scratch sound files.
besides myself
wow your probably the online person I know online that believes n evolution
What about me, I believe in evolution
(view all replies)Sorry to have to break the news to you...he died in 1996. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan
That sounds like a good book - I'll look for it in the library! I remember Carl Sagan from when he was alive. He was a great teacher and scientest.
(view all replies)That's why it would be such fun to make a computer program that uses it! There is an entire branch of computer science that uses evolutionary techniques in solving certain types of computer problems. Fascinating stuff!
(view all replies)Love and fav GREAT JOB!!
Very amusing. A+
Incredible! Love it'd and fav'd!
i finally heard it burp, lol ^^
incredible! what a nice bug simulator, with the energy, the antennas and the plants, and everything. it's so smooth moving! i also like that it stamp background-color when it eat. one idea for slightly improvement: when you make plants yourself, stamp leafs under the mouse instead of using pen, its easy done and would look alot better!
Well, thanks for your opinion - lol! I didn't want it to be too easy to dump a bunch of plants so I left it manual :)
(view all replies)The change has been done. Let me know what you think!
(view all replies)Thanks...I like your idea. I'll do it!
(view all replies)hey paddle2see! im doody chect out my projects
hey paddle2see, i think scratch is ruining its site. for example the messages are only updated every so minutes and its annoying when you erased the messages and their still there. also the the not being able to post similar messages multiple times. i would love to hear your feedback!
I am not happy with the the new message notification system. It seems I have to visit the home page just to get a listing of my messages at all. The similar messages post issue can be annoying...but at least it slows down the spammers so some good comes out of it. I wouldn't go so far as to say the site is "ruined" but I will say there is room for improvement.
Your Computer Bug project is a very great idea. I congratulate you...
Chatbots! Sounds interesting! One of the most famous programs in the history of AI is one called ELIZA which tried to mimic a human conversation. I think something like that would be very hard to do in Scratch right now since there are no text manipulation functions - maybe in the next release? See link below for more information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA
(view all replies)What kind of AI do you think it would be fun to build? You could issue a challenge in the Forums and see what people come up with!
(view all replies)Yes, I think you could. With the new List blocks, you can store a lot of information so you can use that information to make "smart" choices. The limitation with Scratch is probably going to be the computation speed, which is very slow. But I do think you could make some very smart projects!
Thank you very much! I had fun making it.
(view all replies)huh? did u reply 2 something?
6 views??? this is great! how long did it u to make it?
I've probably spent 15 to 20 hours on it so far. Getting the Bug down to one sprite took a lot of effort.
WOOT! first comment!