EcoSim

Inspiration

My inspiration for developing EcoSim was from a brine shrimp lab I had done in 7th grade, which gave me the idea of creating an application that can simulate an ecosystem. The algorithm I decided to use for my game was Craig Reynolds steering behaviors, which I believed would create the most natural movement possible.

What it does

EcoSim is a game in which the player has to manage an ecosystem by placing different types of organisms on a plane. These organisms' intelligence levels are determined by a genetic algorithm, which evolves as an organism produces offspring. This intelligence will be very important to the organism's life as there is food and poison on the map, and the organism will need to be able to tell the difference between the two.

How I built it

I built EcoSim primarily using a library known as p5.js, due to its great vector math library. I also had to learn about Craig Reynold's steering behaviors, as it was key in the feel of my application.

Challenges I ran into

The challenges I ran into while developing EcoSim was that I actually had to scrap the project the first time I was working on it due to the complexity of my algorithm, after that, I created a prototype, and then went on to the real application, which made it much easier to manage the many requirements of such a complex algorithm.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

The accomplishment I am most proud of is the fact that I was even able to develop the algorithm in the time allotted.

What I learned

I learned a lot about physics in a 2D plane and I was able to put my

What's next for EcoSim

I plan to add more organism types to EcoSim and add sexual reproduction insteal of the asexual reproduction I have used in my entire project.

Built With

• css
• html
• javascript
• p5.js