LifeLab

Devlog - 8

This is the moment, the project I feel is done. The final few things I changed are big things. I created two new HTML files, one which is for a guide page and the other for about me page. These are the final things that I have added and I think that makes this simulation better as this gives those final polishing and makes the project better. Thank you for supporting me and I will be shipping the project soon!

Devlog - 7

I have been out for a while but not out of coding. I was coding a few things and a big feature that still needs work. The first few little things that I changed is that the experiment comparison now also shows a  percentage difference. Then what I did is before it was like the computer by itself chose 2 last experiments and compared them but now the user can choose which experiments they want to choose and compare. Then comes the big thing which is still not complete. I added an  Ai chatbot. Before what I did is that the chatbot was hardcoded so no matter what you asked it gave you the same already written answer. But that wasn’t the best I could do, so I decided to actually use an ai API key to use and power the chatbot. I have coded everything that requires the AI to be connected but it isn’t working well. So it requires debugging and all. So yea I was working on a chatbot so that users can get insightful reasoning behind the simulation experiment that they just ran! Stay tuned!

Devlog - 6

Today I focused on 1-2 things rather than adding a lot of new things to the current simulation. First big thing I added is environment controls. Now this allows the user to change things like food availability, food regeneration and the starting population (10-50). I also added environment size but I felt it really didn’t matter how much space we are giving to the creatures. So I removed that. But the other features are there and are fully deployed. You can now have many different combinations which the user can experiment with. Second big thing I added is an “inspection panel**. My friend who is also on Stardance @chahatesh gave me feedback that it gets boring after the simulation starts so I added a sliding panel which slides out when you click on a creature and it shows you different live stats about that particular creature. These are the things I added today. Stay tuned!

Devlog - 5

Ok back to the normal coding session. Today was a big day because I ran a lot of test runs today to make sure the new small and big changes were working and indeed they were working well. Today firstly I added food scarcity which essentially decreases the chances of food regeneration from a standard 25% of the times it is being regenerated to being regenerated only 6% of the time between 20 seconds to 40 seconds. Speaking of time I have finally coded the timer box and it shows how long the experiment is running for. I also added so that you can see when the generation changed and at what second it changed. Then I thought that the data that we are collecting is going to be wasted, so I coded so that it saved that data and the computer remembered until it was refreshed. Then I added a div into the webpage and made so that you can see the results of different experiments after clicking on the end experiment button. Then I added a comparison mechanism where after two experiments the code checks between them and gives you insights whether something went up or down. These are the things I added and next I will be adding environmental controls so that the user can control things. Thank you and stay tuned!

Devlog - 4

Today my coding session wasn’t great but I got some work done. Firstly I just added a bit of comments to make the code readable. Then I added a way to measure if a creature is doing well or not and it is called survival pressure. Then I added food regeneration and now the ecosystem is sustainable like before it collapsed after the food ran out but now food regenerates at a slower rate but creatures with the best traits will succeed. Then I added a place where you can see how each trait is doing. Then I fixed some styling of the website.

Devlog - 3 

Quite a long session and I was working on a few different things and have added new features and also overhauled some of the existing features to make it even better. Firstly I made it random so that each time there is offspring then they get a unique gene from their parent and that is going to be at a random rate. Then what I did is added a data collection method so it collects data about population, size, vision and speed. It averages the data of size, vision and speed from the population but at this point is not being visualized because the graphs haven’t been added yet. Then I got into debugging. I hate debugging and fixing some of the bugs that were giving incorrect output. Then I overhauled the existing code. Firstly, I made the reproduction random because before it was like at a certain point the population doubled and it kept doing it until they food. But now it is random, sometimes they have reproduction or they might not. Then what I did is that I changed the js to have every different type of trait to be a particular color. That makes it easier to visualize different traits than actually thinking about it. Then I made different graphs for population, average size, average speed and average vision. That took me a while because when I first completed the code and tested it out the height of the screen kept increasing so I overhauled the update code but that was not the problem it was my css and I had height set as 100% instead of a few pixels. So I quickly adjusted it and everything went back to normal. Then I added a status indicator which shows the status of the ecosystem. If you didn’t start the simulation then it will indicate Ready, if you start the simulation then it will show Ecosystem Active, if you pause the simulation then It will indicate Paused but if the ecosystem collapse then it will indicate Ecosystem Collapsed. These are the changes I have made today in today’s session. Stay tuned for more!

Devlog - 2

Previously I had only a working website where it was only a layout. But then I have added a lot of new features. Firstly I have added creatures where they bounce and move around. I have added 20 of them as it is in developing phase. Then I added food system where there is food and when the creature collides with it they consume the food and then I created a function where the creatures move toward the food. Then I added energy levels where if the creature consumes food its energy level goes up but movement causes the energy levels to drop and if it turn to 0 then it removes it and becomes dead. Then I added reproduction which makes the simulation feel more real. For them to reproduce there is a requirement where the creature has to be 10(I coded for the age to go up), has to have energy levels of 80 or more and should have no reproduction cooldown, which I added so that there is no rapid reproduction and to limit it. As the energy levels again drop they also become dead. I will be adding more features to it so stay tuned!

Devlog - 1

This is the beginning of my new project LifeLab. This project is essentially to simulate how the species on earth evolve over time. There are many hurdles which come towards these species and which they overcome by competing and adapting to what they have. Ok, not making this a science class. Basically the user will have the control over everything and they will set the values at the start then they can run the simulation. After it is done they will have graphs and models depicting what happened during the simulation. I have worked on getting the website up and running. I will code the species and the mechanism next. Stay tuned!