Artificial Life HD
| Category | Price | Seller | Device |
|---|---|---|---|
| Games | $0.99 | Stormy Productions | iPad |
Over time, the organisms with the most useful behaviors will pass on their genetic code, leading to interesting patterns of behavior unfolding before your eyes - flocking behaviors, solitary predatory tactics, scavenging, and hiding are some examples - and all this behavior is evolving from total randomness.
Two modes of play!
* Sandbox Simulation
* Survival.
In Sandbox Mode, you can adjust environmental factors as well as the chromosomes defining the behavior of individual protozoa. There is no overall goal in Sandbox mode, other than to enjoy watching life evolve over time.
In Survival mode, you get to test your own custom protozoa against a random population. See if you can do better than natural selection. The goal is to have your protozoa survive as long as possible. The simulation ends when your custom protozoa dies.
Controls:
* Double-tap the screen to select an individual protozoa.
* Pan and zoom using using touch and pinch gestures to explore this virtual world.
And, if you don't like how some of the organisms are behaving, you can always resort to the finger of death and destroy that which displeases you.
Queue up some music with your iPod app and then launch this app for some relaxing times in the microscopic world of Artificial Life.
You can read more about the app and view a video demonstration at:
www.stormyprods.com/alife
Thank you all for the feedback! It is appreciated. As time and practicality permits, more suggestions will be incorporated into newer updates. You've all suggested lots of great ideas!
** The Science Behind the Simulation **
This app was inspired by the computer science technique known as Genetic Algorithms. The idea behind genetic algorithms is to apply evolutionary techniques such as inheritance, mutation, and selection to computing problems. I thought, why not go full circle and apply these techniques to a basic biology simulation? This app reflects one such attempt. I hope you enjoy it!
Reviews
1st iPad app
nicknames-r-so-overrated
Loved it on the iPhone and I'm very excited to see it come to the iPad. Can't wait to try it! iPads ship soon!
Great Job!
TreborSeveer
I really sould give it a 4 rating so developer doesn't stop here!!! As a computer programmer that has dabbled with artificial life applications and code (Artificial Life Lab for PC, circa 1990) I think this app was done exceptionally well! If you understand the underlying principles, you will love it from a technical point of view. I run it as a screen saver like app due to the pleasant background music and something for my eyes to rest on during short breaks from my computer. The survival mode allows me to play it as a game as well. Very good demo of emergent behavior.
Awesome
Cooper-Z-
I love this app. the idea of being able to create my own 'lifeform' if great. I've lost hours trying to create that perfect hunter or a clan of protozoa, but I haven't quite gotten that one yet. For survival mode, you do all the work upfront deciding on your set of chromosomes and then sit back and watch life play out; definitely the best mode. In sand box mode there aren't too many options, but still fun to watch and get good ideas for how to play in survival mode I would love to see more options for the chromosomes and perhaps seeing an evolution tree of your offspring; see what genes passed down and what was changed. Perhaps more ways to change the living environment as well. All in all, it's awesome. I look forward to see what else is added.
Amazing "Fish Tank" Simulation
HawkleyFox
One of the better A-Life simulators I've ever played with, and I've played with quite a few. Each protozoa's behaviors can be understood by anyone, and tweaked so easily, allowing you to waste quite a bit of time creating your own protozoa and seeing how long they survive and how well they do in their designed niche. Mesmurizing to watch, it has the same allure as watching fish in a tank. It is a perfect little background distraction while you work at your desk, but it can also be used as a fun, interactive tool to teach a child how genetics and evolution work. It would be nice if, after you edit or create a protozoa, you can save it's template and recall it again to revise it after seeing how well it did. It can be cumbersome to have to recreate a list of behaviors every time, as I attempt to tweak my protozoa's design. My only real complaint is that the hiding behavior can get a little out of control and impact the game's performance. Nearly a hundred protozoa can occupy a single hiding spot in a dense mass. Since the protozoa are transparent, the game slows to a crawl as it attempts to chew through alpha channel calculations. It can be remedied now by wiping out the mass of protozoa with the Finger of Death, or simply moving the viewer so the mass is not in view, but I hope for a better, programmatic solution in the future. I hope to see development continue on this game, being expanded with new environmental elements, behaviors, and more complicated systems to govern or affect those behaviors.
great potential
Norse War Cleric
This game is amazing compared to other "evolution" games out there. For an update I recommend more complex behaviors and hopefully custom physical speed, strength and time possible to last without food. With that this would be the best app for strategic gamers. Also, please add a priority for behaviors
Good to just sit back and watch.
petoveritas
I like designing the perfect string of rules for two organisms and kill off all the others. Then just sit back and watch them multiply and eventually branch off into different colors and families of organisms. I hope more games of this sort are created--or at least this one get's expanded with more functionality. Good job!
Great game
BananaRadio
Game is amazing, but the creature's looks need to change over time, mabye even multicelled, and creatures should be able to get different abilities ( claws, poison, etc.) but its breath-taking as it is.
Love it
Touch God
I love this app I really do! Strongly recommend May I suggest adding a microbe create and save microbes? And make it soo we can Add natural elements that could damage a microbe or something This. Awesome app is worth 2bucks! At a minimum!
Brilliant
Alexandus
Darwinism in action. Watching the little lifeforms is mesmerizing, intriguing, and oddly compelling. My only complaint is that the survival mode centers around only the first individual. In my opinion it would be better to follow the species as a whole - 'game over' only happening when every descendant of your original handcrafted organism is extinguished. An awesome simulator And game, this is definitely worth your money - especially if they continue to update it.
Rare App Store Gem
Strofnir
It's too bad I had to go drilling WAY into the app store to find this game. It's actually pretty good. Amazingly enough, the developer wrote an honest accurate description. The game is what it claims, and its even a little more fun than it sounds. 5 stars. Not because the game is perfect or doesn't have flaws, but because for once someone did something a little different and didn't completely fail at it. I highly recommend it. I've purchased well over $100 of shovelware looking for something that I really dig. This is one of the only games that I've opened more than twice. For the developer: -Please don't waste your time on free updates. Make another high quality game. Get paid. -You're on the right track with giving players lots of easy to understand knobs and then providing access to deeper information. -If you had to make a sequel, my only feedback would be: MORE. Unfortunately I figured out survival mode after awhile, my little guy just won't quit. I ran it all night and it didn't die. But there's more than just surviving. The next thing I tried to take on was making a race that would hunt itself into extinction. No luck. For some reason the population always caps out and my guys won't attack or breed anymore. Is this because there's only an option to attack weaker creatures and everything is equally strong? Maybe if the game exposed this information I could adopt a new strategy.
