@DATABASE Life Simulator Docs @NODE "Main" "Life Simulator Docs" @{b}Life Simulator@{ub} @{i}Shareware@{ui} Copyright © 1996 Ben Jones @{" Description " LINK Description} · What Life Simulator does @{" Usage " LINK Usage} · How to use it @{" Details " LINK Details} · Details of how it works @{" Author " LINK Author} · About the Author @{" Future " LINK Future} · Future of Life Simulator @ENDNODE @NODE Description @{b}Description@{ub} Life Simulator is a program that emulates extremely simple life forms on your computer. Sure, there are already programs that do this but there are none that work the same as this one (to my knowledge). The program defines different attributes to different colours, and the process's of aging, reproduction and fighting are then dependent upon a particular lifeform's colours. Life simulator should run on any Amiga computer with wb2+, however it has only been tested on my wb3.0 68020. If you have any problems please contact me with a description. -------------------------------------+ @{b}Legal@{ub} Life Simulator is Shareware and is freely distributable provided that it is kept in the original archive and not altered in any way. PD distributers and other such organisations may only charge a reasonable rate for time and disks or media, you should not be charged for this program in itself. @ENDNODE @NODE Usage @{b}Using Life Simulator@{ub} The only file neccessary to run Life Simulator is the main file "LifeSim". This can only be run from the CLI however - if you wish to use workbench then just ensure that the "LifeSimulator" file and icon are in the same drawer as LifeSim - this icon will activate Life Simulator. When you start Life Simulator you will see an introductory screen, this can be bypassed with the mouse or dissapears after 3 seconds. You are now presented with the preferences screen. On this screen you can choose the options that will affect the way that Life Simulator will run. The options are: Red,Blue,Green,Cyan,Yellow,Magneta,White These switches turn these colours on or off in the initial setup of the screen. Note that the banned colours can still appear through a mutation however. Update This switch allows you to choose either a random or an ordered update - a random update is the default setting. In a random update, every square on the screen is updated randomly, but the program ensures that it has updated every square before it does another sweep. In an ordered update the program sweeps from the lop left to bottom right updating as it goes. This is slightly faster but produces patterns that contain a 'drift' in the lower right direction. Organisms This slider allows you to choose the number of organisms that will be randomly generated and placed on the screen when Life Simulator initialises. 50*50,100*100,320*200 These buttons start Life Simulator, and allow you to choose the required size of the screen. On my 68020 there is a very noticable slowdown on the larger modes, but they allow more play for truer randomness in your simulation. -------------------------------------+ @{b}In Use@{ub} You can pause Life Simulator at any time by holding the left mouse button. The pause is only active while you hold the button. Quit Life Simulator by moving the mouse to the upper left corner of the screen and pressing the left mouse button. @ENDNODE @NODE Details @{b}Details@{ub} Life Simulator is all based upon colours. The colours not only have attributes dependent upon the colour in question, but they are 'weighted'. As an example of this, an organism that dies turns its colour to black to indicate this - black as represented by 0,0,0 if you are at all familiar with RGB scales on your computer. Adding 0 0 and 0 gives you, umm.. 0! Which is this colours weight - thus a dead square has a weight of 0, but any colour in a square will increase its weight. Red Red is the aggression factor. It is a main factor in determining if an organism will successfully take over another. It also has an effect on an organisms aging - the more red present in an organism the quicker it dies. Green Green is the vitality statistic of the organism. The more green it has the less likely the organism is to age. Blue Blue controls the amount an organism multiplies. A high blue count means the organism will reproduce more often. As you know, if you mix red and blue you get purple or magenta - this produces not only a purple coloured organism but an organism with a mixture of the attributes of red and blue. Life Simulator currently has seven 'species' of life, all split into eight 'organisms'. The species are: High red, low blue and green High blue, low red and green High green, low blue and red High red and blue, low green High blue and green, low red High green and red, low blue High/low green blue and red This provides a total of fifty six different organisms. @ENDNODE @NODE Author @{b}Author@{ub} The Author of Life Simulator is Ben Jones. You can reach him on email at @{b}vcore@ozemail.com.au@{ub}. If you use / like this program or have any questions or comments please email me at the above address. Life Simulator was written in ACE Amiga Basic (thanks to David Benn), which provided a quick and easy way to code my ideas. The Life Simulator Web Page will hold any newer versions or updates that are released, as well as information on this and other Amiga programs. The address for this page is @{b}http://www.ozemail.com.au/amigapro.html@{ub}. As we are in the middle of changing servers, the above address may not be available when you read this. If this is so then just substitute 203.15.68.60 for the www.voicecore.com.au part. -------------------------------------+ @{b}Disclaimer@{ub} The Author of this software is in no way responsible for any damages caused by the software or its use, directly or indirectly. @ENDNODE @NODE Future @{b}Future@{ub} Here are a couple of ideas I have for some possible future additions to Life Simulator. If you have any more then please email me. A setting to take an .iff snapshot of the active window every x number of minutes. An option to calculate the whole screen worth of organisms and then redraw the whole screen in one go. Possibly use the ham screen modes to give a much larger amount of visible colours - also re-write the program so it makes use of all ham colours and perhaps more colours! Re-write the program, optimising for speed and using algorithms instead of set measurements to define the colours - this will allow for the ham mode above. Include a setting for sexual or asexual reproduction - at the moment it is all asexual. Also, the current asexual reproduction creates a new organism with the top level of 'health' for its class, possibly this will just bump up a couple. Perhaps in sexual reproduction mode a threshhold of species tolerance will be built in, so a bright red could not mate with a bright blue for example, but a red could mate with a purple which in turn could mate with blue. Add an option to change the frequency of random mutations in births - at present one in ten thousand new organisms are selected at random from all available colours. @ENDNODE @HELP ""