Note: See the update at the bottom of this post!
We’ve had quite a dramatic situation here for the past couple of days, after Simon turned Daniel Shiffman’s Evolutionary Steering Behaviors Coding Challenge into a game in Processing (Java) and then also in JavaScript (with p5). After completing the game in JavaScript, Simon wanted to add a new feature – a checkbox he programmed using the p5.js library. The checkbox would give the player the option to play with or without the timer, adjust the timer and also had a “New game” button. In the end it turned out that the checkbox didn’t really work. Simon was very upset and it took me hours to talk him into putting the game online even though the checkbox didn’t function (he wanted everything to be perfect) and ask for advice. “I have got a problem with a p5 element: In my setup function, I defined my checkbox. In my reset function, my checkbox is undefined. Why?” – Simon asked in the “Share Work” section of the Coding Train Slack channel, where he has the opportunity to communicate with experienced programmers. He received quite a lot of help and was enthusiastic about it at first, but for some reason, he hasn’t tried the solutions he was suggested. Perhaps it’s his gut feeling that the bind function suggested is still too difficult at the moment. I have decided not to push anymore and trust him on this one, although it’s always a dilemma for me whether I should sometimes “force” him into taking instructions from others or let him solely rely on his fantastic intrinsic autodidact mechanisms. The second seems to work better in terms of the learning process, but I do push him into sharing his work.
Simon’s game is online at: https://simon-tiger.github.io/Game_SteeringBehaviorsEvolution/SteeringBehaviours_EvolutionGame_p5/
In the videos below Simon shows how he made the game. It’s an ecosystem type of genetic algorithm (with no generations), where the organisms (autonomous steering agents) clone themselves. The autonomous steering agents evolve the behavior of eating food (green dots) and avoiding poison (red dots). Simon added two invaders into the game, one giving food and the other randomly spreading poison. The player can control the “good” invader by moving him and making new food. The goal of the game is to make the agents survive for as long as possible.
The Processing (Java) version:
The thinking behind the game (Simon explains everything at the whiteboard):
The JavaScript version (now online):
In the last video, Simon talks about his problem with the p5 element.
Evolutionary Steering Behaviors game seek algorithm part 1. DESIRED equals TARGET minus POSITION:
Evolutionary Steering Behaviors game seek algorithm part 2. STEERING equals DESIRED minus VELOCITY:
UPDATE: When Simon saw Daniel Shiffman’s comment on Slack this morning (Daniel saying Simon did a fantastic job and that he might even include Simon’s game in the next Live Stream), he sat down and applied the bind function as suggested by his older peers above – without any incentive on my behalf! And it worked! I think we’ve hit a true milestone again. Simon has this growing feeling that he’s got friends out there, his tribe, who understand and who are ready to help.
One day later: Simon had another chat with his friends on Slack and got a lot of help with the last remaining small bug in his game (the New Game button didn’t start a new game if the player had chosen to play with no timer but jumped to Game Over instead). In the video below, Simon shows how that problem got solved:
Geeks out of the box 