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24 In the first game “Herd the Cows,” the player controls one boid, which other boids in viewing
range will follow and flock around; the player must guide as many boids as possible into a goal
area in as short an amount of time as possible. Their second game, “Feed the Crows,” replaces
this direct control scheme with the less direct controls, including the placement of waypoint tiles
and parametric controls which affect the boids’ behaviors. Interestingly, this game also allows the
player to make use of automatic, artificial evolution of boid behaviors to aid the player in what
would otherwise be a prohibitively difficult game.
Virtual Pets
Virtual Pets are a genre of interactive object which emerges from A-life, simulation
games, and automata, but with the distinctive goal of fostering empathy between the user and the
lifelike virtual object. They place the user into a caretaker role as pet owner or parent. Virtual
pets draw on automata such as the early Mechanical Turk, to the more recent Senster, in that they
do not seek to function as actual life forms, but rather to present lifelike qualities. 25, 26, 27 Since
the first use of the term Virtual Pet with PFMagic’s Dogz and Catz, the genre has had many
7
24 von Mammen, Sebastian, and Christian, Jacob. "Swarming for Games: Immersion in Complex Systems."
Applications of Evolutionary Computing. Ed. Mario Giacobini, Anthony Brabazon, Stefano Cagnoni, Gianni Di Caro,
Anikó Ekárt, Anna Esparcia-Alcázar, Muddassar Farooq, Andreas Fink, and Penousal Machado. Heidelberg: Springer
Berlin, 2009. 293-302. Print.
25 Benthall, Jonathan. Science and Technology in Art Today. London: Thames and Hudson, 1972. Print.
26 Schaffer, Simon. "Enlightened Automata." The Sciences in Enlightened Europe. Ed. Clark et al. Chicago and
London: University of Chicago Press, 1999. 126-165. Print.
27 Kac, Eduardo. "Origin and Development of Robotic Art." Art Journal, Digital Reflections: The Dialogue of Art and
Technology, Special issue on Electronic Art. 56.3 (1997): 60-67. Print.
Object Description
| Title | Leafcutters: life simulation gameplay designed to evoke engagement with real-world subject matter |
| Author | Graner, William B. |
| Author email | granerw@gmail.com; bill@bgraner.com |
| Degree | Master of Fine Arts |
| Document type | Thesis |
| Degree program | Interactive Media |
| School | School of Cinematic Arts |
| Date defended/completed | 2011-05-05 |
| Date submitted | 2011 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2011-05-05 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Gibson, Jeremy |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Fullerton, Tracy Anderson, Steven F. |
| Abstract | Leafcutters is a life simulation game about leafcutting ants which is designed to evoke engagement with real world subject matter. In this game, players shape the behaviors of a colony of ants in order to establish complex behaviors such as foraging and fungus farming. The game system in Leafcutters is adapted from existing biological research on ants, with an emphasis on the accurate adaptation of a natural system into a game system. This project draws on previous works in artificial life, life simulation games, swarm games, virtual pets, and virtual ants. Leafcutters is a work of expressive AI, an evocative knowledge object, and an educational game. |
| Keyword | simulation game; evocative knowledge object; educational game; video game |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m3919 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Graner, William B. |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Graner-4578 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume40/etd-Graner-4578.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 12 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 24 In the first game “Herd the Cows,” the player controls one boid, which other boids in viewing range will follow and flock around; the player must guide as many boids as possible into a goal area in as short an amount of time as possible. Their second game, “Feed the Crows,” replaces this direct control scheme with the less direct controls, including the placement of waypoint tiles and parametric controls which affect the boids’ behaviors. Interestingly, this game also allows the player to make use of automatic, artificial evolution of boid behaviors to aid the player in what would otherwise be a prohibitively difficult game. Virtual Pets Virtual Pets are a genre of interactive object which emerges from A-life, simulation games, and automata, but with the distinctive goal of fostering empathy between the user and the lifelike virtual object. They place the user into a caretaker role as pet owner or parent. Virtual pets draw on automata such as the early Mechanical Turk, to the more recent Senster, in that they do not seek to function as actual life forms, but rather to present lifelike qualities. 25, 26, 27 Since the first use of the term Virtual Pet with PFMagic’s Dogz and Catz, the genre has had many 7 24 von Mammen, Sebastian, and Christian, Jacob. "Swarming for Games: Immersion in Complex Systems." Applications of Evolutionary Computing. Ed. Mario Giacobini, Anthony Brabazon, Stefano Cagnoni, Gianni Di Caro, Anikó Ekárt, Anna Esparcia-Alcázar, Muddassar Farooq, Andreas Fink, and Penousal Machado. Heidelberg: Springer Berlin, 2009. 293-302. Print. 25 Benthall, Jonathan. Science and Technology in Art Today. London: Thames and Hudson, 1972. Print. 26 Schaffer, Simon. "Enlightened Automata." The Sciences in Enlightened Europe. Ed. Clark et al. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1999. 126-165. Print. 27 Kac, Eduardo. "Origin and Development of Robotic Art." Art Journal, Digital Reflections: The Dialogue of Art and Technology, Special issue on Electronic Art. 56.3 (1997): 60-67. Print. |
