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certain conditions, such as “Outside,” “Near food,” or “Inside nest,” the player specifies a set of
conditions, and all of the ants matching that condition become visibly highlighted in yellow. By
clicking on icons related to urges, such as “Pick up food,” “Go inside,” or “Drop what you’re
holding,” the player encourages or discourages those urges, among the given set of conditions.
Another message appears to the player: “The larvae are hungry for food.” This time, the
message contains small icons which show the larvae to be the small white squiggly creatures
inside the nest, and the food to be the green globules outside. Guided by the tutorial, the player
selects all of the ants inside the nest, and clicks on the “Explore Outside” icon. A green bar lights
up above the icon, and the ants start to walk out of the nest and wander around outside. As they
leave the nest, they glow more faintly, since the selected condition icons no longer exactly match
their situation. The player spots one of the ants passing by a piece of food, and he clicks on the
ant. The ant glows for a moment, then fades. The player sees that as his ants pass by pieces of
food, they each glow for a moment. He clicks the icon to encourage the urge to “Pick up food.”
Over the next few seconds, he sees each of his ants pick up a piece of food, and continue
wandering outside.
13
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 18 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | certain conditions, such as “Outside,” “Near food,” or “Inside nest,” the player specifies a set of conditions, and all of the ants matching that condition become visibly highlighted in yellow. By clicking on icons related to urges, such as “Pick up food,” “Go inside,” or “Drop what you’re holding,” the player encourages or discourages those urges, among the given set of conditions. Another message appears to the player: “The larvae are hungry for food.” This time, the message contains small icons which show the larvae to be the small white squiggly creatures inside the nest, and the food to be the green globules outside. Guided by the tutorial, the player selects all of the ants inside the nest, and clicks on the “Explore Outside” icon. A green bar lights up above the icon, and the ants start to walk out of the nest and wander around outside. As they leave the nest, they glow more faintly, since the selected condition icons no longer exactly match their situation. The player spots one of the ants passing by a piece of food, and he clicks on the ant. The ant glows for a moment, then fades. The player sees that as his ants pass by pieces of food, they each glow for a moment. He clicks the icon to encourage the urge to “Pick up food.” Over the next few seconds, he sees each of his ants pick up a piece of food, and continue wandering outside. 13 |
