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Resources: food, larvae, worker ants (foragers, midden workers, and nurses), fungus, leaf
pulp, the queen ant
Anti-resources: leaf waste, dead ants
Dangers: old age (for worker ants), hostile ants
Procedures: Encourage an urge for a caste/condition combination; discourage an urge for
a caste/condition combination. See the list of ant urges below.
Rules:
Ants’ Actions:
• Each frame, each ant which is not undertaking a task, or whose set of
conditional triggers has changed since last frame, determines which of
its triggers are true (see list of triggers below).
• It then determines its current urges as follows: for each of the ant’s
urges, if one or more of the triggers related to that urge are true, that
urge is added to the active urges for this frame, with a calculated
weight: the base weight of the urge is multiplied by the squared
proportion of that urge’s triggers which are currently true.
• Finally, the ant uses a weighted random to determine which urge to
pursue as its next action.
Ant death:
• Worker ants die of old age after 3 minutes.
• Dead ants disappear after 1 minute.
Ant Triggers (Conditions):
• Inside Nest
• Outside
• This room is full
• Near food/leaf/pulp/leaf waste/larva/fungus/hostile ant/dead ant
17
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 22 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | Resources: food, larvae, worker ants (foragers, midden workers, and nurses), fungus, leaf pulp, the queen ant Anti-resources: leaf waste, dead ants Dangers: old age (for worker ants), hostile ants Procedures: Encourage an urge for a caste/condition combination; discourage an urge for a caste/condition combination. See the list of ant urges below. Rules: Ants’ Actions: • Each frame, each ant which is not undertaking a task, or whose set of conditional triggers has changed since last frame, determines which of its triggers are true (see list of triggers below). • It then determines its current urges as follows: for each of the ant’s urges, if one or more of the triggers related to that urge are true, that urge is added to the active urges for this frame, with a calculated weight: the base weight of the urge is multiplied by the squared proportion of that urge’s triggers which are currently true. • Finally, the ant uses a weighted random to determine which urge to pursue as its next action. Ant death: • Worker ants die of old age after 3 minutes. • Dead ants disappear after 1 minute. Ant Triggers (Conditions): • Inside Nest • Outside • This room is full • Near food/leaf/pulp/leaf waste/larva/fungus/hostile ant/dead ant 17 |
