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10 seconds of fighting, whichever side has the most ants involved in the
fight will win, and the other ants will die.
Room Capacity:
• Each room in the nest has a maximum capacity of 10.
• Each game object has mass: Ants, larvae, food, and leaf waste have
mass 1; fungus has mass 3.
• If the game objects in a room have a total mass greater than the room’s
capacity of 10, the room is full, and it glows blue.
• In a full room, new larvae cannot be born, fungus cannot produce food,
and fungus cannot produce more fungus.
Starting Conditions: At the start of play, the nest consists of one room with a tunnel
connecting to the nest entrance. In the nest room is the queen ant, one fungus, and three
foragers. Outside, there are 14 pieces of food throughout the map. There are also 10
leaves in the grass near the nest. At the top of the tree to the left of the nest, there is an
infinite number of leaves (these replenish as collected).
The ants have the following urges at game start:
Queen:
Inside → Birth Larva (weight 1)
Forager:
Inside, Outside → Explore Outside (weight 1)
Analysis of the Game System
To succeed in Leafcutters, players must finesse their ants’ urges into an economy and
then balance that economy. The greatest opposing factor to this success is worker ant death, from
old age or hostile ants. A limited life span encourages ants to explore outside as much as possible
20
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 25 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 10 seconds of fighting, whichever side has the most ants involved in the fight will win, and the other ants will die. Room Capacity: • Each room in the nest has a maximum capacity of 10. • Each game object has mass: Ants, larvae, food, and leaf waste have mass 1; fungus has mass 3. • If the game objects in a room have a total mass greater than the room’s capacity of 10, the room is full, and it glows blue. • In a full room, new larvae cannot be born, fungus cannot produce food, and fungus cannot produce more fungus. Starting Conditions: At the start of play, the nest consists of one room with a tunnel connecting to the nest entrance. In the nest room is the queen ant, one fungus, and three foragers. Outside, there are 14 pieces of food throughout the map. There are also 10 leaves in the grass near the nest. At the top of the tree to the left of the nest, there is an infinite number of leaves (these replenish as collected). The ants have the following urges at game start: Queen: Inside → Birth Larva (weight 1) Forager: Inside, Outside → Explore Outside (weight 1) Analysis of the Game System To succeed in Leafcutters, players must finesse their ants’ urges into an economy and then balance that economy. The greatest opposing factor to this success is worker ant death, from old age or hostile ants. A limited life span encourages ants to explore outside as much as possible 20 |
