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exponentially rather than linearly, the resulting weight is approximately 1, less than half the full
weight of the urge.
Note that this might cause the ants to pick up food inside the nest, which could be
counterproductive if, for example, the player intended the ants to gather into the nest from
outside.
Outside
Inside Nest
Find Food
Pick up Food: 3
Find Spider
Run Away: 5
Triggers Urges (and
Weights)
Resulting Urge
Pick up Food: 1
Figure 6: An ant who is inside and finds food will also want to pick up food.
A negative urge can alleviate this problem, as shown in the figure below. If the player
discourages the ant from picking up food when that ant is inside the nest and smells food, the ant
will gain a negative urge in that situation. As shown below, the negative urge will prevent the ant
from picking up food inside the nest by reducing the urge’s weight to a negative number.
However, it will not prevent the ant from experiencing the urge to pick up food outside (although
it will slightly dampen it).
25
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 30 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | exponentially rather than linearly, the resulting weight is approximately 1, less than half the full weight of the urge. Note that this might cause the ants to pick up food inside the nest, which could be counterproductive if, for example, the player intended the ants to gather into the nest from outside. Outside Inside Nest Find Food Pick up Food: 3 Find Spider Run Away: 5 Triggers Urges (and Weights) Resulting Urge Pick up Food: 1 Figure 6: An ant who is inside and finds food will also want to pick up food. A negative urge can alleviate this problem, as shown in the figure below. If the player discourages the ant from picking up food when that ant is inside the nest and smells food, the ant will gain a negative urge in that situation. As shown below, the negative urge will prevent the ant from picking up food inside the nest by reducing the urge’s weight to a negative number. However, it will not prevent the ant from experiencing the urge to pick up food outside (although it will slightly dampen it). 25 |
