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Since the game is necessarily abstracted and oversimplified, its nonfiction elements are
adaptations of reality, and therefore no aspect of the game is entirely untouched by design
considerations.
One touchstone of realism in the game is the ants’ behavior-making autonomy. Each ant
makes decisions, and this group of independent actors, acting in dense proximity (but not
formation) gives rise to the sense of the colony’s intentions and actions. Never in Leafcutters will
one actor give orders to another. The queen of the colony is not a monarch; as in reality, she
never commands anyone.
Leafcutters seeks to faithfully recreate the ecosystem in which the ants live—presenting a
cross-sample of the types and magnitudes of danger which the ants might experience in the form
of a simplified representation—for example, one type of “food” object represents all foods which
the ants eat. And of course, this adapted ecosystem is balanced for the purposes of entertaining
play. For example, since the scope of the game has been artificially limited to one colony, this
colony must not be as prone to sudden destruction as might truly be the case. Likewise, the
number of ants in the player’s colony is much lower than the population of a real colony. Such
deviations from the biology were accepted since they allowed the game to function well, while
maintaining the spirit of the natural system.
Play In Leafcutters: By the Book, Off The Beaten Path
Leafcutters is designed to support two extreme modes of play. On the one hand, the
game supports a “by the book” style of play in which the player follows biology faithfully, and
recreates a true-to-life system of an ant colony. In fact, this mode of play is encouraged by the
interim goal prompts which the game provides to the player.
On the other hand, the game supports a form of play in which the player attempts to
explore the outer limits of the system, by attempting to break the game or create outlandish
behavior. For example, an early playtester deliberately attempted the unique strategy of leading
38
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 43 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | Since the game is necessarily abstracted and oversimplified, its nonfiction elements are adaptations of reality, and therefore no aspect of the game is entirely untouched by design considerations. One touchstone of realism in the game is the ants’ behavior-making autonomy. Each ant makes decisions, and this group of independent actors, acting in dense proximity (but not formation) gives rise to the sense of the colony’s intentions and actions. Never in Leafcutters will one actor give orders to another. The queen of the colony is not a monarch; as in reality, she never commands anyone. Leafcutters seeks to faithfully recreate the ecosystem in which the ants live—presenting a cross-sample of the types and magnitudes of danger which the ants might experience in the form of a simplified representation—for example, one type of “food” object represents all foods which the ants eat. And of course, this adapted ecosystem is balanced for the purposes of entertaining play. For example, since the scope of the game has been artificially limited to one colony, this colony must not be as prone to sudden destruction as might truly be the case. Likewise, the number of ants in the player’s colony is much lower than the population of a real colony. Such deviations from the biology were accepted since they allowed the game to function well, while maintaining the spirit of the natural system. Play In Leafcutters: By the Book, Off The Beaten Path Leafcutters is designed to support two extreme modes of play. On the one hand, the game supports a “by the book” style of play in which the player follows biology faithfully, and recreates a true-to-life system of an ant colony. In fact, this mode of play is encouraged by the interim goal prompts which the game provides to the player. On the other hand, the game supports a form of play in which the player attempts to explore the outer limits of the system, by attempting to break the game or create outlandish behavior. For example, an early playtester deliberately attempted the unique strategy of leading 38 |
