An experiment in simulation theory. This program simulates a virtual universe with plants and agents (creatures) that have to evolve to stay alive and produce offspring.
Each agent has a set of genes that determines their attributes such as their color, size and speed. Every agent also has a brain that determines how to move. Currently, these brains are very simple, only containing two neurons, but it is still effective. If an agent goes too long without food, it dies. If it survives long enough, it will produce offspring with a slightly different brain and genes.
Mini Universe requires a Rust compiler (preferably version 1.42 or newer) and the SDL2 and SDL2-image libraries to be installed.
Ubuntu:
sudo apt install cargo libsdl2-dev libsdl2-image-dev
NixOS:
nix-shell -p cargo SDL2 SDL2_image
- Clone this repository
cargo run --release -- [seed]
The seed integer argument is optional. If no seed is given, a random seed will be generated.
Its purpose is to make simulations reproducible. The same seed will always produce the same result.
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| WASD / arrow keys | Move camera |
| Scroll wheel | Zoom in/out |
| Comma (,) / Period (.) | Slow down / speed up time |
| Space bar | Pause / resume simulation |
| R | Restart simulation |
| T | Time travel (enter time on command line) |
This short clip shows a relatively advanced species whose genes have survived for many generations. Because of its intelligence, this species will eventually exhaust the food supply and cease to exist.
