[alife] Steve Grand's project released open source

[Tom Barbalet]

Hi,

You may remember back on Biota Live #52, I talked with Steve Grand about releasing a project of his open source;

http://www.biota.org/podcast/live.html#52

I am pleased to announce it is now on SourceForge;

http://sourceforge.net/projects/simergy/

Steve had the following three stipulations and description;
1. I can't see me continuing to develop it - I'm working on something else.

2. I don't have any time to devote to it. I don't want to be inundated with questions about how this or that aspect works, because I really don't have the time.

3. I'm not averse to letting other people continue developing it if they want to, as long as I'm suitably credited.

It's currently a Visual Studio project in C# for .NET, using the now obsolete Managed DirectX. I'd say it is approaching Alpha, in terms of completeness, apart from the MDX issue (it should be converted to XNA, although this isn't trivial because the two libraries use different object representations and Simbiosis (released here as Simergy) is unusual in its needs compared to a conventional game where the objects are predesigned). Apart from that, the main thing that remains to be written is a library of useful cell-types. The physics is also buggy, simplistic and needs work. The code is pretty well documented line by line but the only orientation overviews are at the tops of source files - there's no standalone documentation.

The premise is a lego set for creating artificial life-forms, cell by cell. Each cell type is a sensor, an actuator or some kind of metabolic or computational unit, and the user combines cells into circuits to create higher-level behavior. New cell types can be added without recompilation. Cells interact through channels thatcan be configured to conduct one of several chemical signals. Choosing the chemical affinities for the various input and output channels defines the circuit (e.g. an oscillator cell producing chemical 1 as its output could be connected to a bioluminescent cell. The bioluminescent cell might have two inputs: one controls brightness, the other color. Whichever channel is given an affinity for chemical 1 will determine which parameter the oscillator affects. "Bypass channels" allow signals to be sent to cells further downstream, and thus arbitrary circuits can be constructed.

The scenario is underwater. The user has a little yellow submarine for exploring the world and tracking/observing creatures. There's also a research ship, with a laboratory in the hull. This is where creatures are constructed and edited/debugged.


I am maintaining the project currently. If someone with C# experience wants to admin the project too, I'm more than happy to share the admin duties.

Best regards,

Tom Barbalet.

PS Please forward this announcement to others who may be interested.