Each Turn
The grid will remain motionless until the user decides to advance a turn in the world. This can be done by pressing the move button once. Once the button is clicked, each organism will be given the opportunity to perform one action. The organisms can either: (1) move a single square in any direciton, or (2) eat food on the square it is on. If the organisms "decides" to spend its turn eating, it will search the square for food. If the square is red, it will fail to find food. If the square is green, the organism will consume the food, and the square will turn red.
Reproduction
At the end of a predetermined number of terms, each organism will be given the opportunity to reproduce. The organisms reproduce asexually, and will only reproduce if they choose to do so.
Death
If an organism fails to consume food for a predetermined number of turns, it will die.
Organism Characteristics
Each organism has three genes: search, gather, and reproduce. The genes determine how likely an organism is to perform a particular action. Each turn, the organism must decide whether it will move to a new square, or consume food on the square that it is on. The higher the number of the search gene, the more likely the organism is to move to a new square. The higher the number of the gather gene, the more likely the organism is to gather food. During the reproduction round, the higher the reproduction gene, the more likely the organism is to reproduce. Each organism has a total of 150 gene points that must be distributed amongst the three genes. Finally, when each organism reproduces, the offspring have identical genes to the parent.
The Population Table
The table on the right had side of the screen gives a census of the world. The table will identify each organism that is present in the world, the population of that organism, and the organism's distribution of gene points.
Screenshot of the Population Table
