Evolution
Evolution is a sandbox game / simulator that demonstrates machine learning with evolutionary algorithms. It is inspired by Karl Sims' Evolving Virtual Creatures and many other similar evolutionary algorithm simulations.
How To Play?
- Place joints, connect the joints with bones, and connect the bones with muscles to create the basic design of your creature.
- (Optional) Select individual body parts to configure their properties, such as their weight, whether bones should act as wings, which muscles should contract and expand at the same time, etc.
- Select one of the tasks that you would like your creature to try to learn, such as running, climbing stairs or flying.
- Press the "Evolve" button to start the simulation and watch your creature learn the chosen task.
The game now takes over and runs iteration after iteration of an evolutionary algorithm to try to develop a "brain" / neural network for your creature design that allows it to perform the chosen task.
In each loop, the game simulates multiple copies of your creatures with different brains. The best-performing creatures have a higher chance of survival and of passing on their genes to the next generation. Over time, this leads to increasingly better performing creatures.
Read this page and the other pages in the FAQ for more details on how this process works.
Tips
Read this page for a list of things you can try if you are having trouble getting your creatures to learn a task:
My creatures aren’t learning anything (FAQ).
Download
Evolution is available to play for free in the browser without the ability to save your creatures or simulations. You can also purchase the game on various other platforms, where you can also save, import and export your creations.
If you can't afford to pay for the game or would like to use it in an educational environment, you can also download the source code and build the game for yourself.