Zombies

Zombies are the simplest way to create a system where two different types of objects interact with each other. Zombies chase People and People run away from Zombies. When a Zombie and a Person meet, the Person becomes a Zombie. Below is a demonstration of the concept.

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I use ‘Zombies’ to test different ideas because the simplicity of the interaction makes it easy to identify how the system changes with each new component. As I try out new techniques with ‘Zombies’ I will post the results below.

Evolution

I wanted to create a system where the creatures inside would get better and better, just like organism in nature. I used the basic principles of evolution and applied it to ‘Zombies’

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Each creature has properties, such as its maximum speed, vision and desire to separate,that make up its DNA. The population starts with random values and unlike conventional evolution, when a new creature is created, its DNA is the average of the current population’s DNA +- some margin for each value. In order to cap the population of the Zombies, if a Zombie hasn’t eaten a Person in an x amount of time, it becomes a Person. I also applied a flocking behavior from Craig Reynolds’ Boids to add more variables to the system.

Here are my thoughts on ‘Evolving Zombies’