Evolve! Lite

Evolve! Lite is an artificial life game, abstract but not to the extent that it’s cellular automata. Two digital species compete for survival: The behavior of each is governed by a 3×3 grid of arrows and icons, representing responses to a few different stimuli. for example, one square of the grid might represent “There are two or more enemies nearby (enough to kill me) but no nearby friends (with whom I could team up to kill enemies),” and the icon on that square might be “Run away.”

If an individual is successful enough to reproduce – if it harvests enough energy from grazing on plants or hunting the other species, and has been able to escape being harvested itself – then it will pass on its grid of “action genes” to a new individual. Depending on the species’ mutation factor (which itself mutates), one of the offspring’s genes might be changed at random. If this mutant is successful enough to reproduce it will pass on its new, adapted genes to the next generation, simulating the process of natural selection and evolution.