Wow, we've had almost 100,000 downloads since 2006, most of them from Spanish-speaking countries! We get about 200 a week lately, and this year's been 25% USA, with Brazil and China close behind. Big spike last September.
As for comparable projects on SourceForge (SF is cool 'cause it gives download stats):
CritterDing (3D AI evo by Bob Winckelmans) got about 15,000 since 2008, and gets about 80 a week. They've only had one post on the forums since 2011 :( , but they used to be posting links to creature files there. The code was last modified in 2010, until a couple new versions were posted in 2013!
Primordial Life, our predecessor (thanks for the concept Jason Spofford!), has gotten 3722 downloads since 2000 (but most were in the past two years). Its website seems to be down, and its code hasn't been updated since 2001! (It was also put on GitHub 3 years ago, but hasn't seen much action there either.)
Other notable evo projects (after a bit more digging):
Species (3D AI evo by James Schumacher, Jade, and Brain Sugar) is a noteable mention, but it's not on SourceForge so I don't have stats. It seems to be pretty cutting-edge. Check out the FAQ here, where it compares itself to a list of similar games. The biggest downside is that while it's free now, it isn't open source, and the end product will cost about $20. Oh, and the alpha doesn't work well enough on my computer to play it. :(
Creatures (polished game series, 3D AI evo by Steve Grand) is perhaps the most sophisticated of the trend, (the abovementioned FAQ says the evolution part took too long and the populations were too small). Also not open source, but Creatures 3 looks to be free. (It seems that Creatures 4 has been overdue for a few years, but will come out someday.)
Found another list of supposedly joinable projects here. Haven't looked into it yet, but it was written back in 2010. I must know if Biogenesis is the best 2D and/or open source evo sim out there!
Did I miss anything important?
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I think, that Joan Queralts program is the best Evo Sim overall, and it is also cool that we are allowed to mod it. :) And even if I have to brag about it xD, the Color Mod is a nice addition ;) Still it is only a mod.
Species might be the best evolution simulation finally, but it isn´t polished at the moment (haven´t probably tested the last version) and I can´t really run it on my old PC too.
Another program I really liked is Mykaryotes by Christopher Horton https://sites.google.com/site/mykaryotes/
Interesting AI and environment, opposite focus in comparison to Biogenesis,
there aren´t (or nearly so) different phenotypes.
I'm quite clueless when it comes to macs. It would be nice to know if Biogenesis works on macs, because I just assumed Java programs ran on almost any platform.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Wow, we've had almost 100,000 downloads since 2006, most of them from Spanish-speaking countries! We get about 200 a week lately, and this year's been 25% USA, with Brazil and China close behind. Big spike last September.
As for comparable projects on SourceForge (SF is cool 'cause it gives download stats):
CritterDing (3D AI evo by Bob Winckelmans) got about 15,000 since 2008, and gets about 80 a week. They've only had one post on the forums since 2011 :( , but they used to be posting links to creature files there. The code was last modified in 2010, until a couple new versions were posted in 2013!
Primordial Life, our predecessor (thanks for the concept Jason Spofford!), has gotten 3722 downloads since 2000 (but most were in the past two years). Its website seems to be down, and its code hasn't been updated since 2001! (It was also put on GitHub 3 years ago, but hasn't seen much action there either.)
Other notable evo projects (after a bit more digging):
Species (3D AI evo by James Schumacher, Jade, and Brain Sugar) is a noteable mention, but it's not on SourceForge so I don't have stats. It seems to be pretty cutting-edge. Check out the FAQ here, where it compares itself to a list of similar games. The biggest downside is that while it's free now, it isn't open source, and the end product will cost about $20. Oh, and the alpha doesn't work well enough on my computer to play it. :(
Creatures (polished game series, 3D AI evo by Steve Grand) is perhaps the most sophisticated of the trend, (the abovementioned FAQ says the evolution part took too long and the populations were too small). Also not open source, but Creatures 3 looks to be free. (It seems that Creatures 4 has been overdue for a few years, but will come out someday.)
Found another list of supposedly joinable projects here. Haven't looked into it yet, but it was written back in 2010. I must know if Biogenesis is the best 2D and/or open source evo sim out there!
Did I miss anything important?
I think, that Joan Queralts program is the best Evo Sim overall, and it is also cool that we are allowed to mod it. :) And even if I have to brag about it xD, the Color Mod is a nice addition ;) Still it is only a mod.
Species might be the best evolution simulation finally, but it isn´t polished at the moment (haven´t probably tested the last version) and I can´t really run it on my old PC too.
Another program I really liked is Mykaryotes by Christopher Horton https://sites.google.com/site/mykaryotes/
Interesting AI and environment, opposite focus in comparison to Biogenesis,
there aren´t (or nearly so) different phenotypes.
Gene Pool http://www.swimbots.com/ is funny for some days. Not complex enough in the end.
Last edit: MarcoA 2014-01-06
I also created a mod (and maps) for Mykaryotes a long time ago. Thought it was lost, but found it again. Enjoy! :) Reuploaded again here:
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=77572108836083934457
It mainly adds a randomly generated arena, that changes over time. Do not expect any updates for this mod.
P.S: There will be a Color Mod 1.87 (instead of 1.9 later). Not happy with my INDIGO color changes.
Hey, do you have any recommendation Evolution sims that are mac assessable? Cause I can't play any because I, obviously have a mac :/
I'm quite clueless when it comes to macs. It would be nice to know if Biogenesis works on macs, because I just assumed Java programs ran on almost any platform.
It does. Its reallly laggy when you get around the 1000s in the population, but works fine.
I have a mac right now too, and it seems to work just fine.
New Species version:
http://www.speciesgame.com/download
Nice :)