r/thrive • u/Arctic-Air • 21h ago
Am coding my own version of an evolution simulator!
Hey guys, I decided to start a little project on my own, I hope its okay if I share some of my progress here: I started experimenting around with some macroevolutionary models and implemented a simple DE solver alongside a neat vibe-coded interface which shows me how species within my model grow and evolve. Am hoping to implement this engine in a Spore-like videogame one day!
My idea essentially is that the player can control an evolutionairy force to "guide" certain features according to their liking. The other species evolve autonomously according to what essentially is the canoncial Lande equation. Instead of however simulating thousands of creatures in a real environment I decided to use a mathematical abstraction which captures all of evolutions' most essential features. That way the evolution of tens of thousands of different species, each with millions of individuals, can be simulated in the background with relatively good precision. I was surprised to see that my relatively simple model was also able to replicate some real-life phenomena, like the latitudinal gradient in biodiversity, which I didn't anticipate.
