Lunar Lander
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WHAT IS IT?
This model is based on the arcade game, Lunar Lander. The object of the game is to land the red lunar module on the blue landing pad on the surface of the moon without crashing or breaking the module.
The lunar module is fragile, so you have to be moving extremely slowly to prevent damage when you touch down. You have one thruster that exerts a force depending on the tilt of the module. You have the ability to tilt right and left.
HOW TO USE IT
Buttons: SETUP starts the game over by creating a new surface for you to navigate and poising your module above that surface, ready for descent. GO starts the game. Be ready; the module will start descending fairly quickly. LEFT and RIGHT tilt the module back and forth THRUST fires your rockets according to your current tilt.
Sliders: PLATFORM-WIDTH controls the width of the blue landing pad created at setup, a wider landing pad makes an easier target. TERRAIN-BUMPINESS controls the variation in the elevation of the lunar surface. More bumpiness may mean you will have large obstacles to maneuver around. THRUST-AMOUNT controls the magnitude of the force of your rockets.
THINGS TO NOTICE
When terrain-bumpiness is very high some of the randomly generated surfaces are not navigable.
THINGS TO TRY
Try to land the module with the fewest adjustments.
Increase the THRUST-AMOUNT to make the game harder.
EXTENDING THE MODEL
Add one or more plots to the model. For example, you might plot the position, velocity, and/or acceleration of the module, in the plane or just on the Y axis.
Currently, collisions with the edges of the module are not detected, so you can graze the side of a peak with the edge of the module without crashing. It would be more realistic if these crashes were detected.
Add levels to the game by continually making the terrain bumpier, the platform smaller, or by some other method of making the game more difficult, perhaps alien spaceships.
Try to write a robot pilot that will automatically land the module safely.
NETLOGO FEATURES
This model uses the random-poisson
reporter to create the terrain. See its entry in the NetLogo Dictionary, and also http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PoissonDistribution.html.
The frame rate setting is used to control the speed of the game.
RELATED MODELS
- Projectile Attack
- Gravitation
HOW TO CITE
If you mention this model in a publication, we ask that you include these citations for the model itself and for the NetLogo software:
- Wilensky, U. (2005). NetLogo Lunar Lander model. http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/LunarLander. Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling, Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.
- Wilensky, U. (1999). NetLogo. http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/. Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling, Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright 2005 Uri Wilensky.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
Commercial licenses are also available. To inquire about commercial licenses, please contact Uri Wilensky at uri@northwestern.edu.
Comments and Questions
globals [ platform ;; the x coordinate of the center of the platform ] turtles-own [ xvel yvel ;; x and y components of the lander's velocity ] to setup clear-all setup-terrain crt 1 [ set shape "lander" set color red set size 10 setxy (platform + max-pxcor) (max-pycor - size / 2) set heading 0 ] reset-ticks end to setup-terrain let terrain-color gray set platform platform-width + random (world-width - 2 * platform-width) + min-pxcor ;; first use a turtle to draw the surface of the moon ;; including the landing platform crt 1 [ set color gray setxy min-pxcor floor (min-pycor / 2) set heading 90 repeat world-width [ set pcolor color fd 1 ;; draw the platform in blue if pxcor = platform - (platform-width / 2) [ set heading 90 set color blue ] ;; everything else is moon surface and should be gray if pxcor = platform + (platform-width / 2) [ set color gray ] ;; and if it isn't the platform it should also be ;; jagged so vary ycor by the terrain-bumpiness if color != blue [ ;; random-poisson usually gives small variations, occasionally ;; larger ones let y ( ycor + one-of [1 -1] * random-poisson ( terrain-bumpiness ) ) ;; prevent the drawing turtle from wrapping vertically ;; while contouring the terrain if patch-at 0 (y - ycor) != nobody [ set ycor y ] ] ] die ] ;; then use more turtles to make solid gray below the gray line ask patches with [pcolor != black] [ sprout 1 [ set heading 180 ;; if the drawing turtle is already at the bottom it should not continue if not can-move? 1 [ die ] fd 1 set pcolor gray fd 1 while [ can-move? 1 ] [ set pcolor gray fd 1 ] set pcolor gray die ] ] end to go if (not any? turtles) or ([color] of one-of turtles != red) [ stop ] ask turtles [ ;; if the module is about to wrap vertically ;; stop its ascent ifelse ycor + yvel > max-pycor [ set xcor (xcor + xvel) set yvel 0 ] [ setxy (xcor + xvel) (ycor + yvel) ] ;; exert the force of gravity set yvel yvel - 0.001 ;; detect crashes and insufficiently soft landings if [pcolor] of patch-at 0 -2 != black [ ifelse (abs yvel > 0.08) or (abs xvel > 0.04) or (heading != 0) or ((pxcor - platform) >= platform-width / 2) [ game-over ] [ set color green - 1 ] ] ;; switch back to the shape without the thrusters on if shape = "lander2" and timer > 0.3 [ set shape "lander" ] ] tick end to game-over ;; turtle procedure set shape "skull" set color white set heading 0 end to rotate-left ;; turtle procedure if shape = "lander" [ lt 5 ] end to rotate-right ;; turtle procedure if shape = "lander" [ rt 5 ] end to thrust ;; turtle procedure if shape = "lander" [ set xvel xvel + thrust-amount * dx set yvel yvel + thrust-amount * dy ;; lander2 has a visual indication that the thrusters are on set shape "lander2" reset-timer ] end ; Copyright 2005 Uri Wilensky. ; See Info tab for full copyright and license.
There are 10 versions of this model.
Attached files
File | Type | Description | Last updated | |
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Lunar Lander.png | preview | Preview for 'Lunar Lander' | over 11 years ago, by Uri Wilensky | Download |