Predator Prey Game
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WHAT IS IT?
This model simulates a predator-prey relationship. The population consists of wolf packs (predators) and sheep herds (prey), some controlled by students via HubNet clients and some androids controlled by the computer. The wolves gain energy from consuming sheep, and the sheep gain energy from consuming grass (a primary producer). The model allows students to examine simple population dynamics like those modeled through the Lotka-Volterra equations in a participatory way.
HOW IT WORKS
Predators and prey move around the world, searching for food. Prey eat plants (green areas), while predators eat prey. All animals gain energy by finding food and expend energy in the search for food. Prey also lose energy when predators catch them. Each predator agent can be thought of as a pack of wolves and each prey can be thought of a herd of sheep. Prey can be caught by predators a few at a time before they ultimately die out. In other words, a prey agent does not die the very first time they run into a predator. The grass is also a limited resource; it regrows at a fixed rate. Android predators and prey can wander around the world at random, while student predators and prey are directed through the HubNet clients.
If an animal's energy gets too low it dies. If a student controls the animal, that student is given the option to "recreate" as a predator or prey. Until the student "recreates" they cannot interact with the rest of the system, i.e. they cannot be eaten, they cannot eat, and they cannot move. By recreating the students have some control over the populations in the world and can dramatically shift the population dynamics. If the energy of an android goes below zero the android merely dies. However, androids do have the ability to reproduce, which student agents do not. Every tick each prey has a PREY-REPRODUCE chance of creating a new prey, and each predator has a PREDATOR-REPRODUCE chance of creating a new predator.
HOW TO USE IT
To start the game first press the SETUP button then press the GO button and ask the students to log in. You may also want to create android predators or prey using the ADD-PREDATORS and ADD-PREY buttons. You can control the movement of the androids using the WANDER? switch (which determines whether they move at all) and the ANDROID-DELAY slider (which determines how many seconds elapse between android movements).
The total number of PREDATORS and PREY, including both students and androids are displayed in the corresponding monitors. You can control the amount of energy each animal gains from consuming food by using the PREDATOR-GAIN-FROM-FOOD and the PREY-GAIN-FROM-FOOD sliders. PLANT-REGROWTH-RATE brown areas regrow grass at every tick in the model. Thus modifying this slider controls the amount of grass that is available for the sheep to consume.
If you wish to change all the students to either predators or prey press the MAKE-STUDENTS-PREDATORS or MAKE-STUDENTS-PREY buttons. These buttons do not affect androids.
To start the game over press the SETUP button, this will return all students to initial energy levels and place them at a new random position. It will kill all the androids and clear the plots.
AVERAGE ENERGY plots the average energy of all predators in red, and all prey in green, this includes androids. POPULATION plots the total of each type of animal.
Client Information
After logging in, the client interface will appear for the students, and if GO is pressed in NetLogo they will be assigned a role as predator or prey at random. Their character will consist of an animal indicator, a wolf if they are a predator or a sheep if they are prey, and an icon. The icon is their unique identifier so it's easy to distinguish themselves from other animals. A description of the icon will appear in the YOU ARE A: monitor. If the student does not like the shape and/or color of their icon they can hit the CHANGE APPEARANCE button at any time to change to another random icon.
The student controls the movement of their turtle with the UP, DOWN, LEFT, and RIGHT buttons (they can also use the hot-keys as short cuts) and the STEP-SIZE slider. Clicking any of the directional buttons (or using the hot-keys) will cause their turtle to move in the respective direction a distance of STEP-SIZE.
ENERGY for the appropriate animal is displayed in the monitor of same name. If the energy is zero or less, then the agent dies. The ROLE monitor will display "dead", the animal indicator shape will appear as a sad face, and the STATUS monitor will indicate that the student should recreate as a predator or prey. After s/he selects one s/he cannot switch roles until the animal dies again.
THINGS TO NOTICE
Predators may find it better to stay together. Prey, however, may learn to stay more scattered, so as to not become easy prey to a large group of predators.
At first students may find it advantageous to be predators but if many students become predators, the balance will shift and it may be more advantageous to "recreate" as a prey.
THINGS TO TRY
Try changing the amount of energy gained from food for both predators and prey, at what point does it cease to be advantageous to be a predator?
Try to balance out the system so that no predators or prey go hungry.
Change the PLANT-REGROWTH-RATE slider. How does this affect the balance between the predators and prey?
EXTENDING THE MODEL
Try making the androids move toward food rather than moving randomly.
There is no cost for changing the step-size for a student agent. Is there a way a larger step-size could "cost" the agent something?
NETLOGO FEATURES
Because so much information must be conveyed through the appearance of each turtle, each player is actually made up of two turtles; one turtle's shape is either a wolf or a sheep to indicate whether it is a predator or prey. Behind the first turtle is an icon turtle that helps students distinguish themselves from other players (and androids). Thus though each student is viewed as one agent, they are actually made up of two turtles.
RELATED MODELS
The various Wolf-Sheep models are non-HubNet versions of a similar model. Also see the Bug Hunter model and the Guppy model for other HubNet models that explore population dynamics.
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. (2002). NetLogo HubNet Predator Prey Game model. http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/HubNetPredatorPreyGame. 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 2002 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.
This activity and associated models and materials were created as part of the projects: PARTICIPATORY SIMULATIONS: NETWORK-BASED DESIGN FOR SYSTEMS LEARNING IN CLASSROOMS and/or INTEGRATED SIMULATION AND MODELING ENVIRONMENT. The project gratefully acknowledges the support of the National Science Foundation (REPP & ROLE programs) -- grant numbers REC #9814682 and REC-0126227.
Comments and Questions
globals [ start-energy ;; constant used to initialize turtles colors ;; list that holds the colors used for students' turtles color-names ;; list that holds the names of the colors used for students' turtles all-shapes ;; list that holds all the possible shapes used in the game ] breed [ icons icon ] breed [ androids android ] breed [ students student ] androids-own [ predator? energy ] students-own [ user-id my-icon predator? energy step-size ] icons-own [ color-name ] ;; ;; Setup Procedures ;; to startup ;; standard hubnet setup code hubnet-reset ;; setup the model itself setup-vars setup end ;; initialize the global variables used throughout ;; this only needs to be called once during startup to setup-vars set start-energy 10 set colors (list white orange red yellow (violet + 1) (sky + 1) pink ) set color-names ["white" "orange" "red" "yellow" "purple" "blue" "pink" ] set all-shapes [ "diamond" "heart" "pentagon" "square" "circle" "triangle" "rhombus" ] end ;; return all students to initial state and randomize locations ;; kill all androids to setup reset-ticks clear-all-plots setup-patches ;; reset the students to a new location with new energy ask students [ move-to one-of patches face one-of neighbors4 set energy start-energy ifelse predator? [ set shape "wolf" ] [ set shape "sheep" ] ask my-icon [ move-to myself ] send-info-to-client ] ;; kill all the androids ask androids [ die ] end ;; make grass on half the patches. to setup-patches ask patches [ ifelse random 2 = 0 [ set pcolor green - 3 ] [ set pcolor brown - 2 ] ] end ;; create a new android prey to add-prey create-androids 1 [ move-to one-of patches set color gray face one-of neighbors4 set predator? false set shape "sheep" set energy start-energy ] end ;; create a new android predator to add-predators create-androids 1 [ move-to one-of patches face one-of neighbors4 set color black set predator? true set energy start-energy set shape "wolf" ] end ;; ;; Runtime Procedures ;; ;; the main procedure to go ;; listen to the hubnet client every 0.1 [ listen-clients display ] ;; if wander? is true then the androids wander around the landscape if wander? [ androids-wander ] ;; the delay below keep plants from growing too fast ;; and predator/prey from losing points too fast every 3 [ if any? turtles [ plants-regrow ask students [ set energy energy - 0.5 if energy <= 0 [ student-die ] update-energy-monitor ] do-plot ] tick ] end ;; android animals should move at random to androids-wander ;; only execute at android-delay rate to keep the androids from moving too fast every android-delay [ ask androids [ face one-of neighbors4 fd 1 ifelse not predator? [ eat-grass reproduce-android-prey ] [ eat-prey reproduce-android-predator ] set energy energy - 0.5 if energy <= 0 [ die ] ] ] end ;; turtle procedure ;; creates a new android near the old one to reproduce-android-prey if random-float 100 < prey-reproduce [ set energy (energy / 2) hatch 1 [ rt random-float 360 fd 1 ] ] end ;; turtle procedure ;; creates a new android near the old one to reproduce-android-predator if random-float 100 < predator-reproduce [ set energy (energy / 2 ) hatch 1 [ rt random-float 360 fd 1 ] ] end ;; regrow the grass to plants-regrow let brown-patches patches with [ pcolor = brown - 2 ] ;; only regrow until the entire world is full ifelse count brown-patches > plant-regrowth-rate [ ask n-of plant-regrowth-rate brown-patches [ set pcolor green - 3 ] ] [ ask brown-patches [ set pcolor green - 3 ] ] end ;; turtle procedure ;; if you are a predator consume a prey to eat-prey let eaten-prey one-of other turtles-here with [ breed != icons and not predator? and energy > 0 ] if eaten-prey != nobody [ set energy energy + predator-gain-from-food ;; prey lose energy equal to one "life" when they are eaten ;; which is the amount of energy that everyone starts with. ask eaten-prey [ set energy max list 0 energy - start-energy ] ] end ;; turtle procedure ;; if you are are a prey eat some grass to eat-grass ;; make the colors a little darker to contrast ;; with the icon colors. if pcolor = green - 3 [ set energy energy + prey-gain-from-food set pcolor brown - 2 ] end ;; force all students to become prey to make-students-prey ask students [ set predator? false set shape "sheep" set color grey send-info-to-client hubnet-send user-id "status" "You are now prey" ] end ;; force all students to become predators to make-students-predators ask students [ set predator? true set shape "wolf" set color black send-info-to-client hubnet-send user-id "status" "You are now a predator" ] end ;; ;; HubNet Procedures ;; ;; get commands from the clients to listen-clients while [ hubnet-message-waiting? ] [ hubnet-fetch-message ifelse hubnet-enter-message? [ create-new-student ] [ ifelse hubnet-exit-message? [ remove-student ] [ execute-command hubnet-message-tag ] ] ] end ;; how to execute a command that was received to execute-command [ command ] ask students with [ user-id = hubnet-message-source ] [ ;; animals can only move if they have energy ;; and can only recreate themselves if they are dead ifelse energy > 0 [ if command = "up" [ execute-move 0 ] if command = "down" [ execute-move 180 ] if command = "right" [ execute-move 90 ] if command = "left" [ execute-move 270 ] ] [ if command = "recreate as predator" [ setup-student-vars true send-info-to-client hubnet-send user-id "status" "You are now a predator" ] if command = "recreate as prey" [ setup-student-vars false send-info-to-client hubnet-send user-id "status" "You are now prey" ] ] if command = "Change Appearance" [ execute-change-turtle ] if command = "step-size" [ set step-size hubnet-message ] ] end to student-die set shape "face sad" send-info-to-client update-energy-monitor end ;; create a new student agent to create-new-student create-students 1 [ init-student send-info-to-client ] end ;; turtle procedure ;; initialize the student agent to init-student set user-id hubnet-message-source move-to one-of patches create-icon setup-student-vars random 2 = 0 end ;; to create the variables for a student agent to setup-student-vars [is-predator?] ;; turtle procedure set predator? is-predator? ifelse predator? [ set shape "wolf" ] [ set shape "sheep" ] face one-of neighbors4 set step-size 1 set energy start-energy end ;; turtle procedure ;; create the icon for each student to create-icon let parent self hatch-icons 1 [ ask parent [ set my-icon myself ] move-to parent set-unique-shape-and-color set size 1.5 ] end ;; turtle procedure ;; make sure each student has a unique shape and color to set-unique-shape-and-color set color one-of colors set shape one-of all-shapes set color-name item (position color colors) color-names end ;; sends the appropriate monitor information back to the client to send-info-to-client hubnet-send user-id "You are a:" (word [color-name] of my-icon " " [shape] of my-icon) hubnet-send user-id "Located at:" (word "(" pxcor "," pycor ")") hubnet-send user-id "role" my-role update-energy-monitor end ;; turtle procedure ;; specify the role to-report my-role if energy <= 0 [ report "dead" ] report ifelse-value (shape = "wolf") [ "predator" ][ "prey" ] end ;; show the appropriate amount of energy to update-energy-monitor hubnet-send user-id "energy" max list 0 precision energy 2 if energy <= 0 [ hubnet-send user-id "role" my-role hubnet-send user-id "status" "You died, you may recreate as a predator or prey" ] end ;; remove students that are no longer connected to remove-student ask students with [ user-id = hubnet-message-source ] [ ask my-icon [ die ] die ] end ;; turtle procedure ;; move the student agent to execute-move [ new-heading ] set heading new-heading fd step-size set energy energy - 0.5 ask my-icon [ set heading new-heading fd [step-size] of myself ] ifelse predator? [ eat-prey ] [ eat-grass ] update-energy-monitor hubnet-send user-id "Located at:" (word "(" pxcor "," pycor ")") if energy <= 0 [ student-die ] end ;; turtle procedure ;; change the icon to execute-change-turtle show-turtle ask my-icon [ set-unique-shape-and-color ] hubnet-send user-id "You are a:" (word ([color-name] of my-icon) " " [shape] of my-icon) end ;; ;; Plotting Procedure ;; to do-plot let players turtles with [ breed != icons ] set-current-plot "Average Energy" ;;this plots the total energy of prey, and of predators set-current-plot-pen "Predators" ifelse any? players with [ predator? ] [ plot mean [ energy ] of players with [ predator? ] ] [ plot 0 ] set-current-plot-pen "Prey" ifelse any? players with [ not predator? ] [ plot mean [ energy ] of players with [ not predator? ] ] [ plot 0 ] set-current-plot "Population" set-current-plot-pen "Predators" plot count players with [ predator? ] set-current-plot-pen "Prey" plot count players with [ not predator? ] end ; Copyright 2002 Uri Wilensky. ; See Info tab for full copyright and license.
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Attached files
File | Type | Description | Last updated | |
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Predator Prey Game.png | preview | Preview for 'Predator Prey Game' | over 11 years ago, by Uri Wilensky | Download |
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