Bootstrapping the open-ended evolution of artificial creatures in Flow-Lenia

Cellular automaton with mass conservation and evolutionary dynamics.
Submission for the Virtual Creatures Competition 2024 (VCC2024)
Music : Waltz of the Flowers by Tchaikovsky

[@damonnesbitt1285]

I’m surprised nobody has commented, this is genuinely incredible to me, a programmer which attempted to make multi-channel cellular automata

[@justineezekielbolivar]

Ikr

[@Robotocracy]

Fantastic

[@Kram1032]

There was a different modification of Lenia that redefined it as a reaction diffusion process. That paper was presented at the same time as Flow Lenia at last year's ALIFE conference, which absolutely stole the show, but I thought it might be interesting to combine the two to further the analogy of chemical processes.
This looks very cool but it would be nice to see much more varied landscapes, as well as maybe ways in which the creatures themselves can arbitrarily shape the landscape somehow so they produce their own niches and react to each other.

[@brulsmurf]

Very cool. looks a bit like the layer of oil on top of water when you are making soup.

[@sayyidassons9332]

I wish i could use this, absolutely amazing.

[@feffy380]

I feel you also need some form of entropy/decay (with a corresponding influx of inert matter elsewhere) to encourage reproduction and resource collection. i.e., staying alive should have some sort of upkeep, since that's what drives more complex life

[@towaxien6026]

Make a 2D landscape, watch the cambrian explosion happen