Hmmm? Lemmings eh! Good one Karl!


----- Original Message -----
From: "Karl Ramberg" <karl.ramberg at chello.se>
To: <squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2001 12:51 AM
Subject: Re: The Incredible Machine and other simulations


>
>
> Ned Konz wrote:
> >
> > I was just playing Sierra's game/construction set called "Return of the
> > Incredible Machine: Contraptions". For those who don't know what it is,
it is
> > a construction set for "Rube Goldberg"-type contraptions.
> >
> > For instance, you might make a system in which a baseball falls, turning
on a
> > power switch, which runs an electric fan, which turns a pinwheel, which
is
> > connected via a belt to a jack-in-the-box, whose opening propels a
bottle of
> > nitroglycerin into a wall, ...
> >
> > It's presented as puzzles, with some pieces possibly already anchored,
and a
> > parts bin with some more pieces. You're told to produce some kind of
effect
> > (like "make the bowling balls go into the laundry baskets"), and you do
it by
> > placing and connecting the parts as needed.
> >
> > When you hit the "Start" switch, object interactions start being
computed.
> > You can "Stop" the simulation, or "Reset" it, which returns objects to
the
> > position (and state) they started out in.
> >
> > I was wondering what it would take to make this kind of simulation work
with
> > the existing EToys system. What is probably needed is to repeatedly
> > evaluate the effect of each object on each other object that it
interacts
> > with (for instance, many objects are affected by gravity, so the base
class
> > might well have a mass and motion vector). I don't think a general
constraint
> > system is needed for this; I suspect that the usual Morphic stepping
would be
> > adequate.
> >
> > Some objects only interact with other kinds of objects: things that move
air
> > (fans, candles, bicycle pumps) interact with only a few other objects
> > (propellers, pinwheels, blimps and balloons, etc.)
> >
> > Some objects are only affected by nearby objects: when something like a
ball
> > falls past a light switch that's in the UP position, the light switch
gets
> > turned on.
> >
> > Ropes, belts, and pulleys complicate the job of doing this in Morphic,
though
> > my Connectors could probably be used.
> >
> > Many objects have different appearance for different states (like a
mouse
> > wheel that's turning or not).
> >
> > What I envision is a system that would provide some pre-built objects,
and a
> > way to make new ones using the EToys system.
> >
> > The part I'm puzzled over is how to represent the interaction in an
> > EToy-friendly way. Each _kind_ of object can potentially interact with
each
> > other _kind_ of object. These interactions would probably be best to be
> > inherited. I don't know how much support for inheritance there is in the
EToy
> > system, though (it appears that you can duplicate a Morph with its
scripts,
> > but I don't know how to inherit).
> >
> > One idea that I had was to make a 2D spreadsheet-like Morph whose row
and
> > column headings would be the names of the individual Morphs in the
master
> > parts bin, and the cells would be buttons that would open a script
editor for
> > each possible interaction (Pinwheel>>interactWithFan: aFan and/or
> > Fan>>interactWithPinwheel: aPinwheel). Of course, most of these would be
> > no-ops.
> >
> > But it doesn't look like the scripts can take parameters. This could be
taken
> > care of by assigning a slot (otherObject or something) when evaluating
> > interactions.
> >
> > I figure that this would be a great way to teach about (for instance)
force
> > and acceleration, as well as providing a fun system to play with.
> >
> > Has anyone done something like this or thought about doing it in any
detail?
>
> I'v been playing with the etoy system from time to time and
> have been thinking about a lemmings kind of simulation
> where I can assign tasks to a group of rodents moving about the
> desktop. Nothing to report from that effort yet...
> I find the topic interesting and would love to see more
> work in this direction.
> There are projects on the BSS that are interesting to
> look at to see how the etoys are used to solve some simulation,
> like a ant looking for food, fish swimming etc.
>
> Karl
>
>