Paramecium is an artificial life/ecosystem simulator that simulates a continuous two-dimensional virtual space (called a “soup”).
The soup contains numerous interacting virtual organisms, which can simulate their survival, flourishing, evolution, and extinction over thousands of generations.
The virtual organisms in the soup can be divided into two categories: plants and animals. Both plants and animals share some characteristics common to both and unique to each.
Both plants and animals can only multiply by storing a certain amount of nutrients, called “Element”. They can also move by being pushed by other objects in the soup or by accelerating themselves.
Plants are virtual organisms that play the role of producers in Paramecium. They grow by collecting elements contained in tiles and multiply by splitting into multiple plants when a certain amount of elements are collected. They can also survive where elements are depleted, in which case they cannot grow.
Animals are virtual creatures that play the role of consumers in Paramecium. They can gain elements by attacking other plants and animals, but they cannot gain elements from tiles. They also constantly consume elements and die when they run out. Conversely, if it collects enough elements, it will multiply by splitting in two.
Every animal has a neural network (called simply “brain” in Paramecium) to determine its own behavior, which is inherited by its offspring. Brain structures can mutate as they are inherited by offspring, and this is what drives evolution.
Elements are nutrients needed by all organisms in Paramecium. The amount of elements throughout the soup is always constant and does not increase or decrease. Animals consume elements, but the consumed elements are not extinguished but released into the tiles so that plants can use them again for growth. Also, the elements have a tendency to flow slowly from tiles with higher quantities to tiles with lower quantities.
F1: Show/Hide overlayCrtl + F: Enable/Disable full screen
Space: Run/Pause SimulationPeriod: Increase the number of threads by 1Comma: Decrease the number of threads by 1Question Mark: Advance the simulation by one step
Right Drag: Move the cameraC: Reset the camera positionLeft Click: Select an objectT: Make the camera follow the selected objectCrtl + T: Enables auto-tracking of the cameraCrtl + Left Click / Mouse Wheel Up: Zoom inCrtl + Right Click / Mouse Wheel Down: Zoom out
Shift + Left Drag: Move selected objectsAlt + Left Drag: Create wallAlt + Right Drag: Delete WallCrtl + D: Open Object Inspector (WARNING: FOR ADVANCED USER FEATURE)
Since Paramecium is developed on Windows 11, operation on other operating systems is not guaranteed.
There are no minimum CPU or GPU requirements, but high-performance CPUs may be needed to run large simulations.
The creator of this project is not an English speaker (I'm Japanese) and cannot read or write English, so I use DeelL translation, etc. to write README.md and other documents. Therefore, some sentences may be incorrect.