The Beginning

Today we began programming.

But first--The concept solidifies:

The main page of the website will hold the Java applet (made in Processing) -
- Shows the "top" Organism
- Text box below in which the user enters a name
- Clicks "play" to begin the game (game uses user's name to generate the 1st organism's DNA)

The Game -
- User's Organism is immersed in an environment full of randomly generated organisms (some simpler, some more complex)
- The Organism follows the user's mouse
- Option to mate with or eat other organisms to evolve or survive
- After mating occurs, the user has a choice of one of three offspring
- Generated organisms grow in complexity as successive generations are produced
- Generated organisms will mate and eat each other
- Once the user's Organism reaches a certain point (perhaps based on complexity) they meet the "top" organism and have the option to mate with or eat it, therefore producing a new "top" organism
- Information about the Organism is displayed on the side, i.e. DNA

The Details -
- Organisms will be generated through a number of flexible characteristics defined by a DNA class
- Possibility of different polygonal shapes, colors, and any number of segments (think snake-like)
- After this system is programmed and implemented, other traits may be added, like cilia (hairs), eyes, spikes, etc.

So far the code doesn't do anything, but we've got a bunch of parts that work, such as a follow-the-mouse script and a polygon-generator (thanks to Ira Greenberg). But now we are both tired. More to come soon.