Slime mould game anyone?

[lu mafo]

Hello Hello, 

a bit of an out-there question but anyone here has good computer skills to build an online game based on slime mould?? 

(it is for my thesis :) 

I'm comparing humans to slime moulds by giving both some cognitive tasks and for one of them (multi-armed bandit problem) I had the idea of developing this sort of game that people can play from home (online) but I'm a bit stuck at it. Anyone interested in helping out? 

The multi-armed-bandit problem goes a bit like this --> https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsif.2016.0030 

but in my case, I'm using 4 arms. Like this --> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lTYC7Hnn-yRwScSWsQvty-H11yLPWsr...

If u guys have any suggestions regarding both computer game of even the biological experiment itself please let me know :) :) 


Decision-making%20without%20a%20brain%3A%20how%20an%20amoeboid%20or...

[RyChu]

I'm trying to understand the multi-armed-bandit problem. It seems like its focusing on allocating resources to increase the final game correct?

[RyChu]

Not sure what level of a coding background you have so ignore what I wrote below if you already understand.

In terms of making an online game, it seems that you are building a turn-based game. The easiest way to do this is using text-based, which means you use ASCII characters (like letters or numbers) to essentially draw out the game.

Then every turn, you would use code to update the image based on what the user input. This is relatively basic coding (in java at least, but probably basic in every other language too). Then you could make a really basic html site (copy paste a template from somewhere) and embed the java file (tons of walkthroughs online with code you can just copy paste). This should make it accessible online.

I don't know much about games with graphics though...that is ... significantly harder unless you use a system that's prebuilt online.

[lu mafo]

Hi Raichu, 

Yes. I had thought of that. The main issue I have though is that I need to also attach a database to it so that I can keep track of the gamer's behavior (e.g. what arm they choose, how long/how man steps they take to choose, how each round looks like... ) 

Unfortunately, I am very bad at database coding to do it all on time, so I thought about asking here :) 

[RyChu]

Sounds like fun! I don't have much experience in that area either but should be interesting to figure out :)

[lu mafo]

Yees :) 

[lu mafo]

Would u like to help out? 

[RyChu]

Sure! Seems interesting

[lu mafo]

Hi Raichu, 

The goal is to 'choose' the arm that gives out the most rewards. The trick is you never have an overview of all the choices. So the subject is always confronted with the opposition between exploring - exploiting (e.g. do I stick to the arm that has already given me the most rewards at the beginning or do I risk exploring another arm hoping I will find something better?)