Sharks v. Fish (Wa-Tor version de luxe)

From fabulous Vancouver, Canada...

Sharks v. Fish is an Art Project by Thzom Wilson (aka Fergus Buckner).

SvF.exe is a computerized art generator. The theme is Movement and Colours.

Ostensibly, this program is a kind of life simulation. In reality, it is an Art Project. The simulation is merely the vector that delivers the theme by procedurally generating the required elements.

Sharks v. Fish is an interactive graphical simulation demonstrating the natural population relationship between predator and prey. While illustrating a natural science phenomenon, the real purpose of this simulation is to entertain. The design goal was a program that could continuously generate visually mesmerizing, intellectually stimulating output with or without user input.

Based on the Wa-Tor computer program described by A. K. Dewdney in the December 1984 issue of Scientific American, the battle is played out on a planet covered with water, populated with only fish and sharks.  This version, however, is like no other! It is unique in that any coder will never equal the amount of passion and programming effort put into it. Sharks v. Fish is a polished and complete interpretation of its famous ancestor. My artistic goal is a unique design angle on this programming classic.

Sharks hunt. Fish flee. 

Set individual life parameters manually or generate them randomly—experiment to design successful simulations. Suffer any extinctions. Inter-species teamwork is required to keep the colour factory moving. It's over when they die.

Scientific theory and program operation, including command-line usage, are detailed in the Documents folder included in the package. There are also some articles I've written, which are linked below.

Runs in full-screen or windowed mode. Watch the colours. If you started counting the number of colours today, you wouldn't finish in a year! The psychedelics never stop.

Recommended usage: Default automatic mode. View on a big-screen TV or computer monitor in a darkened room. The default full-screen mode will deliver the maximum viewing experience.

Watch. Relax. Contemplate. By design, this program is a time-waster.
Sharks v. Fish runs forever. That's a lot of time to waste.

Download/Unzip/Run. That's it. SvF.exe knows what to do. No input is required.
Run the batch files at the folder root to launch SvF.exe using various configurations.

This just in: Have a look at the new Oceana feature. It's just the psychedelic sea.

Note: the video is dated and LAME. The current release looks WAY BETTER!
The attached images are well and good, but unless animated, they are lifeless.
You must see it running on a PC to realize its true talents.

Good tidings from Canada and please -  enjoy the colours.

- Thzom @ GPO Amusements