Coding Adventure: Ant and Slime Simulations

A small exploration of an algorithm inspired by ants, and some little experiments into simulating some of the behaviour of ants and slime moulds. I hope you enjoy!

Links to some learning resources and cool videos / projects:

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:17 Traveling Salesperson Problem
1:36 Ant Colony Optimization
4:37 Creating a Visual Ant Simulation
9:15 Unleashing the Ants!
10:16 Side-tracked by Slime
14:07 Single Slime Experiment
16:02 Multiple Slime Species

Music:
Forest Overture by Yehezkel Raz
Honey Bee Waltz by Kadir Demir
Newborn by Roie Shpigler
Joking by Kadir Demir
Joyfulness by Kadir Demir
Wakeup Call by Ran Raiten
Anthill by Kadir Demir
Synesthesia by Michael FK
A New Horizon by Cloud Wave
Selfless by Eleven Tales
Reel by Anbr

[randomcarbonaccumulation]

"This ant is too indecisive and not making much progress in its life" felt like a roast ngl

[Althar]

"Come to think of it, I could have just taken two minutes to draw this in paint but... anyway..." - Spoken by a true programmer!

[oliviaaaaaah]

Sebastian Lague video starter pack:
- "I just whipped this quick & simple thing together"
- compute shaders
- darkmode theme
- video ends before you want it to

[ItsEphora]

Ants: "haha that's cute they sometimes make little loops"
Slime: ＊in awe before the grandeur of existence and the universe＊

[justgame]

I was genuinely mesmerised by those slime shaders, it’s incredible how complex, beautiful patterns can be made from seemingly simple rules. Emergence really is a universal phenomenon

[EricDaily]

I need a Netflix series that is basically this level of production and explanation for various algorithms.

[mariuskilian]

When Sebastian says "there's much more to explore here" I cry everytime

[luciusalt]

The Slime simulations has to be one of the most amazing things I have seen in a long time. I got goosebumps when the first one broke off and started expanding.

[gblawrence]

“This ant is too indecisive and not making much progress in life.”

....

[ShimiiyDev]

So surreal to think how one can make such beautiful slime effects with just some seemingly simple rules.

[Hagami_]

Anyone else also wishing we could keep the slime patterns for wallpapers :D It looks amazing!

[CameronChester]

Probably my favourite series on youtube. Keep up the great work!

[cashgarman]

Wow, just wow. The second I finish this deadline at work I'm dusting off my compute shader knowledge and making slimes, maybe I'll try it in 3D. Thank you for the ongoing inspiration!

[storystimmler]

"A merchant, who travels from town to town, selling . . . cabbages, perhaps."

I caught that reference

[proprogramer]

i have finally managed to code the slime mold simulation myself like sebastian did after being inspired by this video after ive seen it about 1.5 years ago! always wanted to try to recreate this mesmerizing simulaiton myself and got it working in the end!

[calebarulandu]

Before: "Oh look a new Sebastian Lague video"
After: "I should really learn compute shaders..."

[chaoticgood]

Sebastian: _literally creates life in a computer simulation_
Also Sebastian: I got other stuff to do. I'll just leave this here.

[AlexanderWeixelbaumer]

Boss: Make an efficient short path search algorithm
Sebastian Lague: Done, here's an ant and a slime simulator
Boss: ...

[fubbernuckin]

16:58 this looks like some sort of organically grown future display technology up close. So cool!

[PKMartin]

Now I'm just imagining flying my submarine-spaceship-plane around a procedurally generated planet, over procedurally generated mountains topped by procedurally generated clouds, and procedurally generated undersea caves full of procedurally generated fish feeding on procedurally generated slime mold. Then night falls and the procedurally generated sunset fades to reveal a night sky full of other procedurally generated worlds. This entire series leaves me lost for words.