Completion

Neon Culture, as this semester's project, has come to an end. The following are features I was able to include:

• 3D Graphics:
• Cells as cubes with colored wireframe for team identification
• Borders Identified clearly
• Background "Prominence Maps" to show colors on a local scale
• Artificial Intelligence
• Moves always in at least the general direction of a reasonable target
• Becomes more aggressive when it has an advantage
• Has a toggle feature for switching between AI personalities
• XBox 360
• Paint application runs superbly and is easy to use
• Paints one cell at a time or fills areas

Also, here are some errors that I was never able to correct:

• 3D Graphics
• Cells cluster on top of each other, making it hard to identify how many there actually are on the screen at one time
• Artificial Intelligence
• With the exception of completely red images, cultures usually eventually reach an equilibrium and pace back and forth inconclusively
• XBox 360
• There is a bug where sometimes the "Back" button will cause the game to ask for another image randomly
• Sometimes the border cells are a bit past the edges of the screen

Also, here are some options for further expansion that I was unable to make work:

• 3D Graphics
• Model meshes for cells that actually look like bacteria
• Circular, petri dish environment and entrancing, neon background
• Artificial Intelligence
• Give players some competitive control over individual team's behaviors
• Have a tie-breaking element to fix pacing stalemates
• XBox 360
• Allow for saving of images/games
• Implement an internet component

Overall, however, I am exceedingly pleased with how the project has come together. Despite these flaws and questions for expansion, each element is both functional and appealing, leaving me with a contented feeling on each. I feel that Neon Culture is complete.

Thank you for reading through my blog. I hope at least some part of my experience has been valuable to you. For further information, see below, but otherwise, this is Tyler Silber saying thank you and goodbye!

SDF: http://www.cs.lmu.edu/~tsilber/SDF.zip
Final project: http://www.cs.lmu.edu/~tsilber/Neon_Culture_v1_0.zip

(If you have anything else you want to know, leave your contact info in a comment here and I will hopefully check in and see it and be very happy to communicate)