The World tab is the primary control surface for the simulation. It sets the scale of the ecosystem, controls food availability, and provides real-time population monitoring.
Sliders
| Setting | Range | Default | Description |
|---|
| Organisms | 500 – 50,000 (step 500) | 5,000 | Total number of organisms spawned at world initialization. Higher counts increase predator–prey dynamics but require more GPU throughput. |
| Food Pellets | 100 – 10,000 (step 100) | 2,000 | Maximum number of food pellets present in the world at any time. Organisms consume pellets to gain energy and grow. |
| Food Spawn Rate | 1 – 80 (step 1) | 15 | Pellets added per second. Low values create scarcity pressure; high values sustain larger populations with less competition. |
| Simulation Speed | 0.1 – 5.0 (step 0.05) | 1.00 | Multiplier applied to the simulation time step. Values above 1.0 fast-forward evolution; values below 1.0 slow it for detailed observation. |
Changing Organisms or Number of Species (in the Species tab) calls initWorld, which completely resets the simulation — all organisms, food, generation counter, and population history are cleared.
Population graph
The Population Over Time canvas tracks per-species organism counts across the last 200 ticks, updating every 0.25 seconds. Each species is drawn as a colored line using that species’ assigned hue. The graph gives an at-a-glance view of boom-and-bust cycles, species dominance shifts, and extinction events.
Species census legend
Below the population graph, the Species Census row shows a colored dot for each active species alongside its live organism count. Dots use the same 12-color palette assigned at world initialization. Zero-count species remain listed to make extinctions visible.
Scenario presets
The Scenario Presets dropdown loads a curated set of slider and checkbox values tuned for a specific ecological dynamic:
| Preset | Character |
|---|
| Stable Eden | High food, low aggression, steady coexistence |
| Arms Race | Escalating predation pressure, fast mutation |
| Battle Royale | Extreme scarcity, very high organism count |
| Superorganism | Strong flocking, low inter-species conflict |
| Food Chain Cycle | Rock-Paper-Scissors chain enabled with balanced species |
| Extinction Event | Many species, extremely low food spawn rate |
| Custom | Manual configuration; set when any slider is moved |
applyPreset(), then immediately calls resize() and initWorld() — the world resets automatically with the new parameters. There is no need to click Reset World separately after choosing a preset.
Reset World
The Reset World button re-initializes all organisms, food pellets, oases, and the generation counter using the current slider values. Population history is also cleared.
Stats bar
The stats bar at the bottom of the panel updates every frame:
| Chip | Description |
|---|
| FPS | Frames rendered per second by the WebGL loop |
| Alive | Live organism count at the current frame |
| Food | Active food pellet count at the current frame |
| Gen | Generation counter, incremented each reproduction event |