Evolving Life: A Primer (2D)

This 2D companion runs the same fitness-proportionate genetic algorithm as the 3D version, viewed from directly above a flat petri dish instead of orbiting a 3D scene: a side panel exposes mutation rate, selection strength, population size and simulation speed, a live readout tracks best and average fitness across generations, and each organism's 8-bit genome is decoded into a leg-length and stride gene that sets how fast it crawls toward the central food — the fittest, fastest crawlers are shown lit up brightest and are the ones selected to breed each generation.