I Created Life. Where is it going? 

Please let me know what you think about the future of this project and the direction it should take by answering this poll: forms.gle/a7eBu96MhgYJr2V7A

Im a biology teacher and just yesterday I held a tournament to see who of my students could develop the best species, it was great, I love your work, keep it up.

I love the bibits sprites, but I also think it would be great to have some sort of procedural generation based on genetics so you can end up with very different looking creatures.

If you're thinking of bringing on talent, I would suggest making the project somewhat open source, or available for people to mod, that way you wouldn't have to worry about paying people. I know a lot of the community and support is very passionate and would love to contribute their ideas for free! Any mods that gain significant traction or development you could fold into the main game, but your base game and passion project would not be modified or changed without your permission. Just a thought!

Truly an underrated channel. I've been quietly following for a while and I just wanna say, you're really changing this thing from "hey look these little thingies change their behavior" to a full blown simulation. I think you're way too humble. If this comes on steam for 20$ I'll buy two copies (dunno who I'm gonna give the other one to, but still gonna give you the money) Honestly, with this much effort put into this, I can definitely see some real research papers comparing some bacteria evolution to bibites. Really hoping you get there. With improved performance and neural network system (I love dots, I don't really program in unity much but it's a really cool system) I really hope this becomes huge. Keep at it man.

I really like how the look of the bibites has evolved although the whiteboard-like look of the original ones was always charming

What has stuck out to me in your videos is your level of organization. You document and present your progress and experiments in a well organized way, while still actually being able to make progress. It instills confidence in me that you can continue making progress without falling into a loop of perfectionism. I would love to see further documentation on both your development of and experiments within the Bibits. I hope that if certain goals seem unattainable due to time constraints, that you can delegate tasks like coding or video editing to others. I also hope that if finances are an issue, that you can turn to sources like Steam, merch, and sponsorships. I'm fairly confident your audience will more than understand and support your decisions in how you delegate tasks and manage financial issues. At the end of the day, remember that you're only human and that your own needs, wants and ESPECIALLY your physical/mental health should come first. Much love from a fan of the Bibits, I can't wait to see what the future holds!!

I think Topigraphy is a really neat idea. Simply adding objects that can’t be moved or eaten in the existing environment would change things a lot. We’d see certain species thrive in the narrow, crowded ‘coral reefs’. Bibits would have homes, maybe mark territories with pheremones… I can’t wait to see how all your ideas will play out

"Better than it was" is the incremental approach to greatness. Keep up the awesome work!

its crazy how much this project has growed, GL for the future

This sounds really cool! I have been coding on my own as a side hobby, and whenever I've made road maps, I'm always WAAAAAAAAY too ambitious lol. I've also been dabbling in Neural networks, and I've been semi-working on my own little evolution simulation. That's actually how I found your channel, and the amazing world of the Bibites. Keep it up!!

C'est fou de voir toute l'évolution de ce jeu. En tout cas, tu peux être fier de ce que t'as fais parce que c'est un gros banger 👍👍👍

I think different swimming styles would’ve a great addition as it can affect efficiency, speed, agility, and many other factors as well as introduce more variety. Also I would hesitate before doing surface evolution as from what I’ve seen it can be far more challenging than that of an ocean biome depending on the details. Great job as always this truly is an amazing project

I was just introduced to this from a random youtube video and honestly, I enjoy it. I like turning it on a spare monitor and watch my little bibites move and grow while I'm working.

This kind of project has been something like a dream of mine for a long time, and possibly because of it I got to know the bibites since the very start. It's really cool how much it has grown, and how closely your vision aligns with how I imagine it.

This my favorite yt channel and I can't believe that you're not more popular! Such dedication. Could you maybe more often post dev progress on twitter/reddit/community post etc?

This seems like an excellent road map, I'm so excited to see the future of this project and I hope you can achieve your dreams. Ever since the Creatures series I've been obsessed with A-life, and I think The Bibites really can be the future of the field.

So happy to have found these little guys. Can’t wait to see how this all turns out

Oh gobs, it's already been eight years? ToT

Woah that’s a lot of upcoming, interesting stuff for the bibites. Thank you and keep up with the awesome work!

Ware are the updates man? I'm curious how it's going. I haven't seen a update in a while. Not even on itch

Small suggestion: When you implement the "evolving plants" idea at some point, you could work with the folks from the Thrive project, they currently work on multicellular organisms so they might have some code to share. ^^

I don't know if you still read this comment section, but making blood will allow for a parasite niche, which will then allow for a symbiosis niche to occur of smaller bibites eating the parasites off of larger bibites, assuming bibites can tell the difference between prey and allies

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO he uploads again! I love this stuff man, I am a regular on the reddit and I even shared it with some of my friends who now play! Thank you for making this stuff! You're a legend.

my man, your channel is the only one i've subbed to AND rung the bell. (wanna pledge on patreon but money is tight) every time you post i grab snacks and enjoy watching. your ambitions may be crazy but every genius who's made history had some form of crazy. i believe in your vision and i hope you continue to push on. here's an idea i think would add so much to the bibites: observation and learning. essentially you'd have to code their neural networks to have a chance to evolve based on surrounding species' behavior/looks. tie that to pheromones (add some more like a stress pheromone for predator warnings for example) and you have the potential for the bibites to start exhibiting countless forms of complex behavior by observing their surroundings and imitating their own and even other species. keep it up my man, i'd love to see where the bibites surprise us!

I stumbled upon your videos some time ago (2 years? before sprites?) when I was looking for something to replace my urge for playing creatures (3). Something living in the background, I can come to, whenever I need some distraction. I think you might find some inspiration in that old game and the ideas that were covered in the "creatures' biology". Keep up the good work.

Hey great video, love the bibites and play it since the first video. Here are some of my thoughts. I think features are not the main goal for now. Since it is a simulation, it being faster makes a huge difference. That leads to better bibites more complex and bigger simulations, which can also increase diversity and ultimately predation. It allows for quicker progress and test runs. The other two main goals should be quality of live, which you already improved a lot and Features, which can create more diversity. Graphs and stats are super important for gameplay, since they are all we got and some of the most interesting parts of it. One of the biggest things, that is holding the game back right now is that there is not much the bibites can learn. We saw that best in the tournament. There are a few things that can/have to be learned for example: Void avoidance, Collision avoidance, Multiple food sources, growth control, Energy and birth efficient. But that is about it. Even when trying to create your own bibite you will rather quickly realize that there is not much a bibite can do with the information given to them. Everything else is just boring stat optimisation and some of my simulation got those down to fraktions. New features should have the goal of fixing that. Herding is very effective but i dislike it for two reasons. First it is super easy fix for the avoiding each other problem. A single connection does it. You cant achieve the same result with other connections since herding uses more information then the bibite is given. But the big probelm is that it is so hard to understand. You have no graphics so it is really hard to try to understand why your bibites moves where and why with herding involved. It is also genes depending which is also kinda bad. I hope biome will fix some of these problems since the bibite then can be given more information. One big thing would be memory, since as of now it is not existed or to hard to evolve randomly. The vision update would also fix that. So my idea is pretty much the same as yours in the video. First focus on graphics and stats and quality of lives stuff like controls and options. Then make the game more efficient. Next overhaul brain and vision to make them be able to learn something new/unexpected/interesting. Then add features that support that in the right way. Like different biomes and plants and materials or weather etc etc. Of those exist already way to many anyway on the reddit and comments. Sry for the long rant and spelling mistakes Luweg

Bibite guy, I've been following your videos for a while now, and I just want to tell you that you have one of the most innovative, inspiring visions I've had the pleasure of seeing. You have not only realized a passion you've had, but that passion could change the way we think about life and technology as a whole forever. The possibilities of your project are endless, and there is no doubt in my mind that given enough time and resources, you could change the world. Though, don't read this and put too much pressure on yourself. The amount of work you have already done in the field will lead to not only new advances in Artificial Life (AL) but new faces and ideas that we still have yet to know. Good job, and thank you.

I'm so hyped for the future of the bibites !!! This is so cool !!!!

Thanks for this history video! I filled in the form with an idea I had for multi-stage energy levels, hopefully I explained it good enough ^^

For your version numbering: The first digit indicate the application version, when there are big new features, or a total rebuild of the application. The second digit indicate smaller patches, bug fixes, etc. You can have more than 2 digits, but basically the leftmost one is the application's core version. And further right you go, you'll find smaller changes.. I don't know if I'm clear, or if you already know that, but I just think your version 0.7 should probably be called 1.0 because you'll developped a brand new core algorithm. Anyway, I love this project, and your aspiration are close to mine ! I can't wait to see where all of this will go.

I've spent the last few weeks breeding a sustainable species of parasites. I started with the parasite base template but quickly realised they never survive long enough to lay eggs. If their host dies they often get confused and stare at the meat until they starve to death, so I spent two days teaching them to eat meat properly, before I sent them back to the camels for survival training.😂

Thanks for the update. I enjoy seeing how this project progresses. Adding to steam early access for $5 seems like a great way of simply gaining exposure and promoting patreon support which should be in the game launch menu.

Adding a comment to help with the youtube thing, good luck with everything, in 10 years bibites will be to biology what Stable diffusion was to art, please dont give up!

I've filled the form but I'll say it here: more foundational work on the software! Being able to explore the evolution and record it, independently of the rendering engine, would be amazing.

I can't wait to see what comes out of this! Its exciting and scary at the same time.

I am so proud of you committing to this. It's another project that I can follow along and learn from. (the other project on my mind being MMX3 by Wintergatan btw...)

4:40 I've seen this clip and I'm familiar with what happened, but somehow I've never seen it with sound. "I'm going home now" is such a raw line.

I put your name to some people early last year. I can't remember what they thought but I still find this most interesting.

Belgium Bibites enjoyer here, and a few thing to say 1) why not create a discord for your comunity ? It will realy help, especially if you want more direct feedback 2) one of the main reasons why I'm following this project is for the characteristic editing of videos, like your use of green screen 3) if one day you want make a french traduction of your menu I will be happy to help

you are an extremely humble and handsome person with a wonderful mind and i absolutely love how much passion and effort that you’ve been putting into this project!

Some more suggestions: - networking - basically each Bibit simulation would be a realm that could be connected to another realm, so that each simulation can retain it's own settings but this could make for some very interesting evolution as Bibit's move between realms and adapt to new environments. It will also allow for bigger simulations and multiplayer simulations. Given the plan to change game engine this is probably best left for after the game engine conversion, but could be added as part of that. You would need a way to ensure each Bibit has a unique id (UID?) so they don't conflict with Bibit's that evolved on other simulations. Also the networking system should handle disconnections and reconnections (because the internet can be intermittent) and also ideally should be based on a mesh idea rather than a client server model. - Moving limbs, maybe link this to ability/speed of movement or other abilities, so that there's a reason to evolve them.

I think, if done right, barriers might be the most important addition to the simulation. A barrier can have size exclusion limits, so that it only works if a bibit is not to small or to big and it does not need inpenetrable but may come with an energy cost to pass. And it can exist for a limited amount of time. Such barriers would open up the possibility for a much higher diversity of survival strategies. And if you then also add the possibility, that bibits can create such barriers at a cost (which should depend on durability and stability), you open up the possibility that bibits evolve protective structures or traps. And ambush strategies. And if perception of the properties of those barriers becomes possible (but again, at a cost), the variety of strategies increese even further. Evolution needs habitats and the possibility that organisms influence that habitat.

Where are you? I miss your vids and hope you are still working one this. Wish the best for you are love the vids.

A quick feature idea (idk much about programming but seems quick to implement): a toggle for a constant random follow cam. Hit the button, it locks onto a bibite and tracks them as if you clicked on them. If they die, it selects a new bibite and tracks them, and just keeps doing that until you turn it off again. Or add an option to switch targets on a timer, so it hops to a new subject at set intervals.

This channel should have x10 the number of subscribers. Lets all see if we can get other big YT dev channels to do shout-outs, etc. e.g. CodeBullet, Seb F-something (I forget his name, but he does some cool stuff), etc. You get the idea. Let's make The Bibites famous!

Great video! Thanks for walking through your journey and I'm excited by all these plans. This video came at the right time for me as I only discovered your project a couple months ago so I wasn't really aware of the whole history of your work. But I've also been working on my own evolution sim project (I started a couple years ago but I'm very much in that on-again off-again stage you described!) so it's really valuable to hear you talk about this stuff. I don't know if I'll ever go as far as you have, but it's great to see you show what's possible! Keep up the great work :)

I would love to see a video explaining the neural net and how it works. What are the input neurons, output neurons, how you decide on them, how you represent them, and in general that kind of stuff. It's cool to see the "brain" of an individual but I would love to understand it deeper.

It's awesome to see how far the Bibites has come, and how far it has to go. If this plan with hiring a team to help you works out, I think it'll really help improve the game. Can't wait to see where these silly little pixels go next!

The nuance that has gone into this project really is inspiring! Can’t wait to see where it goes ❤!

insane, i remember finding your channel when your videos got a few hundred or thousand views, i dont remember (no offense), its crazy how fast it exploded

I found your channel just after the tournament and have since watched all the other videos. Love all the plans and you have already included everything I was thinking of. Really excited for the future of this.

Incredible project, bro, I see you from Colombia and I'm really inspired by you!

It's a super interesting game. I'm really interested in a Lineage tree because right now I make them all on my own and gosh is it tedious. But I love how it looks.

All the best mate, love the story behind the project ! I'll bite on the long-term vision, when is the bibites version of Spore coming ? :D

Your roadmap seems great! all things I'm exited to see their implementation. I also enjoy your YT videos making tournaments, showcasing features, and experimenting in general. Let's hope the game can get even better and better. Cheers!

I think this project is just insanely cool I have a huge special interest in coding and specifically AI and this is something that makes my brain super happy to watch

I've been here since the beginning, I love where this project has gone as the subject fascinates me as well. Keep up the good work!

If this was on Steam I'd totally buy it.

I think the most interesting thing about this is the notion that we really focus heavy on AI, but depending on what your parameters are, we have indeed succeeded in main Artificial LIFE. I think more emphasis is needs on the life part, because we see artificial and don't give it much thought as far as your average laymen goes, but it is life.

i hope u get further on it ... i still love it .... gives me compfort for manny reasons ...thx

Bro, The Bibites are definitely one of the best Artificial life sims out there, I love to just run random things overnight to see how they evolve.

Trying to make the project more moddable sooner rather than later is a good idea. Mods are a great resource and help the community thrive when there is less development on the main project. It is somewhat like free labor since you can request modders to have their mods ported into the simulation. Secondly, having the project have some sort of interface so that other applications can run it and extract data from it would be good. This way other projects could pay some sort of fee to use the simulation, such as in games. Physics engines aren't a final product in most cases, and neither do I think the evolution sim is one either.

Thank you for the roadmap! I would really like to buy a Bibites T-Shirt, would be easyer for me to spread the Bibites-spirit that way!

You are an INCREDIBLE person. I wish I knew you in real life. I'm just a plumber but I feel like you are realizing all my inner fantasies about how gaming and how evolution works. I get extremely excited about life, biology, natural selection and evolution, to the point where I want to jump up and down haha. Your project is so amazing it's brilliant and I just want to say Im very happy you've found a community of people who believe in it and enjoy it and that you can share your love of the project with because you deserve it.

While there is a limitation on the amount of nodes, I found a decent workaround. The main issue is that the nodes get used up with stuff that doesn't really benefit them. Basically I made them more likely to lose nodes and synapses, plus made nodes and synapses use more energy. Losing nodes that help them survive is likely to result in the bibite dying without much success. Losing useless nodes also helps them survive by allowing them to consume less energy.

I've watched a few of your videos previously, and I am blow away by how far this project has come and wonderful biological depth you have added to these little bibits.

Your coffee cup is empty, but your future is full and bright

I think you might be surprised by the role of a project like the Bibites. I doubt it'd be philosophy (there's nothing really new there, artificial life is an old debate) or actual biology (the bibites aren't a model, they are a limited simulation, so it has its uses... but it's limited). But for mathematics and game design? It's a great way to show that complex, sustainable, evolutive systems can exist without external control and limited initial input. If you want to populate an "environment" with procedural "life", that's a really cool example to follow. Emergent selection isn't really a thing currently for AIs but it might become one as mass applications start to appear. Like, imagining designing a product but creating a simulated environment and letting a system test designs that compete with each other. Maybe one day we'll fly in spaceships designed bu successive iterations in an evolutionary simulation like the bibites.

I think one of the areas that needs to be added is environmental factors to add pressure to genetics beyond eat or be eaten. Terrain might limit access based on size that could serve as defense. Water flow is another, where mass could help.

Have you considered a sister project to focus on the evolution of flora types, how the static organism might adapt for nutrient density or variable light levels as well as competing against predation while also requiring natural pollinators?

I think a cool idea would be introducing body damage so that certain bibbits could deal damage to attackers. Also I think carnivorous plants would also be cool!

I admire what you do so so so much. I have some classes at school, because I am studying game design atm (heavily on the graphic side, not the code side), where we learned how to code and I just absolutely cannot grasp it (on the other hand, we started in C# which is not really a great newbie language...). Still, even if I don't understand the code, I just love the science in this, and science in general. This project must've taken a lot of time and I appreciate the amount of love you pour into it. I have nothing but respect and admiration for you. Much love 💖

We need bibite merch! Plushies, posters, shirts! I would absolutely buy a bibite plushie, especially if they were customizable.

Although we wish for the updates to be as soon as possible, i think it would be best if you work at your own pace, dont burn yourself out. We support you!!!

i know this would be in like 1.1-1.2 or something far in the future, but make it so bibites can go from lil tiny guys, slowly into fish-fish like organisms, maybe others that simulate clams, molluscs, others that simulate crustaceans, i know this would be a huge step with multiple issues, and probably flaws, but if something of this nature were to come to light, that would honestly be the coolest thing ever.

I think it would be cool if bibites had social interactions that made them more realistic. Like being able to play with eachother

I'm excited for what's to come!

Hell yeah! Been looking towards this video for a while and when I go to update tomorrow you’ll get another $20 from me, totaling $60 so far. I know it’s not much but that’s a pretty solid price for a game and I’mma keep occasionally throwing more monetary support. Thank you so much for your work good sir.

Oh boy, just version 0.6 alone will improve user experience so much… I can’t wait!

Your first videos 3 years ago greatly contributed to my decision to pursue computer science. Im finishing my bachelors this semester :) You should definitely host another tournament to encourage growth in the community. Also, I wanna see how my best bibites perform ❤

I think a quick dip into exploring plant evolution would be to give the plant a "reward" for being eaten(to push evolution) and access to pheromones, either the same or new ones, maybe both so they can evolve with or against bibites.

Wow! Version 0.6 alone will improve user experience so much… without even talking about the next stuff, it all looks incredible!! Btw, you should add an easy way to donate a little bit, personally I do not have a fixed income so I cannot really be Patreon (yet), but I would still like to be able to donate a little bit, to support you and the project as I can

How about a way to highlight all the bibites that have a particular tag? The ability to toggle showing said tag like your backer's names in the end of the videos?

I love this game and i have an idea for it which is to give the bibites a memory even for like a few seconds it will make them way more realistic and it will make the simulation better like a carnavore memorizing a spot to hunt in or herbivores knowing where food is

This is an amazing project and I'm so excited to see what the future holds! I'm sure the Bibites will continue to evolve and surprise us with their intelligence and capabilities. Keep up the great work!

I really love your vision of growing the simulation by finding new ways for the system to change itself, rather than simply adding complexity within the existing framework. It just feels intuitively right for the fundamental structure of the network to evolve alongside the details of its behavior. Plus, the less you have hardcoded in, the easier it is to add new ideas down the road.

This is going to be soooooo cool!

Very excited about BIOME and all the possibilities for emergence. Scientific papers about the Bibites will be published in the near future.

I cannot imagine how far this project will get, it has so much potential that it is just mindblowing. Awesome work, I love it.

Im glad i found this channel, cant wait to download it, was trying to Do this on my Phone but now i understand it would be impossible to run it over an hour🤣

Yo it’s been awhile. How are things going?

This is by far my favorite project in the world, ever. I wish you all the best and a great progression.

Amazing timeline I am excited to see where this project is going in the future

You go for your dreams man good luck!

You should collaborate and shared ideas with the creator of The Sapling hes working on a really cool evolution simulation too!

Custom merch, t-shirts for instance, with an individual's favorite Bibite on it might be popular, but I don't know about the profit margin on something like that.

Those updates sound great

You are so cool for making this! I love the ideas mentioned for the future :D

This made me think back to Tierra, and I bought it after seeing one of these demo videos. Impressive work! I'm off to play with some evolution!