Come some, come all. Behold, the 2112 critter tournament is upon us. Combatants from across the classroom will join together to fight for their (virtual) lives in a gauntlet of trying challenges.
The tournament will take place Thursday, December 11th from 7pm to 9:30pm in Gates G01.
Even if you don't enter any of the events, come anyway! It's fun to watch, so find the shortest path to Gates G01! And if you feel unsure of your critter programming skills, know that the best program is not always the winning one. Stunning upsets and surprising winners are all quite common.
We'll see you there!
Sign Up On CMSX
Read on to learn more about the events.
Wish Upon A★
Delicious Treasure lies at the end of the maze, and the first critter to make it through claims victory. But beware the minotaur which roams the halls...
Up to three contestants and a minotaur will be loaded into a maze with a large pile of food in the center.
The first critter to make it to the food will win. However, the minotaur will attack and kill critters
it finds, so be sure to avoid it! Note that the smell sensor will have its radius reduced to
5 for this (and every) event.
Death First Search
An open field upon which critters will hash out their differences — by fighting!
Groups will be placed in small clusters in each corner of the battlefield and the last species standing is victorious. If more than one species is left by the end of the time limit, ties are broken by sum of the sizes of critters from each species. Manna will be enabled for this event.
Bread First Search
Food as far as the eye can see, and the species which collects the most wins.
Every tile of the map (except right around each starting cluster of critters)
contains a small amount of food. Whichever species consumes the most will win.
Note that critters are not permitted to use the serve action in
this event (you can't win by repeatedly eating your own vomit).
Graph-ics Showdown
Compete for the coolest GUI. Critter-ia: impress the course staff.
You may make changes to your GUI after the A6 submission.
We will let you plug your computer into the projector and demo your GUI.
Event Details
You are not required to participate, and winning is only worth fame and infamy. However, this will be the last chance to see the class before the final exam. Besides, upsets are frequent and immensely entertaining, so while the fun is optional, participation is highly recommended!
You may participate in teams of up to 3 people. Teams need not be the same as A6 (unless competing in the Graph-ics Showdown). Sample maps for the first three events are attached to the CMSX assignment. Note that the final event maps may differ from the samples provided.
Submission Instructions
Critters will be due on CMSX by 11:59 two days before the tournament, December 9th. Teams intending to participate in Graph-ics Showdown must also let us know on CMSX by that time.
Important: All participants must submit a plain text file with their team name to the appropriate slot on the CMSX assignment, or else your entry may not be counted. Do not include any other text in the file; it should only contain your team name. Please try to keep your team name appropriate for an academic setting.
If you are participating in a critter event, you must submit your critter
program in a file whose first line is a comment of the form // MEMORY: num
where num is the number of critter memory locations your program needs.
You must not include the rest of the critter program header. Only your
code goes below the opening comment.
For example, the following is a valid critter submission (though I wouldn't expect it to win many events):
// MEMORY: 10 1 = 1 --> wait;
To participate in the Graph-ics Showdown, simply submit a text file to the slot on CMSX. The contents of the file do not matter.
Additional Competition Rules
The smell sensor's radius will be reduced to 5 in all events. Individual events may have additional
restrictions. All events allow budding, as well as attacking other critters.
Manna is disabled in all events unless otherwise noted. All mutations are disabled.
All critters will be normalized by setting their size, offense, and defense to 1, so don't try to cheat that way. This is all about the programs.
Please ensure your critter programs compile before submitting. Your submission will be disqualified if you submit a critter that does not compile!
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This page includes graphics designed by Freepik as well as Critter World submissions from prior CS 2112 students.