Hello, and welcome to our bi-weekly progress update for the Hive Mind project! These past two weeks have been both exciting and challenging as we made significant progress on the visualization side of the simulation while grappling with some technical hurdles in movement logic. Here’s what we’ve been up to.

What’s New?

1. Free Camera Movement

We’ve introduced a free-moving camera that allows us to navigate the scene effortlessly. While it’s a fantastic addition, we noticed that the current movement speed is too high, making navigation feel a bit chaotic. This will be fine-tuned for a smoother experience in the next iteration.

2. Individual Ant Cameras

Each ant now has its own camera! We’ve added a system to toggle between the cameras of individual ants and the overarching free camera. This feature brings us closer to visualizing the world from an ant’s perspective and is particularly useful for monitoring their behavior in the simulation.

3. Debugging Improvements

To aid in debugging, each ant now has a unique identifier displayed on the screen. This helps us track their actions and state, making it easier to diagnose issues as they arise.

Current Challenge: Movement Logic

While working on binding the movement delegate to update the energy component, we encountered an issue where ants occasionally stop moving and fail to complete their tasks. This problem disrupts the simulation and is our top priority to resolve. Correct and uninterrupted movement is essential for the ants, and we’re committed to thoroughly testing and improving this system.

What’s Next?

Short-Term Roadmap

Fix Movement and Delegate Binding:

Ensure the ants’ movement logic is robust and tasks are completed without interruptions.

Refine the delegate handling system for energy updates during movement.

Implement Food and Hunger System:

Once the movement issues are resolved, we’ll start working on the food and hunger mechanics, adding another layer of realism to the simulation.

Reflection and Forward Outlook

Progress often comes with challenges, and while the movement issues have tested our patience, they’re an opportunity to learn and refine our approach. We’re confident that the next few weeks will bring solutions and exciting new features.

Thank you for following along on this journey! As always, feel free to share your thoughts or suggestions—we’d love to hear them.

See you in two weeks for the next update!