NetLogo User Community Models

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## WHAT IS IT?

This is a model of the internet game Boomshine created by Danny Miller. You, the player, have one opportunity, a boomshot, to click and create the longest chain reaction possible or a set number of explosions to achieve an estabilished goal. This requires the player to monitor the behavior of the circular turtles and choose an optimal boomshot location.

## HOW IT WORKS

When a boomshot is clicked, a turtle is created that expands to a set radius around the center of clicked point, shrinks to a radius of zero and dies. Once this boomshot happens, the turtle is said to have boomed. If a turtle contacts the boomshot during any of its time-elasped life period, the turtles stop moving at point of contact and similarly expand, contract, then die. If new turtles continue to contact boomed turtles, a chain reaction continues until no new contacts are made with a boomed turtle during its life span. Players who are better at choosing the location of the boomshot in relation to other turtles to achieve the longest chain reaction will receive higher scores.

## HOW TO USE IT

Buttons:
-New Game: resets the game. Game starts at level one.
-Play: starts the game from level one or at the level at which the game was halted.

Monitors:
-Level: there are 12 levels with 1) a set number of balls in play, and 2) the goal needed to be achieved for completion.
-Goal: the number of collisions needed to complete the level.
-Total Score: the total score across levels, which is equal to the sum of the score at the beginning of a level and the number of collisions made when the goal of the given level is met.
-Score: automatically updated within levels to show how many turtles have been boomed as a result of your boomshot.
-Number of balls in play: the number of balls on the screen.
-Ticks: shows number of ticks from the time play button was clicked until last turtle has boomed and died.

Switch:
-AI: a computer based agent that moves at a set speed and booms after a set number of ticks have elasped.
-Game: when game is 'On,' levels are preset; when game is 'Off,' the player can manually adjust the number of balls in play.

Slider:
-number-of-balls-manual: a manually adjusted number of balls on the patch. (n.b. This parameter is adjusted by the observer and is only available when the game is 'Off.')
-time-to-boom: sets how many ticks it takes before the AI turtle booms.
-player-speed: sets how fast the AI turtle moves.

## THINGS TO NOTICE

How is the score affected if both the AI and you take a boomshot in the same Play? That is, take your boomshot before the AI booms. Does the score improve with two boomshots--yours and the AI's random boomshot?

Are there levels that the AI can complete faster compared to other levels?

How does adjusting both the time-to-boom and player-speed affect the number of ticks it takes for the AI complete the level?

How does adjusting both the time-to-boom and player-speed affect the score of the AI with a different 'Number of balls in play'?

## THINGS TO TRY

Game "On" and AI "Off":
See if you can get through all levels.
Try to beat your previous score.

Game "Off" and AI "Off":
See if you can get all the balls to boom while varying the intial number of balls.
See if it is easier to boom more balls with a greater number of balls in play

Game "On" and AI "On":
Compare your score with that of the AI at the different levels.
See if the AI can get through all the levels.

Game "Off" and AI "On":
See what is the highest score that can be achieved by adjusting both time-to-boom and player-speed.

## EXTENDING THE MODEL

Adjust the AI based player so that it becomes smart. That is, it moves around and expolodes in an optimal manner to create the longest chain reaction (time) or with the most number of turtles.

Gather performance data from players--what determines where they click?

Add bonuses or penalities for exceeding or not reaching the goal, respectively.

Restrict the number of times one could fail to achieve the goals (e.g., number of lives available to the player) in order to complete all 12 levels.

## NETLOGO FEATURES

This model uses breeds to implement the different moving game pieces.

MOUSE-DOWN?, MOUSE-XCOR, and MOUSE-YCOR are used to detect and handle mouse clicks.

USER-MESSAGE WORD are used to relay information to the user about their performance in the game.

COLOR LPUT, and EXTRACT-RGB COLOR are used to allow the turtles to become transparent when they overlap.

## CREDITS AND REFERENCES

The present model was created by Delia Shelton, Eriko Atagi, Justin Keene, and Travis Ross, under the guidance of Tom Busey, in fulfillment of the NetLogo capstone requirement for COGS Q530 at Indiana University.

## HOW TO CITE

If you mention this model in a publication, we ask that you include these citations for the model itself and for the NetLogo software:
- Shelton, D.S., Atagi, E., Keene, J.R., and Ross, T. (2015). NetLogo Boomshakalaka Model. Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.
- Wilensky, U. (1999). NetLogo. http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/. Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.