| e-den is a freeware a-life program that supports a unique, digital life-form
designed to inhabit cyberspace. The program creates a 2-dimensional world in which
organisms equipped with digital bodies and simulated neurons may roam, feed, fight
and reproduce. e-den was written in C++, runs on Windows (3.1 or later) and requires a Pentium processor with at least 32 Meg of RAM. e-den is offered as an educational tool or as an experimental playground
for those interested in artificial life, biology or neuroscience. The free software can be used to study evolution in general or to assess the evolutionary fate of specific neural arrangements. e-den is open-ended and, in theory, allows the evolution of an infinite range of digital organisms, containing neural nets of unlimited complexity. The digital genomes of e-den do not simply set the neural connection weights in a predefined, layered neural net but instead specify every feature of a potentially unlimited number of complex simulated neurons. In fact, the genomes may be thought of as rudimentary programs written in a robust, single-purpose computer language.
 An important feature of e-den is that users may link their own local digital world with similar worlds over the internet and thereby participate in the creation of a large, autonomous digital ecosystem with a multilevel food-chain. Users may even design and name their own species and then attempt to take over the e-den master grid.
 This site is intended as a reference for the e-den program and contains far more information than is needed to run the program. To be a part of the e-den master grid, just get hold of the free software, make your e-mail address available and press 'play' on the e-den toolbar a couple of times a week... As far as pets go, e-den organisms couldn't come cleaner or quieter so please, open up your PC to this brand new life form.
| For further information, e-mail Craig McColl. Combine my first and last names in one word (no underscore) and add @hotmail.com. The old e-mail address is no longer valid.
UPDATE: Version 0.60 is the latest version, with some modifed metabolic parameters that encourage the survival of carnivores. Recent demo worlds available on the download page also include a sample carnivore species. I have made available a draft of the e-den syntax but be warned that this is only for the curious and is not necessary to run the software. You might want to look at the samples page which contains a number of worlds filled with viable organisms as well as an illustrated essay on the course of one evolutionary session. I have neglected e-den for many months because of other demands on my time but will be upgrading it soon and would be happy to consider any suggestions.
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