This simple predator-prey simulation was the prototype for a server-client architecture for agentic simulations. The simulation is running in python the visualization and user interface is running in javascript in a web browser. This has the advantage that the simulation can run on its own on a server somewhere, unsupervised, and you just fire up the client when you want to see how it is doing.

In spite of being just a prototype for the architecture, this simulation has its own charm. Predators and prey have vision and speed, vision determines the distance to which they may spot prey or threats, speed determines their chase or flight speed, but cost on speed is quadratic, so there is a precarious balance of having just enough vision and junst enough speed. Prey also have intra-species aggression, so even after predators die out, prey can split into tribes or subspecies that compete for territory.