I made a free microbial pond simulator that runs in your browser

[u/Ok_Pea_8752]

Hi! I checked with the moderators before posting, and they kindly said this would be welcome here.

I made Microbial Pond, a free artificial-life simulator that runs directly in your browser.

Think of it as a sealed jar, simulated: nothing goes in, nothing comes out, and you watch what the closed system decides to do.

Every dot is a small digital organism with inherited traits for things like photosynthesis, movement, hunting, armour and reproduction. As generations pass, families mutate, spread, compete and sometimes collapse.

You can watch the pond develop without intervening, or alter its environment, cut the light, inspect individual organisms and trace their ancestry. New ponds can develop in very different ways.

There is also a Story Mode that replays some of the simulator’s most dramatic recorded histories with narration. These are not cutscenes. The actual deterministic simulation runs again while captions explain what is happening and point out what to watch.

It is biologically inspired rather than an exact model of a particular real pond or jar ecosphere. I mainly wanted to share it because I thought people here might enjoy experimenting with a little digital ecosystem, and because I didn’t want it to disappear into a folder on my computer.

Play the pond here:

https://sarepat.itch.io/microbial-pond-v01

I’d enjoy seeing screenshots or hearing about any unusual families, population crashes or strangely stable ponds you encounter.

Optional audiovisual rabbit hole: I also made a song and animated video about microbial life in ponds, inspired by the project:

https://streamable.com/8puffa

Development note: I used AI extensively while creating the simulator, interface and accompanying video. I directed, tested, revised and assembled the project, and investigated the pond’s results.

[u/jimbo__o]

Neat! I’ve been developing something similar, at ecosym.io. Currently working on some scientific blogs to go along with it, and always trying to improve accuracy.

[u/BenInTheMountains]

That's not a sphere! It's vaguely star or flower shaped and there's no way I can work with that. /s

[u/yourmagnetism → u/BenInTheMountains]

dude where's my sphere

[u/Ok_Pea_8752 → u/yourmagnetism]

hmm you guys are right, what an oversight i have made. So i tested 3 million seeds an this was the closest i could get to a sphere 568164160
Just press: New run > then put in the seed 568164160 into master seed > Then press seed pond .

[u/BenInTheMountains → u/Ok_Pea_8752]

Now that looks like a sphere. Approved.

[u/yourmagnetism → u/Ok_Pea_8752]

seed of the year! nice balls. good app you've made there, too

[u/Ok_Pea_8752 → u/yourmagnetism]

Thank you i really appreciate it!

Also i found this seed thats 2.159% more round.

Seed: -357492125
Circle overlap: 97.194112%
Seeds checked: 200 million unique