Mink Hollow Media

Democratizing Information Technology

11: Simulation Tools

Chapter 11

Here’s were we will put color versions of the images, updates, and other extras.

This chapter will describe several freely available tools that can be used to build simulations and games.

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  1. Game Making Software
    1. GameMaker
      1. Example – Space Battle
    2. UDK: The Unreal Development Kit
    3. Greenfoot
      1. Example – Cannons
  2. Spreadsheet Games & Sims
    1. Example: Egg Money
    2. Example: Stalin’s Dilemma
  3. Simulation SDKs
    1. GameMaker
      1. Limited Bacterial Growth
      1. Limited Bacterial Growth
      1. Single Server Queuing System
      1. Single Server Queuing System
    6. Second Life – Simulating a World
  4. The Right Tool for the Job
  5. Summary
    1. Concepts
    2. Terminology
  6. References, Notes & Further Resources

Images

*Please note: all images are copyrighted, permission to use an image must be obtained from Wiley (and possibly also the original sources).

 

Figure 11-1: A GameMaker window shown during the construction of a spaceship object.
Figure 11-2: A screenshot from the Space Battle game, developed using GameMaker.
Figure 11-3: The UDK development environment in edit mode, showing a simple play volume under construction. The odd floating object is a light source.
Figure 11-4a: What the player of the game would see from various locations. This is the game being constructed in Figure 11-3.
Figure 11-4b: What the player of the game would see from various locations. This is the game being constructed in Figure 11-3.
Figure 11-5: A screenshot from the Cannons game, built using Greenfoot.

 

Figure 11-6: A simple Egg Profit Simulation
Figure 11-7: A more complex Egg Profit Simulation
Figure 11-8: Egg Profit Simulation Plot
Figure 11-9: Stalin’s Dilemma Title Screen
Figure 11-10: Stalin’s Dilemma 2
Figure 11-11: Stalin’s Dilemma 3
Figure 11-12: A GameMaker simulation of a single server queue (MM/1). The departure (D) is moving to the right and off of the screen, and the clients (A) are waiting in a queue for a hot dog.

 

Figure 11-13: An OpenModelica window showing part of the program development process for the bacterial growth simulation.
Figure 11-14: The result of the bacterial growth simulation expressed as a graph of population over time.
Figure 11-15: A VisSim program to compute solutions of the Logistic equation as a simulation of bacterial growth. This solves the same problem as does the program in Figure 11-14.
Figure 11-16: The result of running the simulation of Figure 11-15. This simulation is the same as the one shown in Figure 11-13, and the result is consistent with the result shown in Figure 11-14.
Figure 11-15: A VisSim program to compute solutions of the Logistic equation as a simulation of bacterial growth. This solves the same problem as does the program in Figure 11-14.
Figure 11-16: The result of running the simulation of Figure 11-15. This simulation is the same as the one shown in Figure 11-13, and the result is consistent with the result shown in Figure 11-14.
Figure 11-17: A single server queuing system (M/M/1) simulated in Simio. Arrows indicate flow of clients and the green triangle at the server is a client being served.
Figure 11-18: A single server queuing system simulated using ExtendSim. Customers are created on the left, flow into and through the queue into the server (vendor), and exit on the right.
Figure 11-19: What Second Life looks like using its standard client. This space is in fact intended as a theatre set for the play Waiting For Godot.
Figure 11-20a: Educational simulation spaces in Second Life. (Upper left) Areva nuclear plant
Figure 11-20b: Educational simulation spaces in Second Life. (Upper right) Genome island
Figure 11-20c: Educational simulation spaces in Second Life. Lower left) National space society
Figure 11-20d: Educational simulation spaces in Second Life. (Lower right) University of Southern Queensland law school.