NEATPlatformer

This application is a platformer based on Kenneth O' Stanley's paper, found here, and is based off Seth Bling's implementation with changes as necessary found here. This is written in Python 3 with pygame.

Installation:

Make sure you have python3 and pip installed. Clone the repo in the directory of your choice, and enter the folder. Use command line and type pip install -r requirements.txt to download pygame.

To play the game:

python3 game.py (filename) The only applicable option for game.py is the level filename. You can use python3 game.py filename, or else it will load level.txt.

To start learning:

python3 neat.py OPTIONS

OPTIONS-

1. -l filename: Choose which level to train or play on. Default level.txt
2. -i filename: Which folder to read from and which generation to start from. Should be a folder and a filename, ie. -i output/gen10.txt
3. -o folder: Choose which folder to reference for saving newly trained networks. Default is 'output/'
4. -n x: Trains with x number of networks at once. Default 1

How to create a level to learn or play on:

1. Open a new text file. Name it whatever you want.
2. Make sure you have the number of lines be 12. You can try other amounts, but I think I need to fix it.
3. Put down a W whereever you want a walkable platform or wall.
4. Put down a T where you want your start player(s) to be.
5. Put down an H where you want your enemies to be.
6. Put down a P where you want your finish platform to be.
7. Make sure that every line has the same number of columns- I like to use an arbitrary character not used, like "e" or a period.

Future additions:

1. Display network of best player
2. Add top genome playback option