IDAT204 - Evaluation

The completed version of the Org-ant digital organism has both successes but also failures.  Org-ant has met most of the initial elements of the proposal. There are four possible interactions, the wall, apple, microphone, and the money.  The ants in the environment react as intended in most cases with these elements.  The money idea however did have to be changed as there was limitations in the knowledge of how to code the original idea.  Instead the plan was developed so that rather than swarming towards the money as was first suggested, the ants would act as a team to gather up the money and store it at the bottom of the ant farm.
The main functionality of Org-ant has in some ways gone beyond what was expected, as the user is able to put multiple objects into the environment at the same time.  These do have to all be of a different type of object, apart from the money, which once stored can be added again.  This is better as it allows for more functionality and will hold the users interest more easily.
In terms of the microphone input that we were considering to include, this has not as of yet been incorporated.  This functionality was built into the product but was not completed and so this has been left out and could be incorporated as a future improvement to the project.  Another possible future improvement that has not been included in Org-ant currently is the reaction to the time of day.  This is because it would only be a very minor change and would only be worth including in a more advanced and refined version of Org-ant.
Another development for the future could be that the ants have an ability to provide for themselves rather than relying on the user interaction.  Currently nothing happens with the ants or in the environment unless users interact with it.  It would be more like an organism if the ants could look after themselves and each other. Similarly the ants do not have any reproductive ability and do not die so do not always respond alike to an organism.
Overall I am happy with the final outcome of the Org-ant project as it encompasses most of the elements originally defined in the proposal.  The digital organism is functional and interesting and acts mainly as expected when we first envisaged the project.  There have been very little changes throughout the project  but there are also a lot of possible improvements if we were to develop the project to a higher level in the future.