Overview Dr. Robert Beiko is seeking proposals to develop the networking and operational aspects of a computer game that will be used to teach basic principles of population and sequence evolution. The purpose of this game will be to introduce students from a primarily computer science background to the ideas of biological populations, fitness of individuals, and changes in DNA and protein sequences that occur over time. The game will be played in a classroom setting, where students choose basic properties of a population of organisms. The starting populations will then compete against one another in a changing environment. When the simulation is completed, the teacher will be able to show summaries of the proceedings, including evolutionary trees and sequence comparisons. The basic architecture of the game will be a client / server format, where each student runs an instance of the client application, and the teacher manages the server. The game will proceed as follows: (1) The clients connect to the server. (2) Each student selects starting parameters for their population, including resource usage, preferred habitat, and rate of mutational change. Based on these parameter choices, a population is created, with each individual containing DNA sequences that influence their habitat preference, etc. (3) The teacher defines the initial environment (for instance available resources, habitat parameters) Turn procedure: (4) In each turn of the game, minor random changes are made to the underlying DNA sequences, which may change the fitness of a students population in a given habitat, or change their preferred resource. Populations increase or decrease in size based on their survival: if a students population reaches zero, they are eliminated. (5) While the mutation process is random, the student can modify the mutation rate of their population to increase or decrease the number of changes that occur. They can also try to migrate their population to a location with better resources or a more suitable habitat. (6) Environmental parameters change: temperatures increase or decrease, resources become more abundant or scarce, etc. The game ends after a predefined number of turns, or at the discretion of the teacher. Recorded sequences and population histories can be compared to illustrate how sequences have changed over time, particularly in response to changing environmental conditions. Proposal details Four elements of this game will ultimately need to be developed: network operations, turn procedure, parameterization and implementation of evolutionary phenomena, and graphical representation. The current RFP is focused on the development of the networking and turn procedure aspects of the game, and (potentially) classes to represent elements like DNA sequences and habitats. Although biological knowledge would be an asset, it is not necessary for the basic development of this program. Applicants should provide the following information in their proposal: - An outline of the proposed architecture of the game - A justification for the choice of language to be used - A brief overview of relevant code libraries that will be used - A work plan, indicating the steps in implementation and estimated time for each step Applicants do not need to develop a plan for game elements that are not covered by the proposal, but the proposed implementation should be developed the final goals of the software in mind.