So we have a situation where we have 256 bits that represent the location of pixels in a 16×16 grid. I’m getting the feeling this is going to surprisingly like IP addresses with their subnet masks only eight times larger.
Each pixel will have a one or a zero in the 256 bits. In most of my examples I’ll be using 8 bits because it demonstrative of the same information, only legible to the hu-mons.
The first eight pixels when blank are [0000000]. This is pretty simple. But it would improve most of the processes to build a little encoder to make these characters to binary conversions simpler rather than to hard code all the charters once and everytime there needs to be a change. Plus it would add in the functionality to allow the user to make their own shapes in a free form mode.
Now if a letter with the [00000011] code breeded with one that had a [11000000], it would produced the Base Subnet of [11000011]. The child could contain any shape within the range and possibly none of them. If we choose to add dominant and recessive traits—which we should—than we’ll need to add another tag to show which pixels will retain dominance. Simply enough this can be accomplished with another two subnets.
Back up and let’s look at the parent classes again. [00000011] now needs another three addresses to properly pass down its heritage. [00000011] has a Base Subnet of [00000011] because he’s never once breeded. And he has a Dominant Subnet of [00000011] because we want him to retain his shape as a letter. His Recessive Subnet should be [00000000] just to allow the option to change without the likelyhood. And [11000000] will have similar characteristics. (BS-[11000000] DS-[11000000] RS-[00000000])
When these two parents meet and attempt to breed the BS will become [11000011] with the DS of [XX0000XX] (the ‘X’s are random numbers) and RS [????????]. I don’t quite know how the RS will be generated. Maybe the opposite of the BS that isn’t changed from the RS? Like if the DS becomes [10000010] than we have the unchanged bits [1X00001X]. And make them the opposite of the BS would be [10000010]. I’d have to see this done a few more times further down the line to make sure the DS and the RS don’t always stay the same. I wouldn’t really see the point in just randomizing the RS, so it has to be derived from so other stat.
The child would be made from these ranges. At this point other than the Dominant and Recessive context I’ve been using, there’s nothing GP about this. Fitness hasn’t become a factor in these combinations. It’s just a baseline for breeding and how it affects the appearance of the alphabet. And from appearance, it’s reactions to the environments.
I think I’ll drop some pictures of a character ‘A’ in a 16×16 bit map expounded by its traits.
The black is what it is. The red is the BS traits. The blue is DS traits. And the block that looks blank is actuality the RS traits.
Same here.
The child needs a lot of explaining. The cells are one through seven from left to right.
Ignore the first cell on the left. That comes last.
The second is the BS which is the potential, all the things the child could be.
The third is an overlay showing in green where the ‘A’ in light-blue and the ‘B’ in dark-blue overlay.
The fourth is just the bits that are overlayed. This represents the bits that are common to both and are to be forced dominate.
The fifth is the bits that are the ones possible to become dominant depending on randomness.
The sixth is if the bottom half was somehow all flipped-on making them dominant.
The seventh is the top half that was not flipped on and became recessive.
And now the first is the product. The dark-red and green are manifested because of the dominance and the plum color is now the recessive and does not show itself. Maybe taking only one side of the family’s gene in step five’s dominance check and make the other un-flipped bits for the opposite family recessive. Now this is something. Here are all the same things but with the families jumbled between all the four possibles I made by cutting them in half (if it were random like I was hoping there would be hundreds of possibilities). The problem is they make some cool looking half-breed letters. But they wouldn’t look like that with only the dominant side (dark-red) and green manifested. Maybe the whole dominant/recessive thing needs to be reevaluated? Maybe when the dominant bits are chosen it’ll be different. I don’t know. But it also makes the BS pointless. Maybe I should scrap it and start over.
A problem with this system I can already foresee is that everything will soon become either recessive or dominant after only a couple generations of crossover and soon everything will manifest making every character a big black block.
