Dynamics

Defines per-tick state cascade rules - how internal states change over time independent of agent actions. Dynamics is optional; omitting it means no per-tick state changes.

Dynamics are the physics of your simulation - the rules that govern what happens every tick regardless of what the agent does. This is where you model things like hunger slowly increasing, sickness spreading, or healing over time. Without dynamics, the world is static: nothing changes unless the agent acts. With dynamics, the world exerts constant pressure that the agent must respond to in order to survive.

dynamics Metabolism {
    // Hidden state - brain can't sense these
    hidden total_damage: 0..1 = 0.0

    // Per-tick rules - applied every tick unconditionally
    per_tick {
        hunger += 0.003
        thirst += 0.005
    }

    // Conditional rules - applied in order when condition is met
    rules {
        if hunger > 0.7:  energy -= 0.008
        if energy >= 0:   energy -= 0.002
        if hunger > 0.85: health -= 0.005
        if nausea >= 0:   nausea *= 0.95
    }

    // Agent dies when any condition is true
    death {
        if health <= 0
    }

    // All states clamped to this range after each tick
    clamp 0..1
}

Hidden State

hidden name: min..max = initial

Hidden states are invisible to the brain - the agent cannot sense them. They participate in rules but never appear as sensor inputs.

Operators

Operator	Meaning	Example
+=	Add to current value	hunger += 0.003
-=	Subtract from current value	energy -= 0.008
*=	Multiply current value	nausea *= 0.95
=	Set to value	health = 0.0

Conditions

Operator	Meaning
>	Greater than
<	Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal

Expressions

Right-hand side of an assignment can be:

Form	Example
Literal value	hunger += 0.003
Unary minus	energy += -0.1
State reference	energy = health
number * state_ref	damage += 0.5 * sickness
number * (expr)	stress += 0.001 * (1.0 + fatigue * 2.0)
state * value	damage = sickness * 0.5
state + value	recovery = health + 0.1
state - value	penalty = energy - 0.2
Parenthesized sub-expression	energy -= (hunger + thirst)

Operator precedence: * binds tighter than + and -. Use parentheses to override precedence when needed.

Rules

• Rule ordering matters - earlier rules’ effects are visible to later rules within the same tick
• per_tick rules run unconditionally every tick
• rules block contains conditional rules evaluated in order
• death conditions are checked after all rules apply; if any is true the agent dies
• clamp applies to all states after each tick
• Note: Parameters must be named. Write trigger(threshold: 0.5) not trigger(0.5).