alt.hn

4/22/2025 at 8:06:39 PM

Show HN: Dosidicus – A digital pet with a simple neural network

 https://github.com/ViciousSquid/Dosidicus

by vicioussquid

4/22/2025 at 8:06:39 PM

What if a Tamagotchi had a neural network and could learn stuff?

A digital pet squid that also teaches how neural networks and hebbian learning work. Behaviours are driven by the neural network according to his needs:

https://github.com/ViciousSquid/Dosidicus

I spent AGES on this and would love feedback. I think it's just the right balance of educational and fun. I did all the graphics myself and am currently working on multiplayer - squids will be able top enter other tanks and steal things, bring them home

by vicioussquid

4/22/2025 at 9:11:37 PM

What if our todo list/commits/issue tracker could affect the blob and bloat could kill him? no?

This might also see a long shelf life, say, as familiars of fantasy rpgs, as pets from a fictionalized world-building narrative online; I guess it could be so for any LLM in principle, but the basic Sims-like gamification behind a tamagotchi seems like a solid foundation for those usecases.

by goldfeld

4/22/2025 at 10:10:00 PM

You really ought to watch the Black Mirror episode Plaything. It’s about digital pets with a neural network interacting with a human played by Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who) and the outcomes that might result from this.

by cogburnd02

4/22/2025 at 8:16:21 PM

This looks great! Have you seen any emergent behaviors from the squids that you didn't expect?

I'll give this a go on the weekend, might be a fun way to intro NN to kids as well.

by danielbln

4/22/2025 at 10:19:28 PM

If this interests you, have a look at "bibits" as well, its a whole neural network driven ecosystem where each critter has a brain that can evolve over generations. Emergent behaviour like prey/predator species arise over time. Its honestly a really cool tool / toybox for budding scientists.

by Grimblewald

4/23/2025 at 2:16:46 AM

Even simple neural networks with Hebbian learning can produce surprising emergent behaviors when their inputs and reward systems interact in unexpected ways - I'd be curious to see if the squid develops any quirky preferences or avoidance patterns after extended training.

by ethan_smith

4/24/2025 at 12:25:00 AM

> Have you seen any emergent behaviors from the squids that you didn't expect?

I have a squid that has become unnecessarily obsessed with playing with poop - throwing it around

Also another that likes to hoard decoration items by pushing them all together into a big pile

by vicioussquid

4/23/2025 at 7:44:50 AM

This is the basic concept of my favorite computer game back in the 90s (!): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatures_(video_game_series...

by maxander

4/23/2025 at 7:50:03 AM

Creatures was my introduction to programming.

The genome editor that came along around about the time of Creatures 3 was awesome as well.

by jddj

4/22/2025 at 9:14:59 PM

> What if a Tamagotchi had a neural network and could learn stuff?

What if this was actually a Tamagochi? Anyone have ideas?

by 1024core

4/22/2025 at 9:25:28 PM

Tamagochi had a very limited way to interact with the environment, because it was an egg (tamago,卵) with a creature (chi) inside. It had needs like food and play, but could only receive care, and adjust its state a little bit.

This squid can interact with the environment in many ways, hence it can learn new stuff, and maybe do new stuff.

by nine_k

4/22/2025 at 9:37:02 PM

The name is a portmanteau of tamago (たまご, egg) and uotchi (ウオッチ, watch). The original product was even sometimes written as "tamagotch" in some media.

by DigiEggz

4/24/2025 at 12:34:41 AM

Wow! This has blown up overnight! 150 stars on Github! Thanks everyone!

by vicioussquid

4/23/2025 at 1:09:25 AM

I think this is wild, the idea of a digital pet actually learning like that kinda blows my mind - you ever wonder if stuff like this could get too smart for its own good?

by gitroom