Seems like the wrong way around :-) Why not think of a game instead then try to crowbar your technique into it instead?

How about a 2D simulation like Primordial Life?

I don't know exactly what QAP is, but how about a shmup that evolves enemies of increasingly difficulty rather than using predefined "waves?" That could be fun to play, but also not prohibitively time-consuming to write; you could focus on the genetic programming.

If you are looking for exercise: Back in the early 1980's, there was an old paper and dice game called Traveller, where starships were encoded as a series of digits. Tactical speed, Warp speed, Laser strength, Meson Cannon strength, etc.

There was an annual competition, and the winner said that he programmed a genetic algorithm to solve the game. It was given a budget, and ran simulations of fleet vs fleet action, and finally came up with it's winning answer. The solution to that edition of Traveller was to build a fleet of many small lightly armored ships.

The game designer became angry that the winning fleet was effectively spamming a swarm of hornets. He wanted a unit mix with some large ships to win, so he re-wrote the rules, and released the new edition three days before next year's competition.

Quote:Original post by AngleWyrm
If you are looking for exercise: Back in the early 1980's, there was an old paper and dice game called Traveller, where starships were encoded as a series of digits. Tactical speed, Warp speed, Laser strength, Meson Cannon strength, etc.

There was an annual competition, and the winner said that he programmed a genetic algorithm to solve the game. It was given a budget, and ran simulations of fleet vs fleet action, and finally came up with it's winning answer. The solution to that edition of Traveller was to build a fleet of many small lightly armored ships.

The game designer became angry that the winning fleet was effectively spamming a swarm of hornets. He wanted a unit mix with some large ships to win, so he re-wrote the rules, and released the new edition three days before next year's competition.

I have a copy of Traveller. I never played it, because my game group was more into D&D than anything else, but I enjoyed the rules and ideas in the game.