http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/
NetLogo is a programmable modeling environment for simulating natural and social phenomena. It is particularly well suited for modeling complex systems developing over time. Modelers can give instructions to hundreds or thousands of independent “agents” all operating concurrently. This makes it possible to explore the connection between the micro-level behavior of individuals and the macro-level patterns that emerge from the interaction of many individuals.
3.1 features a new suite of link primitives, configurable world topologies, randomized agent ordering, and a new tie primitive.
NetLogo is one of those cool, easy-to-understand program languages, like Processing, that I keep in my linkshelf with the hope to learn one day and become a really cool artist.
Based on the famous (at least when I was a kid) LOGO language, NetLogo really IS an impressive programming environment for at least three reasons: it is easy to learn so students can use it; it is written in java, which means that the programs can be executed from within the web browser, like the examples here; and it has a very wide scope of applications, from biology to art. All in all, this is a highly interesting and worthwhile environment that I’ll keep on wanting to try for a long time. 😉
A video game is not that different from any other software development; it perhaps depends more on hardware, but even so it is very similar. When you describe a program you need the client’s opinion and plenty of information to determine how the issue was being taken prior to the new development. In the end it is obvious that albeit there won´t be much relation between the analysis and the final development, that relation will still be more or less recognizeable.