agent-based run

Many small units, each following the same short list of local rules, with no rule anywhere describing the pattern you are hoping to see. You set the rules and the starting arrangement, run it forward, and the group behavior appears or does not. This is the sub-mode that can surprise its own author, which is also the warning attached to it: a pattern that emerges from rules you invented is a property of your rules.

Many small units, each following the same short list of local rules, with no rule anywhere describing the pattern you are hoping to see. You set the rules and the starting arrangement, run it forward, and the group behavior appears or does not. This is the sub-mode that can surprise its own author, which is also the warning attached to it: a pattern that emerges from rules you invented is a property of your rules.

Example

Best when you suspect a group pattern comes from simple local behavior rather than from a plan.