Shepherd's Dog is a game I've wanted to create for a long time, but I never got the sheep flocking behaviour just right. The goal of the game is to herd all the sheep into the pen before nightfall. I've asked several models to create this game and I'm particularly impressed with what Claude 3.7 could do with a one-shot prompt.
Shepherd's Dog is a game I've wanted to create for a long time
Not sure if you're aware, but there was a game like that for playstation and GBA, called Sheep! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep_(video_game) Here's some gameplay footage (player here didn't chose a dog to play with for some reason): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP058CHQj20 Premise of the game is the same, you run the sheep to the designated area over obstacles.
Ah thanks for this. The game above is lovely and it’s really similar to what I had in mind (I was also thinking of lemmings!). I see in the other comments below that this idea of mine has been created as a game a lot of times already. Seems like I’m not as original as I thought haha
Just tried a 1-shot on Grok3 - Thinking and it couldn't get past the start button. Throws an error:
| "<a class='gotoLine' href='#67:39'>67:39</a> Uncaught ReferenceError: startGame is not defined"
Scope issue.
No barking or dog player model but pretty similar in style to Claude's output.
What's interesting to me about playing with AI Codegen is each model has specific and sometimes overlapping output errors. Claude 3.7 really like to solve errors by returning dummy data as a 'fallback' when doing client or server calls. A little prompting can reduce this but not eliminate it. 'The tests always pass if you return dummy data'
It seems like it has some issues, but the result is interesting nonetheless. Just a one-shot like the others, needed a single "Keep going" but otherwise this is the vanilla output from the prompt.
Edit: Looks like you can share an HTML preview of a gist using html-preview.github.io, so here's that. https://html-preview.github.io/?url=https://gist.githubuserc... - It'll go to level 2 if you refresh the page and hit Restart, but I don't think it's possible to clear Level 2. The flock stays too far apart to fit enough sheep in the pen.
great demos. one shotting isnt really fair imo, i feel like that might be hard even for a human to do (working without feedback). i'd be curious what deepseek would do with a bit more feedback.
Seems o3-mini implements the 'boids' algorithm for flocking (likely due to its prevalence online), but I find that here it doesn't really fit.
Indeed in boids each element has a constant (or minimum) velocity, s.t. the sheep never stop 'running'. I find the Claude flocking behaviour looks more natural, for sheep.
Tip: don't push them into a corner! I got up to lvl 7 without a problem, and then I got them stuck in a corner and that was it :( Poor sheep will spend the night in the cold outside the barn!
Are they doing this now? Oh brother! And here I was thinking WASM would be a good solution to the desktop exe signing problem for my community's roguelike. Instead browser vendors are likely just going to ban the site.
interesting, im also using edge (with all security settings set to maximum) and it works fine for me. Maybe the difference is that I'm using it on mac?
The one that Claude created was a legitimately fun game! If it implemented boids similar to o3-mini, it would be even better. Slap some sprites on it and put it on steam!
On desktop the map is huuuuge and it's not particularly fun waiting for them to slowly move all the way to the opposite corner. It's cool that one can prototype this quickly, but needs some tweaks from play-testing as with all games I guess.
I once made a boid-thingy, which this also reminds me of. https://matsemann.github.io/boids-workshop/ (and since the parent game is mostly boid behavior with a goal condition, I guess that's why the LLM is so successful in implementing it?)
The link is the final result with lots of controls, but the idea is that it's a tutorial/workshop where you build it step by step yourself, in Norwegian though https://github.com/Matsemann/boids-workshop
Ha, I've been creating this on-and-off for a while. Just last night I asked various LLMs to implement a boid-with-predator algorithm and all failed hard.
Instead I spent an hour reading through a description and implementing manually and it at least worked.
But yes, boids is a good start, but it requires some work to make it more natural for mammals, who can have a 0 min speed.
The political views of flags is a instant stop for me. I wonder what radobank thinks of that.
Keep politics out of tech, and especially if you are in the dutch market, it's such a small market, that you would not want something like that to stop a contract in the future, especially seeing that you user to be a zzp'er.
Shepherd's Dog is a game I've wanted to create for a long time, but I never got the sheep flocking behaviour just right. The goal of the game is to herd all the sheep into the pen before nightfall. I've asked several models to create this game and I'm particularly impressed with what Claude 3.7 could do with a one-shot prompt.
- You can play the Claude game here (note: doesn't work on Safari for some reason): https://html-preview.github.io/?url=https://raw.githubuserco...
- o3-mini's version is here: https://html-preview.github.io/?url=https://raw.githubuserco...
Results of other models and a leaderboard is here: https://github.com/vnglst/when-ai-fails/blob/main/shepards-d...
Some videos: https://hachyderm.io/@vnglst/114125938185826311
Shepherd's Dog is a game I've wanted to create for a long time
Not sure if you're aware, but there was a game like that for playstation and GBA, called Sheep! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep_(video_game) Here's some gameplay footage (player here didn't chose a dog to play with for some reason): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP058CHQj20 Premise of the game is the same, you run the sheep to the designated area over obstacles.
Ah thanks for this. The game above is lovely and it’s really similar to what I had in mind (I was also thinking of lemmings!). I see in the other comments below that this idea of mine has been created as a game a lot of times already. Seems like I’m not as original as I thought haha
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Just tried a 1-shot on Grok3 - Thinking and it couldn't get past the start button. Throws an error: | "<a class='gotoLine' href='#67:39'>67:39</a> Uncaught ReferenceError: startGame is not defined"
Scope issue.
No barking or dog player model but pretty similar in style to Claude's output.
What's interesting to me about playing with AI Codegen is each model has specific and sometimes overlapping output errors. Claude 3.7 really like to solve errors by returning dummy data as a 'fallback' when doing client or server calls. A little prompting can reduce this but not eliminate it. 'The tests always pass if you return dummy data'
https://jsfiddle.net/aL3ugtj1/
Here is an attempt using Google Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental.
https://gist.github.com/jchv/e8869a7cbe2d854a0ec93e946030d90...
It seems like it has some issues, but the result is interesting nonetheless. Just a one-shot like the others, needed a single "Keep going" but otherwise this is the vanilla output from the prompt.
Edit: Looks like you can share an HTML preview of a gist using html-preview.github.io, so here's that. https://html-preview.github.io/?url=https://gist.githubuserc... - It'll go to level 2 if you refresh the page and hit Restart, but I don't think it's possible to clear Level 2. The flock stays too far apart to fit enough sheep in the pen.
I just played the Claude attempt and found that the "fence" in level 3 doesn't actually obstruct either the dog or the sheep. Otherwise pretty fun.
great demos. one shotting isnt really fair imo, i feel like that might be hard even for a human to do (working without feedback). i'd be curious what deepseek would do with a bit more feedback.
Since you’re releasing the code to GitHub, do you think you’ll eventually run into issues with the training data including prior versions of the game?
The implied scenario being that the memory of its own output would result in the model producing degraded future output? Why is that a given?
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Seems o3-mini implements the 'boids' algorithm for flocking (likely due to its prevalence online), but I find that here it doesn't really fit.
Indeed in boids each element has a constant (or minimum) velocity, s.t. the sheep never stop 'running'. I find the Claude flocking behaviour looks more natural, for sheep.
ChatGPT o1 Pro
Demo: https://show.franzai.com/a/clean-parrot-brown (Page will self-destruct after 3 months, feel free to host it somewhere else)
Oneshot Prompt https://chatgpt.com/share/67cff8e6-e218-8009-af5b-d91060eaed...
After some rounds in Cursor using different models
https://show.franzai.com/a/leaf-bug-wasp (LGPT - feel free to fork - Page will vanish in 3 months)
Best attmpt so far IMHO. Very hard though!
Wow, really impressive.
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Wow this one is great!
Tip: don't push them into a corner! I got up to lvl 7 without a problem, and then I got them stuck in a corner and that was it :( Poor sheep will spend the night in the cold outside the barn!
After nearly 40 years, Shep has finally been released!
See the Crash magazine "Unclear User" parody. Page 125 of the August 1985 edition for context. [0]
[0] https://archive.org/details/Crash_No._19_1985-08_Newsfield_G...
That you remember this from one month before I was born is incredible.
All the demo sites are flagged by Microsoft Edge as - "This site has been reported as unsafe". The irony is the demos are hosted on github pages.
uBO lite as well:
> uBO Lite has prevented the following page from loading:
https://html-preview.github.io/?url=https://raw.githubuserco...
The page was blocked because of a matching filter in OpenPhish Domain Blocklist.
Are they doing this now? Oh brother! And here I was thinking WASM would be a good solution to the desktop exe signing problem for my community's roguelike. Instead browser vendors are likely just going to ban the site.
Probably related to this recent chaos. [0]
[0] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/10/infosec_in_brief/
interesting, im also using edge (with all security settings set to maximum) and it works fine for me. Maybe the difference is that I'm using it on mac?
The one that Claude created was a legitimately fun game! If it implemented boids similar to o3-mini, it would be even better. Slap some sprites on it and put it on steam!
I clicked it and went, oh this is actually fun. It feels very early iPhone days mobile game.
On desktop the map is huuuuge and it's not particularly fun waiting for them to slowly move all the way to the opposite corner. It's cool that one can prototype this quickly, but needs some tweaks from play-testing as with all games I guess.
Claude actually animated the nightfall, unprompted.
I don't think it's fair to say Mistral didn't implement flocking. The force is just very weak.
EDIT: I guess I confused flocking with herding, fair enough.
Quiet impressive!
I've build a very similar game for a 3 hour game jam once :D
https://h4kor.itch.io/herding-simulator
I once made a boid-thingy, which this also reminds me of. https://matsemann.github.io/boids-workshop/ (and since the parent game is mostly boid behavior with a goal condition, I guess that's why the LLM is so successful in implementing it?)
The link is the final result with lots of controls, but the idea is that it's a tutorial/workshop where you build it step by step yourself, in Norwegian though https://github.com/Matsemann/boids-workshop
Weird coincidence, but you made the exact same typo the OP made in their prompt. It's "built", not "build" :)
Ha, I've been creating this on-and-off for a while. Just last night I asked various LLMs to implement a boid-with-predator algorithm and all failed hard.
Instead I spent an hour reading through a description and implementing manually and it at least worked.
But yes, boids is a good start, but it requires some work to make it more natural for mammals, who can have a 0 min speed.
Here an updated version using ChatGPT o1 Pro, Claude, and Cursor https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43360648
I finally got around to playing Red Dead Redemption 1 recently and was surprised at how much I enjoyed the cattle driving missions.
Brought me back to the cowherding missions in RDR. Not a fond memory, but still a memory nonetheless.
Meta: strange typo in title, "Shepard" should be "Shepherd".
Perhaps the shepherd's name is Shepard. :-)
As I cannot change the title anymore I think that’s my best option now :-)
Yes but... Why don't you see elephants hiding in trees?
I wish GitHub would do a:
Interesting experiment.
Would love to see a multiplayer version of this game!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2410820/Too_Many_Sheep/ both cooperative and competitive
Also, https://store.steampowered.com/app/3006280/Sheepherds/
> A cozy co-op party game where you and your sheepdog buddies guide colorful flocks through beautiful landscapes [...]
It has a free demo but no release date yet
That's actually a fun game hah
The political views of flags is a instant stop for me. I wonder what radobank thinks of that. Keep politics out of tech, and especially if you are in the dutch market, it's such a small market, that you would not want something like that to stop a contract in the future, especially seeing that you user to be a zzp'er.
> Keep politics out of tech
This is a wild thing to say in 2025.
What 'political views of flags' anyway? I played a few levels and saw no flags, political or otherwise.
OP has Ukrainian and EU flags on his Mastodon profile, which is linked from his GitHub profile. Apparently that’s not acceptable to GP.
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