MycoField
Fungal Growth SimulationPersonal Project
Year: 2026
Tools used: p5.js, HTML, DeepSeek AI, JavaScript
MycoField is an interactive browser-based simulation that recreates the growth and behavior of fungal mycelium through a set of procedural rules inspired by real biological processes. Developed with p5.js, the project investigates how simple local interactions can produce complex, lifelike structures, demonstrating principles of emergence, self-organization, and network formation.
The simulation models fungal hyphae as autonomous agents that explore their environment in search of oat sources. Once nutrients are discovered, the hyphae colonize them while reinforcing frequently traveled routes into thicker transport veins that resemble mature mycelial networks. As nutrients become exhausted, colonized oats gradually wither and disappear, forcing the colony to continually adapt and reorganize its growth. Empty regions remain largely inactive, resulting in branching patterns that closely resemble the behavior of fungal colonies observed in nature.
Designed as both a creative coding project and an educational tool, MycoField allows users to experiment with the environmental conditions that influence network growth. The simulation opens paused with slow, realistic parameters, encouraging close observation of the colony as it develops. Through a futuristic control panel, users can introduce new nutrient sources, seed additional spores, pause or resume the simulation, adjust growth conditions, and export the generated network as an SVG for further exploration or fabrication.
The project was developed using p5.js with DeepSeek AI serving as a coding companion throughout the development process. Rather than generating the project independently, the AI was used to accelerate debugging, iterate on algorithms, and explore different approaches to simulating fungal behavior while I designed, implemented, and refined the system.
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