diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 84eb4e3..369a432 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ select = [
 ]
 
 # Note: Ruff supports a top-level `src` option in lieu of isort's `src_paths` setting.
-src = ["fastapi_poetry_starter", "tests"]
+src = ["kennel", "tests"]
 
 ignore = []
 
diff --git a/static/index.js b/static/index.js
index e1c4d35..088f304 100644
--- a/static/index.js
+++ b/static/index.js
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
+// === <CONSTANTS> ===
+
 const CREATURE_HEIGHT = 32; // in px
 const CREATURE_WIDTH = 32; // in px
-const FRAME_RATE = 12; // in FPS
+const FRAME_RATE = 6; // in FPS
 const FRAME_DELAY = 1 / FRAME_RATE * 1000; // in ms
 const DEFAULT_SPRITE_SHEET_COUNT = 1; // number of default sprite sheets
 
@@ -103,6 +105,10 @@ const CREATURE_STATE_TO_SPRITE_FRAME_OFFSET_INDICES = Object.freeze({
     ],
 });
 
+// === </CONSTANTS> ===
+
+// === <TYPES> ===
+
 /**
  * Properties for creatures running around the screen
  * @typedef {Object} Creature
@@ -116,6 +122,10 @@ const CREATURE_STATE_TO_SPRITE_FRAME_OFFSET_INDICES = Object.freeze({
  * @property {HTMLElement} container the HTML element containing the creature (the kennel, if you will)
  */
 
+// === <TYPES> ===
+
+// === <MATH_UTILS> ===
+
 /**
  * Returns random number between min (inclusive) and max (exclusive)
  * If max is less than or equal to min, return min
@@ -129,26 +139,63 @@ const randomInt = (min, max) => {
 }
 
 /**
- * Return a creature's next frame based on the current creature frame
- * @param {Creature} creature
- * @return Creature the next frame of the creature
+ * Returns value if value is in [min, max]. Otherwise, bound it to those limits
+ * @param {number} value
+ * @param {number} [min] lower bound. if not provided, do not bound the value from beneath
+ * @param {number} [max] upper bound. if not provided, do not bound the value from above
+ * @return {number}
  */
-const getNextCreatureFrame = (creature) => {
-    // TODO
-    return { ...creature, stateDuration: creature.stateDuration + 1 };
+const constrain = (value, min = -Number.MAX_VALUE, max = Number.MAX_VALUE) => {
+    return Math.max(Math.min(value, max), min);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Normalize a vector (ie an array) to be of length 1
+ * @param {...number} components components of the vector
+ * @return {number[]} normalized vector
+ */
+const normalize = (...components) => {
+    const magnitude = Math.sqrt(
+      components.reduce((squaredSum, component) => squaredSum + (component * component), 0)
+    )
+    return components.map(component => component / magnitude)
+}
+
+// === </MATH_UTILS> ===
+
+// === <CREATURE_UTILS> ===
+
+/**
+ * Return a new updateCreature function that implicitly accepts the context
+ * of all other creatures being rendered.
+ * @param {(creature: Creature, allCreatures?: Array<Creature>) => Creature} updateCreature
+ * updateCreature function that uses the context of all creatures
+ * @param {Array<Creature>} allCreatures all creatures rendered in the scene
+ * @return {(creature: Creature) => Creature} an updateCreature function
+ */
+const updateCreatureWithAllCreaturesContext = (updateCreature, allCreatures) => {
+    const creaturesMap = Object.fromEntries(allCreatures.map(
+      creature => [ creature.name, creature ]
+    ));
+
+    return (creature) => {
+        const updatedCreature = updateCreature(creature, Array.from(Object.values(creaturesMap)));
+        creaturesMap[updatedCreature.name] = { ...updatedCreature };
+        return updatedCreature;
+    }
 }
 
 /**
  * Render a frame of the creature and loads the next frame for render
  * @param {Creature} creature
- * @return Creature the next frame of the creature
+ * @return {Creature} the creature being rendered
  */
 const renderCreature = (creature) => {
+    creature.element.style.setProperty('display', 'block');
+
     // set position
-    const positionX = Math.min(creature.positionX, creature.container.clientWidth);
-    const positionY = Math.min(creature.positionY, creature.container.clientHeight);
-    creature.element.style.setProperty('left', `${positionX}px`);
-    creature.element.style.setProperty('top', `${positionY}px`);
+    creature.element.style.setProperty('left', `${creature.positionX}px`);
+    creature.element.style.setProperty('top', `${creature.positionY}px`);
 
     // set sprite
     const spriteFrames = CREATURE_STATE_TO_SPRITE_FRAME_OFFSET_INDICES[creature.state]
@@ -157,9 +204,7 @@ const renderCreature = (creature) => {
       'background-position',
       `${currentSpriteFrameOffset[0] * CREATURE_WIDTH}px ${currentSpriteFrameOffset[1] * CREATURE_HEIGHT}px`
     )
-
-    const nextCreatureFrame = getNextCreatureFrame(creature);
-    setTimeout(renderCreature, FRAME_DELAY, nextCreatureFrame)
+    return creature;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -171,6 +216,7 @@ const renderCreature = (creature) => {
  * @param {number} [initialState] starting state of the creature
  * @param {number} [initialPositionX] initial x position in pixels (from the left side)
  * @param {number} [initialPositionY] initial y position in pixels (from the top)
+ * @return Creature
  */
 const createCreature = (
   container,
@@ -180,38 +226,91 @@ const createCreature = (
   initialPositionX = 0,
   initialPositionY = 0
 ) => {
-    const creatureEl = document.createElement('div');
+    const creatureEle = document.createElement('div');
     const spriteSheetUrl = spriteSheet
         ? `url('/static/sprites/${spriteSheet}')`
         : `url('/static/sprites/defaults/${randomInt(1, DEFAULT_SPRITE_SHEET_COUNT)}.gif')`;
 
-    creatureEl.setAttribute('id', name);
-    creatureEl.style.setProperty('width', `${CREATURE_WIDTH}px`);
-    creatureEl.style.setProperty('height', `${CREATURE_HEIGHT}px`);
-    creatureEl.style.setProperty('position', 'fixed');
-    creatureEl.style.setProperty('image-rendering', 'pixelated');
-    creatureEl.style.setProperty('background-image', spriteSheetUrl);
+    creatureEle.setAttribute('id', name);
+    creatureEle.style.setProperty('width', `${CREATURE_WIDTH}px`);
+    creatureEle.style.setProperty('height', `${CREATURE_HEIGHT}px`);
+    creatureEle.style.setProperty('position', 'fixed');
+    creatureEle.style.setProperty('image-rendering', 'pixelated');
+    creatureEle.style.setProperty('background-image', spriteSheetUrl);
+    creatureEle.style.setProperty('display', 'hidden');
 
-    container.appendChild(creatureEl);
+    container.appendChild(creatureEle);
 
-    renderCreature({
+    return {
         name,
         spriteSheet,
         state: initialState,
         stateDuration: 0,
-        positionX: Math.max(0, initialPositionX),
-        positionY: Math.max(0, initialPositionY),
-        element: creatureEl,
+        positionX: constrain(initialPositionX, 0, container.clientWidth),
+        positionY: constrain(initialPositionY, 0, container.clientHeight),
+        element: creatureEle,
         container
-    });
+    }
 }
 
-window.onload = () => {
-    const kennelWindowEle = document.querySelector('#kennel-window');
-    createCreature(
-      kennelWindowEle,
-      'test-creature',
-      undefined,
-      CreatureState.SCRATCH_SELF
-    )
+/**
+ * Start creature animation
+ * @param {Creature} creature
+ * @param {(creature: Creature) => Creature} [updateCreature] if undefined, uses identity
+ *                                                            (via {@link renderAndUpdateCreature})
+ */
+const beginCreatureAnimation = (
+  creature,
+  updateCreature = (creature) => ({ ... creature })
+) => {
+    const timeoutCallback = (callbackCreature) => {
+        const newCreatureFrame = updateCreature(renderCreature(callbackCreature));
+        setTimeout(timeoutCallback, FRAME_DELAY, newCreatureFrame);
+    }
+
+    // render/update initial frame and start animation
+    setTimeout(timeoutCallback, FRAME_DELAY, updateCreature(renderCreature(creature)));
+}
+
+// === </CREATURE_UTILS> ===
+
+window.onload = () => {
+    // EXAMPLE SCRIPT
+    const kennelWindowEle = document.querySelector('#kennel-window');
+    const creatures = ['test-creature-1', 'test-creature-2', 'test-creature-3']
+      .map((name) => createCreature(
+        kennelWindowEle,
+        name,
+        undefined, // default sprite sheet
+        randomInt(0, 17), // random state
+        randomInt(0, 2) * kennelWindowEle.clientWidth, // randomly left or right side
+        randomInt(0, 2) * kennelWindowEle.clientHeight, // randomly top or bottom
+      ))
+
+    const updateCreature = updateCreatureWithAllCreaturesContext((creature, allCreatures) => {
+        // example update creature script to bring creatures to the centroid
+
+        const centroidX = allCreatures.reduce(
+          (sum, creature) => sum + creature.positionX,
+          0,
+        ) / allCreatures.length;
+        const centroidY = allCreatures.reduce(
+          (sum, creature) => sum + creature.positionY,
+          0,
+        ) / allCreatures.length;
+
+        const [deltaX, deltaY] = normalize(
+          centroidX - creature.positionX,
+          centroidY - creature.positionY,
+        );
+
+        return {
+            ...creature,
+            positionX: constrain(creature.positionX + deltaX, 0, creature.container.clientWidth),
+            positionY: constrain(creature.positionY + deltaY, 0, creature.container.clientHeight),
+            stateDuration: creature.stateDuration + 1,
+        }
+    }, creatures);
+
+    creatures.forEach((creature) => beginCreatureAnimation(creature, updateCreature))
 }
diff --git a/static/style.css b/static/style.css
index f77e958..73c2486 100644
--- a/static/style.css
+++ b/static/style.css
@@ -3,5 +3,5 @@
     min-width: 8rem;
     height: 80vw;
     min-height: 8rem;
-    margin: auto inherit;
+    margin: auto;
 }
\ No newline at end of file