Basic GUI to demo the Game of Life with a variety of rule sets
John Conway in the 1970s introduced the Game of Life. The game, a cellular automaton, consists of a grid, made up of cells generally with two states: alive or dead. At each turn or generation, the entire grid is evaluated cell-by-cell, based on a set of rules. The rules determine whether cells, are born, continue to live, or die. The rules are applied to create a new grid for the next generation of cells.
The rules that are used can lead to amazing patterns and sequences. Some of these patterns can look like ships, usually referred ot as a gliders, that move across the grid.
The goal of this project was to introduce myself to more Rust and learn how to layout code, and continue to play with egui.
Users can control a variety of aspects of the game:
rule set: Pick which rules to apply at each generation. More details on each of these below.seed: At the start, a grid with a random percentage of live seeds is created. Users can set a seed to rewatch a certain seed at any time. Users can also select a random seed to mix things up further.alive cell %: Users can also set the percentage of living cells when generating a new board to see how that affects certain rule sets.
A rule string describes when cells should be born or stay alive, otherwise
the cell dies. Rule sets are in the format B{number list}/S{number list}. For
example, the classic Conway's Game of Life rule set is B3/S23 meaning:
- If an dead cell has 3 neighbors, then it is born
- If a living sell has 2 or 3 neighbors, then it survives
- Otherwise a cell dies
Includes are a number of different rules.
| Name | Rule String | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Conway | B3/S23 |
The classic rule set |
| Assimilation | B345/S4567 |
Diamond-shaped patterns |
| Day and night | B3678/S34678 |
Blots |
| Diamoeba | B35678/S5678 |
Small random soups |
| Dot life | B3/S023 |
Explosive and chaotic |
| Dry life | B37/S23 |
Similar to Conway |
| High life | B36/S23 |
Similar to Conway |
| Honey life | B38/S238 |
Honeycomb can be common |
| Invert a maze | B028/S0124 |
This flips between alive and dead |
| Life without death | B3/S012345678 |
Nothing dies |
| Vote | B5678/S45678 |
Blots of paint |
A neighbor is any cell that touches another cell. This incudes all 8 cells
around another cell. Cells on the edge do not wrap around to the other side.
Sometimes a rule string with a v at the end indicates a von Neumann
neighborhood, meaning only the four cells in the north, south, east, and west
direction.