The Game of Life with Your Own Rules - Using This Simulation

This simulation is the basic Game of Life with one major extension - it allows you to define your own rules!

Standard Rules
The standard rules, as suggested by John Conway, are :

• If a cell is dead and it has exactly 3 neighbours, it becomes alive in the generation ( 'is born').
• If a cell is dead, and has less than, or more than 3, living neighbours, it remains dead.
• If a cell is alive, and has two or three neighbours, it remains alive.
• If a cell is alive, and has less than 2 or more than 3 alive neighbours, it dies.

Your Own Rules Options
At the top of the applet are two choice menus which allow you to select from the drop down menu the rules you wish to apply.
If you look at the rules above, you will see they can be condensed into two rules:

• What happens if a cell is dead that makes it come alive ( 'be born') in the next generation.
  If this condition is not met then the cell will remain dead.
• What happens if a cell is alive that allows it to remain alive in the next generation.
  Again if this condition is not met then the cell dies.

The simulation allows you to run the generations in two modes:

1. Without displaying what would happen to the pattern using Conway's rules
2. Displaying, by a green outline, what would happen to the pattern if Conway's rules were being used ( this is the default choice ).

This simulation has the following buttons:

• Rules Concerning Dead Cells: Define what causes a cell to be born in the next generation.

• Rules Concerning Alive Cells: Define what causes a cell remain alive in the next generation.

• Grid Size: Click on the pull down menu to select the size of grid you desire.

• Num Cycles: Click on the pull down menu to select the number of generations you wish the computer to cycle through.

• Choose Pattern: Click on the pull down menu to set up a predefined pattern on the grid

• OR Click on any square in the grid to make that cell become alive, or click again to kill a live cell.

• Conway's Rules' Pattern: Allows you to choose whether to have the pattern as would be generated using Conway's rules on the grid as well.

  
  

• Next Generation: Click to advance the population ONE generation only.

• Start: Click to start the simulation progressing through the number of generations choosen
  NB If number of generations has not been specified, then the default number used is 10.

• Faster: Increase the speed the next generation is drawn on the screen.

• Slower: Decrease the speed the next generation is drawn on the screen.

• Clear Grid: Click to clear the grid completely of any existing live cells.