Game of Life

A cellular automata simulator with both animated and dynamic renders. Configurable environment size, cell colors, generation rate, life/death chances and generation seeds!

Dynamic Generator (screenshot) Static Generator (screenshot)

Setup

1. Download the release jar file (or clone and build it yourself)
2. Run the jar file in a terminal with "java -jar {fileName}.jar"
3. Let the game generate, then enjoy the simulation!

Requirements

1. You must have Java 17 or higher to run this program

Optional Setup

• Make a batch or shell script file with "java -jar {fileName}.jar" to easily start/stop the game.
• Tweak the configuration settings to your liking.

Generators

• The game has 2 different generators that can be changed in the config.
• The dynamic setting produces an animated simulation.
• The static setting produces an image the size of the height and width based on the seed.
• If using static generator, the seed must be 8 integers.

Ram Usage

• The simulation uses a lot of ram (around 1.5 gigs if using a 500x500 generation).
• You can lower the height and width of the game to greatly reduce the resource consumption if needed.
• Use flags if you want to limit ram usage (ie: "java -jar -Xmx1024m -Xms512m {fileName}.jar")

Information

• The game first generates until the "maxGeneration" value is reached.
• After that, the simulation will replay in a GUI that updates based on the "updateDelay" setting which is in milliseconds.
• Be aware that some seed generations will either instantly die or not produce anything if the "recipe" for life isn't enough.
• For life to be sustained there needs to be a balance between 1's and 0's and the space between them.

Rules of Life (Dynamic Generator)

• A live cell dies if it has fewer than two live neighbors.
• A live cell with two or three live neighbors lives on to the next generation.
• A live cell with more than three live neighbors dies.
• A dead cell will be brought back to life if it has exactly three live neighbors.

Configuration

• gameTitle: "Game of Life"
• generator: "DYNAMIC" #DYNAMIC or STATIC
• updateDelay: 250
• generationChance: 5
• useRandomDeathChance: false
• randomDeathChance: 100
• height: 20
• width: 20
• maxGeneration: 1000
• seed: [0,0,1]
• useSeed: false
• backgroundColor: "BLACK"
• cellColor: "GREEN"
• useRandomCellColors: false
• disableGUI: false
• showGenerationInConsole: true
• consoleCellAliveDisplay: "*"
• consoleCellDeadDisplay: " "

List of Colors

Here are colors you can use for cells and backgrounds (backgroundColor and cellColor):

• "BLACK"
• "RED"
• "GREEN"
• "YELLOW"
• "ORANGE"
• "BLUE"
• "CYAN"
• "PINK"
• "MAGENTA"
• "GRAY"
• "DARK_GRAY"
• "LIGHT_GRAY"
• "WHITE"