% If making a video, initialize the video Set makeVideo to 1 if you want to record a video set startingMatrix to 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5), or make up your own 'life' % To use this code, you can either run one of the pre-programmed examples Or, you can use the code I provide below (which also allows you to make a video). You can play around with Conway's game of life easily here.

Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbors becomes a live cell, as if by reproduction.

Any live cell with more than three live neighbors dies, as if by over-population.

Any live cell with two or three live neighbors lives on to the next generation.Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbors dies, as if by under-population.In a square grid, every pixel has eight neighbors (except the border pixels, which have less). You determine what happens to each pixel by evaluating its neighbors. for each video frame) you evaluate for each pixel whether it will remain in its current state or change state.

Okay, that looks pretty neat, but what is it?Ĭonway's Game of Life relies on each pixel in the image having a state: alive (black) or dead (white). Other times, you'll get patterns that continuously repeat:Įven if you start from a completely random assortment of white and black pixels, you can get something that looks pretty interesting. Sometimes, you'll get patterns that end after a certain number of timepoints: Let's start by looking at a few examples. However, as you progress through the stages of 'life' in this 'game' you'll often see interesting geometric patterns emerge. Conway's game of life is not, strictly speaking, geometric art.

Conway's game of life quasar