Conway
Conway's Game of Life is a simulation game dating back to 1970. After an initial placement of live cells on an infinite grid of otherwise dead cells, the game plays itself, with rules defining which cells should live, die or be born on the next iteration. Some patterns have been found like the glider, which will move forever in a diagonal path.
This app was created by MartiPuigV
Features
- Editor menu, where you can pause and edit the simulation at any moment.
- A persistent pattern copy system, allowing you to copy any cell structure you may have created into the calculators memory, making it persistent even if you close the app. You can then paste these patterns wherever you like on the grid.
- Can turn a black and white image into a usable pattern. See below for instructions!
- 3 different color palettes to choose from
- A settings file to save your preferences
- Customizable settings, such as frame time, simulation scale and more.
Controls
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
OK | Switch between pause (edit mode) and running the simulation |
Arrows | Move the cursor around (in edit mode) |
Toolbox | Draw cell under cursor (in edit mode) |
Backspace | Erase cell under cursor (in edit mode) |
Shift | Select area to copy (can later be pasted) |
Ans | Paste copied pattern at your cursor position |
+ & - | Increase/decrease frame duration |
÷ | Toggles strict/transparent pasting (details below) |
Alpha | Cycles between the 3 color palettes (see below) |
× | Copies the entire screen as a pattern |
( & ) | Cycle through 4 different resolutions (see below) |
EXE | Save current configuration (palette, frame time, ...) |
Back | Allows you to step through the simulation |
Shift + Backspace | Kills all cells |
Ln | Toggle pixel font |
An updated guide about the controls can be found on my repo with the source code, link below. This one might be outdated.
Details
Strict vs. Transparent pasting
- Strict pasting will paste anything the original pattern contains, including dead cells. This might overwrite live cells with dead ones.
- Transparent pasting, as its name suggest, acts as a transparent "image", and will only paste live cells. In transparent mode, selecting too large an area with too many dead cells is not a problem, as pasting will not overwrite a large rectangle with dead cells.
Color palettes
- White
- Green
- Peach / Beige
Green and Peach colors come from here
Resolution
Warning
For resolution changes to apply, you must change resolution, save configuration changes with EXE, then quit and open the app again. The grid is created when the app opens, and needs to be reopened each time you want to change the resolution. Future updates might circumvent this flaw.
Changes how many pixels wide a cell is. The available resolutions as of 1.2.0 are 1, 2, 4, 5 and 8 pixel wide squares for a cell. Don't worry about over- or undershooting those values, as it will simply wrap around.
Download
You can download the Conway app from this link:
- Conway v1.2.2, 1:1 cell:pixel ratio, bug fixes & enhancements
- Conway v1.1.0, Rework of all aspects, bug fixes. UX and UI.
- Conway v1.0.0, First version
Installation
To install the Conway app, follow the instructions in the how to install guide.
Embedding your image as a pattern
Use the python script provided on my source repo (see below) and turn your image into a .cwp file (should be straightforward). By using the connector website, you can upload that file to your calculator. Make sure to change the digit of the file name (default: "pattern0.cwp"), to allow up to 10 unique pattern files at a time.
Source code
The source code is available here