Turning cellular automata into 2 player games
Turning cellular automata into 2 player games
Since cellular automata are 0 player games I was thinking what if you modified them to turn them into 1 player, 2 player, or 3+ player games. One idea for a game I had was that you would divide the grid of cells in half and then you would take turns placing alive cells somewhere on the board. Once half the board with was filled with alive cells you would follow a certain cellular automata rule for a certain number of generations. You would then count the number of alive cells on each half of the board and whoever had the most would win. I also had an idea for a different game where you could use cellular automata spaceships as enemies or something in a video game since alot of video games have things in them that move. I am actually pretty surprised that no one has tried to use ideas in cellular automata as the basis for a 1 or 2 player game. Does anyone else have any ideas?
Re: Turning cellular automata into 2 player games
There is a well known 2-player variant on life. Basically, pieces of two colors are arranged on a grid. The objective is to exterminate your opponents color. On your turn, you may either add a piece of your color or remove a piece of your opponents color. After that, the board "automatically" advances one generation. This follows the same rules as in life. When a birth occurs, the new cell's color is determined by those of the three live cells surrounding it in the previous generation.
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Re: Turning cellular automata into 2 player games
The name of the two player life game is Immigration and you can find a write-up of it in Lifeline (I forget which issue), which is available on the wiki. If I recall correctly, the rules given there call for players to add cells less often than every generation. (I think it was every ten.)
I had an idea for a game that was basically Space Invaders, but with a Life twist. The enemies coming down the screen would be various spaceships and you'd control a gun of some kind. All of the game "physics" would simply be the Life evolution rules, except for the player's control of the gun. It could probably even be implemented as a Golly script.
If I get the mood, I might just have to implement it.
I had an idea for a game that was basically Space Invaders, but with a Life twist. The enemies coming down the screen would be various spaceships and you'd control a gun of some kind. All of the game "physics" would simply be the Life evolution rules, except for the player's control of the gun. It could probably even be implemented as a Golly script.
If I get the mood, I might just have to implement it.
Re: Turning cellular automata into 2 player games
I should have seen this when I posted this: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=540
Can you tell me what these 2+ player variations are called? I'm building my own implementation (see other post) and would like to glean some ideas.
It's kind of an obvious idea, but requires a shiny implementation and certain features that make it more accessible. Otherwise it won't have any kind of a popular following.
One modification of the rules I posted before is that I think a birth should occur if you have at most two enemy neighbours. Otherwise stable configurations are untouchable unless you can place enemy colours beside them.
Can you tell me what these 2+ player variations are called? I'm building my own implementation (see other post) and would like to glean some ideas.
It's kind of an obvious idea, but requires a shiny implementation and certain features that make it more accessible. Otherwise it won't have any kind of a popular following.
One modification of the rules I posted before is that I think a birth should occur if you have at most two enemy neighbours. Otherwise stable configurations are untouchable unless you can place enemy colours beside them.