Q98932: Description of Life Genesis

Article: Q98932
Product(s): Microsoft Home Games
Version(s): WINDOWS:
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): 
Last Modified: 12-JUN-1999

kbusage

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Windows Entertainment Pack, volume 3 
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SUMMARY
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Life Genesis is based on the Life simulation rules developed by mathematician
John Horton Conway. Life Genesis includes both a Life simulator and a game based
on Life, which you can play against the computer.

The object of Life is to remove all the red cells from the grid. The computer
will try to remove all the blue squares. You and the computer take turns adding
and deleting cells.

MORE INFORMATION
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Imagine that you are looking into a microscope and you see a grid pattern on a
glass slide. Some of the squares on the grid are empty, and some contain live
tiny organisms or cells. Some organisms seem to live a long time, while others
die quickly. On parts of the slide, new organisms spring to life. As new
generations of cells live and die, they form patterns of shifting color.

This microscopic drama is based on a mathematical model following three simple
rules that determine, as each generation passes, who lives, who dies, and where
new life begins.

Each square on the Life grid can have up to eight neighboring squares; above,
below, left, right, and four diagonal squares. It is the number of neighbors
that each square has in one generation that determines its fate in the next. If
a living cell is too crowded or too isolated, it dies. If an empty square has
just the right conditions, it can spawn new life.

The following rules govern how each cell reacts:

1. A living cell with fewer than two neighbors dies of isolation.

2. A living cell with more than three neighbors dies of overcrowding.

3. New life is generated in an empty square with exactly three neighbors.

These are the classic rules for Life. They are all applied simultaneously to
determine each new generation. Life Genesis extends this by allowing living
cells to come in two varieties distinguished by their color. The only
modification required to accommodate this is an addition to rule 3. In Life
Genesis, the new cell generated is the same color as the majority of its three
neighbors.

Additional query words: 1.00 1.10

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Keywords          :  
Technology        : kbGamesSearch kbWinEntPkSearch kbWinEntPk300
Version           : WINDOWS:
Issue type        : kbinfo

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