Conway's Rule Engine

Small rules. Big consequences.

Overview

Conway's Rule Engine is a flexible and extensible framework for simulating Conway's Game of Life and other rule-based cellular automata. Built with Python and Pygame, it provides a visual simulation environment with highly customizable rules, initial patterns, and dynamic spawning behaviors.

Features

• Configurable Conway's Game of Life simulation with customizable survival and birth rules
• Pygame-based visualization with real-time rendering
• Flexible initial pattern generation from any edge (top, bottom, left, right)
• Continuous cell spawning for dynamic, flowing animations
• JSON-based configuration for easy rule and parameter modification
• Modular architecture for easy extension and customization

Configuration

All simulation parameters are configured via rules_config.json:

Game Rules

• survival_min_rule: Minimum neighbors for a live cell to survive (default: 2)
• survival_max_rule: Maximum neighbors for a live cell to survive (default: 3)
• birth_rule: Number of neighbors needed for a dead cell to become alive (default: 3)

Grid & Performance

• height_rule: Grid height in cells
• width_rule: Grid width in cells
• tick_rule: Updates per second (higher = faster simulation)

Initial Pattern

• initial_spawn_direction: Where to spawn initial cells ("top", "bottom", "left", "right")
• initial_spawn_rows: Number of rows/columns to fill with initial pattern
• initial_alive_percentage: Probability (0.0-1.0) that each cell in the spawn area starts alive

Continuous Spawning

• continuous_spawn_rate: Probability (0.0-1.0) that new cells spawn each update
• continuous_spawn_direction: Edge to continuously spawn from ("top", "bottom", "left", "right", "none")

Project Structure

• conways_game/: Core Conway's Game of Life implementation
  • cell_manager.py: Cell state logic and neighbor counting
  • env_manager.py: Grid management and update logic
  • conways_game_of_life.py: Main game loop and rendering coordination
  • pygame_module/: Pygame visualization components
• utils/: Utility modules (JSON reader, timing)
• rules_config.json: Configuration file for all simulation parameters
• main.py: Entry point for running the simulation

Getting Started

1. Clone the repository
2. Install Python 3.x
3. Install dependencies:

   pip install pygame

4. Configure your simulation in rules_config.json
5. Run the simulation:

   python main.py

Example Configurations

Classic Conway's Game of Life

{
    "survival_min_rule": 2,
    "survival_max_rule": 3,
    "birth_rule": 3,
    "continuous_spawn_rate": 0.0,
    "continuous_spawn_direction": "none"
}

Flowing Animation (Google-style)

{
    "survival_min_rule": 2,
    "survival_max_rule": 3,
    "birth_rule": 3,
    "continuous_spawn_rate": 0.3,
    "continuous_spawn_direction": "bottom",
    "initial_spawn_direction": "bottom",
    "initial_spawn_rows": 10
}

Controls

• Close the window to exit the simulation

Future Extensions

The modular architecture allows for:

• Custom rule engines beyond Conway's Game of Life
• User-defined cellular automata rules
• Interactive cell placement and editing
• Pattern saving and loading