DOCUMENT:Q98932 12-JUN-1999 [homegame] TITLE :Description of Life Genesis PRODUCT :Microsoft Home Games PROD/VER:WINDOWS: OPER/SYS: KEYWORDS: ====================================================================== kbusage ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The information in this article applies to: - Microsoft Windows Entertainment Pack, volume 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY ======= 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 ================ 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 ====================================================================== Keywords : Technology : kbGamesSearch kbWinEntPkSearch kbWinEntPk300 Version : WINDOWS: Issue type : kbinfo ============================================================================= THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY. Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1999.