By Scott Allen
An implementation of Conway's Game of Life, a cellular automaton, for the Arduboy, a tiny Arduino compatible game system.
Each pixel is a cell. Only the torus type finite grid is implemented (The left edge joins to the right edge and the top edge joins to the bottom edge).
This sketch double buffers the display image and therefore uses a large amount of RAM. It’s likely to be affected by a bootloader conflict problem, causing issues when trying to upload a new sketch after ArduboyLife has been loaded.
Try holding down the UP button when powering up and plugging in your Arduboy. This will enter flashlight mode. The RGB LED and display will light up white. (If you have one of the later Kickstarter Arduboys, with the RGB LED installed wrong, then the RGB LED will not turn on but if the display goes white then you’re probably in flashlight mode.) You should then be able to load a new sketch.
Buttons used to control the game are as follows:
| Button | Function |
|---|---|
| A | Pause. If already paused, step once to the next generation |
| B | Run at the current speed. Pause while held, to view info |
| Right | Start a new game |
| Left | Restart with the same initial pattern |
| Up | Increase the speed |
| Down | Decrease the speed |
| Up + Down | Toggle sound on and off. Speed is left unchanged |
When first started, an introduction screen appears for a few seconds, then a help screen showing the functions of the buttons is displayed. After another delay, the game will run with the help screen used as the initial grid pattern. The intro and help screens can be bypassed by pushing any button. If the New button is pressed, a random pattern grid will be generated. The Replay button will generate a fixed pattern that is different from the help screen.
In addition to performing their assigned functions, all buttons will cause status information to be displayed while held. This includes the speed, number of live cells, the step (generation) number, whether the game is running or paused, and whether sound is on or off.
If sound is enabled, a tone will be generated that is proportional to the number of live cells currently on the grid. The more cells exist, the higher the frequency of the tone. Each tone is generated for a fixed duration of a few seconds or until a different tone starts. If a new cell count equals the previous one, the tone is not restarted. Therefore, sound will time out and stop if the game gets to a state where the number of cells doesn't change from one step to the next. A tone will also time out when the game is paused or if a button is held down long enough.
Copyright (c) 2015-2019 Scott Allen
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
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