A cellular automata simulation inspired by Conway's Game of Life, but with a sophisticated twist: a complex chemistry and physics engine. Watch as elements interact, react, and change states in a dynamic, grid-based world.
Simply open index.html in a modern web browser.
- Large Canvas & Navigation: The simulation now runs on a larger canvas. You can use the pan and zoom sliders to navigate the world.
- Element-Based Planet Creation: Create your own planets! Click the "Create Planet" button to open a dialog where you can choose the elemental composition of your new world. The planet's mass is calculated from its constituent elements.
- Mass-Based Gravity: The new gravity system simulates the gravitational attraction between planets. Planets will pull on each other with a force proportional to their masses and the distance between them. This feature can be toggled on or off.
- Advanced Physics Engine: Simulates realistic movement and segregation of solids, liquids, and gases. Solids sink, liquids flow and spread, and gases rise and disperse, with denser materials displacing lighter ones.
- Temperature Simulation: Elements are affected by temperature, which diffuses across the grid. Heat and cold sources can be painted, causing phase changes (water freezing/boiling/condensing, etc.).
- Heat/Cold Source Testbed: Paintable
HEATandCOLDsources persistently modify the temperature of any element occupying or moving through their cells, enabling controlled thermal experiments. - Life and Decay: A
LIFEelement that can grow and spread to adjacent cells, but will eventually decay intoDEADmatter, which can further decompose. - Complex Chemistry Engine: A rule-based engine allows elements and compounds to react according to an extensible, toggleable ruleset. Includes:
- Water, salt, and methane formation
- Combustion and fire spread
- Photosynthesis and life generation
- Acid rain, dissolution, neutralization, rusting, and decomposition
- Phase transitions (melting, freezing, condensation)
- Toggleable Rules: You can enable or disable individual chemical reactions in real-time via the "Interaction Rules" panel in the UI, creating your own experimental testbed.
- Interactive Painting: Paint any periodic table element onto the grid using a variable-sized brush.
- Simulation Controls: Start, pause, and clear the simulation at any time.
- Element Info Panel: Hover over the grid to see details about any element or compound at that cell.
- Extensible Data Files: All elements, compounds, and rules are defined in separate data files for easy modification and expansion.
- D3-based Visualization: Grid cells are visually colored according to their temperature, giving an intuitive sense of heat flow and reactions.
- Magnetism: Magnetic elements will attract each other, creating interesting new simulation possibilities.
- Conductivity: Conductive elements transfer heat more efficiently, allowing for more realistic temperature simulations.
- Sun Special: A new
SUNspecial that provides a gradient of heat, with the temperature decreasing as the distance from the sun increases.
The simulation includes a wide variety of elements and compounds, each with its own unique properties.
- Elements: Basic building blocks, defined in
data/elements.js. These are based on the real periodic table. - Compounds: More complex substances formed by chemical reactions, defined in
data/compounds.js. This includes everything from water (H2O) and salt (NACL) to fire, life, oil, and lava. - Special Sources:
HEATandCOLDare persistent sources that raise or lower the temperature of grid cells and their neighbors. TheSUNis a special source that provides a gradient of heat.
The chemical reactions that govern the simulation are defined in data/rules.js. You can modify this file to create your own custom reactions.
You can add more elements, compounds, or rules by editing the respective data files. The UI and engine will automatically incorporate your changes for rapid sandbox experimentation.