A simple game based on the swapjs Territory War demo, mixed with Conway's Game Of Life.
Try a demo of Jason's Game Of Life here.
The game is a simple set of javascript files, a couple of html files, and a css file. Simply download the project and start a HTTP web server in the src folder of the project.
If you're not familiar with web servers, a very easy to use web server comes with any python installation. Instructions for installing python on various operating systems is here. Then, run python's webserver in the src directory on your computer like this:
python -m http.server 8070
Then, open your browser to http://localhost:8070.
The game plays itself, similar to games such as Totally Accurate Battle Simulator and SimLife. You specify the game's scenario, and watch it play out.
My personal favorite bot is Hydra, a bot that doesn't react well to instant death powerups:
Big Boy is also a beloved underdog. He's a bit on the slower side, but he's no slouch:
And who can forget Drunk Jezzball, the tipsy bot who means well but often loses the plot:
Try your hand at other bots when you play the game.
The game features several powerups that'll enhance the chaos:
There are three game modes:
- boring mode is a simple single-game land grab simulation
- tournament mode is a multi-round competition between the bots that you configure
- battle royale mode has the bots playing in a battle to the death - last man standing wins.
This project was vibe coded in May of 2026 using Claude Code as an experiment to test Claude's ability to create and update a small project from scratch.
All code was 100% written by Claude during a conversational coding session, with a few very minor changes made by hand (mainly filling in the about file and changing bot tick speed configuration).
The ai model used was Sonnet 4.6.
Complete vibe coding session logs are here:
Further experimentation that could have happened, but didn't:
- Have Claude add thorough comments into the code
- Generate unit tests and other such test harnesses with Claude
- Observe if Claude can refactor the code's modularity
- Can Claude clean up commit history (ie squashing commits) reliably?
- Ask Claude to create a few new bots and game modes of its choosing
The vibe coding session for this game was purposely sloppy and adhoc. As such, the unmodified code that Claude put together is less than ideal, but it works.
Occasionally, as an afterthought, Claude was directed to make attempts at persisting it's understanding of the project's purpose in the specification.md and bots-spec.md. Importantly, these specifications were not pre-written, and as such, while thorough, there are likely a number of incorreclty documented concepts.
This project should not be interpreted as the way to do things, as it's purpose is experimental in nature. It serves as an interesting look into the current state of AI-assisted vibe coding for a small proof-of-concept project. The git commit history along with the session logs provide an interesting archeological dig into Claude's impressive coding abilities.
Complete vibe coding session logs are here:
- Claude Code wrote all of the game's code
- TrekhLeb's claude-pod was used to run Claude Code in a Docker container
- cloudconvert's .mov to .gif converter made various videos in this readme markdown-compatible
Jason's Game of Life is licensed with the Apache license, which is a great license because, essentially it:
- a) covers liability - my code should work, but I'm not liable if you do something stupid with it
- b) allows you to copy, fork, and use the code, even commercially
- c) is non-viral, that is, your derivative code doesn't have to be open source to use it
Other great licensing options for your own code: BSD License, MIT License, or Creative Commons.
Here's the license:
Copyright (c) 2026, Coder Cowboy, LLC. All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
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Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
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Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
The views and conclusions contained in the software and documentation are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing official policies, either expressed or implied.