GOL-004 · technical companion
False Neighborhood
Every cell obeys Life-like rules while choosing between its visible Moore neighborhood and eight persistent strangers elsewhere in the field.
At a glance
- geometry
- Square lattice + directed random graph
- neighborhood
- Moore · 8 local cells + 8 remote cells
- states
- Dead / alive
- update
- Synchronous source-selected clauses
- renderer
- Canvas 2D
What to explore
The game should make topology itself editable and inspectable without turning the canvas into an unreadable hairball. Local and graph counts must remain separate observations, and a compelling regime should allow remote influence to nucleate or anchor form rather than simply replace spatial coherence with noise.
Rules, update order and replay
The visible world is a square binary lattice. Each cell also owns eight distinct
directed graph neighbors chosen by networkSeed; the cell itself and its eight
toroidal Moore neighbors are excluded, so graph edges are genuinely remote even
when the visible boundary mode is finite. Every dead/alive count clause is
enabled by the birth or survival mask and independently chooses local or graph
count as its source. Matching local and graph clauses combine with OR semantics
and are reported as Local, Graph, Both, or Neither. Steps are synchronous and
the graph never evolves. Replay requires occupancy, graph, generation, topology,
all four masks, field profile, and the independent world/network seeds. Reset
reconstructs both layers; New world preserves the graph and Rewire graph
preserves the current board.
Reading the simulation
Inspection pauses painting, outlines the selected cell, distinguishes its local and graph neighbors, and draws only its eight outgoing graph edges. Written state reports local count, graph count, current and future state, and the exact Local/Graph/Both/Neither match. Selective inspection was chosen over drawing the complete dense graph because the latter would conceal rather than explain topology. The legend and text preserve meaning without relying on color.
Reproduce an opening
Download the example above, open the simulation, expand the controls, then use Share & reproduce → Import JSON. The example uses authored rules and a fixed seeded starting field; it is independent of the site’s editable default composition. Import starts paused at Step zero.
Share links and JSON reproduce the configured starting conditions, including hidden layers rebuilt by Reset. They do not save an evolved board, hand-painted cells, speed or display preferences. Determinism applies to the same rule version and Step sequence; real-time playback rates vary by device.
Larger fields and more involved rules can reduce playback speed. Read the configuration format and automated-access guide for compatibility details.