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[William Broom]

@Moi: You use 8 to deploy the pattern. I don't really understand what 0 is meant to do but it does something.

@Dacke: This game is awesome! I don't have a friend handy to test it out to its full potential, nor do I have the faintest concept of the strategies involved (I killed myself way more times that I killed the other guy). But still, it's really fun to watch the patterns go and I can't wait to round up some humans to play it in multiplayer!

[Dacke]

During my 1-person beta-testing I found that the controls can be a little confusing, so I'm glad you asked! To begin with make sure you are playing version 1.2, because the instructions in 1.1 are a little bit off.

The reason you only get a little flash is because when a cell is created without any neighbours, they die the next generation.

• Reset pattern (1 or 7) - removes any patterns you have placed, but not fired.
• Fire pattern (2 or 8) - turns any placed patterns into live cells.
• Place pattern (3 or 9) - places/unplaces patterns corresponding to your "cursor". The default cursor is a single cell, but you can choose from a selection of working patterns (by pressing next/previous pattern).
• Instant fire (4 or 0) - instantly creates live cells corresponding to your current cursor, without you having to first use "place pattern" and then pressing "fire". If you use this with the one-cell-cursor it will spawn a cell that will instantly die of loneliness (according to the laws of Life) but it can be very convenient when using the bigger pre-defined patterns.
• Next pattern (E/I) and Previous pattern   (Q / U) - changes your cursor to another of the predefined patterns. (If you want to play hard-core, building all patterns from scratch, you can turn this off with F5.)
• Flip pattern (F / O) - flips your cursor upside-down.

It is indeed a very suicidal game, especially when you're just starting out! That's why I added lots of predefined patterns and even let you add your own. To learn what patterns work, make sure to test all the predefined patterns (switch by pressing Q/E or I/O)!

Do the controls make more sense now?

@chutup: I really love that someone is "getting" it! I would really love to hear how it works in multiplayer for you!

[moi]

yeah got it, but it's not easy lolol

[zradick]

I really love the concept here, but I had a really hard time making my cells head across the board.  I also saw "HIT" a few times when I am sure my cells hadn't made it across...  I'm not sure if that is intended or not.  In any case, the shifting colors and roiling cells were very psychadelic just to start up and watch.  I think you could definitely do something more with this concept...
Cheers!
--Zack

[Dacke]

I really love the concept here, but I had a really hard time making my cells head across the board.  I also saw "HIT" a few times when I am sure my cells hadn't made it across...  I'm not sure if that is intended or not.  In any case, the shifting colors and roiling cells were very psychadelic just to start up and watch.  I think you could definitely do something more with this concept...
Cheers!
--Zack

Awesome that you like it! It shouldn't be too hard to get some stuff across - just press the "next pattern"-button to switch to something self-propelling! When playing another person it can be trickier, but it's equally hard for both players and what you can do is to try to create as much chaos on your opponent's side as possible.

I'm quite sure that "HIT" works properly, just remember that you can get hit by your own cells.

I do have some more ideas for other game-modes, but this is "Multiplayer on one keyboard" and it is exactly what I wanted to do! If you have some ideas for other Life-games that could work, please do share!

[redshift]

This game looks and sounds interesting, will be playing it soon and then give you some feedback.

What tools did you use to make it?

[Dacke]

Wow, thanks for the compliment! I'll fix the link in the first post, as it doesn't work anymore. But you should be warned, it's a decently experimental game concept and chances are you won't be able to enjoy it if you haven't been playing with Conway's Game of Life before. Also, it's not a very fun game to play :D

No tools used, I wrote it from scratch using C (with a tiny, tiny bit of C++), OpenGL and GLUT. There are also some images ingame that I made in Photoshop and loaded with SOIL, but if I keep working on the game I will probably use a different solution, it was a quick fix to finish in time for the competition deadline.

Not sure we should be bumping this thread, though, as there is another competition going on. Anyone know what the netiquette has to say about this?

Edit: Link in first post fixed.

[Cymon]

Meh. If it's still active, I say bumping is perfectly legit.

Then again, that opinion has gotten me in trouble in the past.

[Mikoangelo]

Is this still being maintained? It looks really neat, but the download link is broken.

[Dacke]

Hey! I've fixed the link in the first post.

Mikoangelo, did you join the forum just for ask for the game? Anyway, I'm really flattered that you asked.
The game actually doesn't play all that well. But if you find someone to play with, who knows how to play the game without the pre-defined patterns, you can get pretty intense matches.

I also added a link to the source code, if anyone is interested. It is in the form of a Visual Studio 2005 project, but everything that matters is in the actual code (and not hidden in some secret, magic project file).

I will try to make a new version in the future, though most changes will be cosmetic.
I want to:

• fix the blur on the in-game images (and I now know how)
• add a proper menu system
• allow users to remap the keys
• add an ingame pattern editor
• clean up the code
• comment the code properly
• possibly tweak the gameplay so it will work better in competition
• ...and when I become an awesome programmer, possibly add an AI (not likely)

[Mikoangelo]

Yeah, I actually did sign up just to ask.

I'm on Mac OS X, so I'll have to compile the game myself, but now the source code link appears broken. I hope there aren't any Windows-specific dependencies.

[Dacke]

Yeah, I actually did sign up just to ask.

I'm on Mac OS X, so I'll have to compile the game myself, but now the source code link appears broken. I hope there aren't any Windows-specific dependencies.

Awesome!

Fixed the source code link. (I need to get a real host, but this will have to do for now.)

I tried to take great care to avoid everything Windows-specific, but I may very well have messed up somewhere. You may need to get a OSX-version of Glut, but it shouldn't be a problem and the code won't be affected. If I find the time I'll try to compile it under my Ubuntu.

Please tell me if you can get it to work on your own!

[Dacke]

So it turns out I don't have the needed skills to compile the game under Linux. Hope you can make it work!

[Dacke]

By popular request, I have arranged for a more permanent hosting solution for the game. Big thanks to pen!

I've fixed the links in the first post to the game and source code.

The game can now be found at:
www.erikronnblom.com/dacke/CGO_Bigotry_v1.2.zip

[kaputtnik]

By popular request, I have reviewed this little gem in a befitting manner o'er here!

[Dacke]

Awesome

Did you manage to enjoy it at all?

[kaputtnik]

I must admit - my girlfriend lost interest pretty soon, and battling away with only five fingers on each hand and two brain halves that don't work well on their own, I couldn't fully enjoy it; But with a good partner on the other side, this game is great fun, really!