Little Life by ratly

[raw]
made by ratly for Ludum Dare 56 (JAM)

You are a virus and your goal is to reach the target while avoiding the cells.

You move through the grid one step at a time.

Every time you take a step, some cells will appear and other cells will disappear all over the grid.

If you land in a tile where there is a cell you die!

Move by clicking one of four tiles around you, OR the tile you are currently on. Confirm your move by clicking the step button, which will cause you to move and the cells to act.

LD56Example-ezgif.com-video-to-gif-converter.gif

The cells follow the rules of Conway’s Game of Life: * Each tile checks the 8 tiles around it to decide what will happen * If an empty tile has exactly 3 cells around it, a cell will appear in that tile * If a cell has less than 2 other cells around it, it disappears * If a cell has more than 3 other cells around it, it disappears

Important: * You only die if a cell appears in your tile or you step into a tile that has a cell. If you move into a tile where a cell just disappeared, you are safe! * You can also select to remain on your own tile and let the cells act.

UPDATE 10/7 small change to improve control (1 click instead of 2). Original available on itch.io download.

Ratings

Overall 823th 3.259⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Fun 567th 3.37⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 232th 3.685⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Theme 748th 3.404⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 946th 2.462⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Humor 846th 2.391⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Mood 991th 2.74⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Given 28🗳️ 43🗨️

Feedback

HangoverGames
07. Oct 2024 · 12:06 UTC
Concept is interesting, reminds me of moving on a minefield minigames. My opinion- there should me some tutoprial that describes formations moving, or a way to make notes ingame.
kscerri
07. Oct 2024 · 23:32 UTC
Not great at puzzle games, though I wish there was some form of tutorial that slowly explains the game rules, since I didn't manage to absorb the instructions!

My initial impression is that it's a fun concept and I believe there was some form of pattern recognition involved? Curious to know how many levels are present in the game!
Chocolat-Endive
07. Oct 2024 · 23:42 UTC
The idea of basing a puzzle game around Conway's game of life is interesting. I enjoyed a few levels and tried to reach the exit using as few moves as possible.
Moving was a bit mouse click intensive though, but I didn't find keyboard equivalents.
firuti
08. Oct 2024 · 00:52 UTC
very clever little game. from a simple usability perspective, being able to use keyboard WASD or arrows would be a nice QoL addition! thanks!
rufenerd
08. Oct 2024 · 01:56 UTC
Awesome idea to make CoG a game! Confirming each move was brutally many clicks, but otherwise was well executed!
maymay
08. Oct 2024 · 04:00 UTC
This is a clever concept! I thought the design of the second level was really cool, where you'll end up back in the same state unless you figure out that you can move into a space that's currently filled with a cell. Like someone else mentioned, I think having the ability to move without confirming your click would be nice
LDJam user 142503
08. Oct 2024 · 13:42 UTC
OH! A Cellular Automata game.I like the way your combined it.
Ricoshade
09. Oct 2024 · 07:24 UTC
Love that you implemented Conways into your game as your main obstacles for your cell, really well done. these try beat the level with as little moves as possible games are always welcome so nice call on that. Overall love the game, artstyle could do with a bit of a change unless that is what you were going for. other than that well done and keep up the good work!
eugene-b
09. Oct 2024 · 10:27 UTC
Hah, I love puzzle games. So cool that you had enough time and ideas to make 10(?) levels. To be honest, I finished some of them just moving along the wall :laughing: But other ones were pretty difficult
TheChadRampage
10. Oct 2024 · 05:48 UTC
Love the idea! Awesome game guys!
Damien Black
10. Oct 2024 · 06:07 UTC
Ok, I love CGoL, but this seemed like a dumb idea. Only because I've tried to make games based on the rules of CGoL before. I WAS WRONG. This was very fun, and the patterns you used made for very cool puzzles. Soooo, I tried to optimize. Open challenge, 135 moves, read them and weep.

![Screenshot 2024-10-10 000553.png](///raw/c58/06/z/68694.png)

My feature request would be to see an animation of what just happened after you complete a level. I think that'd be awesome.
Obidiix-MinusInfinity
10. Oct 2024 · 18:59 UTC
I really liked the unique gameplay it has, it would be fun to have some score system or a limit to how many moves you can make.
Leo Fu
10. Oct 2024 · 20:50 UTC
Really cool game! it needs the strategy to find out the pattern! love it
LDJam user 243193
11. Oct 2024 · 09:26 UTC
Nice puzzle game. I might need to learn the rule more but did manage to complete 4 stages.
Strega
11. Oct 2024 · 22:32 UTC
Clever use of the game of life for this puzzle game. I don't know if I ever really grasped the patterns rules, and instead learned the sequences each level, but it was still effective and challenging. I was able to get through all the levels. Once I learned I could just click myself to not move, it was easier to progress.
loveapplegames
14. Oct 2024 · 09:29 UTC
Nice to see an Life in a game, since my own game is also based on cellular automata. I know some Life patterns but generally found it too difficult to predict the next generation, so I just memorised the sequence.
The Floating Brain
14. Oct 2024 · 23:27 UTC
Great way to turn the CA into a game play loop, and challenging, a great puzzle game!
SCSDww
15. Oct 2024 · 09:32 UTC
Good puzzle game!
ping78
16. Oct 2024 · 13:58 UTC
I loved playing this game. It's amazing how you took clever concept and turned it into something engaging. The idea is genius and the execution is spot on - intuitive and easy to understand, yet still challenging and fun (unlike mine from LD54). Well done.
TheLastSlowpoke
24. Oct 2024 · 06:39 UTC
Wow, I'm blown away, this is a really cool concept! I like that it counts your moves, so the levels don't devolve into "wait until everything disappears or settles, then go". From that emerges gameplay of navigating between everchanging walls just to get a little bit closer to the exit. I like the starting conditions of levels, they're designed really well.

I think it's the first time I see a virus depicted with a happy face next to a lot of angry, violent cells. I like the perspective ^^