Survival generates bugs, or to be precise organ Isms, which depending upon a standard set of rules either multiply or die. The game is based on the reasonably well known 'game of life by John Conway. He was a mathematician at Cambridge University. Geoff's version allows you to play against the computer or another player, and starts with the alternate placement on an eight "by eight square grid of four organisms, affectionately called "Dered wuns" and "Bludoodas", which gives you a clue to their colours if you have a green screen. Once the four have been placed, the program takes over and applies the rules in relation to the placements and moves to the next generation. You are then allowed to place another organism (using the joystick/fire button or cursor keys/copy) and after the second player or the computer has placed its organism the program calculates the second generation. The game continues in this fashion until one of the organism dies out completely or a draw is declared. Be careful when typing in the program, and please remember that the program listing printed here is an exact copy of the tried and tested working version. Any errors you might have are sure to be of your own making. RULES These are supplied in the game at the beginning and can be called at any time by pressing 'T'. They determine whether an organism survives to the next generation and examines each empty cell on the grid to see if one can be born in it.
- Deaths occur if an organism has one or no neighbours it dies from isolation. On the other hand if it has four or more neighbours it dies from overcrowding.
- If an organism has two or three neighbours it survives to the next generation.
- If an empty cell of the grid has exactly three neighbours then an organism is born in it for the next generation.
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