here is an interesting variation on conway's game of life using shades of color. This particular one wraps around so the image it creates here is a tile-able pattern, and it also lasts longer (sort of).
I would like to turn this into a platform for experimenting with unusual ideas for cellular automata.
In particular, I'm less interested in applying a global set of rules globally to all cells producing a series of generations. I'm more interested in exploring ways to look from the individual cell outward, perhaps in an awareness and reactionary way.
The interesting thing about conway's game of life and cellular automata in general is the vast and dramatic complexity that arises from the application of the simple rules and the absolute, finite lockstep that moves the board forward. I love this, but I want to see how I can introduce rules that can be changed in the course of the game, or set up a situation that approximates the rules but isn't based on rules at all, so that it can meander through the universe.
At least, that's what I think about when I see the game of life. Also pretty pictures.