Stacked Game of Life
Learning and science
cellular automata visualisation
SHOW HN2026
How HN took it
3 positive, 9 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 0 critical, out of 13 comments about the project. Thread score +0.17.
Design: 1 for, 0 againstDocs: 1 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Visualisation is nice and original-looking
From 3 comments
This is the kind of visualisation that obvious in retrospect, but I don't think anybody's done this before. Very nice. I think the only change I'd make really is to give the top…
ralferoo on HNVery cool!
perilunar on HNVery cool! Would be great to be able to rotate/zoom the 3D space.
freetonik on HN
Fading history layers add an organic feel
From 2 comments
Very nice visualization, the fade out really adds to the organic feel. I've been playing with a similar system but designed for 3d printing, it's simple to make it…
WillMorr on HNThe “fading” animation (what the top-down view here looks like, minus the shrinking due to perspective) already did exist in the 1980s, just not the 3D-zation of it.
layer8 on HN
Objections
Top layer is hard to tell apart from faded history; oscillators look like other shapes
From 2 comments
This is the kind of visualisation that obvious in retrospect, but I don't think anybody's done this before. Very nice. I think the only change I'd make really is to give the top…
ralferoo on HNCame here to say the same: remarkable, just make the very top layer hard white, or outlined, or something that contrasts with the falling history.
JKCalhoun on HN
Simulation of a three-cell pattern appeared to oscillate unexpectedly
From 3 comments
Hmm, shouldn't this pattern be perfectly stable? ``` o o o o ``` In this simulation it seems to oscillate between two patterns. Very interesting visualization either way!
boomlinde on HNI'm guessing you're looking at three cells switching between vertical and horizontal. O O to OOO and back again. O
qchamaeleon on HNAah, yes, that's probably it.
boomlinde on HN
Requests
Configurable number of history layers and opacity
From 1 comment
Could you make the number of history layers and their opacity configurable?
Tepix on HN
Ability to specify initial configurations
From 1 comment
What does stacked mean? Is this just 3D game of life where cells die unless 5-6 neighbours and come alive with 4 neighbours? But very cool, would also be cool if you could…
VibeSchema on HN
Rotate, zoom and pan the 3D space
From 1 comment
Very cool! Would be great to be able to rotate/zoom the 3D space.
freetonik on HN
Questions
What does stacked mean in this project
From 2 comments
What does stacked mean? Is this just 3D game of life where cells die unless 5-6 neighbours and come alive with 4 neighbours? But very cool, would also be cool if you could…
VibeSchema on HNAh found answers in README of vnglst/stacked-game-of-life, nice idea!
VibeSchema on HN
Alternatives named
Earlier 3D Game of Life visualisations on Reddit, Instagram and Vimeo
From 2 comments
Here's one from 2018: https://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/9xfquc/3d_visualization_of_john_conways_game_of_life/ One from 2 weeks ago:…
xnx on HNNot to detract from the Show HN entry, but I made this back in 2012 to play with 3Delight's API and implicit surfaces: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/56307994 The one posted to…
jlarocco on HN
Multi-layer 2D cellular automata idea
From 1 comment
Very nice visualization! I thought this was going to be like a Game of Life variation I came up with about 15 years ago where you stack multiple layers of 2D Cellular Automata,…
vanderZwan on HN