Added Sound to Life Game
I added a sound feature to Life Game, the browser-based PWA version of Conway’s Game of Life. You can now listen to the board pattern as music.
The Board Becomes a Sequencer
When sound is enabled, a yellow playhead scans the board from left to right, one column at a time. If the current column contains live cells, those cells are played as notes.
Cells near the top of the board become higher notes, while cells near the bottom become lower notes. That means the same Game of Life rules can produce completely different phrases depending on the initial arrangement. A random board turns into a chance-driven arpeggio, while classic patterns such as gliders and pulsars create more periodic rhythms.
The Speed Slider Controls Tempo Too
The speed slider already controlled how quickly generations update. With the new sound feature, it also affects the tempo of the notes. Slow it down to listen while watching the pattern evolve, or speed it up to create tighter, busier phrases.
The sound is generated with the browser’s Web Audio API, so no extra audio files are needed. Press the sound button and the current cell pattern becomes the instrument.
A Game of Life You Can Watch and Hear
Game of Life is fun because of the way cells appear, disappear, and organize themselves into patterns. Turning those patterns into sound makes it easier to feel where cells are clustered and how the board changes over time.
Try starting with Random, then turn on sound. If you find a texture you like, adjust the speed or add gliders and pulsars to reshape the rhythm.