golife.m

GoLife is another "game of life" based on the rules of the Chinese board game Go.

GoLife is another 'game of life' based on the rules of the Chinese board game Go, arguably the best game ever devised by mankind.

This version of GoLife is not intended to be an AI opponent. Rather it is written to see how a Go system evolves by itself.

The system can be interpreted as a 2D universe being colonized by two species competing for dominance. To start, type 'golife' in the command window for usage information. Type 'golife help' for this message. A board size of 19x19 is ok for a typical pentium 133 computer to handle. A bigger board requires more computing power.

There are two game modes: auto and manual, which can be toggled by right-clicking the mouse. In auto mode, the system randomly generates each move and automatically evolves according to the rules of Go. Although predictable, the long-term pattern displayed by a large system (> 9x9) is quite interesting. In manual mode, left-clicking an unoccupied square makes a move. Manual mode can be used by two human players against each other, or as a way to inflict some 'divine' interference when desired.

Grid lines can be turned on and off by shift-left-clicking.

Due to Matlab's rendering of graphics, the image flicks when the grid lines are turned on. It is recommended to turn off the grid lines in auto mode. Because of the intensive graphics, reducing the figure window to a smaller size will speed up a large board. To restart, double-click the board. For more information about Go, go to http://www.usgo.org/.

(Tested under Matlab 5.2 on DEC/Unix and PC/Windows95.)