Conway Time Volume

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How to read it

Conway's Game of Life runs on a flat square board. Each new generation is stacked above the previous one, so height is time rather than physical space.

On every step, each cell counts its eight neighbors. A live cell survives with two or three neighbors and dies otherwise. An empty cell becomes alive when it has exactly three neighbors.

A cube means a cell was alive at that board position and moment. Towers mark cells that survive or recur in place; broken ridges and drifting strands come from oscillators, methuselahs, and glider-like motion.

Pause stops automatic stepping. Step advances one generation and then pauses, which is useful when you want to inspect a single rule update.

Settings hides or reveals the control panel. On small screens the panel starts hidden so the volume stays visible.

Prune sets how often static columns are detected and deleted. Short intervals remove persistent towers aggressively; long intervals let stable structures accumulate before cleanup.

Board changes the width and height of the 2D cell grid. Larger boards create more detailed volumes but cost more GPU and CPU work.

Time depth controls how many past generations stay visible. Higher depth makes taller histories; lower depth emphasizes the newest layers.

While running, dynamic depth adjusts that visible history every four seconds. If measured FPS is below the speed target, depth drops by four; if measured FPS meets or beats the target, depth rises by four.

Density affects the initial seed field. Low density creates sparse fragments and isolated trails; high density produces heavier ruins and more collisions.

Speed controls how quickly new top layers are added while the simulation is running.

FPS reports measured render frames per second, so you can see whether the current volume is keeping up.