DOLLAR COMPANY.
WORK 41 / ANOTHER WAY TO FOLLOW THE RULES
Neighbours.
One beginning.
Two sets of instructions.
Draw a field, then decide what the neighbours can change. Follow A and B one generation at a time, and ask a particular cell why it is there.
Count eight. Change together.
Every cell reads its eight surrounding cells in the complete previous generation. The centre does not count itself. All cells then change together; a new mark never changes its neighbour during the same step.
Outside this 24 × 24 paper is always paper, never a cell from the opposite edge. Both instructions always start from the same seed. Only the starting field can be drawn on.
A and B use this same boundary. Changing it returns both results to generation zero; one Undo restores the previous boundary and viewed generation.
One starting field. Two sets of instructions. Nothing advances until you choose.
01 / DRAW A COMMON BEGINNING
The starting field.
20 ink cells / 576
Drag to draw; release to apply the whole stroke. Escape, Cancel stroke or a cancelled pointer leaves the seed unchanged. Choose Inspect / scroll to move around the large drawing without painting.
Both A and B begin with these exact cells. Drawing changes the seed, never a generated result.
Place one starting cell
These native controls make the same Ink or Paper edit without drawing.
Rows and columns run 1–24 from top left. A real seed change returns both results to generation zero. Undo brings back the prior seed, rules and generation.
02 / WRITE THE INSTRUCTIONS
What will the neighbours do?
Tick the neighbour counts that leave ink. An unticked count leaves paper. The upper row applies when the centre was paper; the lower row when it was ink.
Instruction A
Instruction B
Changing either instruction returns both fields to generation zero. Copying changes B only; later edits to one instruction do not edit the other.
03 / FOLLOW THEM TOGETHER
Generation 0.
Advance once when you choose. Generation zero is the starting field; there are at most 64 steps. Changing this view does not add an authoring Undo step.
0 of 576 cells differ. X marks the differing positions in both fields; it is a guide, not an extra cell.
A
20 ink cellsB
20 ink cellsUse either complete result as a new common seed at generation zero. Both instructions and the title stay as they are. One Undo restores the earlier seed, instructions and viewed generation.
Click a result cell to inspect its cause. The native row, column and A/B controls below do the same. Results cannot be painted.
OPTIONAL / FOLLOW THE SAME FIELD THROUGH TIME
Does the field return?
Check each instruction from the shared seed, through at most generation 64. A return means every cell matches an earlier complete field in the same position; the same number of ink cells is not enough.
The viewed generation and title can change while this check stays. Changing the seed, either instruction or the shared boundary hides it; Undo to the same choices can bring it back. Nothing advances automatically.
04 / ASK A PARTICULAR CELL
Why this mark?
The outline marks this coordinate in the seed and both result fields. Inspection changes no authored cell.
A · row 1, column 1
Generation 0: Paper. Paper beyond edges.
This is an authored starting cell. It has no earlier generation or matched instruction; both fields start from this same choice.
05 / KEEP THE WHOLE EXPERIMENT
Instructions travel, too.
Prepare, then keep
Shared boundary: Paper beyond edges. Files and fixed links keep this choice.
JSON keeps the seed, both instructions, boundary, title and selected generation for reopening here. SVG adds the seed and both results as pictures, with those same complete choices inside. Neither is an offline editing desk.
These are fixed copies of applied choices. The link and files do not follow later edits. Drawing and inspection guides, control drafts and Undo history are not included. Nothing uploads or saves automatically.
Open a kept experiment
JSON up to 8 KiB; SVG up to 256 KiB. The complete incoming choices are reviewed before replacing anything. Return to this site to edit them.