# GameOfLife
The program I have created is a clone I made from the ground up of the popular  
Conway's Game of Life game.  

***Please Note The Following:***
* This is just a little side project to work on my optimization skills and mess  
  around with different patterns in Conway's Game of Life.
* ***IMPORTANT: Requires Java 8***

## A little bit about the game
If you have never heard of the "Game of Life", developed by John Conway in the  
early 70's I suggest that you check out the wikepedia page listed here:  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway%27s_Game_of_Life. It is a fun little game   
that replicates cell automation. Below I will list some fun patterns to get you  
started.    

## Patterns
### Still Patterns
![alt text](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/96/Game_of_life_block_with_border.svg/66px-Game_of_life_block_with_border.svg.png) 
![alt text](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/Game_of_life_beehive.svg/98px-Game_of_life_beehive.svg.png) 
![alt text](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Game_of_life_loaf.svg/98px-Game_of_life_loaf.svg.png) 
![alt text](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Game_of_life_boat.svg/82px-Game_of_life_boat.svg.png) 
![alt text](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Game_of_life_flower.svg/82px-Game_of_life_flower.svg.png) 
### Oscillating Patterns
![alt text](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Game_of_life_blinker.gif) 
![alt text](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Game_of_life_toad.gif) 
![alt text](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Game_of_life_beacon.gif) 
![alt text](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Game_of_life_pulsar.gif) 
![alt text](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/I-Column.gif) 
### Spaceship Patterns *(AKA - Patterns that move on their own)*
![alt text](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Game_of_life_animated_glider.gif) 
![alt text](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Game_of_life_animated_LWSS.gif)   
### *These are not all the possible patterns but a few ones that are used alot*

## To Run
### QuickStart
1. Download Repository  
2. Open Repository folder
3. Run the first-start.bat file *(This step only necessary once. Afterwards  
just run theGameOfLife.jar file that is created in the directory)*
4. After doing steps 1-3 the game should have already ran once. The next times  
that you wish to run the game just run the GameOfLife.jar that has now been  
created in the base directory.  

 Enter the following commands:
> cd gameoflife  
> javac GameOfLife.java  
> javac Main.java  
> jar cmvf manifest.mf GameOfLife.jar ./\*.java ./\*.class  
> java -jar GameOfLife.jar  
Step 4 : *Have fun using my Conway's Game of Life Program!!!*