Conway's Game of Life is a cellular automaton. The "cells" die or become alive depending on their neighbours (cells that are horizontally, vertically, or diagonally adjacent from a cell). The rules are the following:
- Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbours dies, as if caused by underpopulation.
- Any live cell with two or three live neighbours lives on to the next generation.
- Any live cell with more than three live neighbours dies, as if by overpopulation.
- Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes a live cell, as if by reproduction.
For more detailled information about game of life and to check out common patterns, Wikipedia has a good overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway%27s_Game_of_Life
In my version of game of life I prepopulate once and from then on you can follow the depelopment.
Check out my "retro style version" here: