Falling sand games are very similar to cellular automata, but instead of "alive" or "dead" there are elements like "water" or "sand" with different properties that interact. For example, sand falls down and piles up. Water falls down, floats on sand, and spreads out to fill its container. You could have another element "metal" that doesn't fall, but interacts with water to create sand (perhaps by rusting away).
Examples of this sort of environment include dan-ball's "powder toy" (my personal favorite), "powder toy", as well as the slightly more obscure (i believe) "falling sand game" and "burning sand".
shiffman
commented
7 months ago
Falling sand games are very similar to cellular automata, but instead of "alive" or "dead" there are elements like "water" or "sand" with different properties that interact. For example, sand falls down and piles up. Water falls down, floats on sand, and spreads out to fill its container. You could have another element "metal" that doesn't fall, but interacts with water to create sand (perhaps by rusting away).
Examples of this sort of environment include dan-ball's "powder toy" (my personal favorite), "powder toy", as well as the slightly more obscure (i believe) "falling sand game" and "burning sand".
There's a ton to explore here.