Game of Life

Use this skill when the user wants to play Conway's Game of Life, Rainbow Life, a Mosaico life demo, paint living tiles on the LCD, or launch an interactive mosaic / cellular automata game.

Requires a display. Tuned for Mosaico QSPI AMOLED (command-mode GRAM): each frame uses begin_frame, draw, present, end_frame; avoid present_full and clear=false partial paths on current firmware. Chrome-less full-screen ink canvas — no HUD buttons and no generation/status text. Uses LCD touch gestures when available; otherwise falls back to a button. IMU shake is optional and soft-required via pcall(require, "imu"). On current Mosaico firmware the Lua imu module is not registered, so shake-to-scatter is temporarily unavailable even though the board has a hardware IMU. When imu is present and the board declares imu_sensor (or args.imu_device is set), shaking still scatters life. Audio is not required.

Run exactly one script with lua_run_script unless the user explicitly asks to run another application.

If lua_run_script returns an error, report that error directly to the user. Do not retry with changed arguments unless the user asks.

Launch

Tool call:

{"path":"{CUR_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/mosaico_life.lua","args":{}}

Mosaico / QSPI notes

• Target panel: 480x480 QSPI AMOLED (CO5300-class GRAM). A full RGB565 frame is about 450 KB, so refresh uses paced full-frame present rather than RGB-style continuous scanout.
• Safe Lua display path on current Mosaico image: begin_frame({ clear = true }) then draw then present() then end_frame().
• Shake/IMU: code keeps optional IMU support, but without the Lua imu module shake does nothing until firmware enables it.

Optional long-running launch (preferred for interactive play so the agent stays responsive):

{"path":"{CUR_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/mosaico_life.lua","args":{},"exclusive":"display","replace":true,"name":"game_of_life"}

Use lua_run_script_async for the async form when available.

Optional args:

{"path":"{CUR_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/mosaico_life.lua","args":{"imu_device":"imu_sensor","shake_sensitivity":1.0,"touch_ms":4,"display_ms":36,"step_ms":110,"target_cells":240,"cell_px":16}}

• imu_device: board_manager device name for the IMU (default imu_sensor). Use this only when the board YAML uses a non-default device id — never hard-code a board product name.
• shake_sensitivity: number > 0 (default 1.0). Higher = easier to trigger physical shake.
• touch_ms: touch/button poll interval in ms (default 4, ~250 Hz). Lower = snappier strokes.
• display_ms: visual refresh interval in ms (default 25 on RGB framebuffer panels, 80 on SPI/QSPI panels).
• step_ms: Life generation interval (default 90 on RGB framebuffer panels, 150 on SPI/QSPI panels).
• target_cells: soft budget for grid tiles (default 900 on RGB framebuffer panels, 240 on SPI/QSPI panels). Larger panels grow cell pixels instead of denser grids.
• cell_px: force tile pixel size (overrides target_cells sizing). Use only for manual tuning.

Recommended flow

1. Activate the board_hardware_info skill and confirm a display is declared. LCD touch is preferred; a button is enough for pause / reset / shake. If an IMU is declared (commonly imu_sensor), physical shake is available automatically.
2. Run {CUR_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/mosaico_life.lua with an empty args object unless a non-default IMU device name is required.
3. Tell the user the chrome-less controls:
   • Drag: paint living cells (drag over a live cell to erase).
   • Tap: place the next seed pattern.
   • Long-press ≈ 700 ms: reset and reseed.
   • Physically shake the board when IMU is present.
   • Button-only boards: hold ≈ 700 ms to reset and reseed; physical shake requires an IMU.
4. If the display is missing, say so and do not run the script. Missing IMU is not fatal — shake still works via button hold on button-only boards.
5. On script error, report the error text and stop.

Gameplay notes

• Rule: classic B3/S23 Conway Life with Rainbow hue inheritance.
• Shake moves life in 3×3 blocks (1–3 steps) and plants viable sparks so the board does not die instantly.
• Physical shake detection is relative to resting acceleration (scale-free), so it works across IMU backends without per-chip thresholds.
• A restrained colored background and edge feedback add atmosphere without particle halos or on-screen chrome.
• Tile density is panel-aware: about 900 cells on RGB framebuffer panels and about 240 on SPI/QSPI panels.
• SPI/QSPI panels automatically use horizontal dirty-band presents, final-state transitions, and a lower default cadence; RGB framebuffer panels retain the richer high-frame-rate path.
• Single-device port of the original web demo; multi-tile linking is out of scope for this Lua skill.

References

• Play and control details: read_file("{CUR_SKILL_DIR}/references/gameplay.md")