Mechination
A downloadable Cellular Automata for Windows, macOS, and Linux
Mechination is a Turing complete cellular automata. That may sound complicated, but it's actually VERY simple!
Gameplay consists of placing blocks, called 'Cells,' onto a grid. After creating your design, press the Play button to watch the Cells interact with each other. There are 3 types of Cells, each with a different function:
- Pulser Cells push other Cells forward
- Magnet Cells pull other Cells backward
- Node Cells transform Pulsers into Magnets, or vice versa
Using these 3 types of Cells, you can build anything at all, including robots, flying machines, and even basic computers/video games! The possibilities are endless. Have fun creating!
Need help? Want to share your designs or see what the community has made? Hop into the discord server here: https://discord.gg/36CNmJAVpZ
Demo videos:
Tutorial:
Working with Flying Machines:
Designing a Calculator:
If you're not sure what you want to make first, here are some ideas to get you started, from easy to hard:
(Note: some of these ideas appear in the demo videos above, so if you don't want help, try designing them yourself before watching!)
EASY:
- A robot that waves its arms and legs back and forth
- A device that moves a Cell around in a circle
- A flying machine that moves continuously in one direction (featured in the flying machine demo)
MEDIUM:
- A missile that explodes when it hits its target (i.e. sending out mini flying machines in all directions when it hits something)
- Basic AND/OR/NOT logic gates (AND, OR, and XOR gates are featured in the calculator demo. In the demo, 'wires' are Nodes arranged in a line, and the wires are considered 'on' when the Nodes are pushed forward, and 'off' when the Nodes are pulled back)
- Two wires that cross over each other but don't affect the other (featured in the calculator demo)
- A wall that stops a flying machine from moving forward once it arrives (featured in the flying machine demo)
- A flying machine that can change directions (featured in the flying machine demo)
- More complex logic gates (NAND, NOR, XAND, XOR) (an XOR gate is featuredin the calculator demo)
- A timer that performs an action every few seconds
HARD:
- A missile launcher that launches a missile every few seconds
- A flying machine that can move diagonally
- A simple calculator (if you're stuck, the calculator demo video should give you some ideas!)
- A password machine (using electrical logic, i.e. logic gates)
- A password machine (using mechanical logic, like a brain teaser puzzle box)
- An arm that can extend and retract on its own
EXPERT:
- A basic pong game, using a diagonally-moving flying machine as the ball
- A flying machine that contains internal logic (i.e. it contains an internal clock that controls other animations, such as flapping wings. How complex can you make a computer/mechanism that's in motion?)
- A ball that falls down stairs (or any type of simluation involving gravity)
Mechination was inspired by Conway's Game of Life, a groundbreaking cellular automata from the 1970's, and Cell Machine, an innovative game created by Sam Hogan. Mechination was designed to follow in their footsteps, making it easier for users to create complex machines than ever before!
There are two features that set Mechination apart from most other cellular automatas:
- Reversibility. Any action can easily be undone, since Pulsers and Magnets have opposite effects, and Nodes can switch them back and forth. Any Cell pushed by a Pulser can be pulled back again if the Pulser is transformed into a Magnet, and vice versa. This ensures that machines are reliable and easy for the player to control.
- No Cells are ever created or destroyed. This makes it easy for players to create perpetual motion devices that will not eventually fill or empty the board.
Download
Install instructions
Not tested on the itch.io app. Please download from the itch.io website.
Development log
- Patch Notes 2.0Jan 25, 2024
Comments
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The discord invite isn't valid, create a new one that lasts forever
Ideas:
Change the controls so when you right-click a cell you delete it and to move the board you click the wheel. Also that when you press for example Q and then Q again the second time will rotate the pulser like you clicked one on the map.
Make a save/load system with files so you can keep many boards at the same times and also send boards.
Make copy/paste system
Do it so there is a way to destroy cells and rotate cells, this two things are really important for computers.
Despite all the things I want to be changed, this game is really fun.
Sorry about that! Discord link has been updated.
I'm not really eager to have this application install firejail system-wide on linux. It'd be much better if it detected that it was already installed. Replacing system-installed packages is dangerous, and a serious security risk (what if this version of the application is outdated with a security problem that the system install doesn't have?)
Alternatively, using the firejail utility locally may also work, instead of mandating that I replace the system-wide version with some random version off the internet.
EDIT: yes, it turns out this error only happens through the app. App launches just fine downloaded from the web, or if I launch it from the downloaded folder. I, however, have never encountered this error on itch before. This is almost certainly a configuration problem with this package.
Now that I've played it, it's quite fun! Got me a bit hooked (I must admit that I'm a sucker for Cellular Automata).
Thanks for the feedback, glad you had fun with the game! Not sure why this issue occurred--I don't own a Linux and can't test the game on one. I've had members of the discord test the game on Linux, but don't have the ability to bugfix easily :(
The Linux build is just a default Unity Linux build, without any additional optimizations, so I'm not sure why this game in particular would cause an issue.
For these problems, I highly recommend having a virtual machine of all target export platforms available to test on. It makes bug-fixing a bit easier that way.
If I feel like it, I could test this app on a different distro, and see if it's something specific to Arch.
i hav an idea for some new cells:
1. superpusher - pushes cells 2 spaces away instead of one
2. supermagnet - brings to itself cells 3 cells away instead of 2
3. duper - can be moved/connected from sides, dupes cells behind it 2 cells in front of it
Optional:
4. teleporter - teleports cells behind it to infront of it, can be connected/moved from the sides
5. rotater - rotates(cannot be connected
and i quote the itch page here "There are two features that set Mechination apart from most other cellular automatas:"
"2.No Cells are ever created or destroyed. This makes it easy for players to create perpetual motion devices that will not eventually fill or empty the board."
in my opinion the supermagnet and superpusher (technically pulsar but thats what you called it here) arent very useful and the optional ones would provide the most function
Can someone help me make this loop???
Hello,
If you pop into the discord I can help :)
Link is in this page's description
ok, thanks
"yo bro i like your cell machine game can i take inspiration"
"aight sure bro"
thats how this game was created.
As mentioned above, both games are Cellular Automatas featuring an edit mode (where you place cells on a grid) and a play/simulation mode. (where you watch the cells interact)
Cell Machine also certainly helped inspire the artstyle.
However, I actually first discovered Cell Machine after Mechination's rules had already been designed, so no inspiration there. The only inspiration behind the automata's design was Conway's Game of Life.
Movement machine, mildly entertaining to look at for about one and a half minutes
I'm a fan of cellular automata. Finding a new undiscovered one sounds pretty exciting.
After playing for a while i want to point out some cool features of it for anyone that might want to try it and could be put off from the lack of comments.
Pros: two cells are all that is needed for an infinite motion machine on any axis, by only having three cells (push, pull and change states) you can make fairly complex contraptions without any abstraction, basic small building blocks are a very solid component for this cellular automata
The simple complexity lends itself to be a great tool for making logic gates, for anyone interested in the computing aspect of a cellular automata you can easily make every logic gate, the game is indeed Turing complete and the dev even provides a list of projects you can build with it.
Cons: The lack of music or any noise is suffocating, it isn't necessary for the game itself but as someone that needs background noise to work properly it becomes pretty annoying, take this as more of a personal nitpick. I don't expect the game to be fully fleshed out within 12 hours of release so if by the time you're reading this sound design already exists in the game then don't take this into consideration as this review was written in a very early stage of release.
The tutorial is too noisy, it's small in what it tries to show but the way the white rectangles are spread across the screen makes for a really overwhelming hud, a practical tutorial that makes the player do what is shown in the demonstration videos could be a better explanation, i think the contents of the game could be written in a single screen of tutorial even while keeping the current format.
This last one is mostly just an observation, the artstyle of the game is inconsistent. In the hud the cells have a smooth outline, in the workshop/map the cells have a pixelated outline while still keeping the smooth icons, the inspiration from Cell Machine is clear and i don't think this gives the game less or more value but its another source of visual noise that might hinder some players.
In its current state its a solid 7/10, really interesting game for what it does, will defo spend some time toying around with it!
Side note: This also seems the first game of this nature that the dev has done so keep that in mind when playing, i hope this game grows a community that explores its limits and sees what the game can do.
Thank you so much for the feedback!