Automatrash

A game made for the Beginner's Jam Summer 2026.

-Story-

People have invented a way to incinerate trash completely!

And you're in charge of getting rid of this huge trash pile.

However, things called "Cellular Automata" are inhabiting this trash pile, and they want to kill you.

However, people have also found a way to create these creatures, AND get them to help us!

-About-

In this game, you will pick up trash from a HUGE trash pile. But, there are cellular automata hiding in the trash pile. (scroll down for what that is)

The cellular automata will try to attack you, and you must destroy them (for profit!)

But, you can also create cellular automata creatures yourself, and they will help you clean up the trash!

Feel free to give feedback in the comments!

-What the heck are Cellular Automata?-

Cellular automata are a mathematical concept. The idea is this:

You have a grid of "cells"

Every single "generation" or timestep, every single cell will have a "rule" applied to it. All cells are updated at the same time.  All cells have a state as well, and the rules will determine the next state of the cell by the cell's current state and the cells around it.

The most common example is Conway's Game Of Life, and here I will explain it.

The grid is 2D.

There are 2 states a cell can be in; dead and alive.

The cells "neighbors" are the cells adjacent to the cell, diagonals included.

If a cell is dead and it has exactly 3 living neighbors, it will become a living cell. Otherwise, it will stay dead.

If a cell is alive, and it has exactly 2 or 3 living neighbors, it will survive. Otherwise, it will become a dead cell.

You can observe this behavior in this game. Or you can go to https://conwaylife.com/.

-Credits-

Scratch was used to create most of the sprites.

BeepBox was used to create the music.