Color Squares

Inspiried by a Hamiltonian Cards example that Devine Lu Linvega shared in Izzzzi (also referenced in their Paper computing page), I started to think about making my own "rules" to apply to a grid. Instead of revealing a coded message, my interest was seeing what types of designs, patterns, or randomness could be achieved.

The first three I've tried resulted in:

1. Very regulated pattern
2. Quickly hit a dead end
3. Semi-random-ish!

The rules I used are below.

V1

• You have 3 colors, assign them as 1, 2, 3.
• Start on any edge square and color it with color 1
• Move 1 square at a time.
• Priority of movement is N,E,S,W.
• Rotate through each color
• When you hit a top edge, reverse the color order

V2

• You have 3 colors, assign them as 1, 2, 3.
• Start on any square with color 1
• Move 1 square at a time.
• If you go Left, use Color 1
• If you go Right, use Color 2
• If you go Down, use Color 3
• If you go Up, repeat the last color

V3

• You have 3 colors, assign them as 1, 2, 3.
• Start on any square with color 1
• Move 1 square at a time.
• Cycle through the colors in order
• When you change direction, reverse the order
• If you hit a dead end, jump to the closest empty square

Scripted Color Squares

Paper grids are tactile and fun, but now I'm ready to try working through some ideas in code. The rule writing might take a little longer to figure out, but the results will be immediate. To start I've setup an HTML canvas and some initial code to paint the squares in a simple cycle.