Open Source Cellular Automata Engine

FORMA

Cellular automata, alive on your desktop

▶ Try in Browser ⬇ Download for Windows
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Capabilities

What Makes Forma Special

A simulation engine designed for beauty, performance, and exploration.

Dual Simulation Engines

Conway's Game of Life and multi-state Generations mode, with 17 handcrafted presets to explore.

4 Visual Themes

Lab, Ember, Bio, and Mono — each with its own color palette, UI personality, and visual effects.

Native Wallpaper

Runs behind your desktop icons as a native Windows wallpaper via WorkerW embedding. Truly living art.

WASM Performance

Rust simulation core compiled to WebAssembly and rendered with WebGL. Smooth 60fps on million-cell grids.

Full Interaction

Paint, erase, zoom, and pan with mouse, touch, or keyboard. Three brush shapes and adjustable sizes.

PNG Export

Snapshot your creation at full resolution. Every frame is a potential wallpaper or generative art piece.

Visual Identity

Four Worlds

Each theme transforms the entire experience — colors, UI shapes, visual effects, and mood.

Lab

Cyan diagnostics on midnight silicon

A clinical, high-contrast theme inspired by laboratory displays and diagnostic interfaces. Sharp corners and glowing cyan accents cut through deep navy darkness.

Exploration

17 Universes to Explore

From Conway's classic Life to exotic multi-state systems. Each preset creates entirely different emergent behavior.

Conway

Conway's Life

B3 / S23 Conway

HighLife

B36 / S23 Conway

Day & Night

B3678 / S34678 Conway

Seeds

B2 / S Conway

Maze

B3 / S12345 Conway

Replicator

B1357 / S1357 Conway

34 Life

B34 / S34 Generations

Brian's Brain

B2 / S / 3 3 states Generations

Star Wars

B2 / S345 / 4 4 states Generations

Fireworld

B2 / S34 / 8 8 states Generations

Pulse

B2 / S / 4 4 states Generations

Dune

B2 / S23 / 6 6 states Generations

Tides

B2 / S346 / 8 8 states Generations

Frost

B2 / S125 / 9 9 states Generations

Lattice

B34 / S234 / 6 6 states Generations

Echo

B2 / S24 / 10 10 states Generations

Cathedral

B2 / S1234 / 16 16 states
Forma running as a Windows desktop wallpaper
Desktop App

Your Living Wallpaper

Forma embeds directly behind your desktop icons as a native Windows wallpaper. It auto-recovers when Explorer restarts, runs from the system tray, and remembers your settings.

  • System tray controls for resolution, FPS cap, and theme
  • Toggle between wallpaper mode and full control window
  • Three interaction profiles: Subtle, Balanced, Expressive
  • Automatic recovery from Explorer host resets
  • Persistent settings and structured diagnostic logs
  • Auto-start with Windows option
⬇ Download for Windows

Windows 10/11 · x64 · Requires WebView2 Runtime

Under the Hood

Built With

From low-level simulation to pixel-perfect rendering.

🦀 Rust
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📦 wasm-pack
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⚡ WebAssembly
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🎨 WebGL
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🖥️ WebView2