That sounds like a neat idea. I too implemented GOL at some point (when I had a look at SDL) and for fun changed the (boolean) game field to integers that I ma

That sounds like a neat idea. I too implemented GOL at some point (when I had a look at SDL) and for fun changed the (boolean) game field to integers that I mapped to grayscale (and later RGB). So instead of killing/giving birth to cells you just decrease/increase their integer value. The result looks like a spreading fungus (with the classic horizontal/vertical/diagonal patterns) which can be very chaotic when numbers start to overflow and underflow. It's a really fun and engaging way to play with 2d graphics and simulation.