u/44tech

Cells can be one of six types:

• Leaf (green) - Energy producer; absorbs light energy proportionally to organics around it
• Root (red) - Resource harvester; extracts organics from soil
• Antenna (blue) - Energy collector; extracts soil energy
• Wood (grey) - Structural support and energy conduit
• Sprout (white) - Active growth node; interprets genome and executes different behaviors
• Seed (yellow) - Mobile reproduction unit; migrates before developing into sprout

Green, red and blue cells produce energy, grey cells transport energy to white and yellow cells which collect it and spend it to grow. Each cell also consumes energy to stay alive. After death, each cell adds fixed organic value and contained energy to soil.

The most interesting part is the genome. Growth pattern and all other available actions are encoded in cell genome which is read in white cells. The genome has a chance to mutate during each growth cycle, allowing cell behavior to change and adapt to the environment

More details and interactive application is here.