Dying of Stupid

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

bandicam 2015-02-07 00-09-31-008 copyThe almost squeaky quality of their voices made it easy to tune the norns out, but I always kept an eye on the Observation Kit. It seemed like medical emergencies were rare, but to keep everyone safe, I made sure to make my rounds every once in a while.

I started to fall into a pretty hands-off style of play, like I use when I play Creatures 1 and Docking Station. It was actually kind of nice to just let the horde of norns do their own thing for a while. While they weren’t always happy, I was ok with that – real life is full of ups and downs so there was no reason it couldn’t be the same in this game. Besides, when I made my rounds, it was really just to ensure no one had fallen into an ocean.

The squeaking and drinking continued and I felt it was even safe enough for me to get up and clean my teeth. Given my strangely thorough cleaning regimen (due to lousy gums), this was quite a statement.

bandicam 2015-02-07 00-40-16-078 copyWhen I returned, Clarise was KO’d and there was nothing I could do since I lacked access to the Science Kit. All I could do was watch and wait.

I had mixed feelings about the state of her. Part of me was sad to watch and I felt helpless since I had no means to help. Some other part of me was planning on introducing Nova Subterra genes to the pool to prevent starvation related death like Clarice’s. When she eventually passed away, she was pregnant and took her final egg to her with Silicon Heaven.

Now, I was faced with a dillema. I had a lot of dumb creatures on my hands and I doubted I could get Nova Subterra genes to dominate the pool given Clarise’s success as a breeder. I quietly exported all of the creatures and decided to post them for download. Perhaps a smarter breed would be less frustrating for me.

  • Share on Tumblr
  •  

Our Oldest Moves On

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

Sometimes, it’s just hard to comment on Creatures when things are going smoothly. Even with the threat of Death Cap in the last Creatures 1 update, things were going pretty well for everyone.

A long, peaceful period like this is usually a good indicator that it’s time to introduce somebody new, though. All safe and clear? Let’s hatch an egg.

bandicam 2015-02-09 21-33-01-547 copyAnd by that, I mean let’s import one of the previous babies. This time, it’s a little lady who I’ve named Peony. She was good and learned all her words right away. She even ate a carrot and since her lessons were done, I let her go to roam and interact with the other Norns.

It was when I was trying to feed Cassy and Danny that I got the bad news.

bandicam 2015-02-09 21-46-15-487 copyAidan had passed away at the ripe old age of 13 hours, 17 minutes. At least he spent his last hours with his favorite companions, the bees. He seemed to really enjoy their company for some reason. Perhaps it was the abundance of food? Maybe he liked to watch them? Whatever the case, he died a healthy, happy old norn.

None of the current norns seemed especially shaken by this news but then, Aidan was alone at the time. Perhaps they hadn’t noticed. Still, he fathered many of the creatures alive now, and his genes would live on.

  • Share on Tumblr
  •  

Exploring We Will Go!

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

bandicam 2015-02-09 12-09-20-568 copyNext to join us was Verax, another boy from the run. Because of the tremendous number of eggs, that were being laid, I was almost relieved that it wasn’t another female. Still, I won’t be hatching these eggs. Instead, I’ll be making all the offspring available for download, complete with a parentage chart.

For now, the eggs just kept on coming. I rounded everyone up to feed and once everyone was satisfied their needs were met, the egg count continued to climb.

bandicam 2015-02-09 12-24-22-538 copyWhen my counter ran down, it was time to introduce yet another baby and this time, Flame was the lucky baby chosen by the game. During the live event, he fathered two babies but still didn’t turn out a winner.

Just after I’d added him, I removed the Offline Portals and rounded up the norns one last time. I decided that the group should start in the Norn Terrarium but I still wanted them to roam. Calling them back to feed them as a group was starting to get in the way of their exploration and I think the Offline Portals were moving them around in a way they didn’t quite understand.

Then, out of the blue, Lin, Logic and Synergy all started slapping other norns! It was very strange. I moved them all away from the group and they weren’t slapping each other. I guess someone must have made them angry.

bandicam 2015-02-09 12-34-19-253 copyLogic made his way back to the Norn Meso and Synergy played with the elevator in the medical bay. Synergy tried to follow logic but was temporarily gripped by EE. I sent her through the Umbilical and she made her way to the Meso where she ate plums with Logic.

Having gone on that short adventure, I decided to check on the other groups. Lin had stayed by the Norn Terrarium door and was getting hungry. When I led her back to the elevator leading to the first floor of the Norn Terrarium, a huge group of norns walked up and started kissing her! Males and females alike! I guess she was missed.

  • Share on Tumblr
  •  

Hatching Those Last Eggs

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

bandicam 2015-02-06 23-39-43-302 copyLiberty’s birth meant Jonathan had more daughters than I counted on. This was good news for Donny, Dodger and Jonathan himself (relax please, inbreeding isn’t detrimental to or recognized by the creatures in this game) since they all had plenty of opportunities to further their lines. I would introduce some competition when I introduced my next Generation 1 creatures, but for now, these boys have it easy.

bandicam 2015-02-06 23-43-14-013 copySpeaking of boys, the final egg contained a boy! Paul, as you can see, is very similar to his older brother Donny, with the exception of his arms and their coloration. Then again, with similar sprites, it’s easy to say that norns closely resemble each other, isn’t it?

After the eggs were finally all hatched and the babies all imported from the previous world, I was able to spend most of my time hovering around, filling hollow coconuts with water. The Norns here seemed awfully thirsty, and I wasn’t about to deny them water. I did try to encourage some exploration by moving one baby, Paul, into the level below the incubator. A handful of other norns took the elevator down and I waited for the group to spread out.

I switched the hand to invisible and silently followed them around. Some norns were doing better with fewer norns around and others seemed to be having trouble getting along. Donny and Paul even got into a fight that got Paul knocked back.

Before long, Clarise had another egg. Part of me worried that Nova Subterra genes wouldn’t be making an impact on the world at the rate that Clarise was producing eggs. I decided not to worry too much, but it would still be a problem I had to address in the future.

  • Share on Tumblr
  •