I always thought it was strange that I couldn’t get my creatures to eat carrots and potatoes. I knew that the items were classified as “root” so I opened up the genetics kit and found that all of my creatures lacked genes that encouraged them to eat other types of foods like leaves, seeds and roots. They only really knew to eat food and fruit and had a third, vague instinct to “eat” when they were hungry, which might explain why creatures were always putting things in their mouths. I also found that they lacked an instinct to drink water when thirst and instincts to push dispensers when hungry, so I added those to their genes as well and out came these guys.
I haven’t gotten any feedback from more experienced Creatures 2 players so I decided to give them another go myself and document my experience. Later, if I like this genome, I might expand on it or introduce more creatures with different sprites using this same genome. We’ll see. I’m not exactly a talented or experienced gengineer.
Anyway, first to join us is Isabelle. She learned all of her verbs very quickly and started to learn about things like food and toys very quickly.
She also kept trying to eat the doozers, but she didn’t have much luck. I eventually lured her to the lower level where the emotions and intensity computer was. I dropped some dispensers near her.
Next to join us is Katie. She is just as inquisitive as her clone Isabelle and set out to do many of the same things. Eat my hand, eat critters, etc. She didn’t take long to learn her verbs either and I hoped I’d get to introduce the ladies to each other soon.
As Katie stomped around the nursery, generally ignoring the computers, I checked on Isabelle, who complained that she was tired. I eventually used the doozers until I thought that the creatures had learned all the nouns that they could and then introduced our first boy.
This is Ernest. He dashed past the computer, dispensers and the girls before getting stuck in the corner of the cave. Between the two girls, computers and the doozers, Ernest was starting to get the hang of language.
I could hardly get him to hold still, though and had a hard time answering his questions with the two slap and tickle happy girls around.
Finally, as if things weren’t complicated enough, I decided to introduce the last baby, Dodger. He actually stayed close to the computer and learned a handful of words.
With the computers looping automatically, the other norns constantly chatting and the doozers being pushed all the time, I wasn’t worried about his education. I added another dispenser and sat back and watched.
Were these modifications based on a similar idea to the Gizmo Norns’ dietary instinct changes? Broaden the variety of things norns see as food, improve their life chances?
It’s been so long, I can’t remember why I did this, but I think it was something like that.