Jessica is looking to revitalize activity in the Creatures community and needs your help coming up with ideas on just how to do that! You can help out by filling out her survey at Discover Albia.
The survey closes on April 10th, 2015 so if you have a few minutes and haven't already filled out the survey, please do! Every opinion helps.
As you can see in the video:
- Each Norn has 8 cosmetic genes, each one impacting the appearance of the Norn. Changing the 1st one will have an impact on the belly, the 2nd one on the pattern the Norn has and so on.
- There are 12 possible genes
- There are 4 body types, each gene corresponds to one of them. The body of the Norn is an "average" created from these genes. See for example how the body shape changed when I replaced Bananou's genes with Feral genes.
- Two Norns with the same genes will look the same in the Splicing Machine as the preview shows you how the Norn should look with these genes. That's why Bananou and Brugno seem similar.
- However, once spliced they can have small differences even with the same genes. If you look carefully, in-game Bananou has 2 white spots on the hips, while Brugno has a white mark on the right arm.
- The pattern on Norn fur is defined by genes #2 and #3, but the color for these patterns are defined by genes #5 and #6.
- Time required for splicing depends of the number of genes modified (and the type of these genes). [via Fishing Cactus' Weekly Update #67]
Once upon a time, there was a friend of mine who said that a game was good as long as there was pandas in it. He didn't like Creatures at first, so I thought I'd prove it to him, by adding pandas to the game.
The Panda Norns are known as cousins of the Bondi Norns, because they both share peaceful values and long lives.
They're available for download here. I hope you like them.
There's a new kind of Norn on the block. The Evo Norns. What's so special about them? They are a result of months of work by multiple people fixing many problems with the base C3/DS creatures genomes and any genomes based on them... the CFF genome (see this thread for more details)... They have many fixes and nearly 50 new genes, including a new drive regulation organ that fixes creatures tendency to starve while preoccupied with other drives, and a new brain lobe that regulates their hunger so they will not overeat.
I would love to hear any feedback or suggestions about these Norns, as I think that CFF is just about ready to roll out on all the official Norn breeds (the Evo are based on ChiChis). If anyone can think of any other fixes I can add to them or changes to make them better (keep in mind these should be generic fixes that could apply to all breeds) please let me know in reply here or in the dev thread.
Hello fellow Creatures Caves citizens! Ham5ter and I have been doing a lot of talking and it looks like ham5ter has started on something amazing. The rewrite of the server is far more elegant and useful than before. We have decided to make it in the style of a web service, so we can expand on the Warp in ways we (until recently) only dreamed of.
A lot of life changes are happening with both of us, but we have made a commitment to having the Warp online and usable as soon as possible. This is one of the central projects for us now.
For more information, you can read ham5ter and my blog post over on the Albian Warp blog!
For the weekly update for 12-16 January 2015, the team reduced the volume of some of the sound effects to be less piercing, and added the possibility to switch worlds by tapping on the teleporters.
I've finally managed to make 100 blog posts at the Realm. It took me a long while to do it, but I think it's worthy of a celebration. And wouldn't you know it, I have just the thing...or things, rather.
There are three new releases that can be obtained at the Realm: the Darwin Grendels, robust survivors that were gengineered from the results of a 100-generation wolfling run; the Garden Grendels, the predecessors to the Darwin Grendels; and an acorn patch plant for the Garden Box.
For once Grendel Man actually sticks somewhat to a schedule. Albeit it's only because he worked on stuff before the due date, but that's getting a little off topic.
The Realm has a pair of new genomes for everyone to try out! Release one is the breed version of the CCSF Artemia Grendels, while the other is a new genome for Tomtschek's Aquanorns. Neither are actually Christmas-related besides the date they're being released on, but what the hey.
Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, and I hope you enjoy the new stuff!
Merry Christmas! However you spend the holidays, may they be filled with lots of happiness, peace, love... And ooh, a lot of presents! We also have a good selection of festive agents available here at Creatures Caves, perfect for getting everyone and their Norn into the Christmas spirit:
Additionally, there's Ghosthande's awesome 12 Days of Creatures Christmas event with lots of holly jolly goodies, and the Christmas Addons list, which has everything you need to transform your worlds into Santa's Grotto! Feel free to share your Christmassy worlds with us in the Screenshots gallery, we'd love to see them!
For those of you who preferred the 'traditional' comments feed in My Caves (being notified when anyone posts a comment on any post), you can now switch back to this format. Simply go to your settings, change Comments Count to "enable (all comments)" and then click the "save notification/subscription preferences" button.
If you prefer only being notified when someone comments on one of your posts, you can leave the preference set to "enable (comments on my posts only)".
Depending on which option you choose, your comments feed will also default on showing the corresponding comments when you click on the page. If you have any questions or feedback, please comment on this new post.
Don't forget that regardless of which option you have selected in Settings, you can always view either All Comments or Comments on My Posts Only by using the filter at the top of the comments feed.
This is an online advent calendar, except instead of having little chocolates inside, each window contains a special Creatures goodie. Come back every day from December 14 to December 25 to find a new Christmas-themed agent for you to download!
You can also check out the forum thread for more information on the downloads as they are released.
Merry Sheemas everyone, it's the last day of the CCSF! Before I dive into the contest winners, I want to thank everyone who send in a submission or entered the contests (releases and contests are the heart of a CCSF, after all)! A special thanks goes to Mea for sending in so many creature packs, and past coordinators for all of their advice for planning out the CCSF! Speaking of planning though, look out for a CCSF 2014 survey around or after Christmas. It's purpose is to collect everyone's honest opinion on how they felt about it, and to also help next year's coordinator learn from this past CCSF.
The contest winners were, C1anddsaddict, Kezune and Mea. Congratulations to the winners! Who won what contest is located above today's release links, and I'll also be talking about a few of the contests here. The contests with only one entry (the Best Agent Idea, Creatchi Fur Pattern, and the Grendel Beauty Pagent), were easily decided since they only had one entry. The Metaroom Decoration Contest winner, as voted on by the community, was C1anddsaddict and it certainly fit the Sheemas spirit! The last contest, the Creature Breed Evolution one, was won due to Mea's slightly more interesting backstory, and also for being easier to make in C3/DS. Though both were interesting enough that I think I'll try make Allekha's Ettins after I'm done with Mea's. Two contests are still open, Grendel Man's genetic breed contest and Ron's trivia contest. Ron's trivia answers are due tomorrow, so that everyone has a fair shot at answering today's question.
Here's the last of CCSF 2014's releases! First up is the last of Mea's Plum Feral packs! Second is another pack of time-traveling Norns from me. Then there's a pack of Grendels that were created by Grendel Man for today's big release! Next to last, there's a very unique toy patch plant called Jingle Balls from Laura and Ghosthande! It's a festive little patch plant that's sure to delight your creatures. Last, and perhaps most exciting, is a metaroom called Artemia Sea from Grendel Man and Mea! It's a gorgeous metaroom that has to been seen to be believed!
Ron has the last part to the Sheemas song:
"On the twelth day of Sheemas Master Shee sent to me
Twelve Merry Mermaids
Eleven Hopping Hoppities
Ten Grendels-a-Grinning
Nine Eaten Elevators
Eight Mucos-a-Mubbling
Seven Norns-a-Napping
Six Eggs-a-Hatching
Five Goooold Gaaadgets!
Four Singing Portals
Three Musicolas
Two Clapping Hands
and Some Ettins from Old Albia!"
Ron has been helping some Shee decorate their ships today. While on board, he heard all sorts of tales of mystery and woe from the Shees, but one stood out for him. There was a legend of a seamonster who would help Norn fishers by herding in the Zander fish for them. In return they shared a part of their catch with him. He was so wrapped up in their tale that he stubbed his toe! So his last question for CCSF 2014 is: Was there ever a sea monster in Creatures? (Answers for all of the questions should be submitted by tomorrow. If you get them all right, then you get to take Ron home! He's a lovely C1 Norn baby).
Contest Winners:
Best Agent Idea: Mea
Creatchi Fur Pattern: Kezune
Creatures Breed Evolution: Mea
Grendel Beauty Pageant: Kezune
Metaroom Decoration: C1anddsaddict
Contest update time! Contests closed yesterday, and you can view the entries here. Only one of the contests that could be voted on, the Metaroom Decoration Contest, has enough entries to vote on. It can be voted on here! Voting ends late tommorow. The other contest that had more then on entry, the Breed Evolution one will be decided by me, and the winner for that will likely be announced tomorrow.
Before I get to today's releases, there's a new Festive Alpha Run that started today. It's open to submissions until Sunday!
Today's releases are either creatures, or things written about them! There's the second pack of creatures from Mea's Plum Runs. They are Grendels this time, and they faired better then her first plum pack! The second pack of creatures for today is from me. It's a pack of creatures from 2009 that I found! The next release is a pack of wooden toys from Allekha. There's sure to be a new favorite toy for your creatures among them! Then there's the last part to the Handish Wonderings, also by Allekha! The last release for the day is a Veridia Metaroom Showcase from me!
Here's the next part to the Sheemas song:
"On the eleventh day of Sheemas Master Shee sent to me
Eleven Hopping Hoppities
Ten Grendels-a-Grinning
Nine Eaten Elevators
Eight Mucos-a-Mubbling
Seven Norns-a-Napping
Six Eggs-a-Hatching
Five Gold Gadgets
Four Singing Portals
Three Musicolas
Two Clapping Hands
and Some Ettins from Old Albia!"
Ron doesn't know what Grendels evolved from. He thinks they came from some desert animal, but he isn't to sure which one it was. So his question of the day is: What Desert Terrarium animal is the supposed ancestor to the Grendel?
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