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General Forum Improving CreatureLink    Jessica        11/11/2013  3 CreatureLink has gone through a number of improvements over the past year, and Rascii has been awesome enough to put up with my demands requests! My original thinking behind it was to create a sort of pseudo-warp... It's definitely nothing like the original, but all adoptions are unique and there is a chain that connects who uploaded which Creature. One thing I've read many times is how players loved the fact that they never knew what they were getting from the warp. The current CreatureLink adoptions have plenty of information about them, mainly so people can choose the ones they like. Would there be in any interest in having a few "mystery" CreatureLink Creatures uploaded? Their thumbnail images would be generic question marks of some sort. Name, gender, age, and species would still be required, though I could leave out the sprites so adopters wouldn't know what the Creature looked like... And likely some would have unique genetic quirks! I know not too many people use CreatureLink, so I've been trying to figure out some ways to improve it. If you have any other ideas, feel free to post away! And if you're looking for a new Creature... There are many to choose from! Remember that adopting a CreatureLink Creature doesn't require you to keep the chain going. Adopt a couple today! Discover Albia   HavenHerbaven   11/11/2013 I like the idea of mystery CreatureLink. you should definitely use it. Herb   Senior Wrangler Nutter   11/11/2013 I like the idea of mystery creatures - though it'd be nice to have a text file in with them so we could see a bit about their history (I've got CreatureLink norns that are related to others, which is always interesting.) I haven't been using it much, but that's not because of any negatives with the system - all my Creatures time has been taken up with the wolfling run, and I wouldn't want to dump someone's carefully raised norn into the middle of that!   Rat-tailed     11/11/2013 It would be fun to have the ability to upload mystery creatures ourselves, too, should the original idea take off!   LoverIan   11/13/2013 I really like that there was a form of a Warp like thing still out there. I mean, I wasn't aware of Creature Link when I was going on about Creature Pedigrees/Lineages I think the only thing that could be improved right now is a "family tree" option. Clicking it would open up a page or a popout window, that would essentially show you the Creature's family tree, as fully as possible. If it was done right, it could be self updating, whenever offspring was uploaded. I wouldn't AT ALL mind that there would be Mystery Creatures uploaded. I assume like the above, the code would have to be reworked, but upon adoption, is it possible the mystery creature could be 'revealed', and the result being that others get to receive the offspring of said mystery creature, or would the offspring in turn be added to the Mystery Pool? beep   Jessica     11/13/2013 The family tree option is pretty neat! I'm not sure how feasible it would be for Rascii to code it in, although I'm not saying it's impossible. You can click through to see the parents and siblings of a Creature... But I know that's not really the same thing as a family tree! That's an interesting idea about revealing the mystery Creature! My thinking behind the mystery adoptions would basically be a generic image and not revealing anything about the sprites (aside from any special dependencies) and genetics. Offspring could then be uploaded with the same generic image and stay mysteries, or could be uploaded normally with all of the information: It would be up to each person! Give me some time to recover from the CCSF, and I'll definitely try out the mystery adoptions! I think just testing that out for a bit will reveal any issues and what could happen in the future. Best part is that the first phase doesn't require any extra coding, and might work out just fine! Thanks for all of the feedback! Discover Albia   LoverIan   11/13/2013 For the maximum mystery, how about using Magic Words SERU to generate adoptions ;D I was expecting mystery ones would basically be just "Gender, Age, Species" and maybe one or two more details, not even an image. Then upon adoption, the great reveal. beep   Siinamon   11/13/2013  1 If all of the creatures are at present already linked, it is just a matter of applying that data to a visual representation, which isn't terribly difficult to do (though can be time consuming sometimes). I think it would be pretty amazing to be able to follow the lineage and see where creature families merge and split. This would also help make more "educated" adoptions, as one can infer a lot based on lineage and past experiences with CreatureLink creatures. Admittedly, I would love to see this sort of thing also have the ability to pull in a genetic profile - something I have been working on for a little while now.   Jessica     11/14/2013 Presently all CreatureLink Creatures should be related, as the adoptions originated from my worlds. That is, aside from a few first generation Norns. But I have plans to post some more that are unrelated! What would a genetic profile entail? Mention of mutations, or something else? From my experience, not everyone pays attention to the genetics of Creatures: Sometimes it's based on the name, picture, or other element. If something like this is implemented, I'd want to make sure it's something feasible for Rascii to code and also something that would be utilized. This is a great discussion! Now I feel like CreatureLink has a lot more possibilities as it continues to grow and evolve. Discover Albia   Siinamon   11/14/2013  1 The genetic profile would outline the distinguishing characteristics of a creature's genetics, as we do in real life (paternity tests, noting chances of developing certain diseases). It would also highlight traits a person may be looking for in a creature, if they wish to do further choosing rather than just on name, picture, etc. I have been doing this to build a 'genetic story' of my creatures, to see about identifying possible relatives, shared genetic code, as well as identifying certain negatives (i.e. high possibility for anger, button pushing, etc). Most of what I have in mind for my project would probably not be useful to CreatureLink, but I do think it would be awesome to see a list of possible traits, as dictated by the genetics vs. user input. I would not want this to supplant user input, but rather, enhance it. As for Rascii coding it, they wouldn't need to as I am already writing it in a fashion where I can easily share the information.   Jessica     12/14/2013 The first mystery Creatures have been posted! As it's a new format and process, I imagine it isn't completely perfect just yet. Those who adopt the two new ones would be very helpful if they could give their feedback! And if it seems like the idea is a popular one, you bet I'll be adding more mystery Creatures soon! And likely via all sorts of methods: Wolfling runs, splicing, genetically modified Creatures, etc. Hope this is moving in the direction of a kind of pseudo-warp. And who doesn't like a good surprise?! Discover Albia   Malkin Manager     12/14/2013 It looks like the first Mystery creature has already been snapped up. My TCR Norns   Jessica     12/14/2013 Ha ha! I just saw that: Hurray! I'd love some feedback from Darby and HavenHoney when they get a chance. I wasn't 100% sure about the format of the text file and whether I left out any other information. But maybe people actually enjoy more of a mystery, since every other CreatureLink adoption has every little detail out there. And speaking of the old ones, I'm thinking of taking down any remaining ones (that I uploaded) in about a month's time and splicing them together to create some other mystery Creatures. Better than just letting them sit around unadopted! Discover Albia   Wee Scrivener Trell     12/14/2013 I finally have a reason to reinstall my DS! Ha ha! Trell "Holy crap in a casket!"   Jessica     12/17/2013 Hmm... Haven't received any feedback regarding the mystery Creatures. Good or bad, it would be really helpful! So far the downloads for 2/4 had some issues, while I'm unsure of the other two. I would like to post some more, but it's important I get feedback from the first three people who participated. I'm mainly wondering whether the included files were helpful (picture and information), whether it's preferred to have as few details as possible, and whether this feature makes people more inclined to participate in CreatureLink. Thanks! Discover Albia   Wee Scrivener Trell     12/17/2013 I'm still fighting with a re-install. Should have news soon! Trell "Holy crap in a casket!"   Jessica     12/19/2013  4 Would others just like to see more mystery Creatures added, and then we can go from there to see if this feature is set up decently well? Discover Albia   For Science! InsanityPrelude   1/19/2014 I would love to see more mystery Creatures!   Jessica     1/19/2014 They're definitely coming soon! I'm working out a system to keep a steady stream coming in, since they all were snapped up quickly. In the meantime, it would be nice to see the older CreatureLink Creatures thin out... There are still pages of available downloads! Remember that you're not required to upload offspring: It's a way to also adopt unique Creatures! Mystery Creatures should be making a return (approximately) in a week or so! Discover Albia   Jessica     4/14/2014 Forgive me for reviving a somewhat dead topic: I've just been working on CreatureLink a bit more lately, and I'm still curious about what people think of it. A few new additions are still available, leading me to believe that there still isn't a big market for adoptions. Do people understand that there isn't a requirement to upload ancestors? There are pages of available Creatures, some who have been waiting to get adopted for close to a year. I'm hesitant to add new ones because of the slow rate of adoption. What else could be done to improve this feature? Rascii was kind enough to make a bunch of changes I requested, yet activity hasn't really picked up. I know the actual adoptions section is pretty active, while CreatureLink remains fairly quiet. I'm just trying to gauge where problems lay and understand what can be done to make it more enjoyable. Thanks for any feedback! Discover Albia   Code Monkey evolnemesis   4/14/2014  1 I actually just noticed this feature of the site, and I think it's very cool... it does remind me of the old warp. Personally the only reason I haven't used it is that since I discovered it, I haven't had much time to play, and what little time I have been playing has been testing agents I'm working on, and I wouldn't want to just ignore these creatures when I got them. I definitely intend to make use of it though, as some of these creatures look quite interesting. I'm actually a little surprised nobody has yet tried to pick apart the workings of the warp network protocols itself and tried to make a server that will work with them. The server URL that the warp tries to connect to is in a configuration file and can easily be changed. I might dig a little into this, maybe I can actually come up with a server program so the warp can work again (hosting one of these servers might be tricky for me though, but I'd be happy to make my code available if I manage to get it working). If this isn't possible directly, it may still be possible to make a 'warp button' agent that will work with a server made for it, to do almost the same thing. "For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love." "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself." - Carl Sagan   Sanely Insane RisenAngel Manager     4/14/2014  1 This is going to be somewhat blunt, but I have a hunch that part of the problem is that it's too close to Discover Albia. Every creature in there is descended from one of yours, and has to be descended from one of yours to even be uploaded in the first place. For those who'd rather have bloodlines forged from their own creatures with no relation to Discover Albia, it's probably a little disheartening. ~ The Realm ~ Risen Angel's Creatures Blog   Jessica     4/14/2014 Evolnemesis: Glad to know you've found it and might enjoy it sometime! Getting the warp working would be amazing. This was my small attempt to recreate it somehow... Nowhere close, but it's a little different from normal adoptions, at least! Grendel Man: The idea has always been to open it up more and more. Trouble is that it needs to have a decent amount of activity before anyone can upload a completely unrelated Creature. Note that the conditions were relaxed quite a bit by only requiring one parent to be from CreatureLink now. And I've been adding in some Creatures that are unrelated to those in my worlds: Mystery Creatures seemed to fill that void a bit, but they never took off as I thought they would. I've been heavily hinting at surprises if the old adoptions can be cleared out... These would include Creatures from completely random bloodlines, unrelated to any others. And I also plan to pester Rascii about letting anyone upload a fresh new Creature... Can't promise that will happen anytime soon, but I think that's been one of the goals from the start. Fact is that it just doesn't seem like it's a feature used enough to warrant expansion. In a nutshell: Clear out the old CreatureLink adoptions, and bigger and better things will come along sooner! Thank you for the feedback, though! A little disheartening (since this was originally a way to let people adopt Discover Albia Creatures) but definitely a very good point! Discover Albia   blueseraph   4/14/2014 I'm kind of slow and still pretty new to the community and etc., so take my opinion for whatever it's worth. I've seen the CreatureLink and would love to adopt, but I'm not really clear on what my obligations are if I do. I did read the "official guide"but nope, it's still not clicking. I don't know if it's ok to just adopt and play with a creature or if I'm expected to breed it and upload the result if I adopt. Or if I am obliged to adopt two so I have a breeding pair that can then have their offspring eligible for upload. It's not really a "link" if nothing is given back, is it? I'm still playing around quite a bit with the game and don't want this to result in someone's beloved creature becoming a genetic dead end, if I'm supposed to be doing something other than just playing around. I don't know if this makes sense but that's my newbie's eye view on it. I like the concept but for someone who is still learning the ropes, it's a bit intimidating. I doubt more experienced players would have this particular difficulty parsing it though.   Jessica     4/14/2014 That's a great point, Blueseraph! I had originally wanted people to continue the "link" with the Creatures, but since there are so many of them, it's perfectly fine to adopt with no obligation to upload any descendants. Your opinion is certainly helpful! The whole "link" part of it is completely optional: If you see a neat Creature you'd like to adopt, go for it! My job is to keep the supply varied and fresh. There's a lot of stale Creatures waiting to be adopted, but once they're gone, I should be able to post a small number of unique Creatures every few days. When you say "I did read the official guide, but nope, it's still not clicking," do you mean that you can't adopt a CreatureLink Creature? Clicking on the word "available" should open up a pop-up window giving you some information and making sure you would like to follow through with the adoption. If that isn't happening, the pop-up might be getting blocked. Or maybe I'm reading too much into this. Ha! Anyways, thank you for your thoughts! Discover Albia   KittyTikara     4/14/2014 I really wouldn't mind uploading a few of my own Norn lines to it, and they be "special" adoptions sort of like the way the Petz community doing adoptions. Each one would be original and a bit more personal(?) then the usual downloads. Also thanks for the reminder that you don't have to upload babies. I like uploading one or two babies though, just to see who adopts them.... I think I snatch a few creaturelink Norns and dump them in my current wolfling run though. It's starting to stagnate a bit. Edit: By a few I apparently meant five of them. One of them is going into my pet Norn world though. The Mobula Ray - My Creatures blog   Wee Scrivener Trell     4/14/2014 I just can't seem to get them to breed. :I Trell "Holy crap in a casket!"   Jessica     4/15/2014 Would it be better to just stick with usual adoptions and scrap CreatureLink? I feel like I'm being a bother lately about this, and I don't want Rascii to have to worry about keeping up a site feature that is really struggling. Discover Albia   Wee Scrivener Trell     4/15/2014  2 I couldn't disagree more. Personally, I absolutely love CreatureLink! I think it's a lot more fun than the regular adoptions because you're guaranteed a unique creature that nobody else has, whereas the normal adoptions can be adopted by anyone and everyone. It feels a bit more personal to be able to adopt a creature to be yours and yours alone, rather than picking one out of a bin like sweets in a shop. Clear out old adoptions eh? Consider it started! I'm making it my resolve to repopulate my dying world with CreatureLink now. Trell "Holy crap in a casket!"   Code Monkey evolnemesis   4/15/2014  1 I think it's a very cool feature and would love to see it keep going and expanded, maybe with a feature to choose your game and then randomly adopt, so you really don't know what you are getting at all until it comes, and maybe an agent that submits a creature to it directly somehow, that acts like an uplink teleporter. I'm definitely interested in a few of these creatures though, and I love how it keeps the spirit of the old warp. "For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love." "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself." - Carl Sagan   KittyTikara     4/15/2014  1 Nnnooooo. I'd miss Creaturelink if it ever disappeared. A button to randomly adopt a Norn would be a good idea. I've often decided not to adopt a Norn because I couldn't decide on which one to take. The Mobula Ray - My Creatures blog   HavenHerbaven   4/17/2014 I just adopted some creaturelink norns and they're awesome, I'd miss it to much if you got rid of it! Herb   Prodigal Sock Ghosthande     4/18/2014 I think having unique creatures would be cool; I can see how it would encourage people to adopt more, knowing that cute Creature isn't always going to be there. If you don't adopt him now, someone else might get to him first. I also think opening it up and removing the lineage restrictions, or at least repurposing them a bit, would help; I think GM basically hit the nail on the head there. Relying on the situation to get better on its own before taking steps to improve it seems a bit counterintuitive. I'll agree that it would've been a neat bonus if CLink had more activity, but that doesn't seem to be the pattern we see right now.   Manic Scribbler razander   4/18/2014 I loved getting surprises from the Warp back in its heyday, and I'd be sad to see this go! Only reason I haven't adopted a norn yet is because I've been testing my norns' responses to grendels, toxins, and bacteria... Not really the most nurturing of environments. I'm pretty much done with those genetics now, so I've gone ahead and adopted Patricia. A mystery Creature Link adoption sounds really fun!   Jessica     4/18/2014 Rascii is super busy at the moment, so I won't be bothering him with any coding changes just yet. I do intend to have CreatureLink fully open, though, now that I know it has an audience and would do better without many restrictions! Ghosthande: I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. I've been taking different steps over the past few months to gauge responses. There's been a much more positive response since I started doing some things, so although I haven't been aggressively trying to change things, I would say activity is definitely improving. All of the old adoptions have been cleared out, and the available ones at this moment were all uploaded by others besides myself. I'll continue to add new ones, mixing in some mystery Creatures, so there should be a more diverse selection until such a time that it can be opened up even further. Thanks for all of the thoughts and comments! Discover Albia

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