A Return to Albia and... a Dancing Norn?

Today I decided to go back to my Creatures 1 world to see how my three Norns are doing. In the previous entry all three Norns reached breeding age, and so this entry will document my attempts to get them to mate and hopefully introduce a few new babies into the population!

As usual, all three Norns were spread out across the garden area, but after a bit of coaxing (and some help from the teleporter!) I managed to get them all together. Even still, the trio decided to venture off towards the Pianola - there were a few kisses, and slaps, but no kiss-pops. One of my favourite things about the first two creatures games is the challenge in breeding your Norns, as just like real life animals, it can take a lot of hard work for them to become pregnant! Even still, it means you grow to treasure each and every birth in the world, and life seems very precious. It's easy to see how one can become attached to their Norns!

Shortly after their congregation the Norns headed off to the lemon trellis - I did hear a single kiss-pop, but sadly there was no pregnancy. Never mind! Norns in Creatures 1 live around 9 hours approximately, so they have plenty of time to breed.

During their time in the garden, I couldn't help notice that Simon seemed to be doing a little dance for the girls. I'm not sure what kind of dance, if any, it resembled, but he would move his arms around and rise up onto his tiptoes. I've witnessed this behaviour in male Norns before, and it is quite amusing to watch!

Afterwards, the Norn trio broke up again, with Simon and Delilah heading towards the incubator and Baily heading the opposite. Simon spent a short period by himself next to the incubator, but was soon joined by Delilah, and proceeded to kiss-pop her. Alas, still no pregnancy!

After watching Simon and Delilah I decided to check up on Baily, who seemed quite happy drinking coffee and eating potatoes. She seems to be quite content, although her walking style seems to indicate she felt quite angry. Perhaps she fell out with the other two Norns? After spending some time alone she was soon joined by Delilah who enjoyed slapping her a few times, causing her to flee in terror and run through the garden. Poor Baily!

And so that concludes today's visit to Albia. Hopefully by the next entry we'll perhaps have seen a few new additions to the world!

Returning to an old Creatures 1 World

I don't really play creatures as frequently as I used to. However, my involvement with Jessica's new forum has sparked my interest and so I decided to fire up my old Creatures 1 world! I've never really featured the first Creatures game on my blog before, so I think it will be a nice change as the previous focus has been either mostly Creatures 2 or Docking Station.

I originally had two Norns in the world named Simon and Delilah (Simon is the male Horse Norn, and Delilah is the female Brown Mouse Norn). Later on I added a third Norn named Baily (Horse/White Tailed Pixie hybrid), who I actually agreed to take a look at, as her owner had experienced issues with her being unable to move. Once imported, she could barely keep still and quickly made a bee-line for the lemon trellis! I originally planned to export her after testing her out, but quickly grew attached to her and I think she'll make a wonderful addition to the world.

The first female Norn, Delilah, seems to have an obsession with the Encyclopedia Nornica, where she will stand in a single spot and keep pushing the same book over and over again. It's quite cute, and definitely shows that Norns are capable of developing their own little personalities! Sadly, this aspect is often lost in the later titles in the series, as the emphasis seems to be more on breeding for genetics rather than the idea that you are trying to save the Norn species from extinction.

At the moment the three Norns are currently walking around the garden together - all three are now adults.. Getting them to breed may be a challenge, but hopefully their wanderlust will hopefully mean less crowding if they do decide to have offspring! I'll hopefully have another update on these Norns tomorrow, but for now, I hope everyone has enjoyed this little blog post!

Back to Albia - Entry 2 - Baby Boom

As soon as I opened up the world this morning I immediately saw Barbas, Delphine and Aela huddled in the corner. Barbas had finally reached adolescence, but unfortunately neither Delphine or Aela were yet pregnant. I did noticed Delphine shivering quite a lot, which made no sense as the incubator room was fairly warm, and it was summer! I've figured that it is most likely genetic, just like her lack of tail and yellowish tint.


After a short while I heard a kisspop, signalling that someone had mated successfully. Yep, Delphin was finally pregnant! Unfortunately the only downside is that she and Barbas may not be genetically compatible, which could result in a few stillborn babies. If they do survive, however, hopefully they'll inherit some of the pair's more interesting traits, such as Barbas' adventurousness and Delphine's lack of a tail.

A while later Delphine laid two eggs. In case anyone is wondering, I downloaded Mike L Anderson's Reproduction COB Pack to allow multiple births depending on what condition the female Norn is in - essentially, the better she is feeling, the larger her clutch of eggs will be. The COB also has several other optional features, including livebearing and the ability for Norns to lay identical twins. I highly recommend it for wolfling runs and/or realism!

A while later both of the eggs hatched. Sadly, both babies collapsed unconscious within seconds of their births. At this rate I might have to consider removing Delphine from the world, as her genes clearly aren't compatible with Barbas'. I decided to call the two stillborn norns Brittany and Alf, and watched them float away towards the sky. I'm hoping that if Delphine and Barbas do have another clutch of eggs at least one of them will survive. Remember, breeding Canny Norns with Nova Subeterra or regular hatchery norns is NOT recommended.

After a short while, Delphine became pregnant again, this time laying only one egg. Thankfully, the baby wasn't stillborn this time. Named Louie, he was quite adventurous and loved playing with the toy dog and the slinky. He appears to get frightened and lonely sometimes, however, most likely due to genetics. Still, I think he makes an excellent addition to Albia!

A while later Delphine and Barbas had yet another child, this time a little girl whom I named Jade due to her striking colour. Like Louie, she also shares her parents' intelligence, and I'm now quite surprised I've had two more babies that haven't been stillborn.

Imagine my surprise, however, when I found that Aela had laid not two, but six eggs! Hopefully this will make up for the fact she isn't a very good breeder and only seemed interested in Barbas once Delphine had left for the desert. Once all of the babies were hatched, I named the females Leisha, Keish, Meesha and Nisha, and the males Simon and Garfunkel. Unfortunately this means the incubator cavern is getting rather crowded, but hopefully the norns will leave to look for other areas to live in as they grow older.

No sooner had I hatched all of the Norns, Aela decided to lay another five! This time however I decided to keep the eggs unhatched in case of an emergency, and also because I am finding it quite difficult to keep track of so many births at once. I do wonder where Aela gets her strength though!

I hope everyone has enjoyed reading today's entry of Back to Albia. Stay tuned for the next update soon!

Back to Albia - Entry 1 - A New Beginning

I admit that Docking Station Galaxy has been rather stagnant most of this year. A contributing factor to this is the fact I've had very little motivation to actually do anything. However, I'm hoping to share a few upcoming blog posts about my current group of norns in Creatures 2. Creatures 2 was my first creatures game, and is also probably my favourite, so it only seems right that I do a series of blog entries about it.

Rather than keep all of the Norns together, I have decided to import/hatch them, and then export to my harddrive once they're reached around the middle of childhood. I feel this will give them plenty of time to explore their surroundings and learn their vocabulary. Let's meet the Norns!

The most recent norn is Delphine, a Canny Norn I adopted from the Creatures repository. She seems fairly intelligent, and has quite a unique appearance with her Ron Norn arms and lack of a tail. She almost looks like a Gorilla! Another thing I noticed is that she ages slightly faster than regular norns do, so hopefully she'll be ready to breed soon!

Unfortunately shortly after Delphine arrived in the world she contracted a fever, but soon managed to get over it. I managed to snap up a picture of her shortly after drinking from the water fountain. At least I know she can take care of herself!

The second norn I'm going to introduce is Barbas. I can't remember exactly where I got him from, but he's fairly intelligent, and has an interesting green tint to his fur. He also spoke German when I first imported him, so I had to re-teach him all of his vocabulary. I also believe he is a Nova Subterra Norn, which may lead to a higher risk of stillborn babies if he breeds with Delphine, as she is a Canny Norn, but hopefully most of his children will turn out fine.

The final norn is Aela. The oldest Norn out of the three, she is a beautiful Emerald Norn, and is also the only norn that is native the world. She seems fairly intelligent, and has already met Barbas, whom she seems to get along with fairly well. Hopefully she will also act friendly towards Delphine and there won't be a huge slap-fest among them both!

Eventually the time came for me to introduce the three Norns to each other. Delphine didn't really pay any attention to anyone. However, Barbas seemed to enjoy kissing Aela quite a lot! After Aela walked away though he moved his attention towards Delphine. To be honest, the norns seem to care more about eating than each other. Hopefully this will improve once they reach adolescence!


A while later I caught up with Barbas standing all by himself on the bridge, probably getting some peace from the two girls pestering him all the time! Unfortunately, he later took a dive into the eastern ocean and I had to fish him out and place him back in the safety of the incubator cavern. Maybe another day, eh Barbas?

Upon placing Barbas back in the cavern I was startled to see Delphine was already in her youth stage, which is ironic given she is the youngest of the trio! Hopefully these genes will pass onto her offspring, allowing them to be able to breed much sooner, although I do hope it doesn't get out of hand.

No sooner had I placed Barbas back in the incubator room I found he had crept away to the Island of Love! How on Albia did he do it? Fearing he'd go swimming again, I took him back home and button disrupter on the lift call button. I wonder if his offspring will inherit his adventurous personality?

And so that brings us to a close for today's entry. Will we see a few eggs and the pitter-patter of tiny paws soon? Will Barbas go off on any exciting adventures? Find out in the next entry of Back to Albia!

Creatures 4 Norn Figurine Review

The Norn figurine I won last month finally arrived today, and I've decided to do a small review to let everyone know what I think of the figurine (and get a chance to take some photos!).

First off, the Norn figurine comes in a small cardboard and is quite small. Getting him out of the box was relatively easy, although removing him from the plastic fitting was quite difficult. To the left is a picture of him in the box. Please excuse the poor quality; I took it with my iPod Touch!

The Norn himself is well-made: the details are spot-on, and the plastic appears to be of a high-quality. One feature I love is the detail on the eyes; they actually look like real Norn eyes! The figurine also had a pair of buttocks, making him look a little bit like an Ettin, and I found it a funny addition to the Norn. Now we know what they're are hiding under their tails!

Overall, I love what Fishing Cactus have done with these little Norn figurines. The only way they could be possibly improved is to make the heads, arms and legs pose-able, but they are still an excellent piece of Creatures merchandise regardless, and I'm very grateful that I got to win one.

Breed Review - Albian Bat Norns (C2)

Norngirl, creator of some of Creatures 2's best Norn breeds, originally released the Albian Bat Norns for Halloween in 2009. Are they any good? Read on to find out!

Sprites - 10/10

Like all of Norngirl's breeds, the Bat Norn's sprites have been beautifully drawn, and I quite like their adorable little canine teeth.  Bat Norns also differ between genders, with the males having longer snouts and brown fur whereas the females have shorter snouts, fluffy brown heads and white fur.

The Albian Bat Norns animate well, although once they reach childhood they bounce slightly whenever they walk. However, this isn't really a big problem, and it actually suits them quite well.

Genome - 9/10

Albian Bat Norns have different diets depending on their gender: males eat fruit only whereas females prey on creatures by hitting and pushing them. Whenever Bat Norns feel cold, they go to sleep, and they enjoy dark places, such as the incubator and the swamp.

The Albian Bat Norn genome was created by Razgriz, who did a pretty good job with it. The only thing I don't like is that they never go to sleep if they're in a dark area, which is pretty unrealistic, although it makes them much easier to care for than regular Norns.

Difficulty - Very Easy

I found Albian Bat Norns very easier to look after, and the fact that they don't have to sleep gives you more time to play with them and explore Albia. Their dietary requirements are also relatively easy to fulfill.

Overall rating - 10/10

Like all of Norngirl's breeds, the Albian Bat Norns are an excellent addition to any Creatures 2 game, rarely suffer from OHSS, and are just too cute!

Last Release of 2012 - S&M Norns

As many of you may know, my last ever genetic breed release was way back in November 2011 last year! Fortunately, I have decided to release a new one just in time for the new year. I present to you, the S&M Norns, for Creatures 2!

Don't let those innocent blue eyes fool you, S&M (Sadomasochistic) Norns are not your average genetic breed; whenever they are slapped, fall or even wall-bonk, they'll receive a healthy dose of Sex Drive in addition to a substantial amount of pain! But that isn't all. In addition to becoming aroused by pain, S&M Norns also take great pleasure in slapping each other. Whenever they become aroused, they'll become enraged, and may spank each other around for a great deal of time, becoming extremely (and somewhat disturbingly) aroused in the process: imagine Essex Norns with whips!


Also included in the RAR file are two adult, pre-trained S&M Norns aptly named Pain and Agony. Enjoy, and happy new year!

Download Link

Strawberry Garden Diary: Entry Seven - A Fond Farewell

After I loaded up the Strawberry Garden world for the first time in what seemed like ages, I was immediately alerted to the birth of a new Norn. He is a fastager like most of the Norns and has a beautiful blue colour, so I appropriately named him Blu.

At the moment the only “pure” Pink Strawberry Norns left in the world were Luger, Mystery and Forager Jr. I found most of them in the Norn Garden with the other Norns, but Mystery decided to stay by herself in the Norn Meso, probably mourning the death of her relatives.

In fact, not much seems to be happening in the Strawberry Garden, only a few eggs are lying around, and the majority of the population are in their youth stage of life. I can only think the cause of this “baby boom” is a large amount of eggs being laid at the same time.

One of the more interesting things to occur was Shadow’s colour change; he appears to have “gained” his Pink Strawberry Norn colours early.

A while later, Ribena passed away. I can only think it was to do with malnutrition, as the majority of the Norns seem obsessed with each other rather than food. At least he’s up there in silicon heaven now with Berri, Forager and his ancestors.

After Ribena’s death another Norn was born, but it was yet another blue-tinted Chichi Norn. I decided to call him Triton, due to there now being three blue-tinted Norns in the world.

Unfortunately due to the lack of activity I have made the decision that this is the final chapter to the Pink Strawberry Norn Diary. It has had a very good run and I hope everyone’s enjoyed it. I may soon upload the Norns from the world to the blog so they are given a new lease of life in peoples’ worlds.

A Few Releases

Here are several Creatures projects that I have previously worked on or never released:

The RGB Norns were a variety of red, green and blue Chichi Norns that I was going to release for the CCSF 2011. Unfortunately I lost interest in them, but here they are for your enjoyment! I may make an egg agent later if people want me to. Download the RGB Norns here!

The Tutti-Frutti Norns were originally created by me in 2007 under the name of "Bonsai Norns". They are C2 only and were created after splicing generations of Creatures. Please analyse their genome as much as possible! Download the Tutti-Frutti Norns here!

Regarding my future projects, I have recently considered creating a new Ettin genetic breed, named the Jewel Ettins in regards to the fact that they come in three varieties: Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald. They are also a homage to the late Creatures Community member, Jewels, who passed away in 2001 after suffering a stroke.

Strawberry Garden Diary: Entry Six - Beginning of a New Age

Here's the most recent, long-awaited diary entry into the Strawberry Garden Diary!

When I started up the Strawberry Garden for the first time in weeks, I was surprised to see two Norns I hadn’t spoken about in the previous entries: Violet and Hider.

Hider looks like much like an ordinary Chichi Norn.  He also appears to be the son of Blueberry and Petal. Looks like Blueberry got noticed after all! I probably named him after the fact he was hiding in the Workshop during the failed IQ Test.

The other Norn in the world is Violet. She is the daughter of Fizz and Luger, and has a gorgeous purple colouration to her.

After a short while, a new Norn baby hatched. He has a bright red colouration, so I decided to call him Raspberry. He seems to enjoy spending most of his time in the tree house, much like the late Forager. He also seems to enjoy drinking Yule Booze too, and got quite drunk!

Raspberry’s birth was shortly followed by Marmalade, another Chichi Norn, but with an orange tint. He seems to be a fast ager too.

 

I have recently been alerted to a number of death noises in the NornGarden, and it seems some of the Norns are refusing to eat.  The Grendels also appeared to be starving, so I added a Mini Vendor to the Capillata Hub to provide them with food.  At a population of eight, that’s a lot of mouths to feed.

Another Norn was born after a short while. He was bright yellow in colour, so I named him Sunflower.  His birth was also followed by Shadow, a cute little Chichi Norn with a black tint.

As you can probably see, the population of the Strawberry Garden is slowly but surely increasing, but what will the future hold for our family of Norns?

Strawberry Garden Diary: Entry Four - A Few New Surprises

I have recently noticed that Cracker appears to have a darker colouration than his father did when he was an adolescent. For some odd reason, many other users who have bred Pink Strawberry Norns have reported similar occurrences. Maybe their pigment genes mutate more easily than regular Norns?

I suddenly saw that there was a female Banshee Grendel on the loose in the cavern below the garden. She didn’t appear to be much of a threat, but I decided to move her anyway. There are now seven Grendels lurking outside the Norn Garden. I hope none of my Norns makes the mistake of entering the Meso.

Not much seemed to be happening with my Norns. I did catch Bluebery though trying to breed with Poppy. Unfortunately, his Pink Strawberry instincts took hold and he ran away from him in fright!

For a while I did catch a fight between Nightshade and Forager. I found it pretty strange that such a mild-mannered Norn such as Forager would even consider fighting, but she must have been getting on his nerves.

I was soon alerted to a new pregnancy. The baby was soon born, and when I looked at his history I could see his father was in fact Forager! Still, he was very cute, and the first thing he did was slide down on a Lugerleaf, so I called him Luger.

Soon another egg was laid, this time by Petal. Apparently she mated with her stepson, Cracker. I don’t reckon Forager will be pleased when he finds out! Within time an adorable little Norn popped out of the egg. She looked almost exactly like her mother Petal, so I called her Flower.

 

As soon as Nightshade hit youth, I was quite flabbergasted when her colour changed from a dark purple to regular Pink Strawberry Norn colours! A few seconds after I noticed this, Poppy was pregnant again. Maybe I should have called her “Kiss-Poppy”?

A few moments later I found Poppy on her way to the Norn Meso to lay her egg. It was quite touching to see her risk her life of being beaten up by Grendels to lay her egg.  When the baby was born, I could see that the father was also Forager. I’m starting to find that all this inbreeding is bad for the population, and if it continues I may have to separate Forager from the group.  I have decided to call this little Norn Venture, after her mother walked all the way to the Meso to give birth to her.

When I took Venture back to the Norn Garden, I could see that another little girl Norn had been born so I decided to call her ‘Mystery’. Her parents are also (you’ve guessed it!) Forager and Poppy. 

The population currently stands at ten Norns. Next time I will carry out an IQ test to ensure only the best DNA survives. Of Course, many of my Norns probably won’t make it, but at least they’ll die trying.

Strawberry Garden Diary: Entry Three - Comings And Goings

Berri and Forager’s second child was soon born. I decided to call him Cracker because he immediately ate some Goldfish crackers as soon as he was born.  I could soon see he had become quite drunk. Maybe he had drunk some beer from the food vendor?

I was soon alerted to the presence of a Grendel in the garden. It was only a baby though, and didn’t appear to be a threat whatsoever so I decided to take it back to the Meso in case the parents came looking for it. 

In order to increase the population, I decided to add a Tribble Norn named Petal to the population. Seeing as both Pink Strawberry Norns and Tribble Norns resembled ChiChi Norns, it probably wouldn’t be a problem. 

Sadly however, there was bad news for the Pink Strawberry Norns. Berri had become very sick, and suddenly passed away. I doubt I could have prevented it, as she appeared perfectly healthy when I saw her alive. Needless to say, she will be missed by all.

Within a few moments after Berri’s death, Forager found Petal, and it was love at first sight. After a few seconds Petal was heavily pregnant with Forager’s child. A beautiful dark purple Norn hatched from the egg she had laid. Of course she was a fast-ager, but she had such a dark tinge to her I decided to call her Nightshade.

After about five minutes, Petal laid her second egg. Hopefully it should add much more genetic diversity to the world if I can get Berri’s offspring to breed with Petal’s offspring.

The egg hatched into a beautiful blue Chichi Norn who I named Blueberry. He appears to be extremely inquisitive, although the other Norns don’t appear to notice him that much.

At the moment, the population appears to be standing at six Norns.  Eventually if I got more than ten I may perform a wolfing run to test my Norn’s survival instincts. Unfortunately this may result in some of them dying, but many interesting mutations may arise.