Creatures 3/DS Challenge Number 1

...Natural Selection.

I chose to go with my favourite Creature Challenge/Scenario idea without making a poll, since a) I'm not sure how many people read this to be able to contribute to a poll and b) it seemed easier to start off with the most detailed plan. I know there are going to be some holes in it that I missed.

The world was all set up thanks to some pretty decorations from the Garden Box agent. Thank you to all of those who created it!

I love the grass patch deco a lot, apparently, because there are different coloured patches of it all over the Ark, along with some round starry windows here and there. Another agent I made heavy use of was the NornGarden Stopper Plants, to prevent Norns walking off cliff edges and keep them in seperate areas.

I did start off using elevators and trying to hide buttons and lifts with Hausemouse's Button and Lift Hider agent. Unfortunately, this didn't work out as well as I planned. Norns could still use some of the lifts I didn't hide to get to some levels and nearly all of them seemed to have problems. We had lift obsession, glitchy lifts that didn't do anything when pressed or trapped those inside them, button obsession and eat elevator syndrome. Sometimes the lifts would carry Norns to a level I didn't want them to go to as well.

I went with my second idea to kill hots them all and replace them with an agent that I had never tried before; the Elevines! These are truly marvellous. I put them everywhere that the lifts used to be but customised things a bit so Norns can only go to levels of my choosing. In this way, terrariums can be neatly divided in half (more or less) between two  genders, which I am keeping apart until I make them go through a test that selects the new breeding pair.

I soon discovered the original test wasn't hard enough but as we're only just starting out it's okay, I guess... :/ Things will get tougher for the next generation as I slowly take items away and place distractions around.

Also, I'm trying a new way of telling the stories of my Norns. Let me know what you think?

Well, enough of my boring blabber, time to show a few pictures!

 

Carried by a strange hand from the warm circle of the hatching pad, White, Powder and Snow took a minute or two to recover after being swooped through the air. They wandered on tiny paws in the lush grass as soon as their paws touched the ground. Pure, being more curious than her sisters, licked her lips after a snack of seeds and crawled further away with wide eyes, eager to explore. This place was new and interesting!

 

***

 

So we welcome the Bengals des Neiges! Are they not the prettiest little things?

My original choice of breed was a feline based type, not surprisingly. They were going to be the Coloured Bengals, which I had downloaded from...well, I can't remember where from but they came in pairs each with a male and female, each pair a different colour of the rainbow. Strangely enough when I imported them, the body parts didn't appear correctly and their tails were missing, so I figured I must not have a breed installed which the require to appear properly. Exporting the bunch, I went and clicked Muco until he gave me something I could work with. He was very generous and kindly spat out eight eggs containing these pretty Bengal Norns. I tried searching info about this breed via Google but have not found anything much about them except that they are made to be white and black instead of the usual orange and black. So perhaps they use the same breed as the original three starter Norns from C3. I have no idea.

***

 

Bumping into a bobbly plant at the start of the corridor that lead to the long hallway with the shiny floor, Pure became very confused. It kept pushing her back, no matter how many times she tried to go past. After a few more fruitless attempts to satisfy her wanderlust, Pure gave up with a frown and a flick of her silky ears. She turned around with a swaying tail and crawled back to munch seeds again with her three sisters, wondering why the plant would not let her pass.

 

In the middle of their seed-eating, something pink floating overhead caught the four sisters' attention and they noticed the hand which had grabbed them before. It swished down and poked the plant guarding the entry to the long hallway, causing the tendrils which had been sticking up to suck back into the green mass in the pot. Pure's ears pricked and she let out a small mewl. Maybe now she could go for a wander!

 

She paused at the first big round thing she could see, sniffing around the bottom and edges. Smells of fruits and foods were wafting through, making her belly rumble with hunger. Blinking at the door, she placed a paw upon it...bzzz-swish...with a pnematic whoosh, the door whirled her through into a brand new place. The little Bengal crept along the green hall, grasses tickling her belly. She yawned sleepily. Retreating back to the familiar and safe spot near the door, Pure curled up in soft grass and closed her eyes, drifting off with a smile. Maybe her sisters would follow her here. Little did she know, Pure had found her 'habitat' for now. 

***

Next it was Pwder's turn to explore. Curious as to where one of her sisters had gone, she set off along the bluish hallway in search. Wait...there was something bright and pretty up ahead. Was that a toy? What did it do? Her tiny tail swished behind her while she crawled faster to her target. Powder pushed at it and pulled at it, licked it and sniffed it, giggling as it did funny things. Whee! This was fun. She completely forgot what she was originally after, too busy playing with the cube to notice.

 

 

***

Powder finally grew tired from her playing and started to blink heavy eyes. She lay down beside it and curled into a ball, resting for a while until her tummy started a protest. Sniffing the air, she began to seek out something edible. Walking by the circular things in the hallway, she could smell some tasty starch coming from behind the third, which had an odd yellow mark upon it. She lifted a paw to touch it to the glowing mark.There was a loud, whirring whoosh...

 

The next second she found herself in a pile of sand, staring at a ...something! Hmm...where were the seeds she was looking for? Did they come out of that tube up there? Powder couldn't see a way out of here at all. Where was that thing she pushed to get in? Oh well, her nose told her seeds were still present. She would hunt around in the sand.

 

 

***

 

With two doors locked now and only two remaining open, I hoped the rest of the Norns would find a room to call their own.  Unfortunately, Snow and White got a bit lost in the hallway and started to starve, so I cheated a bit and told them to "look door". They both entered the Aquatic Terrarium at the same time! Deciding that was good enough for two babies, whom I had probably pampered too much, I moved one of them to the Jungle.

 

***

Snow clasped her paws to her and looked around in surprise. Only moments before she had been in a tropical paradise with gently lapping waters and soft yellow sands. Then the pink hand came and grabbed her by the scruff, whooshed her through the air...and plopped her down in a warm, sticky, smelly place with floating blue seeds. She lifted her paws one after the other, trying to take her feet out of the purple grass. This place smelled funny...where was her sister? She eyed the blue seed curiously. Maybe it was edible.

 

 

***

White closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the waves, standing in the protective shelter of the elevator. Her sister had just been grabbed by the hand and taken away! She was all alone. Well, there was a seed down by her footpaws, wasn't there? Hmm...White's nose started twitching. Smelled like a pretty tasty seed at that.

 

 

A meal of seeds and juicy lemons filled her up nicely. She began to grow sleepy and curled up in som of the soft warm sand, taking a long nap. White awoke some time later, feeling a little better and oddly, a little older. With her added height, she managed to spy a toy she had not noticed before and even felt a bit playful. Wading through pretty aqua foilage, she batted at in with her paw, watching the funny doll wobble around. Maybe it wasn't so bad here after all.

 

***

 

Thus concludes the placing of the four starter females into their habitats! I'm not sure if anyone would find this stlye of narrative appealing so I'll see what the reactions are before posting any more. If anyone does like it, I am happy to continue. =^_^= This will probably mean smaller posts taking longer to explain, yet it seems to be a little more fun trying to imagine their lives as experienced by the Norns themselves.

 

:D I am probably only going to generation 10 or 20 with these. Hopefully things go according to plan and we get to see some changes in each group by the end of it.

 

If not, it might be an entertaining read.

 

Bye for now,

 

SpringRain.



Poking at the Genetics Kit

Just like the title says, SpringRain (myself) has been poking at the Creatures 1 Genetics Kit with a stick, (and my fingers), trying to make sense out of some of my Norn's genes.

Needless to say, once I got the thing working for the first time, there was a small yet impromptu celebration! After that, there were many small grumblings accompanied by various noises of confusion.

Pairing the genetics kit with the D-DNA Analyser served to pique my curiosity and make things a little bit clearer...well, make them easier to see, anyway. I suspect that simply trying to use the genetics kit on it's own would have had me closing it down and looking for a user manual. As it is, I tried opening and comparing my Norns' genomes with those of the starter set that comes with the game, (You know, mum1, mum2, mum 3...dad1, dad2, dad3 etc...). I forget which breed which genome is associated to, (is mum1, Horse Norns? mum6?), and I'm not sure if I'm doing anything right. In fact I am pretty sure I'm doing it all wrong and I'm probably going to learn this whole thing through making lots and lots of mistakes. Ahaha! XD

In any case, I did enjoy looking at some of the genes from the generation three and generation four Norns in my Albia.

I'll start by posting some of them here, beginning with the first Norn from my Generation 3 list, which would be...Lily! (Shown here nomming a Grendel toy).

 

I haven't figured out what any of them really mean yet, though perhaps I can take a guess at what some of them mean until I have completed further studies. There will be a small update on my generation four Norns following this weirdness. :D

LOBES:

121 Different in File 2 6 0 Emb B MutDup Lobe#= 7 State Rule: state PLUS type 0 <end>

This gene was followed by a whole lot of <end>'s and the info that "Loss = 1" The gene it was compared with had a PLUS type 1 after the PLUS type 0 bit. From what I gathered reading Discover Albia and peeking in the genetics kit, lobe 7 is the attention lobe in the brain...I think.

122 Different in File 2 7 0Emb B Mut Lobe#= 8 Loss State Rule: <end> <end> <end> <end> <end> 0 <end> <end>, Loss= 0

I have not a clue what this means. All I know is it shouldn't affect Lily because anything after those little <end> thingees is powerless.

HALF LIVES:

1 Different in File 2 0 Emb B MutDup <016> 249 <227> 73

Compared to the gene above it, this gene has an number of 249 instead of 248 and a number of 73 instead of 72. I think it's a chemical of some sort and maybe the thing at the end is a half life? Oh yeah...it is under the heading HALF LIVES, so maybe this is one. Looking in the genetics kit under the tab 'Biochemistry' shows me that if this is a chemical, it is called 'not_allocated4'. Hmm....*rubs chin*

REACTIONS:

111 Different in File 2 25 0 Emb B MutDup 1*Reward + 1*<NONE> => 1*Reinforcement + 1*PunishmentEcho; half-life = 16

This gene looks like it might have something to do with a Norn's learning from being rewarded. Excpt it says + 1*Punishment Echo where it is supposed to say + 1*RewardEcho. I'm not sure but this could be the mutation passed down from Bellis which punishes a Norn when they are rewarded for things. Er...mostly I am guessing here.

292 Different in File 2 50 0 Ado B MutDupCut 4*Adrenaline + 1*Ageing => 1*NONE + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 128

This gene has a couple of mutations. Instead of giving 1*Adrenaline, it gives 4*Adrenaline plus 1*Ageing (instead if 1*<NONE>). It also has a half-life of 128 instead of 88. Whatever this does, it seems that 4 adrenaline gives 1 bit of ageing, causing Norns to age from...stress? Is that right? I don't know.

308 New in File 2 51 0 Emb B Mut 1*<NONE> + 1*<NONE> => 1*<NONE> + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 248

This gene here looks like a whole lot of nothing.

RECEPTORS:

237 Different in File 2 32 0 Emb B MutDupCut Creature Sensorimotor, Invol 4='shiver', chem=Coldness, thresh=141, nom=0, gain=255, features=Inverted Analogue   

The only difference in this gene compared to the normal one is that instead of being Analogue, it's an Inverted Analogue. Go figure. *clueless*

STIMULI:

310 Different in File 2 26 0 Old B Mut 'I am travelling' causes sig=0 GS neu=255 int=0, , , => 23*Tiredness++ +16*Boredom- +32*Sleepiness + 0*<NONE>

This gene gives 23 tiredness instead of 22 tiredness to a Norn who is travelling. This only affects them in the 'Old' life stage. So...Lily might get a little bit more tired a little bit faster when she travels as an elder.

Those are all the different genes I could find, apart from different body part images and pigment mutations, which there were a lot of! I don't think I can make sense of those at all just yet since they look like a lot of numbers and because I can't remember which breeds mum1, mum2, etc. correspond to.

That was actually a lot more fun than I expected, although there has to be an easier way to copy genes into a post than saving all the images in MS Paint and painstakingly typing them out again, right?

Ahaha!


Now to give my brain a break and show off some of my precious gen four sweeties! This boy here with the lovely long legs is the charming Clause, son of Riding and Aidan, continuing the Circus Theme in my world!

In fact he has a brother and a sister who have the same issue, making a merry little trio. His brother Stilts has the Santa Norn legs and their sister Harper has Fox Norn legs. They looked ridiculous attached to such tiny bodies but Harper, Stilts and Clause seemed to be oblivious and filled with mischievious glee. The little smile and the tapping foot showed that Clause was impatient to play the second he hatched. Unfortunately, he would be exported for the time being because I had eggs left, right and centre, plus the main herd of adults to watch. Not to worry, he would make his reappearance.

 

Upon being imported back into Albia, I quickly sent Clause up the lift to the learning computer, where he was tutored on a steady supply of Encyclopedia Nornica volumes 1 to 5. He managed to make it through all of them with flying colours, stopping for a few licks of honey after volume two (being one of the lengthiest books I normally like to feed baby Norns after getting through this).

 

 

Elsewhere in Albia two half-brothers were playing in the underground passage beneath the incubator. Boots, the son of Lancelot and Chip was the taller, older brother, looking down into the inquisitive face of Biscuit, son of Meriadoc and Chip.

 

Chip's boys were both doing well and it was nice to see them getting along together. Tickles and nuzzles were plentiful, yet Boots could not help giving the occasional slap when his cute baby brother continued to follow him everywhere. Biscuit was ignoring his growing hunger in his fascination of big bro. His life force was fairly low as he had wandered straight through the garden and met with Boots in the dark basement under the temple before they were carried across the underground passage by the cart. Reluctantly, I separated them in order to coax some food into Biscuit's mouth while Boots went up towards the music room.

 

 

Lessons finally finished, Clause certainly enjoyed his pot of fresh honey while measuring himself up against the lift button. He had a clear advantage over most baby Norns, with those gorgeous red legs adding extra height. I thought I had installed the 1997 Santa Norns but I must have been mistaken for although I have a Christmas kit for that year installed, these legs prove the Norns must not have come with that kit. I don't know...maybe I can find a link to them somewhere. In any case, I love Clause's comical appearance. He and his siblings never fail to make me laugh as they brighten up the land.

 

 

Down in the lower level someone else had her paws tightly clasped around a honey pot of her own. Little Cola licked at the delicious sweet substance over and over, not satisfied until the whole thing was empty. After licking it clean she dropped the hollow pot in the kitchen and ventured into the garden where she discovered the herb trellis and the lifts.

 

It seems two boys weren't enough for Chip! Here is yet another of his sons...meet Goku! Named after a beloved manga and anime series or two (there is more than one Goku that I like. One from Saiyuki and the other from Dragon Ball Z!). This little Norn probably won't be transforming into a glowing golden warrior or whipping out a cool staff but he does have the childish, playful attitude and adventurous spirit. He was far more interested in running off into the world as quick as he could before I could teach a single word.

 

The rest of the Norns had spread out a bit while I juggled the new arrivals, exporting and importing due to the large amount of Norns that would not all be allowed to be imported into the world at once since the option greyed out at around 7 or 8. Down in the submarine bay on the island were Pan (left), with Honey, (right), enjoying sharing some girls' time together. They had a radio with a good tune and the gentle lapping of the ocean waves under the platform to create a peaceful atmosphere. 

Strawberry meanwhile, was munching on an apple by the binoculars. Could this be the first case of cannibalism in Albia? Lol. Her pretty red colouring was a strong contrast to the misty bluish cliffs in the background. I was extremely happy to see it being carried on by a couple of Norns. It could have been my imagination, yet I thought it was gradually getting darker.

 

 Rosie had a marvellous time with the flibberty-gibbet! She seemed to be closer to the normal Horse Norn colour, which was nice as it gave some diversity. It's hard enough to tell everyone apart with all the same breed. I almost found myself wishing for Amaikokonut's name tags that she made for C3/DS. Luckily, there is always the big red pointer arrow to click if I get confused who is who when my Norns are huddled together.

 

Another norn having some playtime with the toys was Eclaire, a daughter of Lily, choosing the perennial favourite to entertain herself with - the striped bouncy ball. It seems that each of my Norns goes through a phase of complete obsessiveness with this enchanting toy, until they've been adults for several hours and the strong sway it used to hold over them loses it's pull. Perhaps I use it one too many times to lead them into lifts and press the buttons.

 

Cola was growing up along with her sisters and brothers and eventually she came down from her perch high in the Grendel tree to watch the drips from the cave ceiling. Maybe she was waiting for the submarine.  

 

Last but not least of the females to meet is little Harper, sister of Clause and Stilts. With a suggestion from the hand, she took a liking to the clock in the Grendel treehouse and set about trying to push it, thankfully distracted from the weed right beneath. It made a cute picture yet it was disappointing that she couldn't do much with the clock. Maybe a CoB can be made that would let these objects become more entertaining, such as changing the time or making a cuckoo pop out?

 

 There are more males to introduce however the reason I have shown all the girls for now is that I am raising a world full of females! Not wishing to leave anyone out, I decided to be a bit tricky and see if I could import one male at a time to romp with the ladies, exporting one female to make room, then choosing a different female to export and male to import for the next round of breeding.

It's going to be a bit of a juggling act but with the circus theme these ponies have going, hopefully it should be all part of the act!

Bye for now, and don't be afraid to crack open the genetics kit and poke around at squishy bits for yourself...it's not as scary as it seems!

Love,

SpringRain.



Creatures Challenges

Today I am not up to much. I have a long list of things to do and I'm slowly working my way through them. My head is spinning so I'm trying to take it easy.

I did, however, come up with a small list of challenges or strategies for playing C3/DS worlds when I eventually get to start that on this Blog.

Inspired by Discover Albia's magical whirlwind paced challenge, I thought that it might be interesting to try making a challenge or goal as well. Something to add a little more flavour and give my Norns and world some story elements. Otherwise I think it'll get boring. It's very easy to breed C3/DS Norns. Making challenges makes it more fun.

I don't think I'm able to handle the pace of what goes in on in Jessica's blog, though. x.x I'd be drowning in Norn eggs and my Norns would take over. Lol.

Instead, I toyed with some ideas and although they probably aren't that exciting or that well planned out, I did have one that I liked in particular. I'm sure they have all been done before in some way or another but I am going to try and put a unique spin on the way I document them. I wonder if anyone would be interested in any of these? If you have any suggestions for improvement I would be happy to hear them. Here they are:

#1. Natural Selection: (This is my favourite idea so far...the others are still really bare)

·       Set up a number of habitats with varying conditions and challenges in place. If you have the Shee Starship, there should be at least four to start out with. The bridge, the splicing area and the medical area could also be used. Add and customise metarooms if desired.

·        Place a pair or group of Norns in each type of environment.

·       Keep the populations carefully controlled and prevent crowding by keeping them separated. Have a selective breeding system in place. For instance, only those who pass a specific survival test or are thriving in their surroundings should be allowed to breed.

 

 ·   Put the boys and girls together and the first couple to bear eggs is the King and Queen. (If using feline types, the Tom and Queen). All lower ranking females under the Queen are referred to as her Claws. All lower ranking males under the King are referred to as his Fangs. Fathers are called Sires and mothers are called Dams. Litters are between 2 - 4 and the babies are called kittens. After the first litter from the Tom and Queen, seperate them again to prevent being overun.To choose the next Tom and Queen, allow the Fangs and Claws to compete in the test again, only this time, the winners are to be put in with the first litter of children. Put the females of the Tom and Queen - the 'Princesses' in with the triumphant Fangs. In a seperate area, put the Princes in with the triumphant Claws. The first pair to become eggbound is to be the new King and Queen. Everyone is seperated again. Norns who do not pass the selection tests are placed in another room or world, (females together and males together, so they can't breed). Here they can happily live out their lives with Norns from other terrariums. This will be the breeding program for each group in each habitat.

 

·       Make sure to use one breed type only. For instance, they can have different appearances or ‘skins’ so long as it’s all the same breed i.e. CFE, or ChiChi, or the Norns that come with the C3 game – Bruin, Civet & Bengal. To limit being buried in eggs, monitor breeding carefully and perhaps use conservative breeders.          

·       Set challenges for each environment and make sure each stands out from the others. It may be a good idea to adjust the controls for the temperature and humidity settings gradually rather than start off with the most extreme. If in extreme conditions, such as the snowy metarooms, provide ways to get warm via heat pads. Or something to get cool in the desert, such as a sprinkler. Starting out in extremes is not recommended.

·       To make things more challenging, use a delicate breed type, such as the Strawberry Norns. You could also include Grendels in the jungle and Ettins in the desert, which come with their own challenges for the Norns.

·       Monitor changes in each group; colour, behaviours, intelligence, instincts, personality, breeding and so on.

·        Keep selectively breeding through the generations (perhaps about 10 or 20) until the Norns in each group are distinct from the others in each other habitat. The goal of this challenge is to see whether the creatures are affected by their environment and their genes respond via natural selection. This could also work on the Ettins and Grendels, or splices. The reason the tests are in place is so that the strongest and most capable of thriving are the ones passing on their genes.

·       Share your new breeds of Norns with others! Or come up with fresh challenges for them.

#2. Overrun By Grendels:

·       Have a small population of Norns living in a tiny area. To make this challenge more difficult, use conservative breeders or fragile Norns. Make it challenging to get to resources.

·       Have a lot of Grendels living in the ship. They can be different breeds – tough types, aquatic types, even gentle types. Make sure there are plenty!

·      Try to teach the Norns how to fight and survive. See if they can get along with the gentler types and fend off the ones that attack. If using Hardman Norns, it may be advisable to only use tough and violent Grendel breeds.

·       The goal here is to have intelligent creatures that can coexist in a ship or world overun by Grendels and successfully form a small clowder (or tribe/clan/group...). It's also supposed to make some fun, dramatic and interesting stories.

#3. Gadget Lovers: (this idea is really bare bones! I need to come up with some more fun things to toss in)

·       Raise some Neko and Poodle Ettins together and have them both try to get along in the Desert Terrarium, sharing their machinery, food and space.  

·       Don’t let the two breeds mix together. It's kind of meant to be like tribe wars.

 

·       Whoever gathers the most machinery is chosen to be the GearHead (leader/alpha etc.), or maybe whoever gets through an obstacle course first and grabs the gadget or machinery first, then brings it back successfully is the GearHead. The ClockWork (Queen, leader...) is chosen by first female to get the first gadget or piece of machinery when it's the females' turn. 

 

     The tribe to have the most machinery and gadgets is the one that is allowed to increase numbers, thus claiming more territory. After 10 generations, the biggest tribe is the winner.

SpringRain's Creatures Family Tree; Part One

I spent some time today in Microsoft Paint putting together all the generations of Norns up until now. Looking back through my notes, birth certificates and older posts, I was able to put this together correctly.

All except for one pairing. I'm not 100% sure who Riding's parents were. Going from memory I believe this is the right combination, although my memory could be flawed.

There is a little key I've been using to tell males and females apart. Like this tree, it's fairly basic: males are denominated by a blue star and females are marked by a pink heart. The generations are labelled cleanly as well. Where there are copies of names, it is because the same Norn has bred withn a different mate. This tree will be added onto in future...!

Smooth Runnings: Part II

After a brief interlude, the second part of the post continues here.

Sometimes you have to bite the Grendel and get on with it...or so Lily demonstrates. I think it's a glitch with the toy because she said 'push toy' but she ended up trying to eat it. It kind of looks like she's kissing the Grendel too. Such a cute little toy! Originally when I saw it, I thought to download it for Fluffbum, so he could have another Grendel to play with. =^w^=

 

Aribic is speechless with happiness at the addition of the new lemon vendor! He turned to the screen and gave me a great big beaming smile. This vendor has been Arabic approved. :D Now we have a healthy food alternative to cup noodles.

 

My Creatures might be preparing to form their own travelling circus troupe with all the antics they're getting up to lately. Lancelot took such a liking to our new pet budgie that she grabbed the whole cage and went to sleep with it. It must have been very uncomfortable with her arm stuck through the wires like that. I felt sorry for the poor budgie. Somehow I don't think Norns make the best pet keepers.

 

Lance was hiding a happy secret at the time this picture was taken. She wandered back over to her partner Aidan just in time to lay their egg...right in front of the Twinkie vendor. Oh my! I wonder if the first thing this Norn is going to eat when they hatch will be a Twinkie. This gave me an idea for a name.

(Incidentally, I've never tried them. The movie Zombieland convinces me that they are rather delicious. XD)  Those crawly things on the ground beneath Aidan are Subter Grubs in case anyone was wondering. They crawl around in the cellar and I believe are edible.

 

Lance was not the only one with an egg. Lily and Arabic got to greet their newest egg shortly after. I hadn't been keeping an eye on her name in the observation kit because Lily appears right at the bottom of the screen, thus is out of view most of the time unless I scroll down to glance at her stats. This pregnancy was a surprise indeed. But not a complete surprise...Arabic and Lily are inseperable! Ahaha.

 

Though Arabic seems to have some cheeky ideas about what to do with that undersea cart, he won't stay away too long. He always finds a way to return to his Lily fair. 

 

 Lily tries to trick everyone that she could fit into that eggshell. I don't quite buy it Missy! It's a good trick but Crimson is the only one to pull off a feat like that so far.

Crawling away to the left, almost blending in with the strawberries is the real previous occpant of that stripy shell. Another girl...let's call her Strawberry. <3

 

Mischief is afoot throughout the land! Showing me another circus trick, Lancelot peeks at me from behind the wooden beam, playing hide n' seek as she wonders if anyone can see her.

 

Alright...I'll play along. ...Oh my goodness, where can Lance be?! :O

 

Fluffbum, meanwhile, tries to give everyone a scare by pretending to die! Never fear, this Grendel is a master performer. He's only hiding his sleeping 'Zs' from view behind the rock with the flower. I give that a ten out of ten. Applause for Fluffbum!! *clap clap clap*

 

Sadly, Riding is not hiding her 'Zs' in the cup of pot noodles.

 

No...much to my shock and dismay, her time had come around at only 6 hours and 27 minutes old. 

 

It was so early and so utterly unexpected. Up until now, I had been exporting each generation as they aged, in order to import their children. Riding passed into the big blue cyberspace beyond with a huge smile on her face and a full tummy before I could do that. She had a wonderful vacation playing with her comical crayfish toy and the carrot and noodle vendors, having lots of tickles from the hand in between. It was sad to lose such a wonderful Norn. Still, I was glad that she hadn't suffered and had slipped away peacefully. She had given a hint of hope before she left this world.

 

Before now, even though I had let my creatures age to elders, I had suspected each and every one of them to lack the gene for aging. Riding had displayed that maybe this was not quite so. Not only that, we have some of her children to see whether this theory is true. I much prefer to let my Creatures live out their full lives and die of natural causes than to send them to a file in a folder. Because of this one Norn, things might be about to change.

 

A list of the generation 3 creatures...and proof that Riding has passed to the world beyond. She was so very young! Maybe it is actually a mutation that caused her early passing. I will have to crack open the genetics kit and try to find out.

 

With the passing of Riding in mind, I shall leave this post with a tiny sneak preview of something happy. Here are all the generation 4 babies in my saved back up folder. Continuing the circus theme, there are some pretty funny names in there...Oh, I can't wait to introduce them to you!

Some of these are Riding's children...I'll have to look at their birth certificates to see which ones. That's another wee project I have in the sidelines. A Creatures Family tree! With 100 generations to get to, it's going to be useful to be able to trace them back to the beginning and see where the branches spread out to.

Until next time!

SpringRain

Figured Out How to Add Links

I had a bit of a play around with this thing and finally figured out how to add links to other Creatures Blogs!

I have added only Discover Albia and a couple of others so far but I intend to add many more which are on my list of favourites. Please do check them out, there are so many wonderful Blogs out there by wonderful Creatures fans. You never know, you might just find one you didn't know about and get hooked.

Woo! Feel the Bloggness!

Smooth Runnings

Here I am back again with more news of the daily lives and happenings in my Creatures 1 world. Things are running so smoothly right now, even after I took the liberty of injecting more toy CoBs since I felt there was a shortage of fun items to play with. My Norns are entertained, I'm entertained by my Norns and my gorgeous Grendel, Fluffbum, is hobnobbing with us all. :D

Now, even though I have had a steady supply of eggs and hatchlings which means lots of baby Norns for generation four, I thought it was not quite time to send these adults to the export folder. They still had plenty of life left in them at around 5 or 6 hours old. Although eager to meet their children, I wanted to leave them free to roam Albia for several hours longer. With my goal to reach generation 100 with these guys I am tempted to hurry things along sometimes.

However, I realised I was starting to get attached to them more than anticipated. I couldn't hit that export button! Lol. Part of the reason I like Creatures so much is because of being able to watch them grow, learn and see all the little things they do. I wasn't ready to end their stories yet. I got my act together so all pictures will now be labelled correctly and in the right order. Off we trot!

I was glad to see that Angelette had at last left her spot on the island to roam through the jungle and over to the temple area. Here, she met Merry, who had been enjoying her life of solitude, eating as much as she wanted and finding ways to keep herself occupied.

Merry wasn't too pleased with the extra company. When Angelette continued to follow her, she hugged her toy ball to herself protectively, making a run for it! She struck a very strange pose as she ran away, leaning so far forwards it was a wonder her nose didn't brush the ground.

It was a good thing for poor Angelette though, who seemed to think this was a game and chased after Merry all the more. For hours, the darker furrred Norn had been walking back and forth on the island, riding lifts and repeating "Angelette food" or "Angelette tired" over and over.

Much to my dismay, she seemed to have forgotten how to eat, sleep or do anything else to satisfy her needs. She liked the other Norns who visited despite the fact that they only served to distract her further. I believe she has yet to put any food in her mouth, though she does pick things up from time to time and when prompted to push food she will stop to look at it for a second or so. I don't know what I can do for her...This journey at least gives her a change of scenery.

I'm not sure whether it's because of her relation to the Night Norns but Angelette soon took to not only following Meriadoc about, but started slapping her as well! She then turned to the camera and gave a sad little frown. Merry might not have liked the slapping but I couldn't punish Ange with that face. Poor Angelette was in enough misery. Hopefully they would sort themselves out. I secretly wished Merry would find a way to escape for a bit though. Maybe if Angelette could be on her own for a while, she would find a way to eat some food.

Merry must have heard my thoughts because not long afterwards she broke out into a run and high tailed it out of there, still clutching her toy ball for dear life. Clearly she wasn't too impressed with her new tag-along. She headed down the lift to the underground part of the temple where a tasty log of mushrooms was growing and snacked to her heart's delight (yes, I have CoB addiction, I need to join CoBaholics Anonymous). Angelette meanwhile, walked away back into the jungle where there was plenty of food scattered around.

Merry wasn't the only one who had found a nice escape. Riding was living it up in a tropical paradise between the palm trees. She had all the food she wanted, a boombox for some summer tunes, and a funny crayfish toy. A few tickles from me brought a beaming smile to her face. I was happy to see her doing so well.

Arabic and Lily were not taking a vacation just yet, though! I have found these two Norns to be inseparable. No matter how many times I try to get Arabic to travel away from her (because we already have lots of babies!), he always finds a way to come back to Lily.

I eventually stopped trying to part them when I saw how well they ate and slept while together and how much they liked each other's company. Out of all my Norns, this has to be one of the most dedicated pair I have ever seen. They looked peaceful while they slumbered but what had worn them out in the first place? An egg was on its way! Lily has now had almost as many eggs as Riding. She doesn't seem to want to stop anytime soon though. Arabic must be her number one Norn. =^__^=

The egg appeared at last and Lily stood for a while, staring at the small green oval, trying to push egg or pull egg before her hunger prompted her to go after the strawberries. This time was without prompting from me, which I was very pleased about. Maybe I taught her to do this from telling her to look at each of her previous eggs, or maybe she was just being curious.

Someone else was curious to meet Lily, though! Tiny Eclaire stood and looked up at her mother, sharing tickles and nuzzles before she was whisked away into a file. She would make her entrance back into Albia at a later time with the other youngsters but for now, I allowed them a few precious moments together. Perhaps Lily would have some memories of her daughter, and maybe Eclaire would remember her first encounter with another Norn as a pleasant experience.

...I'll end it here for now because I have to start work. To be continued...

Mixed-Up Norns!

SpringRain back again with more stories of my adorable herd of Horse Norns. I've decided I'll have to find a way to label saved screenshots of them better as I continue to get them mixed up. I'll try to tell the stories as best as I can; some of the events just may not be in order. These things did happen though, and I'm hoping to be able to share them in more logical sequences from here on out. (That said, I must apologise for the lacklustre post previous to this. Writing while anaemic certainly does not help one to be at their most creative spirit at times).

They are all lovely in their own way and each one definitely has their own personality...it's just hard to tell in a picture. I've slowly gotten to know each one as an individual while watching them grow up in the land where it never rains and the soft blanket of darkness never falls across the land.

I don't think I've included enough shots of Mister Fluffbum in with all these furry Norns. He's definitely still alive, despite having the odd 'senior moment' or two. Norns flooded onto his island so he escaped across the ocean for some peace and quiet in the platform above the jungle under the rope bridge.

This is an add-on which I injected, wanting more spaces for my Creatures to roam. I thought it would help prevent Albia becoming too crowded, although  I do find myself wishing the floor wasn't invisible because it tends to look like either a glitch or that I have creatures with special levitation powers. Fluffbum and the others certainly seem to enjoy it, though. They don't often go all the way under the bridge unless they want to escape from others, or that's how it seems. Most are content to hang around where the Grendel Mother Tree grows and pick juicy apples from its lower branches. Maybe seeing that little bird all safely tucked inside its nest made Fluffbum sleepy too. It does look nice and cosy. He might want to finish off his Cola first though. I don't think sugar rushes to the head aid one in gaining the best restful slumber.

He eventually wandered over to pick some apples after finishing off the fizzy drink and I brought him a toy to play with. Virtual pets playing with virtual pets! Hee hee.

It seems like we never have enough toys. Creatures appear to really enjoy the bouncy ball and the spinning top in some stages of their lives, yet after a while they don't seem as entranced or entertained by them. By far the most popular would have to be the rubber ball. Sometimes it helps if I play with the toy with them or show them how to use it, or sometimes it helps to swap out toys or bring in new toys. At least, it seems that way. Not many creatures will play with the top on their own unless I tell them 'toy' and click it a few times.

Leaving Flufbum to finally drift to sleep under the rustling apple boughs for a while, I went to check on two sleeping beauties in the lighthouse tower. Handsome Aidan and lovely Lancelot  were expecting an egg! It seemed they had the perfect timing with the kiss pop and the sleeping. Often when one Norn falls asleep beside others, the other Norns will keep trying to interact with them, tickling, talking, sometimes giving a little slap and ultimately waking them up. Sleep is such a rare commodity in a world with so many padding paws, I was glad to see these two catching some elusive Zs. Plus, they looked totally cute! X3 So neatly positioned, don't they just remind you of those stone lions that guard museums and temples? Hee hee...Albia has it's very first guardians of the lifts.

Aidan wandered away to get a few licks of honey after waking up but not long after he promptly fell asleep again! I was worried when I saw him standing up while snoozing. This usually means they are going to toss, turn and move about, waking up without their sleepiness or tiredness reduced. Thankfully that wasn't the case. He didn't move a wink and his sleepiness drive actually decreased. He must have been so exhausted that he just dropped off where he stood. Maybe it was the soothing sounds and movements of the waterfall that sent him off to dreamland. I would find it very amusing if all of my Norns started to sleep like this though. Seeing as one of the names they are known by is 'Horse Norns' it would be very fitting!

In the next picture, Aidan is actually awake believe it or not. I seem to have a knack for taking pics of him with his eyes closed. He's leaning over to hold his and Lance's growing egg, prompted by me saying 'egg' to draw his attention to it. I like to try and get parents to notice their eggs, since even though they probably don't know it's their child inside, at least they can acknowledge there is an egg there and try to do something with it. It makes for some very sweet moments. <3 I'm sure Aidan couldn't know that the little baby within was his. :D Does anyone else wish Norns could recognise their family members like this though?

Later on, Aidan went to meet Riding near the Lover's Leap and another egg was on the way. This should hopefully mean more red coloured Norns. Gee Aidan, you're causing ladies to fall asleep everywhere you go! ;) Sleeping peacefully below was Meriadoc. I'm not sure if she is the youngest but she certainly has been the smallest for longest. If there was a contest for who could stay small the longest, she would have won.

Zooming off around the world again, I went to do the rounds to see something exceptional in the garden. While everyone else had long since grown, Meriadoc was the last of my Norns to become an adult. She stayed a child/teen for the longest time as the hours slipped by and like some of the Norns in the past generation, I had feared she would never age. She, like they, had fortunately proved me wrong. Merry had grown at long last and I couldn't wait to find this pretty red Norn a mate. A sweet tempered and playful creature, she also had a soft spot for the hand and I knew I wanted to see at least one baby take after her. She happens to be one of the only Norns in my world who really enjoys the spinning top and will play with it without prompting.

A little encouragement from some Mugug fruits along with some attention from the charming Chip soon had a baby on the way. These luscious looking fruits are the reason why generation 4 practically zoomed into existence. I think I definitely went overboard providing the fruit to my creatures so generously and have learned from the experience that they may be best reserved for special cases or Norns having difficulty with breeding. Nevertheless we weren't exactly flooded with eggs so more was better in this case.

Chip didn't look too happy at the tiny single egg sitting beside the pink lemonade vendor. I'm sure no Norn wants to see that look on their mate's face when presented with such a wee gem. Merry was standing nearby and looking on, and I can just imagine what she might want to say to him. Ahaha! He was right though - we need more eggs than that.

Thanks to Chip's suggestion, the next couple of pictures will show eggs everywhere! But first please meet Lily the 2nd. She is the Norn with the lighter coat in the right hand corner, trying to approach Lancelot, who's chosen not to play and is running away! Silly Lance. Perhaps she forgot that there's a wall and a dead end that way.

Chip resides happily above them both, playing with the learning computer while he seemingly rests his paw on a jelly that he's probably saving for a sweet snack. I'll have to come along and wipe off the computer from time to time to keep little paws from getting it all sticky. Lol.

Riding had laid her egg at last and I spent some time encouraging her to eat the plentiful honey around the platforms and play with the slideshow toy while her baby took it's time to grow. It always makes me laugh when Norns get confused with this slideshow and try to push it, only to keep rolling the drop screen instead. The other thing they do is walk in front of the camera when I am trying to click it and their heads get in the way, so I end up giving them tickles and not being able to click it. Either way, they have a good time and I have a giggle at their antics.  

I smiled again when I found Chip with Lance snoozing by the clock in the kitchen. Sure enough, not content with one or two eggs, he had been up to mischief. Another egg was a cause for joy. They couldn't have chosen a more suitable location.

Eggs, eggs, everywhere! One of these polished presents belongs to Lily the 2nd (the blue one on the left, next to Arabic) and our most difficult and fuss pot Norn, Angelette, has an egg too.  I'd be curious to see whether there's a reason Angelette has trouble with performing commands, eating and sleeping. Her mother, Pommes, had the same kind of issues. They both also preferred to spend most of their lives in the viewing dome strawberry patch with Fluffbum, who shared his food and toys without any complaints.

 Another egg from Riding was laid right beside the jukebox. Maybe its mother wished to introduce it to a life of rock n' roll early on. A Norn with a musical career can do very well in Albia! XD Then again, I just hope it doesn't do too much rocking and rolling. Eggs rolling about the place on a platform as high as this would be very alarming.

Marching around in a pile of bananas Aidan, Lancelot and Riding spent some fun time together. Riding has had almost the most eggs out of all the girls so far which could explain her change from gold to silver. She was otherwise fit and healthy though and kicked around in the bananas just like the younger ones.

The final snapshot taken while we waited for all our eggs to hatch was another of the adventurous Aidan standing asleep in the lift! He seems to have made it a real habit of late and whenever I catch him doing it, it brings a grin to my face. Silly, sweet boy...please keep that smile on your face!!