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!
***
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.
Very nice choice of Norns! I highly recommend Silvak's Snow Bengal Patch: This gives them colored eyes and mouths, though the patch is certainly not necessary! I enjoyed the extra pop of color, though.
ReplyDeleteI'm always excited about reading more! Narratives seem to work better for C3/DS than just saying "So-and-so walked into the Norn Terrarium and ate. Someone-else stayed on the bridge. The end!" Not that it's really like that, but I find that dramatizing Creatures makes the game a lot more interesting. Hopefully they'll all enjoy their new habitats and homes!
Thank you. When I saw them hatch out of their eggs for the first time, I was swayed by how pretty they were. You don't see that many white Bengals. I also like the Siamese Norns and other feline types, so it was a tough decision! Ahaha~! =>w<=
ReplyDeleteLuckily I have those nametags to tell them apart though. Otherwise I'd go cross-eyed.
I'm glad to hear that you still like to read this blog; thank you. Even if no one else does read it, I, at least, am having fun. Lol. =^.^=
That's what I thought too about the narratives. :)
I'd seen it done in little snippets here and there on other blogs so I wondered what it'd be like to try and do it ALL like that. Actually, it's incredibly fun! :D
I encourage wholeheartedly that others should try it and see what they come up with.