Testing Out a C1 Update from Malkin
Several months ago, Malkin released an >update for the Creatures 1 still! Regrettably, this happened when I was on hiatus and I never properly gave her creation the attention it deserves. There are still many things to improve and create in the Creatures games! This concept is a very useful one, for it moves towards standardizing all objects classified as vendors and provides a source of nutrition in an area accurately known as a “food desert” according to Malkin. She posted a forum topic looking for some input, and after finally setting aside some time, I jumped into Creatures 1 to take a closer look at this new update! The following are my observations and thoughts.
After coercing a newborn Norn to follow me across the world, we finally reached the still. Naturally, I forgot to move the hootch out of the way ahead of time, which explains why alcohol is present in these graphs! The genome of this Norn uses some updated genes, so apologies for the fact that hunger does not fluctuate. With this update, the still now acts like a proper vendor and reduces hunger and need for pleasure, while increasing starch, when pushed. These values are quite small, though, since it wouldn’t make sense for the vendors to be seen as a major source of happiness and nutrition. Each small spike in starch indicates where the Norn drank from the still. However, need for pleasure (NFP) quickly rose again and didn’t really see a drop off. My little test Norn seemed happy to just stare at that still!
Indeed, I noticed that he wasn’t pushing the still on his own. Being so young, he was still learning. Yet I’m sure many players know what happens when you feed a Norn for the first time… He or she will then proceed to eat everything in sight! So I decided to try something else to see if I might jumpstart him into pushing the still on his own.
I tickled him after he pushed the still two times, as illustrated by the sharp drops in need for pleasure. What happened next was excellent: He started pushing it on his own at last! Note the frequency in use compared with the longer intervals pictured above. Even though the values of the chemicals are realistically low, there might be a challenge to get Norns to push the still on their own. Perhaps the drop in need for pleasure is a little too small, leading to a weak correlation between pushing the still and positive feedback. Then again, this was just a single experience with an individual Norn! Others may act quite differently, particularly if they’re older or have had interactions with vendor objects in the past. This update does work, though! Some of my final thoughts regarding the chemicals and some ideas:
- Hunger Decrease: Possibly test out a slightly higher value, such as 30 or 40 units (compared with 20).
- NFP Decrease: Try out a value that has a great impact, such as 50 or 60 units (compared with 10).
- Starch: Keep as is at 20 units: Seems to work out well as an emergency source of nutrition!
- Other Chemicals: Maybe include a tiny amount of alcohol, or try a small amount of boredom decrease.
Luckily little Alec was quite cooperative with trying out this COB! He listened attentively, and really caught onto the idea once he was rewarded with a few tickles. Objects can be quite tricky in Creatures, particularly due to the way that everything is categorized. If I placed this Norn in front of a beehive, carrot vendor, and still, his brain would have no concept of recognizing the differences between them: They all would simply be seen as vendors, which he would assume operate practically identically. Rather simple, but still a very intelligent perspective!
Thanks to Malkin for creating this update for Creatures 1! I always love to see new downloads, and I only wish I would have tested this out sooner. Make sure to stop by to try it out yourself, and share your feedback with Malkin!
Thanks for your thoughts on the COB, Jessica!
I seem to remember there being this idea that it’s healthier to keep hunger decrease and starch at a 1:1 ratio, per the various descriptions of honey being “junk food”… I could probably double all the chemicals without it causing any harm – and it would still be less nutritious than a food, and not cause as much happiness as a toy.
As far as I’m aware, only the yin yang norns have an instinct for pushing vendors (and another for pushing vendors when hungry), meaning that creatures first need to hit upon trying it themselves, and they do need to use their brains to keep this concept in their heads – higher concentrations of chemicals would help with this.
The sixty-four thousand dollar question remaining for me is: will you continue to use it in your world? :)
You’re welcome! I’ve found that varying the ratio of starch and hunger decrease can work, yet what you say makes perfect sense. I think your idea of doubling the chemicals would be worth testing out! Like you said, without that instinct to push vendors, it can take awhile for a Norn to learn the concept. I think testing out higher chemical concentrations might help out with this a lot, though! Luckily, that’s not a major overhaul… Unless you’re me, and once mixed up the order of that line and caused all sorts of problems. Whoops.
I think that if the values of the chemicals were a little higher, this would definitely make it into my main world! I still do like the idea of a tiny amount of alcohol (maybe 5 units), but I haven’t tried that in action… That could be a very, very bad suggestion! Ha! With those minor changes, I can see this being a part of my main world. I would be happy to test out any other versions you might decide to work on! As I said, though, this one works pretty well, and helps make that area of Creatures 1 a little more conducive to life!