Good Norning, Creatures 1!
With one of my cheesiest and corniest blog post titles in hand, I set off to return to my Creatures 1 world! The last update was months ago, and of course I was a little fuzzy on what was going on. Luckily, there was no lack of silliness! One of the best things about Creatures is the way time is handled: There is a wonderful pause button, and taking a break only means that everyone will be just where one left them. Bolanderi and Martagon continued to travel together, although they were rather different! Bolanderi was eager to explore the world, while Martagon was content with sleeping in. The older brother could only watch and wait with his best attempt at patience. I, on the other hand, had many others to visit!
I discovered Candidum still in the caverns beneath Albia, and she was thoroughly enjoying her life! She woke up to enjoy a warm shower, which looked quite nice. The only suspect was an empty can of hootch, which was a leftover from the day when Candidum was particularly thirsty. She was in the midst of a solitary span of time in her life, which seemed to be treating her rather well. Loneliness in Norns isn’t exactly desirable, yet compare and lonely Norn to a crowded Norn, and it’s quite clear which state is better if a balance can’t be struck!
My Norns often delight in running away from one another, or even me. On this morning, Nanum and Iridollae decided to tell the world about their plans! However, they were still a little groggy from being in stasis for about three months, and didn’t have the energy to actually carry out a brisk morning run. A steady walking pace seemed to suit the ladies just fine! Nanum reminded me that it was quickly approaching the time to hatch another new member of this generation… But what about the rest of the group?
Auratum. Recall the time when she sampled the deathcap mushroom? I found her lurking about the dampest part of the world with a sneaky smile on her face. This time she didn’t touch the dangerous weed, yet she seemed to be taunting me! At least she was smart enough to use the lift to move away from it, yet she went right back to it in no time. It turned into a “classic” struggle between would she poison herself, or wouldn’t she? It’s rather comical the way Norns tend to find their way to this spot in Albia. Many just shuffle about with no consequences, while others can’t get enough of the deathcap mushroom. And believe me, it has nothing to do with genetics! All of my Norns have an instinct to steer clear of weeds, yet some do what they please… Probably to see what I’ll do! Auratum is certainly in that group, and I can only smile at her antics until she decides to sample the poison. Again.
Oh dear. Hansonii had an adorable smile to share, but I was at a loss as to how he could keep his balance on the underground cart. What with the, you know… Disconnected feet? Ha ha! His entire body looked like a disaster, courtesy of the body data and sprite issues. This is still a project on my radar, but some of the programs have gotten a little dicey and made it even more difficult for me to move forward. Plus, there are over a thousand little images that need fixing up, along with their corresponding thousand body data files. Yet seeing Hansonii like this makes me want to get back into the project, even if the interim solution entails some basic fixes for just a few of the major issues. In any event, Hansonii wasn’t deterred by his discombobulated body parts and he set off to explore!
My very last Norn to visit was Ledebourii, who was leading a really relaxed life. He had found a spot underground, rather close to Candidum and Hansonii, where he was content with just sitting about and thinking. I thought he was sad, but all he wanted was a special carrot delivery every once in awhile. He was miles from the hustle and bustle of the Norn world, as well as from the real world. Perhaps he was trying to teach us all a little lesson about taking time out of each day for some quiet time! Of course, his was about to change with Norns closing in on him from both sides… Yet somehow it all seemed like it would work out for Ledebourii. Everyone was back to living again, and I’m so happy to be playing Creatures 1 again!
After I saw this yesterday evening, today I decided to spend some time with my C1 & C2 Norns after a longer period of time! It’s good to see your blog is back, and the entry is technically responsible for the birth of a total of 4 Norns :P
Initially I was worried reading through your whole blog through the past couple of months made me so familiar with C1 Albia that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the game, but I just substituted the basic world for a stable one created by a fan and playing it was quite interesting as a result. There’s certainly quite a few differences between C1, C2, and Docking Station [old freeware version] (which are the games I play) which alter the playing style and difficulty making all of the games viable somewhat!
I still can’t believe how you manage to capture the Norns at just the right moment in C1, however. They face the camera for barely a split second more often than not in my experience!
My apologies for this horribly late reply. The good news is that I’m finally working on a new post at the moment, and will hold myself to posting regularly… At least for the next week! It really is amazing how much fun the games can be, even after reading through what others are doing. Somehow seeing and understanding how other players are playing gets me even more excited about the games and how I can do something similar, or completely different. I’m glad that you’ve managed to get a lot of enjoyment out of Creatures, even after muddling through my incessant chatter!
My secret with the images is a very heavy reliance on the pause and play buttons. I’ve gotten it to the point where I can usually go frame by frame forward until I get exactly what I want… Or not! The failed photo opportunities usually end up in a post every once in awhile, because that’s often where I find a lot of humor. Ha! They’re quite sneaky and difficult to catch, yet it pays off when you can finally snap a picture of one of those adorable smiles!