CCSF 2016 Blog Carnival: Day 2
Written onImportant news regarding the Creatures Community Spirit Festival 2016! Allekha and Doringo, this year’s coordinators, have pushed back the start of the festival until December 11 to gather more submissions. I’m pushing myself to finally have something to share, even if it isn’t anything amazing! Remember, this is a community effort to appreciate Creatures and all it means to us. Every contribution, no matter how small it seems, is important. Although the main festival has been delayed, the Blog Carnival continues! The first day saw some interesting responses! I found it intriguing to read about my fellow bloggers’ early experiences with Creatures. Onto another prompt! My quick answer for today: I play to the point of being an almost constant shadow over my Norns, and keep a close eye on everything… Most of the time.
How Would You Describe Your Playing Style?
I hover. That’s all there really is to it. Ha! In Creatures 1, I’m always jumping around to check on all of my Norns and Grendels. It gets difficult when there are a lot of them spread out, yet I enjoy having a “hand” in their upbringing. Oh my, the bad puns are back! I like to watch them grow up independently, yet the first game is more conducive to players who want to be involved. In C3/DS, I tend to take an uninvolved stance mainly because it feels like I’m not as needed. I treat those times as a sort of documentary, where I’m just there to look for interesting mutations. If a C3/DS Norn gets sick, I usually don’t step in. If a C1 Norn gets sick, I’m on the edge of my seat setting up a quarantine and food station within seconds! What works for me differs between the games, and I think the Creatures series allows all sorts of players to find their preferred playing styles. There isn’t one right way to play, and that’s the beauty of the games!
Do You Have Lots of Worlds, or a Few?
For Creatures 1, I typically have my main world filled with all of the Norns and Grendels whose lives are documented on Discover Albia. I often have another world solely for testing projects I’m working on, or for taking a look at COBs created by others. I’m so attached to my C1 Creatures that one main world is definitely plenty for me! When Creatures 2 decides to cooperate, I usually have a single world… Which usually crashes after a few hours. Ha! Creatures 3 and Docking Station are a little different because there are so many customizable options. The selection of agents, breeds, metarooms, and other add-ons means that it’s easy to tailor each world to a specific purpose. For me, it doesn’t make sense to have a world with aquatic areas and vast tree houses. I like to separate my worlds based on type, although it’s rather fun to mix a little bit of everything together every now and then!
Do You Have Strict Wolfling Runs or Do You Individually Nurture Your Creatures, or Both?
As many probably expect, the answer to this question depends on the game I’m playing. In Creatures 1, I raise every Norn and Grendel. I spend about 10 minutes with a baby as soon as he or she hatches to teach vocabulary and the most important lesson: How to eat! No one has much privacy in my world, although I will say that C1 is severely limited in its food sources. I often drop carrots randomly to make sure everyone is happy and healthy. This results in me getting attached quite quickly. I’ve got my quarantine process down pat, and now the only thing I can’t stop is old age. I will allow my Creatures to have the chance to take care of themselves, though. Sometimes I sit back and just observe for a bit. When one of those sad faces shows up, though, I’m back in action!
In C3/DS, I usually have a little more of a mixed playing style: I’ll set up a world and hatch some eggs. If there’s a major catastrophe or if I feel like something unfair has happened, I’ll lend a “hand” to the aggrieved party. With these puns, I’m sure anyone reading this feels that this is a terrible situation. Ha! There are times when I’ll leave a world running in the background. The downside to this way of doing wolfling runs is that there isn’t an actual log of what happened. Even when I choose not to raise any Norns, I still like to know what happened during their lives.
Any Particular Habits or Quirks?
I try to hatch eggs during even minutes only. This is easy in Creatures 1, but much more difficult in the other games. Why do I do this? I did it when I started playing, and I’ve stuck with it. That’s definitely a quirk! As soon as a baby is conceived, I immediately check out the genome to see what mutations might be waiting to hatch. When I absolutely must punish a Creature, I try to use the verbal “bad” or “no” in place of a slap. It’s not always possible… And it’s a little silly because both do the exact same thing. Yet when it comes to praising someone, I’m definitely offering up more tickles. I also abuse the play and pause buttons, all in the name of getting the best pictures!
Somehow I feel like the way I play Creatures sounds overly dull and boring, yet it works for me. I also love how I can go and do something totally out of character, like actually having a Creatures 1 wolfling run. The best part of reading the other Creatures blogs is to see how others play: Often I get ideas for new worlds, or just blatantly copy a concept to enjoy for myself. It’s easy to try something new with Creatures, even after all these years. I imagine there will be a few things released during the CCSF 2016 that will make me want to try something different! That’s one of the best parts about our little community: A single idea can inspire all sorts of players to enjoy the games in new ways. Who knows: My answers to these questions might be quite different a year from now… Or even next month!
I don’t know what’s funnier, the terrible puns or you just saying “I hover” like you’re something out of a norn’s horror movie… Attack of the Hovering Hand!
Also it’s neat to see that I’m not the only who tailors their play style to fit the game though. In C1/C2 I tend to nurture my creature more because they need my help. In C3/DS I tend to play hands-off or even ignore them for hours. Most creatures don’t need me and I care more about the population’s survival then any individuals. I suppose that’s what makes my Lavender Grendels interesting to me, they do need a little bit of help every once in a while.
Ha ha! I’m sneaky with my Norns… They think it’s some great thing to have someone around all the time, and then I just never leave.
I like how each game sort of leans towards one sort of playing style, although it’s not set in stone. Sometimes I really don’t want to play the nurturing role anymore, so it’s easy to step into C3/DS. Then I’ll feel a little disheartened by the lack of importance… And those C3/DS Norns just don’t care about hovering. At least in C1, they typically take notice of the hand!
I feel better using ‘no’ in place of a slap too… but then I have to type out the Creature’s name so I’m not just telling everyone nearby, and sometimes by the time I’m done typing out whatever weirdly spelled long and quirky name I have for the norn, it’s a little late to punish them because they’re off doing something else. I wonder how hard it would be to just script the ‘slap’ click to instead force the hand to say ‘[creaturename] no’…
That sounds like a much easier solution. It really is almost impossible to punish a single Creature in a group unless you’re really quick with typing. The worst is when I think I have a slap lined up and end up punishing an innocent party. Oops! I do wish there was something in between a tickle and a slap, though. Like a polite poke that wouldn’t be painful but would still deal with punishment, or a friendly scratch that would just be for affection with no reward associated with it. Brainstorming, as usual. Ha!