Thursday 11 June 2015

The Story So Far

This may be my first foray into blogging and into the Creatures community, but it's not the first time I've played Creatures. In fact, I still watch over the Norns from my original world. There are a couple of things you might like to know about my Norns before I start rambling on about them, so I'd like to begin by introducing you to what's been going on so far.

The first point of interest is that when I first starting playing Creatures I didn't know that the original hatchery Norns don't actually die of old age, so seven Norns were born effectively immortal, though only five of those are still alive today.

The time I hatched my first Norn with die-of-old-age-genes coincided with the time I started messing around with the genetics kit. The first time I changed only pigment genes, but unfortunately for some of my Norns I quickly grew bored with baby steps and as a result their genetic engineering didn't go quite so well. These attempts include one to try to make Norns eat better, one to make Norns avoid each other, one to make 'Glitch Norns' with wonky poses, and one to make Norns age backwards. None of them worked right, which I think might be why I tried so many different ideas instead of perfecting one, but I promise I will tell more, in detail, about these experiments at a later date, as well as trying to actually finish some of these ideas one day.

Now let's meet my Norns!





From left to right, these are Sally, Coco, Hat, and Unova. Sally's quite well-behaved for a Norn, whereas Coco and Unova are anything but. Hat likes his own company and spends a lot of time sitting on his own staring at nothing in particular.

This is Finch, Dubby, Michelle, and Aladdin. I like to think of Finch as a kind old man and of Dubby as a mischievous youngster, even though he's entering his twilight years too. Michelle's a bit of a trickster; she likes to taunt me by not eating until she gets to about 60% life force, at which point she promptly has a feast without me even needing to ask her to eat. Aladdin's very social and can almost never be found alone.

Think I'm done? Not even close! I still have to introduce you to my genetic experiments. These Norns live in a different world from those listed above to prevent too many eggs with really demented genomes.

These are Erin, Monty, Quella, and Cornelius. All four were part of my attempt to make Norns avoid each other. Erin and Monty were hatched before the other two and it almost feels like they're Quella and Cornelius's parents. Quella is quite a good little girl and Cornelius is stubborn and never listens to anything you say, especially when you ask him to eat.
  

Finally, this is Pythagoras, Tessa, and Mitzi. Pythagoras and Tessa are both part of my failed attempt to make 'Glitch Norns'. Pythagoras is hardly affected and really quite a cheerful lad, but Tessa can't walk. This wasn't what I was trying to achieve at all and I feel awful for doing it to her. Despite this I don't think she's overly sad about it; she may be stuck right next to the incubator but she enjoys playing with her ball and eating, and the other Norns drop by frequently to keep her company. I tried to make Mitzi age backwards but because of an oversight she's going to be a baby for the rest of her life. Which I'm almost entirely certain will effectively last forever, because of another oversight. Oops.

I'd also like to take a moment to commemorate my Norns who have passed on.

   
These are Fandom, Fred, Asper, and Kate. I have fond memories of each, more than words can express. The way you'd all chat and kiss and slap each other, run away from other Norns when you just wanted some peace and quiet...

Moving on to brighter things, I have twenty unhatched eggs in my original world, all of them brimming with mutations. I'm rather looking forward to starting to hatch them.

7 comments:

  1. Welcome to the Creatures blogging community, Shoy! I'm so excited to hear more about your Norns and genetic experiments. It's awesome that you still have Norns from long ago. Although I never liked the immortal way many of them lived, I kind of wish I had a few like that who would have been around forever. Good luck with all of them: I can't pick a favorite, because they all sound really adorable and interesting!

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    1. Thanks for the welcome! I only started playing Creatures about three years ago - and I only ever played it a couple of times every few months until recently, so it's not like I've had my Norns since Creatures was brand new but it does feel like I've had them forever.

      I can't pick a favourite either!

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  2. Woo, new blog to add to my list!

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  3. Cool! i will tell you with Dubby's little pix thing it wares off in a while but what i do is i export the norn (unless she is pregnant) and import the norn i know a little risky.... but one has never died before!
    from:
    -----Norn loving kitty



    .p.s. all the other options i can't use. ):

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    1. I didn't know that. Thanks for telling me!

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  4. You know it is funny you have a norn called "Mitzi" i have a dog (who breed is a pug)
    named that. (: i never heard of a "snow norn"....... does Mitzi being a baby for ever affect her ability to breed? if she is 100% in-fertile why don't you bring her into you main world....?
    -----Norn loving kitty.

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    1. Her being infertile is actually a reason I don't want to move her to my main world. One of things I'm doing with my main world is letting the Norns breed - all kinds of genetic mutations pop up when Norns breed - and as Mitzi wouldn't be able to breed I think it's probably better to keep her in the world she's in right now. Besides, even if I wanted to move her I couldn't because once you have eight or more Norns in a world you can't import any more, and I have too many Norns in the other world to import her.

      Snow Norns are a sprited breed made by Amanora. You can get them from here: http://creatures.amanora.de/index.php/creatures1_breeds.html

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