Talk:Creatures Online

Note, Andreadst, a representative from Fishing Cactus has removed the words "the Mons" from the ambiguous phrase "Fishing Cactus the Mons, Belgium based developer" within the direct quote copied from the Press Release at Gamasutra. I think this is because the initial press release may have been mis-worded (grammatically) as they are 'in' Mons, Belgium - Don 22:42, May 30, 2011 (UTC)


 * It's been fixed now - C-Rex 08:41, May 31, 2011 (UTC)

What would you like to see in the next Creatures Opus?
[Message removed]

IMPORTANT: Hello Creatures Community, the contributor here [now removed] isn't a representative from Fishing Cactus. Only clearly identified individuals will communicate on behalf of our company (and not simply someone identified by it's IP). This doesn't mean we aren't interested in hearing your ideas of course ;) but we need to make sure you guys are not getting any false information. Thanks. Andrea Di Stefano.

I'd love to see some of the old toys and agents reimagined! It'd bring some great nostalgia to the game, but keep things fresh at the same time. :) -- 69.126.23.36 04:37, June 23, 2011 (UTC)

Assuming they're in the game, I'd like to be able to breed Grendels and Ettins in-game ASAP. This has always been an issue with the previous games: in the first two they couldn't even breed without game patches, and in C3 the game only gave you individuals of one gender to work with (unless you spliced them to get a female). Mutliple breeds of Grendels and Ettins would be great, too, even if they were developed after the initial release of the game. Officer 1BDI 04:55, June 23, 2011 (UTC)


 * I agree. They should also be as biologically realistic as the norns, rather than one-track-minded perpetual motion machies (C3) or wallbonking abominations of constant suffering (C2) Ylukyun 05:48, June 23, 2011 (UTC)

Open 3rd party development. The fact that this is an "iPhone game" scares me because the opportunities to develop for a mobile game don't sound very promising. Third-party add-ons have been the heart of Creatures from the beginning (without them, I doubt the fanbase would have stayed so strong ten years after the last game was released) and I'd be sorely disappointed if it (the PC/Mac version, at least) didn't offer opportunities for such. Ghosthande 05:57, June 23, 2011 (UTC)


 * I just thought I'd crawl out from under this rock here to really highlight the above post. The Creatures community continues to thrive because players can very easily add to the game through the COB/Agent systems.  I'm aware that Creatures 4 is highly unlikely to use CAOS in any form we recognize, considering it's now a 3D game and so much has changed since 2001, but the idea still stands.  There absolutely must be a way for a user to create content and add it to their game in a modular way.  I am also aware that this is an incredibly difficult proposition, so development tools/an API may not be available on release, but it's just not complete without the modularity that's kept the series alive for so long.
 * I'm going to cut myself off before I start rambling too hard, but... yeah. Agents/COBs/something like that need to be in the game.  Also, thanks for restarting the series.  Creatures 4 is looking good so far, and I can't wait to get my hands on it! X-steelfoot-x 04:08, August 27, 2011 (UTC)

While I would like some improvements to the graphics, I think it would be nice not to make it TOO resource intensive. If you could make it so that people have worse computers like me can still play it, I think that would be awesome. Also I would like it available for Linux. xRAINxOFxBLOODx 11:09 June 22, 2011 (PST)

Three big things: 1. Keep it 2D 2. Like Ghosthande pointed out, make sure new breeds/agents/metarooms can be added. This is probably the most needed thing for a creatures game, the difference in sales between C3, C2 and C1 vrs. CV and CA shows this. 3. If the Iphone version can't keep those aspects, drop it or have a different version with them for Mac/PC

For me I would like to see a full 3D engine to handle graphics, thus freeing the CPU for handling the scripts. It could still have side scrolling style like Little Big Planet. 3rd party development would be key, and if that could include caos it would placate a lot of the current fan base. I would like to see different version for iOS, as I want the game to improve in all ways over the last ones, not be limeted by the hardware restrictions of a phone.

An improved disease/immune response system. In Creatures 3/Docking Station at least, if a creature gets a bacteria they're essentially screwed unless the hand removes it for them. I think creatures should have some way of fighting off and killing bacteria without having to have the hand come and save them. As well, I second the previous comment that the grendels and ettins should be just as advanced as the norns. I know the furry things are supposed to be the main focus of the game, but the other two races have devoted fanbases as well. --A1b1b1i1d1o1g1g1 10:01, June 23, 2011 (UTC)

Creatures was a small yet balanced ecosystem in which a species of furry little woodland Creatures lived; they lived in structures left by the Shee and in basic bamboo homes often in the trees (ewok style). The Norns ate the carrots, lemons and other fruit, vegetables and herbs that had been planted for them, drank from the coconuts and stayed fairly isolated from the Ettin and Grendel species that also shared their world, unless of course they decided to explore beyond the boundaries. Personally, I'd like to see that perfect bubble of woodland innocence preserved -- Don 13:59, June 23, 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, definally retain the ability to add fan-made breeds and objects or else I will rage. Also, I think the Norns this time around should have a wider range of ways of expressing their emotions and be more reponsive to the player so they can understand each other better. For example, if you praise a Norn and it sucessfully learns to associate what it did was good, it will smile and their ears perk up. If you try to praise a Norn that isn't doing anything in particular or praise it too much, it will have a puzzled expression on it's face or look bored and indifferent because you rewarded it too much. If you try to praise a Norn you abused, it will become confused or frightened and therefore won't usually sucessfully learn as well as a Norn that isn't abused until you earn its trust again. Now about resonse to scolding, if a Norn that understands what it done was wrong, its ears will droop and it'll look a little sad. If it didn't do anything in particular or you scold it too much, it will snarl indigantly at you or look confused.

I think there should be a differenation between praise, petting, scolding and hitting. In the games when you petted a Norn, you were praising it. If you hitted a Norn, you were scolding it. What if I just wanted to show my Norns affection or malice instead of petting and hitting always being interpted as either praise or punishment?

What can be done is that the player can toggle between two modes that changes what the hand does. In teaching mode, petting and hitting becomes praise and punishment, in normal mode, petting becomes affection and hitting becomes malice therefore you don't end up interfering with learning between what's "right" and what's "wrong" but still can show your Norns how you feel about them. But if you do it often, then a Norn could become "spoiled" and it may not listen to you as often when you try to teach it or either become "angry" at you and do the same or on the flipside the Norn will become "loyal" to you and normally listen to you or "frightened" and carry out comands because its afraid you'll abuse it even more if it doesn't. It'll depend on the Norn. It doesn't have to be extact but I'll be rather happy if something similar to what I've discribed was implemented. -- Some guy

Here's some more stuff that I thought of, Andrea/the team at Fishing Cactus:
 * 1) Try to preserve depth without sacrificing accessibility. The average person should be able to play the game without running into scripting or too much about body chemistry (other than "don't feed them garbage" or "certain poisonous mushrooms are not good for normal norns") or the exact specifics of how the brain works.  However, an advanced player or a veteran from Creatures 1-3 should be able to peel back the layers of the interface and have a nice look at exactly what's going on behind the scenes.  This can either be done via internal menus (maybe an "advanced" mode?) or external ones such as the Brain in a Vat.  In short, to most everyone they should be particularly in-depth pets, but to aspiring digital geneticists or programmers it should be a wonderful science experiment.
 * 2) Don't let the "Cash Shop" take over the game. This is important, because so many free-to-play games get this terribly wrong.  It was mentioned on the Fishing Cactus blog that inspiration was being taken from | Team Fortress 2's Mann Co. Store.  This is a good thing; TF2's store is a perfect example of what works.  A player can buy weapons or hats or various cosmetic items, but nothing that gives them a game-breaking advantage over a player who doesn't spend any money.  The cash shop in Creatures 4 should not give a paying player a massive advantage, like a "Norn-O-Matic 9001" that makes it so that all of your norns are immortal, invincible, and capable of flight.  However, I am fully behind expansion content being released for money, like breed packs, "official" items, and so forth, or cosmetic things like Christmas lights or a machine that produces blue cheese instead of normal yellow cheese.  Speaking of which...
 * 3) Keep the cheese and lemons. These are mandatory.  It isn't a Creatures game without cheese and lemons.  If a lemon occasionally sprouts wings and lazily drifts off to reunite with the lemon tree, that's even better.  In-jokes are the best jokes.
 * 4) Agents, COBs, or something user-creatable. According to the page, Agent/COB files or anything like them aren't planned for initial release.  That's cool.  That level of user interactivity was a huge deal back in the day, and is even now.  But as soon as Creatures 4 is out the door, the development tools/API needs to be next on the list.  As I said above, the Creatures series thrives to this day on its modularity, and is essential to its continued survival.  Granted, it's gonna be 3D models now, but honestly I need an excuse to learn 3D modeling, and I'd say that's the perfect one.  User-created content might even work well with the in-game store as well, maybe with a voting system, player-selected prices, and so forth.  Even if the user-selected price is "free," having a central official repository for all of the user-made doodads would be nice.
 * 5) Lastly, and possibly most importantly, keep some form of player input in the development cycle. Posting here on this wiki asking for input is a fantastic start.  From a player's standpoint, a company that listens to what they want in the game that they've been waiting for for a decade is wonderful, and usually ends up being a better game since the developers know what the players want.  From the standpoint of the company, word of mouth is the best advertisement on Earth, and happy players are free positive press.  I'd say that's a win for everyone!

Now that I'm done posting my wall of text, thank you for reading and listening, Fishing Cactus folks! I'm looking forward to spending time with the game, and hope that it turns out being the new Creatures that so many of us (and almost certainly, a few of you) have been waiting for! X-steelfoot-x 05:09, August 27, 2011 (UTC)