Creatures
| Creatures
| |
| Developer(s) | Creature Labs |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | EU: Warner Interactive Europe
NA: Mindscape |
| Designer(s) | Toby Simpson |
| Composer(s) | Andrew Barnabas |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Macintosh |
| Release | EU: November 1996
NA: July 1997 |
Creatures (sometimes referred to as Creatures 1), is the first game in the Creatures series (full listing). Creatures was published in 1996. The game takes place in Albia, an annular playable area with simulated ecology inhabited by the anthropomorphic creatures - norns and a grendel. The player, represented by the hand, can raise and care for their norns so they learn to survive and evolve to thrive in their environment. Unlike other life sims of the 1990s, the norns and grendels' behaviour cannot be directly controlled by the player - they choose whether or not to obey the player's suggestions. The original game is no longer available by itself, but can be purchased as part of Creatures: The Albian Years.
The word Creatures is also used in plural to refer to the A-life animals which are the focus of the games.
Creatures, the Game
The original Creatures game was set in Albia. It featured Norns, Grendels, and a few minor inhabitants of Albia to occupy the player's creatures. There was no set objective - although players were given a "score" in the Performance Kit, no restrictions were placed on gameplay, and breeders, COBblers, and even norn torturers were free to pursue their own objectives. The game was limited by the technology of 1996, being restricted to a 256-colour palette (background images are available at C2 Back), bamboo architecture and occasional background sounds rather than the ambient music which evolved in later titles.
The first UK release of Creatures was unique because to hatch a norn, the player had to insert the Egg disk, a floppy diskette that came with the game. This disk had a limited number of norn eggs, and the only way to restore them was to use the Emergency Kit to reset the current world. Creature Labs later released a patch that let players import and restock eggs without needing the Egg disk. This patch is included in all later releases of Creatures 1.
System Requirements
Creatures was originally published for Windows 3.1/95. It was later ported to Mac OS 7.5. Versions of Creatures: The Albian Years may be purchased from GOG.com or Steam, and are designed to work on newer Windows systems, such as Windows Vista and Windows 7. These versions can also be installed on Windows 10/11.
Note: The Steam versions of Creatures (and Creatures 2) do not allow for a custom installation location, which can lead to problems (see Split installation). It is recommended that you play the GOG.com version instead, as it allows you to change the installation location to My Documents, thus solving the split installation problem.
Original Windows System Requirements
- Windows 3.1 or Windows 95
- Pentium 60 or faster
- Double Speed CD-ROM (300k/sec)
- 16-bit Sound Card
- 256 Colours @640x480
- 8MB RAM & 40MB of hard drive disk space
Windows NT/2k/XP compatibility is possible through an installer patch and upgrading to at least Creatures 1.02.
Original Macintosh Requirements
- PowerMac
- System 7.5 to 8.1
- Double Speed CD-ROM (300k/sec)
- 256 Colours @640x480
- 8MB RAM with 8MB Virtual Memory (16MB without Virtual Memory)
- 35MB of hard drive space (+memory size if using Virtual Memory)
Official Breeds
For additional, fan-made breeds, see Creatures 1 breed slot list.
Base Game
Free Breeds
- Santa Norn '96
- Purple Mountain Norn
- Santa Norn '97
Life Kit #1 Breeds
All of the aforementioned breeds are included with the Creatures: The Albian Years version of Creatures.
Interesting Facts
- A real model was used to create the Albian backdrop in Creatures.
- The original boxed edition of the game was accompanied by a helpful booklet, The Chronicles of Nornia.
- Creatures was first pitched by Steve Grand in the form of a 'Mouse for Windows' - a little desktop pet that would need to be fed and watered, and who would interact with the desktop icons and windows. Millennium didn't bite.
- A second attempt at a pitch was dubbed 'Little Computer Ewoks' (compare Little Computer People) by Steve Grand himself, for lack of a better name. It is interesting to note that this proposal appears to be the earliest manifestation of Creatures as we know it today. It also interesting to note that the phrase 'Little Computer Ewoks' was also used by Erin's father when he was first shown the game!
- The development title for Creatures was eventually set to 'Small Furry Creatures', quoting Douglas Adams' "small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri" - the game also became known as 'Creatures 1' (or just 'C1') after Creatures 2 was (eventually) released.
- Creatures was first envisaged and developed as a top-down adventure/RPG game set in the Amazon, where the player would find an abandoned Norn community; much time was spent on this before deciding to base the game around the A-life concept itself (See Vanimals)
- The final design of the Norn as we know it is actually quite different that the original: Steve Grand originally imagined Norns to be 'gawky and awkward' - early images of Norns even resembled chickens! (see Creatures 0 for a picture of these 'chicken norns')
- Grendels were originally described as monsters, resembling huge, titanium spiders, complete with eight eyes and a voracious appetite for Norns. Eek!
- As aging and disease was introduced late in the game (See history), the death of Norns was meant to be enforced by a gene... however, the gene misfired and had no effect! Norns died through illness though, as originally intended, which greatly pleased Steve Grand. (Tarlia later created the Edited C1 Genomes, which included a working "die of old age" gene.)
- The music from the title movie ended up as part of a published CD from the Cyberlife musician Andrew Barnabas - You can listen to the extended version of the Creatures Montage!
See Also
- Creatures Credits
- Creatures 1 Community Edition
- Macintosh port of Creatures
- Modding in the Creatures series
- Tips.txt
- Creatures 1 category
