The Beginning

When I was about ten years old, I was nuts for any virtual pet I could get my hands on. I wasn't deprived of pets -- we had cats, dogs, and fish at home -- but something about a computer program that seemed alive fascinated me. I had Tamagotchis and other hand-held pets, I had a Neopets account, I played Pokemon and watched Digimon, and I had all of P.F. Magic's Petz games. It was my copy of Catz 2, I think, that came with an ad for a new game -- Creatures 2, which advertized itself as a game that was really alive and capable of evolution.

I was a rather spoiled child, so when I saw the first Creatures in the bargain bin some time later, I got it. It's been over ten years, but I've played it on and off ever since. I even grew up to be an evolutionary biologist! I also play C2 and C3, but the first game will always be my favorite. The creatures themselves may be simpler, but I think C1 strikes the best balance between scripted behavior, playability, and realism. Right now I'll be focusing on C1, but I may get around to the others eventually!

Here I'll be recording what happens in my current game of Creatures. While this blog is mainly for myself, I hope anyone who comes across it will enjoy it too. I am playing the Windows 7 compatible version from GOG.com. I highly recommend them, as they have many classic games for reasonable prices available for download. The Norns I'm using have been slightly edited, incorporating a few of the improvements made in later official breeds. My first generation Norns also have little individual tweaks -- but I'll discuss those as they hatch!

Welcome -- or welcome back -- to Albia, home of the Norns and others, abandoned by their creators and left in the care of the player. It's a world of fun and danger, joyous meetings and sorrowful partings, whimsey and realism. Here is the first egg to be hatched in my new world -- are we ready to meet the little creature inside?