Creatures 2
| Creatures 2 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Creature Labs |
| Publisher(s) | Mindscape |
| Designer(s) | Toby Simpson |
| Composer(s) | Peter Chilvers |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Release | 30 September 1998 |
| Genre(s) | Artificial life |
Creatures 2 is the second game in the Creatures artificial life game series made by Creature Labs, and the sequel to 1996 game Creatures. It features three species: the cute, dependent Norns, the cantankerous Grendels and the industrious Ettins. The game tries to simulate life, and includes a complex two-dimensional ecology of plants, animals and insects, which provide the environment for the three main species to live and develop in. The player interacts with the world using a hand-shaped cursor, and tries to encourage the creatures' development by manipulating various objects around the world, guiding the creatures using the cursor and encouraging the creatures to speak.
Many new gameplay features included in Creatures 2 not present in the original game include a new physics model and a global weather system, along with brand new applets and a world twice the size of the Creatures 1 world.
The executable file for the game was in fact an interpreter for its scripting language, thus allowing users to make total conversions or derivative works from the game.
Like the other games in the series, Creatures 2 is mostly open-ended, with no predetermined goals, allowing the player to raise Norns at their own pace. In each new world, the player begins in the incubator cavern area. The hatchery, one of the game's in-built applets, allows the player to add Norn eggs to the world, which can be hatched via the incubator. Norns may also be downloaded from the internet and imported into to use in the game.
Once Norns reach adolescence at around an hour old, they are ready to breed, and female Norns will begin an oestrogen cycle. When Norns mate, there is a long kissing sound with a pop at the end – known as a kisspop. Like real life, not all mating results in a pregnancy. The Norn reproductive process can be monitored via the Breeder's Kit.
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Wikipedia