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When there is a page quote, always move the image to the right.
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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Creaturesandegg.jpg
[[caption-width:236:[[CoversAlwaysLie They don't actually look like rabbits.]]]]
[[caption-width:236:[[CoversAlwaysLie They don't actually look like rabbits.]]]]
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[[caption-width:236:[[CoversAlwaysLie
[[caption-width-right:236:[[CoversAlwaysLie They don't actually look like rabbits.]]]]
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No. You really don\'t.
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The [[http://creatures.wikinet.org/ Creatures Wiki]] has more information if you're interested in that. Now, on to the tropes.
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The [[http://creatures.wikinet.org/ [[http://creatureswiki.net/wiki/Creatures_Wiki_Homepage Creatures Wiki]] has more information if you're interested in that. Now, on to the tropes.
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Because I have a show called \"Creatures\", I have to do this.
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The [[http://creatureswiki.net/wiki/Creatures_Wiki_Homepage Creatures Wiki]] has more information if you're interested in that. Now, on to the tropes.
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The [[http://creatureswiki.net/wiki/Creatures_Wiki_Homepage [[http://creatures.wikinet.org/ Creatures Wiki]] has more information if you're interested in that. Now, on to the tropes.
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* SwirlyEnergyThingy: Open warp portals in Docking Station.
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* SwirlyEnergyThingy: Open warp portals in Docking Station.Station, and the atmosphere machine in 3.
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* ThemeNaming: All of the species are named after elements of Northern European literature and mythology.
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!!''Creatures 4'' so far provides examples of:
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!!''Creatures 4'' Online'' so far provides examples of:
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* DevelopmentHell: The original release date was April 2013. Before a rename and numerous other changes. The date was later changed to "by the end of 2013", but as of Mid-December, no news.
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* RubberForeheadAliens: A live Shee is seen for the first time in this game - as it turns out, they appear rather elflike.
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* WhatMeasureIsANonCute: The grendels, the scaly bulbous monsters with a tendency to physically harm norns, are set up as the creatures the player must avoid or fend off, even if it sometimes means harming them. Some fans do show sympathy for the misunderstood grendels and prefer to breed their kind instead of the norns.
to:
* WhatMeasureIsANonCute: The grendels, the scaly bulbous monsters with a tendency to physically harm norns, are set up as the creatures the player must avoid or fend off, even if it sometimes means harming them. Some fans do show sympathy for the misunderstood grendels and prefer to breed their kind instead of the norns.
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Tweaks~
!!These games provide examples of:
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** It in turn inspired the shape of one official level of KnyttStories ([[spoiler: ''A Strange Dream'']]).
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** It in turn inspired the shape of one official level of KnyttStories ''VideoGame/KnyttStories'' ([[spoiler: ''A Strange Dream'']]).
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[[AC:''Creatures 4'' so far provides examples of:]]
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** Don't forget DJ_G.WAV, a StupidStatementDanceMix included in both 2 and 3.
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* ''Creatures Docking Station''- a free game, built on a slightly modified version of the Creatures 3 engine with online capabilities. Like ''3'', it was set on a spaceship, and could in fact be "docked" with the Shee Ark if you owned both games to expand the world. It was available on its [[http://www.gamewaredevelopment.co.uk/creatures_index.php official website.]]
to:
* ''Creatures Docking Station''- Station'': a free game, built on a slightly modified version of the Creatures 3 engine with online capabilities. Like ''3'', it was set on a spaceship, and could in fact be "docked" with the Shee Ark if you owned both games to expand the world. It was available on its [[http://www.gamewaredevelopment.co.uk/creatures_index.php official website.]]
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* DisappearsIntoLight: In ''Creatures 3'', Norn and Ettin corpses disappear into sparkly fog.
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* EverythingFades: In addition to the sparkly fog listed under DisappearsIntoLight, the grendels in ''Creatures 3'' dissolve into stinking green sludge before vanishing.
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* EverythingFades: In addition to the sparkly fog listed under DisappearsIntoLight, the grendels Another series standard. Corpses in ''Creatures 1'' just blink out of existence, while ''Creatures 3'' adds an effect to it depending on species (Norns and Ettins disappear into sparkly fog, while grendels dissolve into stinking green sludge before vanishing. sludge). {{Averted}} with ''Creatures 2'' norns, who float upwards when they die.
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* NeglectfulPrecursors: The Shee, who didn't bother to safeguard Albia before taking off.
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* NeglectfulPrecursors: The Shee, who didn't bother to safeguard Albia before taking off. off or the Shee Ark before abandoning it.
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* CartoonCheese
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* CartoonCheeseCartoonCheese: [[OnceAnEpisode In all the games.]] It's often considered the series's signature food item.
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* DisappearsIntoLight: Norn and Ettin corpses disappear into sparkly fog. Grendels melt.
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* DisappearsIntoLight: In ''Creatures 3'', Norn and Ettin corpses disappear into sparkly fog. Grendels melt.fog.
*EverythingFades: In addition to the sparkly fog listed under DisappearsIntoLight, the grendels in ''Creatures 3'' dissolve into stinking green sludge before vanishing.
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* NeglectfulPrecursors
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* NeglectfulPrecursorsNeglectfulPrecursors: The Shee, who didn't bother to safeguard Albia before taking off.
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*TeleportersAndTransporters: In all three games. "Conventional" teleporters serve to transport creatures quickly around individual worlds. The standout example is the Warp from Docking Station, which lets creatures jump to other worlds (and plays a major role in the game's backstory).
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*SwirlyEnergyThingy: Open warp portals in Docking Station.
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* FriendToAllLivingThings: The Treehugger Norns in ''Creatures 3''.
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* FriendToAllLivingThings: The [[MeaningfulName Treehugger Norns Norns]] in ''Creatures 3''.
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* AcquiredPoisonImmunity: How the Toxic Norns in ''Creatures 3'' and ''Docking Station'' came to be. It's gotten so far, in fact, that they need toxics and antigens to survive.
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* AcquiredPoisonImmunity: How the Toxic Norns in ''Creatures 3'' and ''Docking Station'' came to be. It's gotten so far, in fact, that they need toxics and antigens to survive.
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* FriendToAllLivingThings: The Treehugger Norns in ''Creatures 3''.
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* AcquiredPoisonImmunity: How the Toxic Norns in ''Creatures 3'' and ''Docking Station'' came to be. It's gotten so far, in fact, that they need toxics and antigens to survive.
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* WhatMeasureisANonCute: The grendels, the scaly bulbous monsters with a tendency to physically harm norns, are set up as the creatures the player must avoid or fend off, even if it sometimes means harming them. Some fans do show sympathy for the misunderstood grendels and prefer to breed their kind instead of the norns.
to:
* WhatMeasureisANonCute: WhatMeasureIsANonCute: The grendels, the scaly bulbous monsters with a tendency to physically harm norns, are set up as the creatures the player must avoid or fend off, even if it sometimes means harming them. Some fans do show sympathy for the misunderstood grendels and prefer to breed their kind instead of the norns.
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None
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* WhatMeasureisANonCute: The grendels, the scaly bulbous monsters with a tendency to physically harm norns, are set up as the creatures the player must avoid or fend off, even if it sometimes means harming them. Some fans do show sympathy for the misunderstood grendels and prefer to breed their kind instead of the norns.
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None
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* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In ''Creatures 3'' and ''Docking Station'', if you enter the word "express" to a norn, ettin or grendel that has learned that word, (s)he will face the player (not the hand cursor, we mean the actual player) before saying how (s)he feels.
to:
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In ''Creatures 3'' and ''Docking Station'', if you enter the word "express" to near a norn, ettin or grendel that has learned that word, (s)he will face the player (not the hand cursor, we mean the actual player) before saying how (s)he feels.
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* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In ''Creatures 3'' and ''Docking Station'', if you enter the word "express" to a norn, ettin or grendel that has learned that word, (s)he will face the player before saying how (s)he feels.
to:
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In ''Creatures 3'' and ''Docking Station'', if you enter the word "express" to a norn, ettin or grendel that has learned that word, (s)he will face the player (not the hand cursor, we mean the actual player) before saying how (s)he feels.
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* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In ''Creatures 3'' and ''Docking Station'', if you enter the word "express" to a norn, ettin or grendel that has learned that word, (s)he will face the player before saying how (s)he feels.
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Not a subversion. At present it sounds more like Bribing Your Way To Victory and/or Revenue Enhancing Devices, depends what the golden egg bonuses end up being. At least I hope it won\'t be Allegedly Free...
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* RevenueEnhancingDevices: ''Creatures 3''/''Docking Station'' had a large-number of add-on breeds available for purchase online. However, in 2009, many of them became available for free down, though the ones that came with special add-ons [the Treehugger, Hardman, Bondi, Toxic Norns, and Banshee Grendels] didn't.
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* RevenueEnhancingDevices: ''Creatures 3''/''Docking Station'' had a large-number of add-on breeds available for purchase online. However, in In 2009, many of them became available for free down, download, though the ones that came with special add-ons [the Treehugger, Hardman, Bondi, Toxic Norns, and Banshee Grendels] didn't.
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* AllegedlyFreeGame: Subverted. Fishing Cactus promises the game will be free to play with most of the content already available, but players can also purchase "golden eggs" through micro-transactions, which [[RevenueEnhancingDevices grant access to bonuses that are not necessary to progress through the game]].
* AnthropomorphicShift: The current design for norns is more human-like than the previous ones, lacking tails, having shorter muzzles and having human-like noses, though this is still subject to change.
* [[TwoAndAHalfD 2½D]]: It takes place in more of a '3D side-scrolling' environment, Creatures can move in all directions and objects can be picked up by the hand regardless of where they are on the plane, the screen can also be zoomed in and out as well as the standard 2D movement.
* AnthropomorphicShift: The current design for norns is more human-like than the previous ones, lacking tails, having shorter muzzles and having human-like noses, though this is still subject to change.
* [[TwoAndAHalfD 2½D]]: It takes place in more of a '3D side-scrolling' environment, Creatures can move in all directions and objects can be picked up by the hand regardless of where they are on the plane, the screen can also be zoomed in and out as well as the standard 2D movement.
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*
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* TwoAndAHalfD: It takes place in more of a '3D side-scrolling' environment, Creatures can move in all directions and objects can be picked up by the hand regardless of where they are on the plane, the screen can also be zoomed in and out as well as the standard 2D movement.
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* AllegedlyFreeGame: Subverted. Fishing Cactus promises the game will be free to play with most of the content already available, but players can also purchase "golden eggs" through micro-transactions, which grant access to bonuses that are not necessary to progress through the game.
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* AllegedlyFreeGame: Subverted. Fishing Cactus promises the game will be free to play with most of the content already available, but players can also purchase "golden eggs" through micro-transactions, which [[RevenueEnhancingDevices grant access to bonuses that are not necessary to progress through the game.game]].
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* AllegedlyFreeGame: Subverted. Fishing Cactus promises the game will be free to play with most of the content already available, but players can also purchase "golden eggs" through micro-transactions, which grant access to bonuses that are not necessary to progress through the game.
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* AllegedlyFreeGame: Subverted. Fishing Cactus promises the game will be free to play with most of the content already available, but players can also purchase "golden eggs" through micro-transactions, which grant access to bonuses that are not necessary to progress through the game.
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* AllegedlyFreeGame: Subverted. Fishing Cactus promises the game will be free to play with most of the content already available, but players can also purchase "golden eggs" through micro-transactions, which grant access to bonuses that are not necessary to progress through the game.
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* BlobMonster: The Commedia in ''Docking Station'', a harmless shapeshifting blob creature engineered by the Shee to entertain the Norns.
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* BlobMonster: The Commedia in ''Docking Station'', a harmless shapeshifting [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifting]] blob creature engineered by the Shee to entertain the Norns.
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* BlobMonster: The Commedia in ''Docking Station'', a harmless shapeshifting blob creature engineered by the Shee to entertain the Norns.
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* AllThereInTheManual: The official website of Creature Labs provides stories that explain a large portion of the backstory behind Albia, the Shee and the many different Norn breeds.
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* AllThereInTheManual: The official website of Creature Labs provides stories that explain a large portion of the backstory not covered in the games behind Albia, the Shee and the many different Norn breeds.
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* AllThereInTheManual: The official website of Creature Labs provides stories that explain a large portion of the backstory behind Albia, the Shee and the many different Norn breeds.
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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Creaturesandegg.jpg
[[caption-width:236:[[CoversAlwaysLie They don't actually look like rabbits.]]]]
-->''Do Norns dream of electric Shee?''
A series of simulation games created by Cyberlife (later Creature Labs) in the TheNineties, this series tasked the player with caring for a bunch of Norns: fuzzy little critters with a surprisingly complex virtual biology. Two other types of creatures inhabit the game world as well, the vicious Grendels and the worker Ettins (introduced in the second game).
The fandom was making boatloads of user-created content before TheSims even existed; a lot of it is still available today.
The games in the series are:
* ''Creatures'' (1996): the original; later made into an add-on for Docking Station.
* ''Creatures 2'' (1998): bigger, shinier, but criticized for being ''very'' bug-laden, with somewhat stupider creatures.
* ''Creatures 3'' (1999): even bigger, [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]].
* ''Creatures Playground'' and ''Creatures Adventures'' (1999/2000): a pair of spinoff games aimed at younger children.
* ''Creatures Docking Station''- a free game, built on a slightly modified version of the Creatures 3 engine with online capabilities. Like ''3'', it was set on a spaceship, and could in fact be "docked" with the Shee Ark if you owned both games to expand the world. It was available on its [[http://www.gamewaredevelopment.co.uk/creatures_index.php official website.]]
Several combo packs have also been published at various times. IndieGala included ''[[http://creatures.wikia.com/wiki/Creatures_-_The_Albian_Years Creatures: The Albian Years]]'' in their June bundle, a combination of the first two games with bonus packs.
Sadly, Creature Labs has long since gone under. The series was sold to Gameware Development, another UK company. However, creator Steve Grand claims that he is working on [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1508284443/grandroids-real-artificial-life-on-your-pc a new kind of artificial life form promising to be more advanced than the original Norns]].
After ten years, [[http://blog.fishingcactus.com/index.php/2011/05/18/announcing-creatures-4-on-ios-mac-and-pc/ developer Fishing Cactus announced Creatures 4]]. The game has since been renamed to Creatures Online, with plans for release by the end of 2013.
The [[http://creatureswiki.net/wiki/Creatures_Wiki_Homepage Creatures Wiki]] has more information if you're interested in that. Now, on to the tropes.
----
* AbsentMindedProfessor: A whole species of them. "The Shee were a race unique in their mindset, most likely having invented the steam engine as an offshoot of an attempt to design a better way of brewing tea before they invented the wheel."
* AIIsACrapshoot: A mild, but probably the only genuinely 'RealLife' example in existence, creatures can develop to be aggressive, and rare individuals can kill other creatures [[OmnicidalManiac extremely quickly.]]
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Allegedly, Grendels. Actually, with proper training, many species of Grendel can be taught to cohabitate with Norns or Ettins peacefully.
** In the first game, at least, the grendels were actually hard-coded to hit other creatures when they wanted to interact with them. Though training is possible.
* ArtificialBrilliance: So good it's inspired many fans to ContemplateOurNavels (see below)
* ArtificialStupidity: ''Creatures 2'', unintentionally- an excess of reward and punishment signals led to the infamous "One Hour Stupidity Syndrome," leading Norns to do entirely useless things instead of eating and sleeping. Many fan fixes became available.
** Interestingly enough, though, the particular mechanics of this bug actually show that the underlying simulator was pretty much spot-on. They just got the specific numbers wrong.
** Creatures 3 arguably has an issue with this as well. The creatures are "smarter" but their behaviors are somewhat predetermined and not based off the sort of AI the past two games used. This leads to incredibly single-minded norns that will, for instance, opt to continuously play with an elevator button instead of eating or otherwise not dying.
* BigBad: Grendels are treated as such. If you don't either have some sort of disabling addon and aren't breeding them for pleasure, there is generally only one- two in ''Creatures 3''- Grendel born into the world at a time, and it's [[InformedAttribute supposedly]] in your best interest to avoid them as much as possible.
** Additionally, the [[CanonDiscontinuity now decanonised]] Banshee Grendel story seems to set the Banshee (race of Shee, not the Grendels named after them) up as this.
* CartoonCheese
* ContemplateOurNavels: The detail of the creature's artificial biochemistry and intelligence has led some fans to seriously wonder about to what extent creatures can be considered "alive."
* ConvectionSchmonvection: The ''Creatures 2'' volcano has visible lava... but the temperature in there hovers around only 100 degrees F, and the main danger is the [[PhysicsGoof radiation]].
* DisappearsIntoLight: Norn and Ettin corpses disappear into sparkly fog. Grendels melt.
* GameBreakingBug: In the first ''Creatures'', Norns would occasionally die on import for no apparent reason. Also, ''Creatures 2'' liked to crash early and crash often.
* EasterEgg: Many. Borland, Len the Pen, the angry doozers... and that's just ''Creatures 2.''
* GameMod: ''Boatloads'' of them. Seriously, just check out the Creatures Wiki.
* GRatedSex: "Kisspopping." [[JustifiedTrope Actually explained in-story]]--the [[NeglectfulPrecursors Shee]] were rather prudish, so they made Norn mating a fairly tame affair.
* HotSkittyOnWailordAction: Averted, as Norns, Grendels and Ettins cannot interbreed with each other naturally. Also played straight, as creatures can breed with any other breed within their species, which can result in some pretty strange looking offspring, especially when fanmade breeds are involved.
* InformedAttribute: The Grendels are supposedly vicious little buggers, and disease-infested to boot. Other than third-party genomes, this didn't become true until ''Creatures 3''. And even then, if they're kept away from the jungle and properly trained when young, they're essentially scaly norns.
* LighterAndSofter: ''Creatures Playground''/''Adventure''
* LivingShip: The Shee Ark and Capillata. The latter looks the part a bit more than the former.
* MeaningfulName: "Grendel" is the name of the (equally vicious) monster battled in the well-known Anglo-Saxon poem ''Beowulf.'' Additionally, the "Norns" are figures in Old Norse mythology who spin the threads of fate, but this seems to be a reference in name only.
** Ettins are also figures in Norse mythology: large and hideous creatures, but also often attributed with great wisdom and a status of minor Gods.
** Don't forget the Shee- a variation on "[[TheFairFolk sidhe]]".
* NeglectfulPrecursors
* NonhumanHumanoidHybrid: Various combinations between Norns, Ettins and Grendels are possible via the gene splicer or fanmade [=COBs=]/agents. In C2, these tend to be unviable- ShownTheirWork, or just coincidence?
** HeinzHybrid: Mainly in Creatures 3/[=DS=], as standard C2 Ettins and Grendels are sterile.
* OneGenderRace: Sort of. The "mother" machines in ''2'' and ''3'' only produce one gender each of Ettins and Grendels, but getting the opposite genders is possible. With the proper egg agent for C3/DS, this is especially easy, as the egg layers can produce eggs of any breed and gender.
* OrganicTechnology: The Ark and Capillata again.
* OxygenMeter: No visible oxygen meter, but any any non-aquatic creature dropped in the water will quickly drown as they run out of air.
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: The (supposedly) AlwaysChaoticEvil Grendels are big scaly things, while the friendly Norns and Ettins are small and fuzzy.
* RevenueEnhancingDevices: ''Creatures 3''/''Docking Station'' had a large-number of add-on breeds available for purchase online. However, in 2009, many of them became available for free down, though the ones that came with special add-ons [the Treehugger, Hardman, Bondi, Toxic Norns, and Banshee Grendels] didn't.
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Norns fit the classic template: big heads, big eyes, small and fuzzy, speaking in high-pitched baby talk.
* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: Female Purple Mountain Norns wear makeup; female Fallow Norns have purple toenail polish. Many official breeds have the sexes differ only in hairstyle.
* ThemedCursor: Your hand cursor isn't just a pointer, your creatures can see and interact with it.
* UrbanLegendOfZelda: The legendary Secret Adventure Mode. The unofficial "Creatures 1 to Docking Station" mod, which reproduced the items, gameworld, and species of the original game in the ''Creatures 3 / Docking Station'' engine, made many of the items of the Secret Adventure Mode a reality, albeit a goofy one.
* WhaleEgg
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: ''[[http://creatures.wikia.com/wiki/Project_Loci Creatures: Project Loci]]'' was a planned console title that would have combined the A-Life aspects of the PC series with elements of an Adventure game- as well as raising your Norns, you would have had to train them to complete set objectives in order to progress through the plot. Sadly, Creature Labs couldn't find the money to develop it, and we haven't had a new game since.
* WideOpenSandbox: These games are pretty much the ultimate example of this trope. There are no real goals except for the ones you set up for yourself. You can train and nurture your norns or murderously butcher them - in fact this was even what the creator envisioned:
-->'''Steve Grand:''' Equally appealing to children and adults, men and women. Something you wouldn't be ashamed to keep on your office PC. Something a naturalist would want to study, [[VideoGameCaringPotential a father would want to teach soccer,]] a granny to dress up and [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential a complete b***ard to butcher mercilessly.]]
* WorldShapes: Albia is a rather unusual combination of "[[FlatWorld disc world]]" and "[[RingWorldPlanet ring world]]": a flat circular disc, with all the life on the outer edge.
** It in turn inspired the shape of one official level of KnyttStories ([[spoiler: ''A Strange Dream'']]).
* VideoGameCaringPotential
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: a small subculture of "Norn torture" developed among the fandom, spawning {{Flame War}}s here and there.
----
[[AC:''Creatures 4'' so far provides examples of:]]
* AnthropomorphicShift: The current design for norns is more human-like than the previous ones, lacking tails, having shorter muzzles and having human-like noses, though this is still subject to change.
* [[TwoAndAHalfD 2½D]]: It takes place in more of a '3D side-scrolling' environment, Creatures can move in all directions and objects can be picked up by the hand regardless of where they are on the plane, the screen can also be zoomed in and out as well as the standard 2D movement.
* CharacterCustomization: When you start the game you can customize your first generation norns to a certain degree, and when norns breed, you can choose which traits their offspring inherit, again to a degree.
* LighterAndSofter: The overall visual theme.
* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: Averted, now the norns have secondary sexual characteristics.
----
[[caption-width:236:[[CoversAlwaysLie They don't actually look like rabbits.]]]]
-->''Do Norns dream of electric Shee?''
A series of simulation games created by Cyberlife (later Creature Labs) in the TheNineties, this series tasked the player with caring for a bunch of Norns: fuzzy little critters with a surprisingly complex virtual biology. Two other types of creatures inhabit the game world as well, the vicious Grendels and the worker Ettins (introduced in the second game).
The fandom was making boatloads of user-created content before TheSims even existed; a lot of it is still available today.
The games in the series are:
* ''Creatures'' (1996): the original; later made into an add-on for Docking Station.
* ''Creatures 2'' (1998): bigger, shinier, but criticized for being ''very'' bug-laden, with somewhat stupider creatures.
* ''Creatures 3'' (1999): even bigger, [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]].
* ''Creatures Playground'' and ''Creatures Adventures'' (1999/2000): a pair of spinoff games aimed at younger children.
* ''Creatures Docking Station''- a free game, built on a slightly modified version of the Creatures 3 engine with online capabilities. Like ''3'', it was set on a spaceship, and could in fact be "docked" with the Shee Ark if you owned both games to expand the world. It was available on its [[http://www.gamewaredevelopment.co.uk/creatures_index.php official website.]]
Several combo packs have also been published at various times. IndieGala included ''[[http://creatures.wikia.com/wiki/Creatures_-_The_Albian_Years Creatures: The Albian Years]]'' in their June bundle, a combination of the first two games with bonus packs.
Sadly, Creature Labs has long since gone under. The series was sold to Gameware Development, another UK company. However, creator Steve Grand claims that he is working on [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1508284443/grandroids-real-artificial-life-on-your-pc a new kind of artificial life form promising to be more advanced than the original Norns]].
After ten years, [[http://blog.fishingcactus.com/index.php/2011/05/18/announcing-creatures-4-on-ios-mac-and-pc/ developer Fishing Cactus announced Creatures 4]]. The game has since been renamed to Creatures Online, with plans for release by the end of 2013.
The [[http://creatureswiki.net/wiki/Creatures_Wiki_Homepage Creatures Wiki]] has more information if you're interested in that. Now, on to the tropes.
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* AbsentMindedProfessor: A whole species of them. "The Shee were a race unique in their mindset, most likely having invented the steam engine as an offshoot of an attempt to design a better way of brewing tea before they invented the wheel."
* AIIsACrapshoot: A mild, but probably the only genuinely 'RealLife' example in existence, creatures can develop to be aggressive, and rare individuals can kill other creatures [[OmnicidalManiac extremely quickly.]]
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Allegedly, Grendels. Actually, with proper training, many species of Grendel can be taught to cohabitate with Norns or Ettins peacefully.
** In the first game, at least, the grendels were actually hard-coded to hit other creatures when they wanted to interact with them. Though training is possible.
* ArtificialBrilliance: So good it's inspired many fans to ContemplateOurNavels (see below)
* ArtificialStupidity: ''Creatures 2'', unintentionally- an excess of reward and punishment signals led to the infamous "One Hour Stupidity Syndrome," leading Norns to do entirely useless things instead of eating and sleeping. Many fan fixes became available.
** Interestingly enough, though, the particular mechanics of this bug actually show that the underlying simulator was pretty much spot-on. They just got the specific numbers wrong.
** Creatures 3 arguably has an issue with this as well. The creatures are "smarter" but their behaviors are somewhat predetermined and not based off the sort of AI the past two games used. This leads to incredibly single-minded norns that will, for instance, opt to continuously play with an elevator button instead of eating or otherwise not dying.
* BigBad: Grendels are treated as such. If you don't either have some sort of disabling addon and aren't breeding them for pleasure, there is generally only one- two in ''Creatures 3''- Grendel born into the world at a time, and it's [[InformedAttribute supposedly]] in your best interest to avoid them as much as possible.
** Additionally, the [[CanonDiscontinuity now decanonised]] Banshee Grendel story seems to set the Banshee (race of Shee, not the Grendels named after them) up as this.
* CartoonCheese
* ContemplateOurNavels: The detail of the creature's artificial biochemistry and intelligence has led some fans to seriously wonder about to what extent creatures can be considered "alive."
* ConvectionSchmonvection: The ''Creatures 2'' volcano has visible lava... but the temperature in there hovers around only 100 degrees F, and the main danger is the [[PhysicsGoof radiation]].
* DisappearsIntoLight: Norn and Ettin corpses disappear into sparkly fog. Grendels melt.
* GameBreakingBug: In the first ''Creatures'', Norns would occasionally die on import for no apparent reason. Also, ''Creatures 2'' liked to crash early and crash often.
* EasterEgg: Many. Borland, Len the Pen, the angry doozers... and that's just ''Creatures 2.''
* GameMod: ''Boatloads'' of them. Seriously, just check out the Creatures Wiki.
* GRatedSex: "Kisspopping." [[JustifiedTrope Actually explained in-story]]--the [[NeglectfulPrecursors Shee]] were rather prudish, so they made Norn mating a fairly tame affair.
* HotSkittyOnWailordAction: Averted, as Norns, Grendels and Ettins cannot interbreed with each other naturally. Also played straight, as creatures can breed with any other breed within their species, which can result in some pretty strange looking offspring, especially when fanmade breeds are involved.
* InformedAttribute: The Grendels are supposedly vicious little buggers, and disease-infested to boot. Other than third-party genomes, this didn't become true until ''Creatures 3''. And even then, if they're kept away from the jungle and properly trained when young, they're essentially scaly norns.
* LighterAndSofter: ''Creatures Playground''/''Adventure''
* LivingShip: The Shee Ark and Capillata. The latter looks the part a bit more than the former.
* MeaningfulName: "Grendel" is the name of the (equally vicious) monster battled in the well-known Anglo-Saxon poem ''Beowulf.'' Additionally, the "Norns" are figures in Old Norse mythology who spin the threads of fate, but this seems to be a reference in name only.
** Ettins are also figures in Norse mythology: large and hideous creatures, but also often attributed with great wisdom and a status of minor Gods.
** Don't forget the Shee- a variation on "[[TheFairFolk sidhe]]".
* NeglectfulPrecursors
* NonhumanHumanoidHybrid: Various combinations between Norns, Ettins and Grendels are possible via the gene splicer or fanmade [=COBs=]/agents. In C2, these tend to be unviable- ShownTheirWork, or just coincidence?
** HeinzHybrid: Mainly in Creatures 3/[=DS=], as standard C2 Ettins and Grendels are sterile.
* OneGenderRace: Sort of. The "mother" machines in ''2'' and ''3'' only produce one gender each of Ettins and Grendels, but getting the opposite genders is possible. With the proper egg agent for C3/DS, this is especially easy, as the egg layers can produce eggs of any breed and gender.
* OrganicTechnology: The Ark and Capillata again.
* OxygenMeter: No visible oxygen meter, but any any non-aquatic creature dropped in the water will quickly drown as they run out of air.
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: The (supposedly) AlwaysChaoticEvil Grendels are big scaly things, while the friendly Norns and Ettins are small and fuzzy.
* RevenueEnhancingDevices: ''Creatures 3''/''Docking Station'' had a large-number of add-on breeds available for purchase online. However, in 2009, many of them became available for free down, though the ones that came with special add-ons [the Treehugger, Hardman, Bondi, Toxic Norns, and Banshee Grendels] didn't.
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Norns fit the classic template: big heads, big eyes, small and fuzzy, speaking in high-pitched baby talk.
* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: Female Purple Mountain Norns wear makeup; female Fallow Norns have purple toenail polish. Many official breeds have the sexes differ only in hairstyle.
* ThemedCursor: Your hand cursor isn't just a pointer, your creatures can see and interact with it.
* UrbanLegendOfZelda: The legendary Secret Adventure Mode. The unofficial "Creatures 1 to Docking Station" mod, which reproduced the items, gameworld, and species of the original game in the ''Creatures 3 / Docking Station'' engine, made many of the items of the Secret Adventure Mode a reality, albeit a goofy one.
* WhaleEgg
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: ''[[http://creatures.wikia.com/wiki/Project_Loci Creatures: Project Loci]]'' was a planned console title that would have combined the A-Life aspects of the PC series with elements of an Adventure game- as well as raising your Norns, you would have had to train them to complete set objectives in order to progress through the plot. Sadly, Creature Labs couldn't find the money to develop it, and we haven't had a new game since.
* WideOpenSandbox: These games are pretty much the ultimate example of this trope. There are no real goals except for the ones you set up for yourself. You can train and nurture your norns or murderously butcher them - in fact this was even what the creator envisioned:
-->'''Steve Grand:''' Equally appealing to children and adults, men and women. Something you wouldn't be ashamed to keep on your office PC. Something a naturalist would want to study, [[VideoGameCaringPotential a father would want to teach soccer,]] a granny to dress up and [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential a complete b***ard to butcher mercilessly.]]
* WorldShapes: Albia is a rather unusual combination of "[[FlatWorld disc world]]" and "[[RingWorldPlanet ring world]]": a flat circular disc, with all the life on the outer edge.
** It in turn inspired the shape of one official level of KnyttStories ([[spoiler: ''A Strange Dream'']]).
* VideoGameCaringPotential
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: a small subculture of "Norn torture" developed among the fandom, spawning {{Flame War}}s here and there.
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[[AC:''Creatures 4'' so far provides examples of:]]
* AnthropomorphicShift: The current design for norns is more human-like than the previous ones, lacking tails, having shorter muzzles and having human-like noses, though this is still subject to change.
* [[TwoAndAHalfD 2½D]]: It takes place in more of a '3D side-scrolling' environment, Creatures can move in all directions and objects can be picked up by the hand regardless of where they are on the plane, the screen can also be zoomed in and out as well as the standard 2D movement.
* CharacterCustomization: When you start the game you can customize your first generation norns to a certain degree, and when norns breed, you can choose which traits their offspring inherit, again to a degree.
* LighterAndSofter: The overall visual theme.
* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: Averted, now the norns have secondary sexual characteristics.
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