We are the Heart of Darkness....

Three release posts in a row - I seem to be on a roll here.

Anyway, I found that it has been a long while since I've made a properly new norn breed (the ice dragons were the latest norns I released, but those were made when the Gameware Forums were still up, which should tell you how old they really are). So, this latest release of mine shall remedy that:

These norns have nothing to do with the vampire romance series of questionable quality, so don't worry about that. :P
The Twilight Norns are a night-themed breed - they are resistant to cold, take less naps than normal norns, and can play with beasts, pests, and weeds with no impact on their well-being.
They're also loners, so watch them around your normal norns...they don't react well to crowds.

Download the Twilight Norns!

For those of you wondering about Ark World, it's been called off - it was on my old computer, and I really don't feel like restarting it on my new one. To make up for that, I might detail my plans for my scenario world (which I'll start once the Garden Box gets publicly released).

Yet another release (and an update)

First off, here's an update to the C2 Flying Creatures COB. I found that it had an error whenever a flying creature went underwater (it was supposed to kick them out if they fell in - instead it threw an error about an "infinite loop").

Secondly - I have a new release, and this time it hasn't come out of the blue:

The glowflower is a variation of the iceflower that increases the light level as opposed to decreasing the temperature. Its flowers are notable for their calming effect when eaten, and for their tendency to emit the home smell of the species they detect the most of. The plant only sprouts at night, in low light areas, or when there aren't many other plants around.
This was yet another plant I made for Mea as part of our "sprites for agents" deal. That's one more thing knocked off the projects list...

Download the Glowflower!

A bunch of recent happenings on the internet drew my interest away from Creatures for a little while, but rest assured that this case is not a full-blown hiatus. I'm still playing Creatures, and I've still got a few things in the works. Do know that half the things in the project list post aren't coming to fruition, however (about the only things I'm sure are going to get done at some point are the Mea collabs).

Oh hey, a release!

First off, an update about the blog: The name change has finally paid off. No more bad sites are contributing to the traffic here (although not all the current traffic sources are Creatures-related...the new non-Creatures source seems to be inoffensive, though). Also, I've changed the background again (the old one looked weird on my new computer, since its resolution is crazy high compared to my old one), and am now completely happy with the blog's design. I wouldn't expect any major design overhauls in the near future.

Now, for the main point of the post: I've actually finished a release! Unlike the grand majority of my past releases, though, this one is for Creatures 2:

This COB will allow creatures of all ages to fly, provided they have a sufficient concentration of chemical 218 (which is also used by the Angel Norn COB - don't use both in the same world, lest you have issues). On the surface, it's not much different from past flying COBs. However, this one brings along some extra scripts that give flying creatures control of their vertical velocity - no more grounded fliers!

This is the first C2 COB I've made and released - not exactly the most typical of first COBs, but I'm very proud of it. I plan on making a Swimming COB that makes use of the extra scripts to allow swimming creatures to control their vertical velocity as well - my first attempt didn't go over so well, though.

Download the Flying COB/Scripts!

As for other projects...well, I've been having trouble focusing. I've been having major trouble trying to stay focused on one project without getting bored/frustrated and moving on to another. The lack of focus is the main reason for lack of activity right now since the other reasons for the hiatus are now a non-issue. Hopefully, I can get to work on some of my older projects (*coughseagardencough*) sometime soon. 

Status Update

First off, I finally got my new laptop last Tuesday. It's an MSI 683US - in other words, a gaming laptop with a dedicated graphics card. Suffice to say, it's working beautifully - no more random slowdown and noisy CPU that probably wasn't healthy.

As far as Creatures goes, this thing runs C3 and DS (C3 from the Creatures Trilogy, and DS from the free install - I'm not touching Exodus with a 10 foot pole if I don't have to, given all the inconveniences I've heard about it) perfectly fine, along with all the programs necessary for development (in my case, that would be the Genetics Kit and CAOs Tool - I haven't gotten around to installing the Map Editor yet). So once I get around to developing again, there will be no issues.

But there's more - the increased processor can also handle FRAPs and Creatures running at the same time - in other words, I can record videos now as well. I still need to get the hang of editing and whatnot, but once that's done I might record a video of some of my projects (and possibly make promotional videos for the ones I've completed). Just don't expect commentary from me - apart from my not being very fond of vocal commentary in general (with a few exceptions), I'm not cut out for it since I'd trip over my own words 20 or more times in the attempt and the thought of it makes me nervous.

So does this mean the hiatus is over? Well...unfortunately, no. Quite the opposite, actually. The CC is being really, really quiet - the blogs are inactive apart from Geek2Nurse's, and most of the activity at CCaves is due to either newbies, the C4 forum, or both. I've almost no motivation to work on anything for Creatures right now (although I did try to create a better swimming agent while waiting for a chance to hook this thing up to the internet - I didn't get very far, unfortunately).

However, that's not the only reason I'm still on hiatus at the moment - the other major reason is that, since this computer can handle much more than my old one could, I'm playing other games that take advantage of the new processor and graphics card - especially StarCraft II. Brood War was one of my favorite games, and now that I can run the sequel without any issues, I've been playing it practically nonstop. So yeah, the "other games are more interesting than Creatures" reason is still very much in effect.

The final reason for the hiatus: the C4 hype is really starting to annoy me. I  couldn't care less about Creatures 4, and that mindset isn't changing because its release is imminent. There are other games that I'm much more excited about (Pokemon Black and White 2, for example).

Between those 3 things, I can say that this hiatus is going to last for a while (at least for another month). I'm not certain when I'll get around to all the things I was working on, but know that I haven't abandoned them completely. I'll get back to them at some point.