Sea Garden Preview

So I finally figured out a way around my GIMP problem - as it turns out, Edos (part of Jagent) is perfectly capable of working with .png files, and can turn a bunch of them into a .c16 file at once to boot. So I just use GIMP to resize seeds and whatnot, and use Edos for the actual sprite compiling. I still can't do anything with .blk files, but I usually don't use GIMP to edit those anyway.

Which means I've finally stopped slacking and started working on the Sea Garden:

SEEEEEEEEEEDS.

I'm actually more or less done with this particular plant now (all I need to do is code the vendor), and while they still emit a copious amount of seeds, they're not quite as prolific as this picture suggests. By the way, the grendels in the picture are a project in and of themselves; while they were made primarily to test the Sea Garden, I'll probably tweak their genome a bit more and release them alongside the completed Sea Garden.

When will the Sea Garden be done? I don't know, considering that Mea's still working on the sprites. I'm hoping it'll be out by the CCSF at the latest, but I make no promises.

Edit: Also, you may or may have not noticed the new Fish Tank gadget. You can click on the area to feed the fish, and if they aren't eating the fish will cuddle up to the mouse pointer expecting food. It's not particularly special, but it is a fun little time waster. Hopefully, it doesn't slow down the other, more important parts of the blog too much.

Tevaela: Posthumous Update

Okay, not "posthumous" per se. I haven't deleted Tevaela if that was what you were thinking - it's merely sleeping. Last time I popped in, the norns hadn't moved from that garden and didn't move from it during the entire time. Since I doubt you want to read much about norns who don't wander, I got disinterested and started up something else, which I'll cover in a later post. In the mean time, here's what happened the last time I opened the world:

 Warpish finally displayed a sign of her weirdness by aging to youth much faster than normal. Awash with hormones, she proceeded to annoy the crap out of the other norns (who still have a ways to go before breeding age). Matoko also decided to take up being slappy as a hobby. I'm trying to get her to knock it off, but she's always behind another norn when she starts up and stops before I can get to her. Okay, that has nothing to do with this picture, but I didn't manage to catch her in the act to take a picture.

Yes, this looks like D'Artenegan is being a gentleman and bringing Queenie a flower. In actuality, he grabbed the flower before Queenie showed up. Then Queenie starting beating the heck out of him, apparently trying to tell him to pick up a more manly hobby than gardening in her own special way. D'Artenegan, being the robust norn he is, didn't have much of a reaction. Maybe he was trying to offer Queenie the flower. Okay, I'm rambling. Moving on.

Himiko decided that she needed some solitude, and became the first norn in a while to use the elevator. She didn't go far, unfortunately - after this picture, she went back down and joined the others again.

Just a group shot I decided to take. Queenie, Himiko, Bonita, and D'Artenegan appreciate their moment of silence (though Bonita's a bit crowded), while Warpish continues to be a pest and fail to understand that 1. the others aren't old enough to breed yet, and 2. she's trying to kisspop another girl.

And another group shot to end the post, taken some time after the previous. It seems everyone except D'Artenegan and Queenie decided to pair up, and Warpish finally stops attempting to breed in order to get a bite to eat.

Lot shorter than the previous Tevaela update, huh? Like I said in my previous post, I'm not sure if I'll pick up the world again any time soon. I'm finding other things to be more interesting at the moment (both Creatures-related and not).

I'm Being Followed by a Moon Shadow....

Today, the 22nd of July, is my birthday. I've finally hit 20, which means I can join the old people's club and wave my cane at young 'ems yelling "GIT OFFA MAH LAWN!" However, that is of minimal importance to this blog, or to the community in general.

I first started playing Creatures a long time ago - I forget just how long, but it was before I had access to the internet, and most likely 10 years ago. I'm amazed I've managed to stick with the series this long, but I don't regret a thing.

So I've decided to celebrate, but that doesn't mean I should be the only one having fun. I bet a release would definitely lift some spirits up, and I've got just the thing: a breed that's most definitely my finest work in genetics up until this point.

 Those of you who frequent CCaves might have noticed that I was working on something and that something would get released Sunday. The Moonshadow Grendels V2 - an updated version of a breed I made way back on Gameware - were that something.
These grendels hunt norns, but are dirty cowards who run away when slapped and are more frail than the standard norn. What makes them so dangerous, then? They have an agent that comes with them, and this agent allows them to become invisible - enabling them to attack norns with impunity.
A lot of work went into them (it actually took me days to finish them - only the Flesheaters are taking longer), but it was worth it. I was finally able to put all the things I learned about genetics to work.

Don't have the Banshee Pack? Don't despair - the Moonshadow Grendels V2 come in normal Grendel form, too. If you have C3, you're good to go.

Download the Moonshadow Grendels V2!

The Moonshadow Grendels were also the reason for the lack of Tevaela updates - they distracted me and at the moment I'm rather disinterested in continuing it (though I did play it a little - nothing much of interest happened, unfortunately). I'll get back to it at some point.

Tevaela: Getting Comfortable

First off, this post is a major image dump, and I apologize for that.

Bonita was the first of the females to meet D'Artenegan, riding the lift right on up to meet him. It was a relatively peaceful exchange.

Queenie, in pursuit of the red-and-white bouncing ball, left the rest of the group and headed over the swamp. She would prove to be among the most adventurous of the first generation.

D'Artenegan, after his meeting with Bonita, decided to take a cue from her and headed up further into the treetops. Here he takes a nap, storing energy for the endeavors to come. 

Himiko and Artura got along well enough. In case you're wondering, I do have Vampess's altered Creature Breeding script installed, so these two have a way other than slapping to interact with each other directly. I do find it odd that two norns of the same gender still kiss, but whatever.

Bonita sets out on what would prove to be the biggest wandering of the early stages. In this tunnel, she rests and feeds on all the munchrooms that decided to grow in it. Those munchrooms are really, really adaptable. 

Back at the garden, Matoko reaches childhood (and changes color in the process) and Warpish continues to bumble around without eating much. I'm not sure what Matoko got herself into here - I thought her pain might have been genetically induced, but she recovered nicely later on. 

Queenie finds the amber stump, eats the amber it was dispensing, and proceeds to play with it. The egg layer next to her is non-functional, but it might not stay that way for the entire run....

Matoko and Warpish continue to stick together, perhaps seeing a kinship in their status as high-generation creatures. Warpish also learns that edibles are good for staving off hunger at last.

Bonita finds the lowest of the biodomes, where she proceeds to sample all the nutritious goodies that are laying around. If you look closely, you'll see the C1 Deathcap tucked in behind those pairs... I decided to inject the C1toDS Badplants to make up for the lack of the C2 deathcaps. Bonita was smart enough to leave the deathcap alone.

Warpish hits childhood at the norn-typical time of 9 minutes. Blame the import cloning for the lack of a birthdate. 

D'Artenegan also hits childhood at the highest level of the treehouse. I expected him to ledgejump at some point, but he proved me quite wrong. 

Queenie is among the last of the babies to hit childhood, and changes color to a bright yellow. She still doesn't see a reason to return to the gardens.

D'Artenegan decides that he would like some companionship and climbs back down from his treetop penthouse. Meanwhile, Bonita tries to figure out how the elevators work (she kept bouncing up and down thanks to how the lifts are coded). 

Bonita finally gets the lift to go back down to the ground level, as well as finally getting D'Artenegan to feel dirt underneath his feet. 

He takes a liking to Himiko, and is perfectly happy to simultaneously proclaim his happiness with her. 

Wayward clouds float into the valley where the norns call home. I'd call them fog, but last time I check fog doesn't snow. I really hope this little bug gets fixed in C2toDS's future releases....

Four out of five females in this picture get spooked by some unknown force. C2toDS is a rather scary place, apparently. Either way, they soon calmed down. 

Whatever it was also spooked D'Artenegan, who at this time decided that he liked it better flying solo. 

Also like the girls, he calmed down quickly and decided to pick one of the newcomer bleubells (they normally grow on the left side of the valley - I guess some seeds managed to get down to the bottom). He dropped it after a while, with the plant being no worse for wear. 

The population draws closer together as a cloud slowly descends to the ground around them. D'Artenegan and Queenie continue to be aloof, but at least D'Artenegan likes being around other norns once in a while.

 At this time, my playing was interrupted by this autokill error. Errors of this sort are among the easiest errors to prevent, but whatever. It wasn't game breaking, so I killed the offending agent and moved on.

As it turned out, a lightning bolt coming out from the blue was the thing responsible for scaring the norns - I traced it back to this thundercloud. Moe, I know you're trying to pass off the weirdly-positioned clouds as fog, but thunderstorms do not form in valleys!

Regardless of how plausible the thunderhead was, it at least got everyone close enough for this little group shot. Queenie finally decides to join the rest of the group, and doesn't find it particularly intimidating. D'Artenegan, apparently, would prefer going back to living alone. 

Sometime later, Artura becomes the first of the norns to hit adolescence. Warpish has finally stopped bumbling around and started acting more like a normal norn would, while D'Artenegan takes a few notes from Queenie and finds solace in the swamp area. 

Bonita and Matoko are the next norns to advance a lifestage. Matoko has also gotten a little brighter and now has the same coloration as Queenie. 

Speaking of Queenie, she rather likes the swamp area and hardly minds that D'Artenegan has chosen to wander it with her. While the pear plant growing on the bridge looks somewhat unfeasible, it also looks quite natural there at the same time. 

Himiko hits adolescence, and is currently taking her newfound maturity for a test drive. 

Warpish continues to age normally. Despite her odd ancestry and high generation, she doesn't seem to be all that strange. Matoko continues to stick by her side. 

 D'Artenegan's slow aging isn't that slow - he hits adolescence soon after Warpish. There's about a minute or so difference between the times he changes lifestages and a normal norn changes lifestages, in case you're wondering.

The first proper update of Tevaela ends with another group shot, including Queenie and her beautiful adolescent coloring. They are getting a bit crowded, but given all the food that's lying around it's a fair trade-off. 

For the rest of you who have worlds like this, what do you normally find worth taking pictures of? I'd like some feedback on how to cut down on my picture count so later posts don't have this many images (there's 30 here, in case you wanted to know - probably the highest amount of images I've ever stuffed into one post).

Tevaela: The First Generation

Well, I've gotten my norns together. It's time to introduce the initial generation of Tevaela. These little ones have quite the world to explore.
 

 First up is the future Lord of Tevaela, D'Artenegan (the character who he's named after actually spelled it "d'Artagnan," but I think my spelling looks a little nicer). He is pure CFE Siamese despite his limbs (Siamese + Draconian appeals to me for some reason), but he has been genetically edited to have a much stronger response to the antigens, resistance to slapping, a tendency to eat critters, and a slightly increased lifespan. He's also color edited, but at the moment it doesn't stand out too much - it will get more obvious once he gets older.

The first half of six girls are simply ordinary CFE norns from Muco. Not much to say about their genetics, but a few CFEs are good for keeping the general intelligence level up. I chose a Bengal, ChiChi, and Zebra because I tend to like the more natural-looking breeds over the more fancy-looking ones (Astro, Harlequin, etc.). I also didn't go with any of the official breeds with edited genetics as I didn't feel any of them really meshed well.

The other three girls come from TCR. Queenie was chosen because she had pretty colors, Matoko had a pretty color and pretty wings, and Warpish was chosen for her interesting genetics. Since the other three girls are pretty ordinary looking and D'Artenegan is only mildly colored, I thought some TCR stock might liven up the population a bit.

Here's everyone at a glance, in the positions I left them in after exiting the world. I'll begin the chronicle proper tomorrow, but from what I've seen so far someone's getting slappy (I think it's Bonita, but I'm not too sure), and Warpish seems to be averse to eating (when her follow TCR creatures dug right in). We'll see how this turns out.