Creatures Caves | Community

HomeCreatures' basic outline of Creatures 1.

In this section you will find in the basic outlines from the original Creatures game. From the plot of the Shee to the updates, it is all covered! Select from the options on the right to go to the section. If you'd like to develop objects or Norns for the game Creatures you will find a range of utilities and downloads in our Development section.

The Story of the Shee
Several million years ago on the disk shaped planet of Albia the ancient race of the Shee worked hard in their labs. Creating new life forms, working out the science behind their world. They created the Norns, their loveable pets and they created the Grendels, evil beings who hurt Norns.

Until recently the Shee believed Albia was at the centre of the universe with everything facing them, that was until recently. New science and tools had shown that in fact other planets were rounded. 3D. Not disk shaped.

The Shee were shocked and their large egos bruised. In search for a better life they built a massive ark and in which they took their genetic creations and left for a new world. They left behind them the years of Albia history they built up, the city and the creations. With the Shee gone the Grendels soon killed all the Norns, with Norns gone they turned at each other until only one mother was left. Long past breeding ability every now and again a Grendel can be found wandering the trees.

The Shee did leave something more special though, a variety of Norn eggs. 6 in the hatchery, 3 male, 3 female. They sit and wait for the finder to hatch and breed the new generation of Norns. Other eggs were found in the hills of Albia, that evolved into the Purple Mountain Norns. Others in the Forest, the Forest Norns and the Shee left behind two Ron Norns, the original type of strong Norn. (see Life Kit 1)

You take the role of the hand, you can now go forth and hatch your eggs and start the next generation of Norns! Protect them from Grendels, guide them through life and have fun!

The World
Albia is the world the Creatures live in, a lush dynamic place with many different areas for you and your Norn to explore from damp caves to musical rooms! Within the world are many items and objects each new and exciting, some dangerous. From carrots to balls. Although it does not stop there, with updates your world will carry on expanding.

"These include toys, vehicles, and other items such as a shower and slide projector. Norns generalize, that is, they need no prior knowledge of an object or situation in order to guess what to do. Instead, they look at a new situation, or new object, and draw on past similar situations in order to decide what action is best. The more times they try this, they better they get at generalizing. What this tends to mean is that once a Norn has used one boat, they can use them all. This also applies to whole categories. When Norns are young, if the first object they ever see is food they may think everything is food until they have tried to eat the elevator!"
- Source: Creatures 1 help.

There are a range of herbs that grow in the world, each herb will have different effects- both good and bad. Navigating the applets and using the help will allow you to aid your Norns when they are sick, perhaps using these herbs. Who knows, you could be the next Norn Doctor! Enjoy exploring!

Applets
Applets are the key to Norn Care, without them you could not even name your Norn let alone view its health! This is a brief guide to applets in Creatures 1.

Owners Kit: The Owner's Kit allows you to name your Norns. You can also register their births, and take photographs of them for your records. It allows you to enter personal details to, if you wish to give them away!

Health Kit: The Health Kit shows the general health of your Norns, with a range of items to give to them if they are sick. The heart rate is an indication of how hard your Norn is working. The strength of the beat gives a rough idea of how healthy your Norn is while you can check their temperature to see if they have a cold. You can monitor brain lobe activity while also seeing your Norns basic drives such as hunger and boredom.

Science Kit: The Science Kit allows you to monitor bloodstream Chemical levels, Genetic information, brain activity and provides a hypodermic needle so that chemical compounds can be injected directly into the Norn's bloodstream. It allows you to draw graphics out from chemicals in blood so you can see peaks and lows and check up. Become a real doctor. Once you have mastered the Science Kit the Health Kit you'll find is rarely used!

Breeders Kit: This page has graphs showing the hormone levels, sex drive, and fertility of your selected Norn. For a female norn, the level of Progesterone (which rises only during pregnancy) is shown. You can use this kit to monitor pregnancies from conception to birth.

Performance Kit: This keep track of how many eggs have been laid, how many Norns have passed on, how many eggs from the hatchery you've hatched- basically its a history file of all the important events for a Norn breeder!

Graveyard Kit: The Creature Graveyard keeps records of all Norns who have died. It is a area that you can fill in gravestones and add pictures when Norns die, and go back to reflect and think about them. Hmm.

Observation Kit: This kit came as a extra in Life Kit 1 or as a free update at www.creatures.co.uk or our Downloads. It is a one stop excellent kit for Nornc are, it alerts you when Nrons are sick, pregnant and gives you other information- all Norns, one look! Saves a lot of time.

Object Injector: This kit can be downloaded at www.creatures.co.uk or our Downloads and is vital for COB users. It allows you to inject new objects into your world. Must have.

Breeds

Norn: The original game came with a egg disk containing 6 eggs, 3 males and 3 females. These were a mix of three breeds of Norn, A Brown mouse B White haired pixie C Brown devil/Blondie

Grendel: There was one breed of Grendel. These are the 'bad guys' of Creatures. Slimey, smelly and green. But enough of Tassie..back to the Grendels.. Grendels have a biochemistry and brain just like your Norns but are said to be more dangerous.

Community members have in the past bred Grendels using COB updates, so for Grendel lovers out there fear not, there is hope!

Ok, so what about the lifekits?
Life Kit 1
The first and last Life Kit for Creatures 1 contained a host of new objects and Creatures winning praise across the community. It's a shame that it was the only Life Kit we saw for the original game.

New Creatures
Forest Norns: As shown to the right these Norns boasted new looks and new genetics to breed into your existing community of Norns. Forest Norns are a new breed of Norns, related to the Purple Mountain Norns. The male and female are quite different.

New genes provide the male Forest Norns with a curious dreamer appearance. They tend not to react harshly, and prefer instead the simple, peaceful solution to problems. Female forest Norns have larger concept lobes in the brain than any other Norn. Their neurone dynamics are quite different, leading to increased intelligence and bigger memories. Stress ages female Forest Norns rapidly, so should be avoided.

Purple Mountain Norns: As released for free by CyberLife the Purple Mountain Norns were the first new breed released by CyberLife in July 1997. Now some years on they still haven't lost their charm ;-) They boast both new genes and looks and can be found in our Downloads section. This said, the female has lip stick, but everything has a down point.

Ron Norns: The 'Ron' Norn were the way Norns first looked when Creatures was planned. Ron-Norns have been around for a while, and have developed advanced fight or flight genetic codes, giving them the edge against Grendel attacks. The female Ron-Norns have a tendency to get very angry when surprised or frightened.

New objects
LK1 came along with all the CyberLife updates that were out before it, both object packs and the Christmas pack. However, there were more objects released exclusive to the kit.

Grendel Scarier: The Grendel scarier can be used as a Grendel locator by dropping it to the floor and seeing which way the nozzle points. Clicking on the Grendel scarer sends a stream of Grenspray out of the nozzle. Should this spray hit a Grendel, he'll be zapped back up to the trees above the garden. Very useful for Grendel emergencies!

The Cage: The cage can be used to trap either Norns or Grendels. This can be quite handy for quarantine, or just keeping a mischievous Norn out of the way for a while! Injecting the cage places it over the currently selected creature. Pressing the red button closes the cage and the green button opens it. Clicking just under the top rail of the cage will lift it up.

Cage Control Box: This places a single cage control box into Albia. You can use a control box to control the doors for all the cages in the world. Bear in mind that one control box can open or close all cages, so be careful you don't accidentally free a Grendel.

Crystal Balls: Crystal Balls come in pairs and act as portable transporters. You can use these to quickly get your Norns to important places in Albia.

Potions and Lotions: The Potions and Lotions consist of five random bottles from four possible types. They appear on the table next to the incubator where you hatch your eggs. The two types of blue bottles add anti-bodies and starch to help fight infection. Red bottles are good when your Norn is suffering from extremes of temperature and can also help with coughs and pain. The gold bottles provide a dose of a random chemical.

Bungled in with that came the Observation Kit, a new applet that allowed you to check up on all the vital parts of every Norn at once, from pregnancy to sickness. A run down of the update packs that came with Life Kit 1 and can be downloaded for free can be found here. For more information on the Life Kit visit www.creatures.co.uk.

Want some updates?
Free updates
There are many free updates for Creatures that expand the game in many ways from new breeds to objects. Make your Creatures more exciting.

Creatures object pack 1

The Albia Carrot Beetle
A odd and annoying new little bug that runs around your carrot patch and eats carrots, hence the name I suppose :-) There are a number of things you can do with a beetle, Norns can play football with them or eat them as a snack. Equal Rights For Beetles never caught on!

Smashing Jugs
A small toy object for Norns, this injects a jug into your world that you can break by dropping. Ever been stressed from work? Try a few of these.

Honey Jars
Clearly made from the same pottery skills that the smashing jugs were made these Jars are not quite as sturdy as other types, I think you can figure out what I mean! SMASH!

Carrot Variant
What do you get if you cross a ball and a carrot? You get a bouncing carrot? Well, yes, obvious and strange but true. These tough skinned carrots can amuse Norns before giving them healthy input!

Creatures object pack 2

Cloud Layer Butterfly
Perhaps one of my fave ever updates for Albia these new animal flutter around aimlessly a bit like a AOL member. Fluttering around it lays its eggs in the high skies, these hatch and fall down where they turn into a butterfly and fly back up- the cycle.

Coconuts
The desert island is a nice place to stay for a while, but where's the food? Coconuts are a new food you can begin to grow as a survival snack for any adventuring Norn who wishes to travel or annoyed humans who enjoy smashing them.

Shee Seed Launcher
Long ago the Shee invented these devices as a means of planting new seeds for plants around Albia, this launcher contains the seeds of Beelacanth- a new plant that begins as a seed and will flower until its seeds are spread more. The fruit is said to be very nice!

Solution X Beelacanth Killer
Some twisted people hate flowers, they think of them as a link to hippies. Thus when CyberLife brought out the Shee Seed Lancher they thought only fair to give people a Killer for the plant. Laugh demonically as you spray them to death, but watch out for the Norns!

Cave Fly
No this is not a fly based on Cave from JR Chat, though yes it is as dangerous! Injecting this object creates a new animal around the sub area, whap them with the hand to kill them before they attack your Norns!

Bees and Honey Upgrade
This replaces your old bees with all new bees - yay! These new bees will travel around Albia and and show defensive behaviour if a hive-brother is killed near them. Bees are good for the garden so should be encouraged, but if your Norns are determined to kill them all you can release some more from the hive by shaking

BedTime Bear
This toy is really just a comforter for distressed Norns. If they pick it up or play with it suddenly the world becomes a brighter, safer place. It also helps Norns to sleep so you could use it to encourage an exhausted Norn to rest.

Christmas Pack 1996
This is the original Christmas pack CyberLife released giving the whole of Albia that Christmas feeling.

Turkey
A festive whole meal for your Norns.

Snowman
A snowman which slowly melts in the sun of Albia, but its nice while its there!

Reindeer
Wandering left and right the poor Reindeer seems a little gormless and lost, but cute none the less and will entertain Norns for hours!

Christmas Pudding
A nice pudding to round off their turkey! Mistletoe Tis the season to be jolly and breed, get your Norns in the mood with this! *smoooooch*

Holly
Make Albia feel like Christmas by adding some festive holly. Christmas tree. Would any pack be complete without a Christmas tree? Insert and enjoy its flashing lights and fun!

Santa Norn
This Norn is different to others, he cant breed, he is a adult and has no childhood so why is he happy and jolly? Because he is the Santa Norn of course! With a fuzzy white beard and freindly red coat he is certain to cheer your Albia up!

Christmas Pack 1997
One year after the sucess of the original Christmas pack CyberLife produce a bigger and better one.

Fireplace
A log fire to warm the Norns and a log box to refuel the fire when it starts to burn down.

Christmas Pudding
Goes into Albia on the stove - alight! If attempted to be used while flaming, then the pudding will be a bit painful, otherwise the pudding will decrease in size when eaten. A surprise silver coin may reveal itself inside a portion when eaten resulting in a sore mouth and a lucky coin.

Christmas Crackers
Can ONLY be pulled by a Norn if the hand is holding one, so grab that cracker and get a Norn to pull the other end. An explosion and a toy will come out of the cracker - there are 5 different toys and some of them are fun to play with. NOTE: It's possible that while pulling a cracker the on-screen hand will freeze - this is rare but easily fixed. Just close down your world and re-start it and the hand will be functioning as normal. (If you are cheating then remember to save the world before closing down)

Decorations (Cards, Tinsel, Streamers and twinkling lights)
Pick up and place at will - once they are in position click on them to fix them in place. Once fixed they cannot be moved or activated. If you don't fix them in place they will float and not remain in one place.

Incubator Lights
Places some pleasing lights around the Incubator. Brings a smile to a new Norn's face!

Snow Storm
Once injected this will start a small snow-storm falling in the garden area, which will continue for a little while on it's own. It will stop on it's own at some point but you can inject the remover to cancel it's effects.

Did you know this?
10 facts about Creatures
Here are 10 facts you may not know about Creatures:

- The game was originally thought of as a "mouse for windows" in 1992.

- A real life model of Albia was created during the development.

- The game was set to have a species of "Dragon" called the Ettin.

- CyberLife had not originally planned third party development of COBs.

- The game was released in the UK back in 1996, following shortly in the US and elsewhere in 97.

- The first 6 eggs came on a "Egg Disk" which was a floppy disk, this idea was removed for US versions.

- Creatures Deluxe contains Life Kit 1 and Creatures 1.

- Close to a MILLION copies of Creatures have been sold world-wide according to Mindscape

- If all the Creatures owners from all over the world were to hatch their six eggs, then the Norn population would be over 3 million. If these six Norns breed, then the offspring would exceed 6.75 million after just 3 generations. Estimation is that 25 million Norns have hatched and experienced life! All from the first, Ron.

- There is a official book by Toby Simpson out giving you Creatures help.

Originally published on HomeCreatures.