Muppet Boy's Geatville

Artificial life is an attempt by humans to simulate living organisms using computers and robotics, similarly artificial intelligence is the product of the process of simulating thinking beings. Creatures embodies both. The main focus of the Creatures games are norns (see picture to the right) who are fluffy little animals who inhabit a flat world called Albia. The drive of the game is to feed, teach, entertain and breed said norns to improve the race and continue the species. To this end you can add various objects to the world to help your norns to thrive, and many people from around the world have created and shared them. As the technology develops so does the game, three sequels have been released as well as three other games in the same vein.
Creatures 2 was set 1000 years after the first episode, it's main flaw was over ambitious norns that were complex and so faulty that it made them difficult to rear. Luckily several add-ons, both official and unofficial, made the game much more playable. It features a much expanded Albia, with the exposed ancient Shee Labatories including the Ettins, and a transformed, but still recognisable world. Creatures 3 is set a millennium before the original Creatures game and is staged on an organic spaceship far from Albia. The mistakes made in Creatures 2 have been ironed out, and the norns themselves are far more intelligent and are positively social. I love this episode almost as much as the original. A good aspect of all three main games is the malleability of the world. Players can export .exp files that contain exported creatures so they can swap them over the internet. Many players have created objects, contained in .cob files and can be added to your world to expand it. There have even been a few new worlds created by avid fans, which have their own features, thrills and dangers. More recently Cyberlife released the free game Docking Station (or DS), an internet-compatible Creatures 3 style game. DS can even "dock" with Creatures 3 if you already own it, making the total number of terrariums ten (six from C3, four from DS).
	Creatures Village is a series of simple, light-hearted spin off Creatures games for younger players. It is brighter, more colourful and simpler to play. Although I have barely played them, others have given them positive reviews. Thus far there are two episodes called Creatures Adventures and Creatures Playground.

There have even been versions of the game made for the Game Boy Advance and two for the PlayStation.
Creatures 4 (previously called Creatures Online) was released in 2016 and is set on the 3D world of Sphericus foreshadowed in the three original games.

The Creatures series has a massive following and a thriving online community, we have held online Creatures Community Spirit Festivals every year since 2005. So what do people say about this game?
	"I first saw this program in the same week that evidence was discovered of life on Mars. This is more exciting." - Douglas Adams, author
	"My norns do nothing but party! What can I do?" "You have a serious problem: your world has been invaded by normal Norns!" - David Chess "New users are the same people as old users, but younger - and we all were young once. Cherish them. Without them, JRC truly would have no future - only a dead past." - GreenReaper, on newbies "Breed, not bread!! Eat wheat, not norns!! Love 'em not loave 'em!!" - Indigo, of the Rights for Norns Society > Tell me what you've learned so far with this experiment on the Creatures community < "The primary thing I've learned is that the majority of so-called "loving" Creatures players are vindictive, hateful people who lack a firm grip on reality. " - AntiNorn, of Tortured Norns "I think realness is over-rated anyway" "Nevermind the creatures making you laugh, cry and think, I'd sasy the community does a better job of it." :) - Helen, of the Bibble Directory > Shouldn't we all just stop, and make (real) kids ? < "Nope. The Earth can't afford such haphazard baby making, but hard drive space is cheap these days. Let's fill them with life." - Keith Wiley, Electrogenetic Engineer, University of Maryland "I make art - I'm not a piece of it" - Erin MacMillan, of Norntropolis "Do Norns dream of electric Shee?" - Thomas Hafsaas "Creatures isn’t your average game. The satisfaction is in guiding a virtual being through it’s life and teaching it to behave as you wish" - Next Gen (magazine) "Fun, extremely involving and unpredictable. 9 out of 10" - PC Review (magazine)
	"There is no trick: These enchanting, irresistible, quasi-conscious little pets live in real time on the screen of your ordinary home computer. Call it a game if you like, but this is the most impressive example of artificial life I have seen." - Richard Dawkins, evolutionary biologist
	All said, I love this game series, and I have been playing the original on and off for over twenty five years. I will probably keep getting out the CD, blowing off the dust, and playing Creatures every so often for the foreseeable future. Happy playing. Muppetboy of Geatville

	is an incredible game created by Mindscape and Cyberlife.
It is the result of years of development in artificial life and artificial intelligence.
	This is cutting edge technology that makes a great fun game.
	Tons better than a tamagotchi!