Creatures (artificial life series)
Creatures is a series of artificial life (alife) computer programs. It was created in the mid-1990s by English computer scientist Steve Grand. It was developed by Millennium Interactive. The game is about raising alien creatures known as Norns. This involves teaching them to survive, helping them explore their world, defending them against other animals, and breeding them. The player can also teach the creatures to speak a language, and can then tell their creature to do something by typing in instructions.
Between 1996 and 2001, six Creatures games were released.
The program was notable for being one of the first commercial products to create artificial-life animals using genetics, biochemistry and neural network brains.[1][2][3] This meant that the Norns and their DNA could "evolve" in many different ways. By breeding certain Norns with others, some traits could be passed on to younger generations.[4] The genetics in Creatures are slightly different from human genetics; they are haploid.[5]
- Creatures (released in 1996)
- Creatures 2 (released in 1998)
- Creatures 3 (released in 1999)
- Creatures Adventures (released in 2000)
- Creatures Playground (released in 2000)
- Docking Station (released in 2001)
- Creatures Online is in development, and was originally announced as Creatures 4. It is due out the end of 2014.
References
- ↑ Holt, Lindsey (2006) [2005]. "Simulation: Life inside the Machine". Retrieved 2012-09-01.
- ↑ Marjorie A. Zielke; Monica J. Evans; et al. (March–April 2009). "Serious Games for Immersive Cultural Training: Creating a Living World" (PDF). IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
- ↑ Stern, Andrew (1999). "AI Beyond Computer Games" (PDF). Technical Report SS-99-02. Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2012-12-08.
- ↑ "'Creatures' Craze Is Now the Norn - Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. 1997-07-21. Retrieved 2012-09-01.
- ↑ "GENETICS PREVIEW KIT - REFERENCE GUIDE". Cyberlife. 1998-01-26. Archived from the original on 1998-01-26. Retrieved 2012-12-08.
More reading
- Alderman, John (6 May 1997). "Tamagotchi, Schmamagotchi: Here Come the Norns". Wired.com.
- Cadotte, Joseph (15 September 2006). "Creatures: Exodus". Inside Mac Games. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
- Simpson, Toby (1998). Creatures 2 : official strategies & secrets. San Francisco: Sybex. ISBN 978-0-782-12440-8.
Other websites
- Gameware Development Archived 2013-06-27 at the Wayback Machine
- Cyberlife Research Archived 2015-11-03 at the Wayback Machine
- Official Game Website of Creatures Online Archived 2013-09-07 at the Wayback Machine
- The Creatures Wiki
