Creatures Docking Station news & patch notes

A new update has just been deployed. The changes are as follows: - There was a bug in the Bramboo script which caused its fruit color to not work correctly when red. If the color was red, the fruit would always become extremely red instead of having a possible range like the other colors. This has now been fixed. Thanks to Verm for pointing this out! - We have added an alternative to the Autonamer which is called Autonamer+. This works just like the regular Autonamer, but will name all Creatures instead of only Norns. - We have updated the life events script to fix a bug regarding when bodies of dead Creatures disappear. In the game as-is, previously Creature bodies would only disappear after they have been seen by the camera. This was an annoyance during wolfling runs as over time, corpses would pile up in the game world without user input to move the camera to look at them to make them disappear. In notes from the original developers, we found a proposed solution to this issue: once the life event notification of a creature's death disappears (e.g. because too many other notifications have appeared in the meantime), the timer to make the body vanish should also activate. As we set out to implement this, we realized a script to do that already exists in the game. However, a bug in this script caused it to activate only when a Creature's birth event notification disappeared (instead of when death notifications disappear). Obviously, this had no effect on a Creature that was still alive. This should be fixed now!

We have just deployed an update to add a few improvements to the game. With Steam, this update should be downloaded and applied automatically. The changes will then appear in all worlds created afterwards. Here is what we did: - We added some small improvements to Muco, the egg laying machine. A small new button between the existing gender buttons will randomize the gender of eggs laid. In combination with the "Random" breed added in a previous update, that means you can now use Muco to create norns of a certain breed with a random gender, a random breed with a certain gender, or randomize both breed and gender of eggs. You can now also scroll backwards through the breed list with a right click on the breed portrait. - The holistic learning machine is known to sometimes captivate creatures who proceed to use it over and over again. To discourage this behavior, the learning machine will now detect if a creature has previously used it and eject it quicker and further away. - We did some research into the more fickle parts of the Creatures 3 ecology. Stickletrout in the norn terrarium are particularly known for dying out quickly and many remedies have been attempted that focus on the stickletrout by providing them with more sources of food. However, we determined Stickletrout population typically dies after one of their main food sources goes extinct - the dragonflies. And dragonflies, we found, can die out very quickly if there is even a slight gender imbalance in their population. The reason for this was a bug that caused peculiar behavior in the dragonflies: If dragonflies get hungry, they start looking for a target to hunt and eat. If dragonflies want to reproduce, they start looking for a mate. However, if a dragonfly that was looking for a mate gets hungry, it believes it already has a target to feed on - its mate. During a gender imbalance in the dragonfly population, the gender less represented becomes a bigger target for dragonflies seeking a mate by the majority. Now, if those dragonflies get hungry, the population quickly goes extinct. By fixing this bug, the dragonfly population becomes more stable, and so does the stickletrout population in turn. We also fixed a rare issue in their collision script that could result in bounding box errors. Of course this does not mean they will never die out now - the balance of ecology is a precarious thing - but addressing this simple bug does increase their stability by magnitudes on average (we're talking about hours vs. minutes of survival). We're looking forward to see what your experience is to consider more potential changes in the future!

We have now set a new update live. This removes redundant files that were included in previous builds that had the potential of complicating installation of third party breeds. As mentioned in our previous update notes, the update process may remove files with the same names as those redundant files previously included. If you notice third party breeds looking different from what they should, reinstalling them should restore their poses! As part of this file optimization, other redundant files (which were previously part of certain breed agents) have also been removed - reducing the amount of hard drive space of a complete installation from roughly 630MB to 574MB. This is it for this update, but our laundry list should keep us busy throughout the year - so you can look forward to more improvements in the future!

We just set a new update live. This contains the first part of our planned C3 ecology changes (fixing aspects of C3 ecology that were not working correctly) and also contains a few new tweaks and small features for DS. Please also check out the bottom of this post where we talk about potential complications with an upcoming fix for redundant body data files. Here is a list of the changes: - Man-o-wars quickly died out due to their egg script not working correctly. This has been fixed. - Meerks had an unintended behavior where they could burrow into walls and get stuck there when being picked up while in the middle of the burrow animation. This has been fixed. - Meerks could show up unexpectedly in photos due to the location of their hiding place. This has been fixed. - Dragonflies died out quickly in the Jungle Terrarium due to a lack of plants in the pond and nymphs being unable to leave it. Plants have been added to the jungle terrarium pond to fix this. - Mossie flies in the Jungle Terrarium could lag and crash the game due to its population control script not working correctly. This has been fixed and their population limit lowered slightly as even when working correctly it could severely slow down worlds. - The total creature population limit, breeding limit, and extra eggs allowed variable defaults have been increased by 30. This means in a new world the default breeding limit is now 36 instead of 6. While the former two variables can easily be changed by players in the options, the default limit of 6 (which meant eggs would stop hatching when there are already 6 creatures in the world) was still extremely low for modern computers. - Upon world creation, one copy of the mini empathic vendor is placed in the DS containment chamber. It does not show up as injectable agent, so more copies could only be created with tools like the Creatures 3 replicator or CAOS commands. We added an agent so more copies of the mini vendor can now be injected with the agent injector. - Toxic cookie recipes showed up in the injector list despite them working by default in our builds already and not needing to be injected. This was confusing as trying to inject them regardless resulted in an error message. This behavior has been addressed and the toxic cookies recipe agent does not appear in the injector list any longer. - Desert Ettins and Jungle Grendels can usually only appear due to eggs being laid by the grendel and ettin mothers in the desert and jungle terrariums. They are now selectable in the egg layers like any other breed for owners of Creatures 3. - A random breed option has been added to the egg layers. Phew! These changes should further improve the experience of playing the game. Another fix we wanted to implement was to get rid of redundant body data files that interfered with installation of third party breeds. We have investigated the issue and found out that removing the redundant body data files from our builds will cause files with the same names to be removed from current installations once, even when they have been overwritten before. This means third party breeds which overwrite any of the redundant files will have to be re-installed afterwards. However, after this process has happened once and our build does not contain these files any longer, the issue would effectively have been dealt with for all current and future installations. We are investigating possible ways to work around this behavior, but in case we can not find a way to avoid this, we recommend players with third party breeds back up their body data folders to avoid having to re-install affected third party breeds. The breeds affected seem to be those that use a Grendel or Ettin breed slot of the same letters as some official norn breeds, meaning breeds using Ettin and Grendel slots D, E, F, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O. We are planning to deploy the body data fix at the beginning of April, so please keep that in mind!

We just set a small patch live. This contains two changes: - We added a small diagnostics tool. It has to be run manually by a user to do anything. Running it will create two text files that contain information about Creatures-related registry entries on the computer. As part of resolving technical issues we may ask a user to run this tool and send us the contents of the files it creates. - Owners of Creatures 3 will find a new file in the "Documents" folder called "Ecology Reference.pdf". It's a handy reference for those of you wish to learn more about how the ecology in the four terrariums work and the agents that are part of it.

First off: You may have seen our warning in regards to using cloud saves together with mods. This solution is not ideal. Based on player feedback, the "My Worlds" folder will no longer sync with the Steam Cloud. This means only the "My Creatures" folder will be synced (Creatures you export, or wish to import into your worlds are usually in that folder). As the vast majority of players use a number of mods with their games, this seems to be preferred until we have a better solution for the way cloud saves interact with worlds. Since the release two weeks ago, we've updated a number of small things based on player feedback : - We added an installscript for the Genetics Kit (we forgot at release so it did not work). - We fixed an issue with dpi settings resetting for people with high resolution screens. - We added a fix so the bramboo can't go extinct anymore, and removed the in-game nag screen. We've been happy to see the very positive fan reception that's reflected in the reviews, and there have been more comments that have led to our list of potential issues to tackle later getting longer and longer. We'll definitely try to keep updating a game until it's in a state we can be truly satisfied with. Owners of Creatures 3 will also notice a download for an update. This adds two holiday-themed agent packs that were originally released by Creature Labs in 1999 and 2000. Now you will be able to celebrate the season with your norns, ettins and grendels appropriately! You can find a description of all the new agents in the Documents folder in your install directory for Creatures 3.

Creatures Docking Station was the last major release in the Creatures franchise and initially came out in 2001. The series was the brainchild of Steve Grand, a computer scientist on a quest to create artificial life. After several years of research, the first Creatures game was released. Expansions and more games followed, building on the systems and concepts of the first game. Yet despite the last major release celebrating its 20th anniversary earlier this year, the games have an enduring appeal and dedicated fans who still create mods. Arguably, the depth in the simulated systems are unsurpassed in a game to this day. The creatures in this game have a complex biochemistry, genetics with hundreds of genes, organs and neural network brains - which were once used in an attempt to teach them how to fly fighter jets.* Beyond what typical pet simulations at the time offered, Creatures also had a world to discover which the player and the organisms within could interact with - other animals, plants, and food sources that were part of a larger ecology. This world also contained dangers, from not-so-nice creatures to meet, as well as bacteria that can mutate and spread. In the end, this game is a sandbox that masqueraded itself as a cute pet sim - as those were all the rage in the 90s when the series was big. For those with an interest in watching emergent behavior, evolving genetics and biological systems in general, perhaps you will find playing this game interesting. The "Advanced Play" section in the manual you can find on the store page serves as a small introduction into what you can expect. Returning players will find a number of changes in this release, as we have addressed a number of common complaints and bugs. Here is a list: - Changes introduced in the "Exodus" versions were undone. This addresses a number of issues stemming from the split installation, such as incorrect tool tips as well as issues with mods and external tools. - The default egg agents for Civet, Bruin and Bengal breeds in Creatures 3 has been removed. In their place only the patched "expressive" variant appears now which all other breeds are based on. - Previously free breeds (Astro, Fallow, Harlequin, Magma, Siamese, Zebra) are already included, and in their extracted state. It is not necessary anymore to inject an egg to extract the sprites before importing creatures or using replacement genomes. - The Chichi breed and associated files are included in our Creatures 3 build, so they are available by default in standalone Creatures 3 worlds. - Docking Station will not require logging in, as the online features are not available any longer. - The official Creatures 3 chemical list contained errors that have been fixed. The updated list is provided as a pdf file in your Creatures 3 install directory (check the documents sub-folder). - Steam Cloud should back up your "My creatures" folders of both Creatures 3 and Docking Station. - One music track was never heard due to a typo. This was fixed, which adds the track back to the game (including the world selector screen where it was always supposed to be playing). - The Banshee Grendel updates (expanded & female Grendel voices, and Grendel compatibility scripts in standalone Docking Station) are now part of the Docking Station base build. This means the "Grendel update" does not have to be injected separately anymore. - In Docking Station, a script that is supposed to take a photo of dying Creatures has been fixed. - An error in Wolf Control when running on fast machines has been fixed (and it is invisible to cameras). - Two potential memory leaks (Bramboo in DS and Grazer waste in C3) have been addressed. - Volcano stones in C3 have been reclassified as "weather", as they have no actual toy-like functions. - The umbilical is now considered a door instead of an elevator, as its function and the way creatures interact with it are more akin to a door than a typical Creatures elevator. - In docked DS worlds, the grazers suddenly make a radar-like sound effect. It was suspected a DS agent may use this updated sound effect, but we did not find any and thus changed it back so the Grazers don't make radar sounds anymore. - The elevators in DS should now be able to fit adult grendels and other large creatures. - The import dialog sometimes did not display the correct head. This has been fixed. - A language switcher was added so the language in DS can be changed freely between English, German and French. - Dead links displayed in the injector were updated. - Grettin Switch and Bio Pellets are included and ship in their extracted state (Rubber ball does too). - Replaced a female ettin tail sprite that contained an error. - Bacteria can't mutate into ATP decoupler anymore. - Fruits out of reach aren't visible or emit smell anymore. - Bramboo shouldn't go extinct anymore. - Toxic Cookie Recipes are extracted by default and don't have to be separately injected anymore. Stay tuned for more announcements, as we already have a list of more changes that we plan to provide as patches in the coming weeks and months. * https://web.archive.org/web/19990117012705/http://www.newscientist.com/ns/980509/features.html