Back from the Dead

Updates on Creatures

My original Wolfing Run contains, according to its World file, 128 Norns, getting up to the 9th Generation. At least 58 of those Norns are in eggs. I estimate that it's got around 48 hours of playtime on there. (not all in one sitting, of course) It takes up 22 MB of space; 3 MB of this is purely Norn genetics.


It also crashes upon opening and could need to be deleted.
I am not sure why this is. It's certainly not the amount of Norns--Docking Station was made 12 years ago, and compared to how some runs can get, 70 Norns is a tidy little world.



I'm diving into the more complicated world of Creatures: genetics! With more knowledge of Creatures genetics, I can learn more about why they do the things they do. Norn mutations vary greatly, and pretty much everything about them can change--they can react in pain from hearing a certain word, develop allergies, become infertile, remain fertile for their entire life (coughcough Betty coughcough), feel rewarded when slapped and punished when tickled when normally it's the other way around, feel more lonely around other Norns, become angered by starch (maybe not but I wouldn't be surprised)--the list is supposedly endless.

I'm going to start with the case of a Norn who has baffled me for some time. You remember Constellation, right? Probably not. Anyway, she is a generation 3 ChiChi/Fimbul Norn. Her problem is this:

No, not the colors. That's just one heck of a pigment mutation.

 She stands around, unmoving, and complains of her intense homesickness. But why? And is there anything else amiss?

Keep in mind that I will likely be very, very off. This is the first time I've tried to pick at a Creature's brain.

--15 minutes later--

Wolfing Run

Heh, so after approx. 8 hours of gameplay, this is what my Wolfing Run looks like. Everyone decided to move back to the second floor of the Meso, leaving the previously well-populated top floor with a comfortable group of four. They're quite a chatty bunch--in fact, the babies learn English in the span of a few minutes, by hearing it from dozens of others who know the language.

Betty has reached the ripe old age of 5 hours and 30 minutes, and has had 28 children in her lifetime. Here, she's watching over some of the other eggs, ever maternal.

Another well known fellow amongst the Wolfing Run is Constantin, who is about 4 hours and 25 minutes old by now. With him is one of the most recently hatched, Elfgard, who seems to be taking a leisurely stroll with him around the Capillata, wisely choosing to move to less crowded rooms instead of sitting about the Meso and complaining about the high amount of company they have.

Among the many Norns with sunny red and icy blue furs, it's always interesting to find one with a truly unique color. For instance, Ellen has gathered the pigments needed to turn her fur pink, and one of the Fimbuls has mint green hair. However, my most interesting discovery is this little one by the name of Gianna: 

 As you can see, her legs have an interesting pattern. This is because she possesses the legs of a Harlequin Norn without the breed ever existing in the Wolfing Run. Perhaps a Kawari Norn mutation? I've exported her for the sake of SCIENCE! She will probably show up again in Chess Medley or Zoidberg.




Current population: 24 males, 45 females. And we're still in Generation 7. I've set the population cap at 70, so my computer won't explode.

Wolfing Run Happenings

Delores, Ellis, and Bjarne have all died. D: I don't see how; Ellis was a very young Norn--he actually hatched sometime in the last update, he was the egg Delores was pregnant with in her picture--and Delores was a little over an hour old, while the average lifespan of a Norn is 5 hours and 39 minutes or longer. Perhaps she had a genetic defect she spread to Ellis? They all lived good lives, and now Bjarne may join his twin brother Bunpachirou in the...cyberspace afterlife? Where do Norns go when they die? *ponder ponder*
I exported Akifumi for 3 reasons:

1. He is my only purebred Kawari Norn, and their breed has no egg files so I cannot hatch another.
2. He is quite old--actually ancient, at 5 hours and 21 minutes old.
3. I would like to be able to observe him in a less populated world. 

Three new ones have hatched to take their places, though: welcome Fusami, who hatched a few moments ago, Ellitrud, and Flavius! Flavius is our first Generation 6 Norn. Welcome aboard!
...I'm going to have to make another collage soon. This really isn't a good organizational method for such a large and changing population.^ ^;




Meanwhile, everyone's decided that the space between the door and the food dispenser is no longer the place to be and have migrated to the bottom floor of the Meso!

Actually not a bad choice--there's plenty of food there without having to crowd in one spot and there's the Computer, too, which they'll hopefully discover sooner rather than later. They currently seem to be content to just flock like sheep...thankfully they're a docile bunch, and probably won't find it great fun to slap one another within an inch of their lives.


In the next room, I found Danyal and Eberta, who seem to be frozen in place. I don't think they're going to be too promising.
Beside them rested little Denise, who had separated herself from her tribe and seemed eternally delighted. I sent her back to her room, where she's started to pace around, still elated.

The tribe goes well. Betty noticed my presence and announced that she's feeling friendly--good grief, you just laid an egg a few minutes ago! She's already laid eighteen eggs and is pregnant with her 19th--you can see one of them behind her, it's due to hatch any minute now--is 4 hours and 6 minutes old, and still is quite fertile. I am amazed by her! Were I to have a system of one-female-only Wolfing Runs, she would be a fine queen.

I found Denise with a look of horror on her face. My first suspicion was that she was being attacked, but the HoverDoc reported that she was without pain. My other suggestions were that she was shocked by her childhood aqua coat, she was trying to sing, or that she had realized the meaning of life, but then I checked again--she was starving! She made her way to the Justanut plant and munched away, returning to a look of calm. She donned her expression of fear the next time she got hungry, and it went away after she ate--Denise has a genetic mutation that is causing her to feel fear when she's hungry! I've never seen this case before. I will swiftly locate an agent to confirm or deny my conclusion.

"LOL rivalry!"

Constantin and Denbe are in the middle of a bitter war over who owns the lemon vendor. Ewald seems to find this to be quite amusing.

Current population: 16 males, 8 females, Generation 6

Checking on the Norns...

River the Deep Norn (facing the camera) and Keith the Fallow Norn.

In Chess Medley, things are going well. River's currently living in a separate room, until I flood the bottom half of the Meso so she can swim about once she's old enough to do so. Poor River is a very bored Norn.

Keith, however, seems perfectly content to just stick around, playing with the Portal stuff. 
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In Room-And-Agent-Tests (originally made for just this purpose, until I got a couple of Norns to test things out!), things also go well. The population, consisting of Guppy the Deep Norn and Chip the ChiChi Norn, are currently living in Devil's Reef. (side note: Devil's Reef, made by Ghosthande, is best meta room.) Guppy is a quiet, solitary Norn, who listens to the Hand. Chip is your ordinary Norn, with a taste for muffins. 

Being a child, Guppy also sleeps often.

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And now it's time to leave the calm of the two-Norn-population worlds and dive into the frenzy that is...Wolfing Run!
(actually now just a Feral run because I interfere too much. Wolfing Run=no human interaction whatsoever, Feral run=add whatever agents and so on you like, teach the Norns a few words, help them to distinguish good plants from bad plants, and so on, then leave them by themselves and interfere whenever)

Currently up to generation 5 with a population of 25, 7 females and 18 males, with over 40 Norns having inhabited this corner of the Capillata, Wolfing Run is truly chaotic! 


I suspect that there's a sort of illness going around; it's taken 8 of them already. D: I'm keeping 9 Norns in their own room, and so far, they are all doing wonderfully. Maybe it has something to do with the temperature? Or the amount of Norns one keeps in one area? From another blog, I have learned that I am not the only one to have this problem...The population size or some really weird genes may be to blame.

Several of them have become fascinated with one of the doors and have been running between the two rooms for in-game hours on end, as is being demonstrated by Dwight and Eberta below.


Here, let me see if I can cram the population into one picture...you can tell what generation each Norn is in by the first letter of their name. (And yes, those are My Little Ponies they're playing with.) 

From left to right: Denise and Erena; Denbe and Constantin; Dwight and Eberta; Engeline; Akifumi and Delfine; Eibo; Danyal; Delores; Dowaito; Bairei; Chisaburou; Darian and Enrico; Ellis; Eziaburou, Eichi, and Erland; Eginbert; Betty, Ewald, and Bjarne.
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Back to a much calmer world, and my first DS world, Zoidberg (need a world name? Why not Zoidberg?).

Starling reminds me that I need to raise the population cap so more eggs can hatch...

Everyone in this world has an astronomy-related name. There's
Andromeda, Deoxys, Adhara, Altair, Constellation, Stardust, Little Star, Starling, Galaxy, and Sunbeam. 
Yeah, I'm starting to run out of names. ^ ^; Adhara and Altair are twins.

Poor Constellation has Chronic Homesickness Disorder.

The Norns in this world are always quick to spout advice to others. This makes them different from the Norns of the other worlds because the Zoidberg Norns all know the same language, so they understand what the other speaks of.



I'll update occasionally if something of interest happens in one of the worlds.