Creatures (1996 video game)

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Creatures
Single-player

Creatures is an artificial life simulation packaged as a video game developed by British studio

Macintosh, PlayStation, and Game Boy Advance. It is the first game in the Creatures
series.

Gameplay

Creatures is a game in which the player can hatch and raise anthropomorphic creatures known as Norns.[2]

Notably, the environment was actually a physically constructed model, carefully photographed. This was to keep graphics costs low.[3]

Creatures is an

Neural networks are used by the creatures to learn what to do. The game is regarded as a breakthrough in artificial life research, which aims to model the behavior of creatures interacting with their environment.[4]

According to Millennium, every copy of Creatures contains a unique starting set of eggs, whose genomes are not replicated on any other copy of the game.[5] An expansion pack, called "Life Kit #1" was released for purchase later.[6]

Development

The game was in development for four years.[7]

Reception

The PlayStation version received "unfavorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[8] However, Next Generation said that the PC version "offers one of the most obsessive and entertaining experiences anyone can have in front of the computer."[2] The Electric Playground gave the same PC version universal acclaim, over a month before it was released Stateside.[11]

The PC version sold 100,000 units by November 1997. At the time, John Moore of Mindscape explained that the company "expect[s] to sell more than 200,000 Creatures by the end of the year."[19] Global sales of the game neared 400,000 units by February 1998.[20][21]

Legacy

The model built during development and photographed as the game's backdrop, is held at

The Centre for Computing History, where it is on permanent display.[3]

References

  1. ^ Lee, Helen (May 1, 1997). "Mindscape Brings Creatures to the US". GameSpot. Archived from the original on December 5, 1998. Retrieved July 16, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "The Power of Life (Creatures Review)". Next Generation. No. 35. Imagine Media. November 1997. p. 206. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Creatures Model". Computing History. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  4. ^ Champandard, Alex J. (2007). "Top 10 Most Influential AI Games". AIGameDev. Archived from the original on 6 July 2009.
  5. ISSN 1078-9693
    .
  6. ^ a b Smith, Peter (31 January 1998). "Creatures Life Kit #1". Computer Games Strategy Plus. Strategy Plus, Inc. Archived from the original on 5 July 2003. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  7. ^ "Creatures Wins International Emma Award". cyberlife.co.uk. October 9, 1996. Archived from the original on January 10, 1997. Retrieved July 16, 2022.
  8. ^ a b "Creatures for PlayStation". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  9. ^ Smith, Peter (26 January 1998). "Creatures". Computer Games Strategy Plus. Strategy Plus, Inc. Archived from the original on 4 July 2003. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  10. ISSN 0744-6667
    .
  11. ^ a b James, Bonnie (11 June 1997). "Creatures (PC)". The Electric Playground. Greedy Productions, Inc. Archived from the original on 1 August 1997. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  12. ^ Reppen, Erik (September 1997). "Creatures (PC)". Game Informer. No. 53. FuncoLand.
  13. ^
    CraveOnline. Archived
    from the original on 13 June 1998. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  14. ^ Parrotta, Dylan (30 June 2002). "Creatures Review - PlayStation". GameZone. Archived from the original on 2 November 2007. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  15. ^ Roper, Chris (23 September 2002). "Creatures Review (PS)". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  16. ^ Romendil (10 January 2002). "Test: Creatures (GBA)". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). Webedia.
  17. ^ Pilou (8 December 2001). "Test: Creatures (PS1)". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). Webedia. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  18. ^ Tafel, Kathy (October 1997). "Creatures". MacADDICT. No. 14. Imagine Media. p. 70. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  19. ^ Anderson, Jill (3 November 1997). "Mindscape Sells 100,000 Creatures [date mislabeled as "April 26, 2000"]". GameSpot. Red Ventures. Archived from the original on 20 May 2000. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  20. ^ Jebens, Harley (11 February 1998). "Creatures Multiply [date mislabeled as "April 28, 2000"]". GameSpot. Red Ventures. Archived from the original on 18 April 2000. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  21. ^ "Mindscape Signs Deal to Publish Creatures 2". cyberlife.co.uk. February 11, 1998. Archived from the original on February 3, 1999. Retrieved July 16, 2022.

External links

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