First of all Fishing Cactus was late posting their update (not surprised there at all)

And they announced that the release of Creatures 4 is also going to be late. (not surprised at all)

They make it seem as if they are going above what they promised and taking in players comments and suggestions. I really doubt they are doing this, my guess is that they are behind. Reason I say this is because they do not list any factual information.

Before they start listing the vague reasons why they are late they try and distract with releasing a picture of the hatchery. Then make an announcement about Creatures is to be released for Droid. Without any idea of when of coarse.

Now after all that they list very vague reasons why they are late:

First, it simply took more time than we anticipated to reach our target quality and merge the Creatures engine into our own to bring the game to 3D. We’re very happy on how it’s going at the moment and we’ve finally reached a point where a freeform sandbox experience can run on its own without imploding into a black hole and suck in all of Belgium. What this means is that we’re finally adding our own layer of content to the game and it’s a very exciting time that feels like a new “aha” moment.

The first sentence is the only needed thing in this excuse, by padding this paragraph with the back patting comments it plays down the real meaning of this reason.  They did not live up to their own deadlines, period. The rest of it is just BS.

The second reason is that we want to release a game that is better than what we originally anticipated. Obviously our goal was always to deliver a great game, but our vision has evolved as the project took life. The first showings of the game and your feedback gave us new ideas which will ultimately allow us to improve our original design in several ways. The trade-off is that we need more time.

Umm they list nothing, they give no information, so this sentence is not a fact and cannot be checked later. It could mean anything. It is very deceiving at best.  They hint that they are going to add new things above the original plan because of user feedback, yet they do not list anything so we guess. I myself want a version to be played offline in case this company tanks. So are they “hinting” at that?  or the user feedback of players wanting Ettins and Grendals? We will not know and we will not be able to verify that statement later so it means nothing except to create an illusion.  What a joke that paragraph is.

In regards to the development, we’re designing and integrating a brand new layer of content: that covers all those things that never existed in Creatures before and that will make Creatures 4 a good game by its own merits. We want to bring new interactions with the environment and bring a sense of palpable evolution to the Norns.

It’s clear to us that the focal point of the series is breeding generations of Norns which are increasingly more capable of handling themselves and their world. How can we encourage that, how can the world around the Norns react to their evolution, etc. These are the kind of things we’re dealing with right now. The ultimate goal here is to avoid the over-complexity of Creatures 3 while extending its gameplay.

What? So they are adding something new .. which will be something that effects everything (well they hint that norns will react to their environment better) but they do not want to make it hard than Crestures 3? So they want to include more of the norn eviorment to the game and have the norns react to ther environment better than C3? As far as I remember they are still on the C1 model, the norns cannot be any smarter. They can be made to look like they are but they cannot truely be smarter or do anything more than the last version of Creatures.

What I think is fishing Cactus will make it look like it can do what in reality of the program does not mean much, so the comment about avoiding the over – complexity of Creatures 3 is actually admitting that. Besides who thinks Creatures 3 is over complex?????  By that statement alone makes me think they are dumbing it down.

This is why I do not like the “Play for free” model and think this will hurt creatures, in fact this is not really creatures, it is a mutated, dumbed down version to be played with an old model and different graphics. it’s sole purpose is to get real creatures fans to sink money into this game in an ongoing basis instead of giving us the choice of buying a game and owning it and doing what we like to it. they will control us by having us be online and there will be no freedom for us to play as we like in different areas we used to.

Their only goal is to make money and have you pay and pay and pay.

As you can tell already I have no respect for fishing Cactus or the tactics of online games that sell content bit by bit nickel and dimeing us to death instead of paying for a whole fully functional game.

I will however continue to write about this game, people need to wake up about this scheme of premium content  and I strongly suggest on not caving in and buying into it. I was going to buy the cd, but not unless it can be played online. I already have Gog.com releases and all the add-ons and norn packs of every version of creatures, the only thing else on that cd will be the crippled creatures “client” that will not work unless I am online.

And for Fishing Cactus, a message for you … from me… Prove me wrong, do the right thing and release a fully function version that can be played offline on the cd release.  And then sell cd addons for Etins, Grendels or whatever you planned on adding later to this game.

Thank God for Steve Grand and him not quitting on a better, bigger and more advanced virtual Life game for us the real fans of his work. New types of creatures, new environments and new and exciting mythology!

Source

http://blog.fishingcactus.com/index.php/2011/08/22/the-uncensored-truth-about-creatures-4/comment-page-3/#comment-6810

Fishing Cactus has answered my question with reasons this time.

The game will require to be logged in to play, this is necessary for several things, not the least being cheat prevention which is critical in free to play games (with the whole content free, we can’t afford having people cheating their way to payable content) . I wish somewhere down the road a full content version (moddable, offline, etc.) will be possible but this is my very personal wishful thinking and no matter how much you’re vocal about it those decisions don’t rest with Fishing Cactus (though we’ll bring the subject up in due time)

Also, if you’re worried about Fishing Cactus going out of business:
1) Die you infidel!
2) The Creatures 4 service will be run by Bigben which is a pretty healthy publisher so I wouldn’t worry too much about that.

One thign caught my eye …. “with the whole content free, we can’t afford having people cheating their way to payable content”

Hmmmm I thought all the “content” was free? Hmmmmm? So there is going to be strictly “Payable content” This is what you lose when they are gone people. And those little purchases add up!

These excuses I have heard before. I want to address them and the subject of the “Free To Play” Model and how it is a scheme.

The excuse of not having an offline version of Creatures 4 is people can cheat. This is becoming so familiar to me a company portraying they are “helpless” against bad people. My answer to this is … “That is what programmers are for!” Surely they can and have the talent to protect the game? Gee back in the 90s a great PC/MAC game had an online and offline version to the game!

So there is my answer to that!

What I think is that they are an online game and plan in the income of you paying for “golden eggs” This is their only focus. (Such a shame this happened to the creatures games)

See when A person is new to “Free to Play Content” they do not pay at first, they do not know if they are going to like the game .. then as they get “addicted” they start buying little by little until they can’t seem to stop. One thing that fuels this in this model is the “haves” and the “have nots” this type of environment is not a pretty one, in fact it gets down right ugly. The joy of the game is now gone.

Just read the TOS of online games and really think about it. I bet I already know what the TOS for Creatures 4 is going to say. You will only “own” your items as long as the game stays online, if ever it leaves for any reason and they will say they can shut it down for any reason and you do have to agree with that before you can play, you will lose anything you paid real cash for (if you bought the cd nothing will work which is why they are adding the old games on it).

Also they are stating that Most if not all content will be able to be earned through coins/game play. Well I have also heard that one before, just wait till they get out “Gold Egg” items only, oh yeah that makes the environment worse. I can just imagine all the drama, the moderation and the banned players … not worth it folks!

I cannot believe they are doing this to Creatures .. is there no game sacred?

Another thing there is no such thing as an online game lasting, it is not built to last, they are not WOW, can they be? No they can’t! To play WOW you pay a monthly fee and with that you have more control and more rights then a Free to Play Game! See the longer they stay up the more money they need from you .. they say it is free so if you buy things it supports the site and the game. You think you are doing something good, but the longer they stay up they will need even more money from you.

And then finally after some time they will not be pulling in the revenue to meet their expenses and who gets axed? We do the players all that you have put in for a year, two years, three years or so is going to be yanked from you. And because of you agreeing with their TOS there is nothing you can do, you do not even have a version to play after they are gone and all that money is gone with them.

If you get the Boxed client, you do get past 2d versions of Creatures … heck you can buy them now on http://www.gog.com I have all the original cds and even the gog version so why would I go online and pay them to run a game that will eventually disappear?

Oh yes they did say that previous versions will be on the boxed “client” Well at http://www.gog.com you can get all the versions right now:

Creatures Exodus is a recompilation of Creatures 3 and Docking Station for 5.99

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/creatures_exodus

Creatures: The Albian Years is a compilation of Creatures 1 with both Life Kits, Creatures 2 with its Life Kit and 6 Official Object Packs for 5.99

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/creatures_the_albian_years

Creatures Village is a compilation of Creatures Adventures and Creatures Playground (for children) for 5.99

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/creatures_village

So technically you can pay 5.99 for Creatures 3 and Docking Station.
If you want the previous TWO version before creatures 3 it will only cost you 5.99 for Creatures 1 AND Creatures 2 AND the addons which I aid separately for when it came out. So with not counting Creatures Village (because eit is for small children) you can have the wholly history of Creatures with all the add-ons for 12.00!!!

Now I know what you are thinking, Gee if I buy the Creatures packages now for 12.00 I can just play the Creatures 4 for free and not deal with buying the “client”!

Free To Play games sound good at first glance, but one needs to think about it. And it is a Scheme .. They call it a Business Model but really what is the difference? . Not everyone pays so they will have to rely on the portion of players that pay and how do they do this? Well the special items that will only be allowed to buy with real cash .. that is how. In past games the items bought with coins/points lacked in quality in fact most were down right ugly, as the game got older the coin items were getting worse and worse while the gold items were getting better. It is a trick to get you to splurge and then once you do it just keeps going till the environment in the game is the “haves” and the “have nots” and it get ugly. I can just see it now, the moderators, the banned players and all the drama. No thank you! This is what kills the joy of the game. The player is the one who pays and then gets burnt and that is that, there is no avoiding that.

This is why they will never do user created things, because they will control everything and you will have no say. They will be nice, but in the end you have no say or any sort of control. And that is what really stinks about online games.

Gosh I am babbling ..

I have one last hope and that is Steve Grand, the original creatures creator. He is working on his own version of creatures and artificial life and this is who I trust because I know he really cares.

Gee all I want to do is play a new version of Creatures and it feels as if I am prey instead of a gamer.

Save us Steve Save us!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Grand

http://stevegrand.wordpress.com/