Creatures 4 – Such a Con, Help us Steve Grand!

In this blog entry here. fishing Cactus gives a non update basically telling people that they are working on the program! LOL This games was supposed to be out in January. What a joke. And then they say they are trying to get info from Big Ben to give to the suckers or I mean people.

Free to Play is the biggest scam on the net. Most level headed people are coming to this conclusion. One thing they will do to create hype is not give you any information and treat any drivel they give you as treasured secrets.  Read this crap that Andrea Di Stefano says :

We’re definitely committing to having the whole game playable freely. There will be some waiting time on some elements that you will be able to accellerate but it will be fairly limited and the Norns themselves won’t have any of this to avoid the player being left in the game with nothing to do. Golden Eggs will mainly allow the player to buy coins which is the currency you use in-game to buy toys, plants, critters etc. As in other F2p games right now, what we are going to sell for “real money” will likely evolve in time depending on the feedback we get. Rest assured we’re not a greedy bunch: earning money from the game is important to us (we tend to need food to survive ^^) but we know that only way to achieve that is for us to make a good game.

Don’t forget folks they are out to make money and squeeze every cent from you, they all do this, it is not free unless you absolutely not spend a dime on this. they will give you the bull crap about having to eat. This is a main “line” from the Free to Play Handbook.

Free to Play “Facebook” type games target children and lure them in. They hope to soak the Creatures fans because of the love they have for this game but I really doubt they care, they want money and to get money they take all the control from a lovely game and kill it. But don’t you worry. The original creator of Creatures 1 -3 and docking station is creating a new “creatures” type game. We will have to wait but if he does not pull this free to play crap and we can actually own the game, his game will not only shadow the fake Creatures 4 but crush it. His creatures will be built for actual real complex and exciting game play not to con people into gold eggs so they can join the haves versus the have nots.

It is time to get excited about Steve Grand and his new game. The real spirit died in creatures and it will be a shell of a game with glittering shiny things yes, but a fake and flat piece of junk all the same.

Here is where you can learn what Steve Grand has accomplished and what is coming!

Players I know you love Creatures, I do too. But this is not the Creatures we love this is a fake. A company bought the rights and it is being doctored up to collect you hard earned money little by little. It will actually cost you far more than an actually creatures game ever cost. They will lure you in with the “free to play” con and then when your hooked things will change indeed. You think you can resist? When you are deep in and all of a sudden there will be something liek a special breed or an item that will be limited and only a few people will have it. a breed that if you do not act now you will never have it in the game ever? These little surprises will start slow, and when enough people are playing then you will see something like this at first every so often and then as the greed (yes there will be greed) sets in there will be more and more and more and more and more.

Some people will be in so deep they actually defend it. Ah people I have seen this.

I am waiting for Steve Grand. he is the only one I trust as far as promises. he answers question truthfully and not skip around details and mislead people.  think about this one line from the quote “We’re definitely committing to having the whole game playable freely” This says nothing, this is not a fact. This is right out of the play book people. If they meant it as a fact they would have said “We will provide the whole playable game for free”. But they will never say this because … they want your money and they plan on changing as soon as they have a certain amount of addicted players.

Myself? I will wait for Steve Grand and pay him what he is due and fall in love with a new set of creatures in a beautiful land with a new history and story. Unless he pulls the “play for free” con.

Here is what Steve Grand Says:

Steve says,

I’ve been working on the theory behind a new breed of artificial life for years, now, and recently had what I hope is the scientific breakthrough I’ve been looking for. So I’ve started work on a new game.

I don’t know what the scenario will be yet or what the final creatures will look like, but it’s basically the same concept as Creatures, except this time in 3D, with real physics and with vastly better biology and brains. Ever since C1 I’ve been trying to understand how the mammalian brain gives rise to imagination and mental imagery, and I think I’m really onto something now that can be implemented in real time on a PC (after all, computers are at least a thousand times more powerful than they were when I started writing C1). I think I have the key to an artificial life form that can actually think. Norns could react but they couldn’t think – they couldn’t make plans, have hopes or intentions, dream dreams, learn physical skills, etc. Higher consciousness can’t exist without an imagination either. It remains to be seen how smart they actually prove to be but they’ll certainly be much more realistic than the norns in lots of ways and hopefully a lot more fun to look after.

There’ll be an API for community extensions and tools, too, of course, and a lot more to learn about their physiology and behavior. I’m thinking in terms of creatures somewhat like orangutans in character, but we’ll see. Hopefully there will be several species. First I have to build their brains, and until a few weeks ago I was stuck on a really tricky problem in the layers of their brain that learn to recognize and classify things. But I think I’ve solved that now and I’m ready to get back to coding this week. .. I’m really excited about it potentially starting up again at long last.

Here is Steve’s New program’s project page.
http://blog.fishingcactus.com – don’t trust them

http://www.fishingcactus.com – don’t trust them

http://www.creatures4.com – don’t fall for the Free to Play con.

 

SPP.com is no more

And good riddance of this game only because of Google.  SPP is still around because of the game’s  players who insisted to get something from this game because of the money spent on it, we were allowed to download our creations. We had from October of 2011 till March 6, 2012 to download.

The problem was the program was just a viewer of what we made, we could not change anything. So then came along Neil who created an app to edit our creations, not only did we do that but as we downloaded our “habitats” we jammed them full of items from our inventories.

Neil created a social site and with some months of downloading. I downloaded every items my account had and with the help of the other players EVERY item was acquired and unlike the greedy company we exchanged freely and now many many sites have the whole inventory of the game, Neil’s app allows us to “decorate” and soon Ducan will show us how to display a live hab on a website, Unless Neil makes a deal with him to have it only on HIS site, then I will look for someone who can do this so everyone can have their live hab on their own personal webpage or blog.

Any programmers out there here is the info:

The habitat is and all the items with the pet is in an AIR file.  Everything in the file is flash with a json script and in flash.  The extension the file has is “spp” stands for the game’s name.

Here is a typical Habitat file. You can use the viewer I listed below.  what we need is ti hae it on a website and have it viewable as in the viewer.

So now there are hints of more options being added to the app called Habimakeover.  Right now the app is basic and with the name “basic” to the version I am wondering when the premium is going to come out and what the differences will be.

The app to view the habitats is here.

The app to edit the habitats is here.

Ourspp.com has all the item files.

 

 

 

Creatures the Community!

I cannot believe how much the Creatures community is Involved into adding to C2, C3 and DS! Expanding it with all sorts of goodies and new breeds. I am so glad to have run across this. It gives me hope and also is another way to enjoy these games without having to online or pay money just to get features as the C4 version from Fishing Cactus is planning.

Places to go!

Creatures Community Spirit Festival 2011 Check it out here and also check out the new downloads for 2011 here!

C2 to DS addon – To read blog go here. Facebook here.

The highly anticipated C2toDS Release 2 has arrived and it’s jam-packed with all kinds of goodies!

Such additions include:

Full transportation system, including to and from Albia and the Capillata
A wide variety of Albian plants and wildlife
New additions to C2 such as the Air Trolley (among other exciting additions)
New vendors
Toys!
…and a few secrets to discover! ;)

Mummy’s Creatures – Lots of add-ons and creatures to try out y9ouc an see all the C3 breeds they have for download here.

Breeds mit eigenen Sprites
* Aardvark Norns
* Dale Norns
* Desert Norns
* Emerald Norns
* Eskimo Norns
* Fimbul Norns
* Indio Norns
* Painted ChiChi Norns
* Pixie Norns
* Plant Norns
* Primrose Norns
* Sahara Norns
* Santa Norns
* Yellowstone Norns
* Yellowstone Wingies     Genetisch veränderte Breeds
* Autumn Norns
* Chameleon Norns
* Element Norns
* Gemini Norns
* Genesis Norns
* Grey Champ Grendels
* Jaguar Norns
* Konnichiwa Norns
* Little Helpers
* Paradox Norns
* Population Control Norns
* Reptile Norns
* Shadow Norns
* Wispy Norns
* Xmas Star Norns

Creatures’s Heaven here.

  • DS/C3 Fixes; some useful or fun fixes :)
  • CFE; here are the Creatures Full of Edits
  • Agents; these are Creatures 3 and/or Docking Station agents
  • Adoptions; these are creatures that you can import into Docking Station
  • Breeds; here are the breeds I have made
  • My Colony; this is my report on a norn wolfling run

For me personally so many new things for the creatures games I am excited.  I am glad I have looked up my old game to find all this going on!  And all these new things for FREE written by people who really care about this game!!!

You know what would be great? Is for the community to get DS back online! No need to be gouged by companies limiting the community so they can charge us at every turn.

Back to the past.

As far as user creative and pet games are concerned, I have not run into anything that is as good as past games. Especially the online games. All I see is a scam to make you pay and pay and pay.

 

So I decided to install some of my older games. Aquazone (aquarium simulation and breeding AND decorating) and Creatures 1 – 3 and Docking Station.  It is great to see some of my games back up and get this… I don;t have to Pay to see “content” !!!

 

I hope Steve Grand does not go the same route as Fishing Cactus and their “version” of Creatures 4.

Creatures 4 will be late .. not surprised.

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

Excited about Steve Grand’s Work!

In doing some searches I ran across some conversions going on about Steve Grands new project. Steve Grand is the real creator of Creatures. And I read that the new Creatures 4 which has nothing to do with Steve Grand (big mistake fishing cactus) .

 

These are Steve Grand’s Words:

Yeah, C4 is still basically my old C1 engine, as far as I know, but with fancier graphics. It’ll suit some people but not those who expect A-life to have improved in the past 20 years! Grandroids is going pretty well. I have a fair way to go yet but I’m quite excited about how it’s turning out. There’ll certainly be a backstory and some kind of mythology but I’m holding off making decisions about that until I know what the creatures turn out to be like. I figure I should get to know them a bit before I decide where they want to live and what kind of history makes sense. Right now I’m working hard on the biology and just getting into the development of the brain – I’ve been working on the theory for years but the details are another matter!

 

How exciting!

(source) Steve Grands Blog

http://fishingcactus.com

http://www.creatures4.com

http://blog.fishingcactus.com

The Story of SPP

This is a story of the game Super Poke pets (Virtual Pets game)and what has gone down over there. They are shutting down the game March 6, 2012 and I guess they hope that all will be forgotten. I played there and to this day I cannot believe what the company (Slide/Google) pulled on people and the way they treated their customers. They are shutting down because of the constant loss of players and it is so obvious why people left in droves. The treatment from Slide/Google was so silly and treated adult players like children and toward the end they tried to squeeze out every dime from us.

We actually had hope when Google bought Slide, we thought hings would be finally repaired and it would improve, instead Google axed the whole thing.

They promises that came out of there mouth was always crap and everything mainly was a let down. It is a shame because the actual game was like no other and they (Slide and Google) ruined it with their mismanagement of the game. In the end the only people that got hurt were the players and the adims ar eonto new google+ plus games and I would guess are now doing the same thing to players and they are unaware.

The players made SPP what it was and the admin tore it down.

 

Some instances on managements bad desisions:

Example:

They had a flaw in thier code, they could not fix it right away. hackers took advantage. After the code was fixed they froze members accounts and investigated each one (slowly, took 3 weeks) and treated them like criminals. People had alot of money tied up in their game and some people never got there account back, all was lost with them and Slide/Google didn’t help anyone just accused them. SPP lost A Lot of players over this glitch that Slide/ Google blamed on the players.

The Admin Keane NG was the worst in my opinion. And now he like the others are off in another game.

There are so many examples of bad admins and bad slide decisions that impacted the players in a negative way I could write a book!

 

When they knew they were going to go under they had a last dash to grab our cash! The had a sort of lifetime sale and little did we know that the deal meant a mere few months. Oh yeah bottom of the barrel stuff.

All I can really emphasize is that if they are the example of how Online Flash games are headed, then it is sad of for the gaming world.

 

This is why I am so upset about Creatures 4 and fishing Cactus .. they spit out the same excuses on why they cannot give the players what they deserve for their money.  I bet I will see some same things happen with this company. I will keep up with them just to see if my hunches are correct and will list my findings here.

Players are sick of the companies with the “Play for Free” scheme!  And please remember Slide and there horrible admins are now google and working in Google Games in Google+ I really hope Face Book kicks their ass! And I don’t even like Face Book!

To the former Slide: We will not forget what you did and how your treated us.

http://fishingcactus.com

http://www.creatures4.com

http://blog.fishingcactus.com

Why can’t we make an SPP?

I am looking for a person with the skill that will make the pathetic version of SPP lite be able to add our items and to redecorate our habs.

I am going to set up a forum, this blog is here for people to check in and see if I get someone, also to comment and such while I install the forum.

I keep saying “Google” can provide us with a program that we can use offline while they take down the game we love, but why can;t we do it? Especially if we pay a person to do it!

More later!

Deja Vu

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/

Well it Really is the Same Old Song and Dance

http://blog.fishingcactus.com/index.php/2011/08/22/the-uncensored-truth-about-creatures-4/comment-page-3/#comment-6799

Well that was finally a poor answer to my question regarding Creatures 4 and it being online and unplayable offline. I wonder if they teach vagueness in the business school, Using buzz words to make everything seem to magically be ok? One thing you can count on when protecting yourself from a potential bad online game is the company’s unwillingness to answer simple questions honestly. I asked my question September 8, 2011 and did not get this poorly constructed answer till September 14, 2011. if that is not a huge bug red flag then I do not know what is.

It is not going to be playable offline and it will not be around if the company is not around, but they do not want to come out and say this because they want us to pour our hard earned money into this online game that can go poof at any time and with that your money is gone and so is creatures 4. What they do is suggest Creatures 3 as a consolation prize! LOL and what they do not realize this that all of the creatures community already have that game and all the add-ons.

Well let me tell you I am a person that was burned. A game I played for almost 3 years is going bye bye and all that I have put in it is going bye bye and I have nothing to show for it. So the company was bought out by Google and Google decided to shut it down. This very same thing can happen to this “Creatures 4″.

I advise you out there not to buy any in game “gold eggs” don’t fall for the “haves” and “have nots” in the end the players who sink in too much of their money are going to be the “down and outs” This company was warned and yet they did not listen nor do they care.

Oh I think that Fishing Cactus’s version of Creatures 4 will have a lot of function and new things and exciting possibilities and it will cost you dearly. This is how these models work, they get you hooked and soon you decided to buy one thing for the game and the farther you get in the more you don’t seem to notice that anything good costs money, they hold back the people playing for coin at a very very very slow pace and it creates a game of greed. New people to creatures will join and they will have no clue as to how this game really was. Oh plus all the lovely Face Book gaming children will flood it. This will all be about the coins and the gold eggs, it will be about buying and selling because down the line they will have some sort of “Auction House” or “Market Place”. Mark my words.

We do as “Real Creatures Fans” have hope and that is Steve Grand. Steve Grand is the creator of the original Creatures and I do believe he cares. He is creating a whole new type of “Creatures” and is focusing on higher brain function in the Artificial Intelligence. You can read his blog and we will have to wait for the Real Creatures because this Creatures 4 does not even feel like an authentic Creatures version.

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

http://stevegrand.wordpress.com/