Creatures Online

Creatures Online (first dubbed Creatures 2011, later known as Creatures 4) is a new official creatures game currently in development by Fishing Cactus, licensed by Gameware Development. It will be the first major Creatures game since Docking Station in 2001, and is set on planet Sphericus.

History
The game was officially announced on 16th May 2011 and will be the first Creatures game for iOS and Android. BluesNews were able to confirm that the free-to-play game will be microtransaction-based (small fees), though "most of the content will be entirely free.

Bigben, the publishers, were given the rights to distribute Creatures Online, and all of the previous Creatures games in Europe.

From the Gamasutra website:

''Fishing Cactus (Belgium based developer), Bigben (Publisher) and Gameware Development (the IP rights owner) are set to deliver a new Creatures game that maintains the characteristics of the earlier games. It will be free-to-play and available on PC/Mac and iOS platforms - iPod, iPhone and iPad. A collector gift box full of surprises will also be created.''

In approximately 2009, Fishing Cactus floated the idea of C4 amongst themselves and approached Gameware. Fishing Cactus then contacted BigBen Interactive about the game, and they provided funding.

Grendels and Ettins will not be in the initial release of the game, as confirmed by Fishing Cactus, however they are on the "we might make them in an upgrade list".

In May 2013, Bigben partnered with ProSiebenSat.1 Games, who will distribute, maintain and market the game in Europe. Fishing Cactus also changed the name of the game from Creatures 4 to Creatures Online.

Areas
Creatures Online is the first Creatures game to be set on planet Sphericus. The game initially features five environments; it is likely that more areas may be developed for sale in the future. The areas that have been confirmed are:
 * The Hatchery
 * The Treehouse
 * The Cavern (may be renamed Lumin Cave as of the June Creatures Online Live Session)
 * The Beach (may be renamed Seashell Lagoon as of the June Creatures Online Live Session)
 * The Cave

Breed List
Creatures Online was originally announced as coming with just four Norn breeds. However, on March 2013, Fishing Cactus announced that there would now be 12 - 16 breeds included with the game.

The breeds that have been confirmed are as follow:
 * Aqua Norn
 * Bono Norn
 * Choo Norn
 * Cavern Norn
 * Classical Norn
 * Froggy Norn
 * Ito Norn
 * Kabuto Norn
 * Lab Norn
 * Mystic Norn
 * Wildling Norn

Demos
At Gamescom 2011, Fishing Cactus unveiled the first demo of Creatures Online. At the start, the player could choose either to create a male or a female Norn. Only two or three Norns could be created at the beginning.

Once the player had selected the gender, they could then use sliders to customise their Norn's look and the fur colour. Once they finished, an egg appeared in the Treehouse.

Like the previous games, the player could punish and reward their Norns by either tickling or slapping them.

At Gamescom 2012, Fishing Cactus exhibited a second demo of Creatures Online. This demo took place in the Hatchery rather than the Treehouse, and several new features, such as Norn speech and the Science Kit, were added. The demo also delivered a glimpse into some work-in-progress interfaces, such as the hatchery, the splicing machine and the Norn collections. Angry Nornito also made his first in-game appearance.

The Creatures Online Live Session demo showed many aspects of the gameplay, including the introduction of the Owner's Kit and Supply Kit.

A third demo of Creatures Online was exhibited their last at Gamescom 2013, where they introduced the Kabuto Norns, along with many other new breeds, along with an update to the baby Norns that reduced their head size to a more realistic standard.

Norn Stats
At one point, Fishing Cactus considered implementing a skill system, to get the Norns to take care of plants, play with critters, repair toys and machinery etc. Skill at these tasks was intended to improve the norns' abilities and was meant to be inheritable by children. The stats were coded into genes, storing the value of each stat so that they could be inherited.

Due to "side-effects" and the system not being "satisfactory", as of June 2012 its inclusion was being reassessed, and it is currently unknown if it will still feature in the game.

Master Shee
Main Page: Master Shee On the 2nd of March 2012 Fishing Cactus confirmed that a Shee will be making an appearance in-game. The Shee featured is known as "Master Shee" and will act as a help assistant in the game and provide the player with information. He is the first ever official Shee to make an actual live appearance in-game, and his design said to been inspired by Emmett "Doc" Brown from the Back to the Future trilogy.

Norn Design
Along with a screenshot of the actual game, one of the first concept art images Fishing Cactus releasedon one of their blog posts was a pre-rendered image of a new Norn design that will feature in the game, with the most prominent feature being that the Norns will have realistic fur, smaller eyes and a less cartoony appearance.

Despite achieving mostly postive feedback from the Creatures Community, some members criticised the new design due to it being less cartoony and somewhat less cutesy than the previous Norns in the other games. As a result, the community member Norngirl made an edited version that more closely resembles the Norns in the previous games, which Don also mocked up here. Norngirl also made two other pics  and  as a helpful reminder of what past norns look like.

Payment
Creatures Online will be a free-to-play game. An online registration is necessary; the game will require you to be logged in online in order to play, and there will be levels in the game, unlocking items in the shop (named "The Shee Market" in the Creatures Online Live Session) and in the machines. There will also be a boxed version available to buy, containing "all the old chapters in the series (1, 2, 3, DS at least)" along with a Norn figurine, a Norn with a unique genetic code for their game and the equivalent of twenty euros in the game's virtual wallet.

There will be two currencies in game: coins, which will be collectable in-game by doing actions, and golden eggs, which can are occasionally given out as special occasions, can be traded for coins or can be bought in the shop for real money.

The idea of payment in a Creatures game has garnered a lot of criticism since its announcement. However, Fishing Cactus have reasurred players that it will be possible to play the game without spending a single cent.

The Gene Splicing Machine
In the Gamescom 2011 demo, it was first shown that one of the many features included in Creatures Online is the Splicing Machine, which allowed players to create their own Norn genomes rather than choose from a list of breeds. The player could also randomize what they wanted their Norn to look like.

As shown in the demo, whenever the player's Norns reproduce the player could choose what features are inherited from the parents using sliders to control each future, if wanted the Norn to more closely resemble one parent than the other. There are limits imposed from the norn's genetic code on how customisable their appearance is, as they inherit their potential appearance from their parents.

The first part of the Gene Splicer allowed the player to change the physical appearance of their Norn in several ways:

The second part allows the player to change their Norn's fur colour and/or patterns:
 * Pattern Layout - Controls the layout of the Norn's fur patterns
 * Fatness - Controls how fat or thin the Norn is (this doesn't appear to be modifiable with the player's first Norn(s))
 * Fur Length - Control how thick or thin the Norn's fur is
 * Eye Color - Changes the colour of the Norn's eyes
 * Fur Base Color - Changes the base color of the Norn's fur
 * Fur Pattern Color - Changes the colour of the Norn's fur pattern
 * Fur Detail Color - Changes the color of the Norn's fur details

As of June 2012, this is the main mechanism by which the players will be able to edit the genome of their norns - focussing on the appearance of the norn. There are currently no specific plans for a Genetics Kit.

Release
Creatures Online was originally planned to be released in January 2012 on iOS (iPhone/iPad/iPodTouch), Android, PC (online client) and Mac (AppStore, online client), but the game was delayed to add more content, giving an estimated release date of Q2 2012. In June 2012, Creatures Online was delayed again, this time to Q4 2012.

In November 2012, Fishing Cactus confirmed yet another delay, stating that they hoped to enter a beta phase around January or February, and that if this happened, a 'live date' of March to April 2013 was possible. The PGW page about Creatures Online had a release date of 26 April 2013, which was described by Lord Shee as being "not definitive". The game entered an in-house alpha stage on the 4th of March, and lasted about 8 weeks.

In May 2013, Fishing Cactus revealed that they and BigBen had partnered with ProSiebenSat.1 Games, who will distribute, maintain and market the game in Europe. Fishing Cactus also revealed that they were changing the name of the game from Creatures 4 to Creatures Online. ProSiebenSat.1 Games booked the server network for Creatures Online, and planned to be ready with the server by roughly July 2013. A closed beta was planned to run at this time, but did not eventuate.

It is now estimated that the iOS version of the game will be released in late 2014.

Third-Party Development
Third-party development will not be supported at the time of Creatures Online's release, but Fishing Cactus are looking at Valve's method of allowing third-party addons for Team Fortress 2 in developing a third-party content system for Creatures Online.