The AI of "Creatures" ● Alan Zucconi

This short documentary is dedicated to the game that advanced Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Life like no other game did: "Creatures".
Join me on this journey to discover how a game from 1996 succeeded where even modern game are struggling. Welcome to "The AI of Creatures".
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:02:01 - The Game
00:04:45 - The Brain
00:13:05 - The Learning
00:17:53 - The End
00:20:37 - Closing
References:
► Grand, S., Cliff, D. "Creatures: Entertainment Software Agents with Artificial Life". Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems 1, 39-57 (1998). doi.org/10.1023/A:1010042522104
🐦 Twitter ► / alanzucconi
💰 Patreon ► / alanzucconi
🌐 Website ► www.alanzucconi.com

[@nikitaelizarov7444]

I remember how this game blew my teenage mind back then. I've had no clue how complicated the machinery behind the scenes was. Thank you for this documentary.

[@AlanZucconi]

You're welcome! And there is so much more I couldn't talk about in this video!

[@nikitaelizarov7444]

@@AlanZucconi Are there any attempts to update the design of the creatures with the modern AI techniques employing the increased computing power, too, that you're aware of?

[@AlanZucconi]

@@nikitaelizarov7444 Sadly, not that I'm aware of! I'd love to see a new game inspired by Creatures, but making full use of model AI & ML!

[@Nyveon]

I would love to see a modern implementation of this concept! This is awesome!

[@AlanZucconi]

I know! I was so looking forward to Creatures 4 when it was announced... but looking back, I'm glad it never got released!

[@originalcharacter2470]

The inventor of the norns, Steve Grand is currently building on this technology with a project called "Grandroids", building the AI on a biological-type logic (genes, chemicals,organs) for the purpose of scientific experiment.

[@123TeeMee]

@@originalcharacter2470 I don't really know how well he's doing tbh, it doesn't seem he's doing his work in a very structured way, and seems to reject the scientific community somewhat, but idk i haven't looked much into him.

[@samyar5333]

give the original game a try too before that happens ;)

[@dranorter]

@@123TeeMee Classic mad scientist - his motivation comes partially from thinking that he's got a unique point of view and everyone else is doing it wrong. (Personality-wise, he's very timid for a mad scientist, but as far as his ideas and mindset go, it's a good match.) But these sort of mad scientists are where science got started, and his mindset is what made Creatures innovative in the first place, so I've got no objection to him working in that way.

[@originalcharacter2470]

The way Steve explained norn instincts, is that when the norns sleep, they simulate performing that action in their sleep, and they learn from the actions they perform there.

[@masterpig5s]

Could you imagine an AI being plugged into that to actually learn etc or a virtual assistant which in its down time worked an a task which gave you a result which it then took and learnt from. Similar ish thing but not really. Learning.

[@Cubelarooso]

It's astounding to me how Creatures was able to do so much, then just vanish, eerily like the Shee themselves.

[@belldandygemini]

The creator is busy creating his magnum opus, Grandroids. It's been so many years, I don't know if when he'll ever release it but he's finished recreating like genetics and the ai itself.

[@_WiseMass]

Quite confused why this masterpiece didn't get the attention it deserved!!

[@AlanZucconi]

I KNOW RIGHT? 😭

[@desangre831]

For what it's worth, I had bought it! :D

[@dranorter]

Creatures 2 was my childhood! I think my brother and I spent a good 4 years obsessed with that game, and CAOS became our first programming language. We were never able to explain how cool it was to classmates though.

[@NopeSecret]

because its boring and very stupid

[@roninthecollector3875]

Way ahead of it’s time. This game absolutely enthralled me from the moment I saw the box that Warned, DIGITAL DNA Inside!

[@lesliepage7849]

one of the best games ive ever played. i yearn for a spiritual successor, of which there has yet to be one.

[@stefang5639]

If you look at the possibilities of modern neural networks, it is completely incredible that no one has created a modernized version of such a game yet.

[@insolitusau]

Thank you for this. I used to be a part of the Creatures community and various chatrooms that spawned from the phenomenon at a young age. Your video very eloquently described AI then and now in a way that's accessible to someone who might not be so tech saavy. Fascinating stuff. You may not be aware, but there was one user (AntiNorn, I believe) who created a website that was dedicated to performing cruelty upon the Norns, complete with various items and COBs designed to traumatize and poison. The reaction from the community was so visceral that, if I recall correctly, Steve Grand was delighted - it confirmed to him that he had created a 'being' that was at least realistic enough that people felt an emotional attachment to them and found themselves in uproar when it came to their wellbeing! Mission accomplished. :) It'll always have a special place in my heart. Reminds me of simpler times.

[@AlanZucconi]

That's great to hear! And yes, I do remember that website haha! Creatures really was something magical, and have yet to see a game that successfully recreated that feeling!

[@inflorire]

Wow! I was part of the community too! I was maybe in fourth grade or so when I played this game, but I remember the anti norm site and really disliking it especially because my brother liked to get on the game and traumatize all my norms and rename them to things like “stupid” 😣 I made a lot of game art with my dad’s photoshop program and printed out and read all the documents they included about the different hormones and biochemicals. I have the documentation to my teacher and asked what she thought about them and she was really impressed by how detailed it was. Such a great game for teaching kids about science and operant conditioning.

[@theslybynight]

In 1996/7 I was working in a place approached by this company for funding. I was given a pre-release of the game to try out. Thanks for bringing back memories.

[@safebox36]

Oh my god, finally someone actually does a documentary on my favourite game series.

[@adamsandlerfan6933]

Great documentary, was obsessed with this game and the sequel as a teen, I never understood why more people weren't interested in how advanced the norns were

[@dylski]

Hey - brilliant short documentary on the AI Creatures! A little correction: Instincts do not produce rewards or punishments during a Norns's normal awake learning. They are basically used for supervised training to learn simple generic 'instinctual behaviours', such as "If hungry push it" (whatever it is). Instincts are a good way to kickstart learning through proactive exploration. Instincts are trained while the Norn is in the egg and while sleeping. The biochemistry is used to generate reward and punishment from actions and their consequential effect on drive levels.

[@AlanZucconi]

Hey Dylan, I'm very glad you've found the documentary! ☺️ Yeah, I had a couple of people correcting that in the comments! 😅 Finding reliable information about how the brain works was ...harder than expected! I ended up installing some rather old tools to inspect different brains myself! And even wrote a python script to investigate a couple of things further haha! 🤪 It's a shame that so much technical knowledge about Creatures has been forgotten! I'm not kidding when I say that I have yet to see another game as clever and deep as Creature was. So thank you for you work! 🙏

[@revimfadli4666]

Ooh so instincts are more like pre-filled experience replay buffer in modern terms?

[@dylski]

@@revimfadli4666 Indeed 🙂

[@sinankupeli628]

MIND. BLOWN. I was just thinking if making something like this is possible today. Found out it was already made 25 years ago. By a single guy.

[@AlanZucconi]

I KNOW RIGHT? To be fair, Creatures has quite a long credit list since a few more people worked on it! But the main driving force was indeed Steve Grand! It is a shame nobody has ever done a game as complex as Creatures in recent times. Wobbledogs is probably the closest, and it does not even remotely get to the same level of complexity.

[@tylerchambers6246]

@@AlanZucconi Really goes to show you: our computers are 10,000 times more powerful than they were when Creatures was developed, and yet nobody has released a commercial product that even begins to approach the depth of the AI in Creatures, because the limitation, as is the case for most things, is not the hardware, but the software.

[@airplanemaster1]

I Owned this game, and I have the fainted memories of Playing this... But it was released in 96, and I was born in 98, so I would've only been in the single digits when I played it... I'm 22 now, but I still had wisps of memories reminding me of their giant eyes, and the squeaky noises they made... Only now have I tried to dig up anything related to those memories, and here I am now, watching this video.

[@Jabrils]

This was really interesting, thanks for sharing

[@revimfadli4666]

Wanna make a modern take? Lol

[@KaizarNike]

@@revimfadli4666 I do, that's why I searched this.

[@revimfadli4666]

@@KaizarNike great! Hope it goes well. Will you implement a similar brain structure & dream mechanism? Top-down design like this hopefully ends up more interesting than the usual "graze around, fight, mate" one

[@dshmk-hd1pf]

I was obsessed with this game when i was 10

[@AlanZucconi]

I still am! 🤪

[@ClownCarCoup]

I’m here not because I played Creatures - had never heard of it - but because of my interest in AI and Biogenesis. Steve Grand’s book ‘Creation- Life and How to Make It’ was recommended to me. The book was published in 2001 about the concepts he used to create this game. While reading it I thought it’d be a good idea to see what the game looked like. I was pleased to find your video which gave me a look at the game ad much more. It visually reinforced many of the ideas in his book. Well done and thank you.

[@AlanZucconi]

Thank you so much! I wished more games dared to do as much as Creatures did!

[@RichardMV]

Hearing the 'norn in severe pain' sound effect near the end of the video triggered a visceral response in me. I was obsessed with these games as a kid and I've been longing for something that comes even reasonably close in the decades since Creatures 3.

[@endassey1]

I'd love to see you expand this in to a comparison video between the three Creatures games.

[@AlanZucconi]

There is so much to say about the Creatures series that I might make a follow-up video in the future!

[@endassey1]

@@AlanZucconi Please do!

[@brittanykateevans]

19:34 The sad dying sound still hurts, wow.

[@DennisCNolasco]

Bravo, excellent retrospective Alan! I still follow Steve Grand’s current development in his quest to make a truly living AI on his grandroids site. We shall see...

[@AlanZucconi]

Thank you so much!

[@plateo_3234]

Thanks a lot for this video ! I'm a Creatures fan, I consider these as my favorite video games, but I'm kinda dumb and I never really understood how the norns' brains worked. For the first time in my 23 years of continuous playing this game, I think I somewhat understand how it works. Many thanks !

[@AlanZucconi]

You're welcome! ✨

[@Xzeihoranth]

One of the most important franchises in terms of technical prowess, with the most unfortunately generic title. Great essay!

[@aangelaci98]

When I was little I played creature village with my siblings. I loved it and when I grew older I looked for more games from the same creators. It’s amazing what you did here ♥️ I definetly learned a lot growing up with this game

[@AlanZucconi]

Thank you for sharing your story! Creatures will always have a special place in my heart!

[@ricardasist]

Would love a follow up video detailing the complex emergent behaviours in these creatures

[@david.merrick]

Oh man. Yeah played tons of Creatures 2 back in the day and had no idea how sophisticated the AI was for its time. Thanks for the explanation and for the nostalgia trip

[@addammadd]

Had a high school science teacher use this to demonstrate evolution.

[@AlanZucconi]

Oh whoa that's great! 🤩

[@bathtubmethlab]

Thanks for making this. I spent so much time on this game when I was little. My mum had to get me to step away from the computer pretty often because it would make me so angry that my Norns weren't doing what I wanted them to do, hahaha.

[@AlanZucconi]

Haha I remember that feeling very well! As so happy that in later games you choose push and even pick up the creatures! 🤣

[@pirjsuka]

The game is incredible. Thanks for digging it and making such a deep review of it. I've missed that game in my school days. It's quite sad that the rise of 3D and otherwise visually attractive games buried such revolutionary and inspiring games. This goes in line and probably even further than game where you build robots from smallest components.

[@AlanZucconi]

I'll always have a special place in my heart!

[@pirjsuka]

@@AlanZucconi Recalled what that other game is - slate.com/technology/2014/01/robot-odyssey-the-hardest-computer-game-of-all-time.html

[@samuelschmidgall2090]

Astonishing to see such modern mechanisms over two decades ago.

[@TomBattey]

This is awesome - I loved these games as a kid, but was terrible and my Norns all ended up sick and badly behaved. I spent the most time on whichever one was on a spaceship, I can't remember which is which. This is such a good way of visualising how the A.I. actually works, too - I've read a few papers on Creatures for research, but the tech always goes a bit over my head, this really helps understand what's going on under the hood!

[@AlanZucconi]

Thank you so much Tom! The one on the spaceship was Creatures 3 (or Docking Station... or both)! C3 Norns have an even more advanced brain! I could do 30 videos just about Creatures!!!

[@alborisninvel3714]

@@AlanZucconiI'd watch 30 videos about Creatures! With great excitement.

[@AlanZucconi]

@@alborisninvel3714 the nostalgia is SO! strong!

[@artes.impias]

Wow I remember that this was one of the first PC games I ever played. Always had it in my head but couldn't remember the name. It blew my mind back then, still really impressive today. Gonna look for a copy to replay it.

[@AlanZucconi]

It's on GOG! C3/DS are working fairly well!

[@artes.impias]

@@AlanZucconi thanks I will check it out

[@originalcharacter2470]

I think very interesting to mention that Steve himself believes that norns are "technically alive". It's a reminder of how serious Steve was about building an actual living thing. By the way Alan, I'd be interested to hear you talk about Steve Grand's work in general. Do you think he will invent conscious AI?

[@Victor_Dias_]

holly jesus, this video is so good that i have no words to describe it! thank you so much!

[@AlanZucconi]

Thank you! 🙏

[@HowardLewisShip]

Fascinating to watch this; last night I read "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" by Ted Chiang, a SF story about "digients" and their implications.

[@shirakawamaseru]

I loved this game as a child, played it every day for months and still own it today. Was thinking about writing an OpenSource successor but there is much more that goes into an game than code. You need good graphics, sounds and much more and that is holding me back to this day

[@AlanZucconi]

I know that feeling VERY well! I've been wanting to create a new version of Creatures for such a long time. But it's a very daunting task, especially finding the right balance!

[@janplaehn]

I always imagined your voice to be more Dumbledore-ish, like a wise old tech art wizard 🤔

[@AlanZucconi]

I hope that wasn't too much of a disappointment! 😅

[@janplaehn]

It definitely wasn't! Super interesting video and loved listening to you!

[@bejoscha]

A game that is nearly 25years old... ouch, that hurt. Thanks for taking me down the memory lane, though. I'm just left with one thing in my brain: How come I never ever heard of the Science Kit ?!??! Anyway, thank you very much for this enlightening video. Glad I stumbled across your channel (via the GOL video)

[@AlanZucconi]

Thank you! 🙏 I really enjoyed doing it! Installing Creatures after 20 years was quite an emotional experience!

[@popeye4720]

I just saw my friend playing this while I was fucked up. I passed out and wanted to ask him about it but fell asleep. When I woke up he was passed out and I had to go to work. Once I got to work I rolled a b and had a coffee and typed in the one thing I remember him saying. Creatures. This is what I find. Fucking crazy.

[@morgandavies2534]

Thanks for going into detail.

[@AlanZucconi]

You're welcome! It was a lot of fun!

[@CYON4D]

This is an amazing video! Thank you for putting this together. I used to play Creatures 2 a lot back when it was first released. A very unique game.

[@TheBibitesDigitalLife]

Awesome explanation ! Thank you so much I always wondered about the logic of this game and it's very inspiring !

[@AlanZucconi]

I'm really glad you enjoyed it! And there was so much more I couldn't talk about it!!!

[@TheBibitesDigitalLife]

@@AlanZucconi future videos maybe 😏 ?

[@revimfadli4666]

Did it inspire you to make The Bibites? I wonder if Bibites will have even better emergent behaviors lol

[@TheBibitesDigitalLife]

@@revimfadli4666 I discovered the existence of Creatures after starting working on The Bibites, but it's been an inspiration ever since :)

[@caynima]

What a great video ! Thank you ! I played this game when i was 7-10, back in the 90's ... What a game ! I don't know any other game that can compete with its singularity. Creatures is unique.

[@AlanZucconi]

You're welcome! ☺️ And I know right? No other game have tried to replicate what Creatures did!

[@carlosgonzalezdiaz2674]

Amazing video! I had no idea that this game existed

[@utuber1752]

Awesome, I LOVED that game and bought the book on it to find out how it worked and the book was useless....

[@AlanZucconi]

Sorry to hear that! I think the book was more of a "guide" on how to play.

[@LarryDamen]

Yup

[@mercster]

Please please find something similar to this today. I had so much fun with Creatures in the 90s...

[@AlanZucconi]

Wobbledogs is the closest thing I've seen! But even that, doesn't really come close to what Creatures was in 1996!

[@mercster]

@@AlanZucconi HMMMM... loks like it might be interesting to play around with. Do the dogs mate and pass on traits? I couldnt figure that out from the description. Thanks for the reply!

[@Pyromaniac77777]

My brother and I were just reminiscing on Creatures last night… so I fired up KZbin and then found this excellent video. Really cool learning how it all worked, thank you!

[@AlanZucconi]

Ah thank you so much! If you're interested, Creatures 3 & Docking Stations are available on GOG and are still quite enjoyable! Creatures 1 has not aged that well! 😅 I also have a few other documentaries on my channel that I hope you'll enjoy!

[@Pyromaniac77777]

@@AlanZucconiI’ll check them out! Yeah I saw Steam has 3 and Docking Stations, as well as a compilation of game 1&2 called Creatures: The Albion Years. I looked through Wikipedia too and saw that Creatures 4 never released. What I wouldn’t give for some kind of faithful remake!

[@AlanZucconi]

@@Pyromaniac77777 I followed the development of C4 very close. And I'm SO! glad that never came out. 😬

[@okzoomer5728]

I remember playing this in the late 90's when I was 5. It was the coolest game and I remember I lost my mind when I lost the CD

[@AlanZucconi]

Oh no! Did you find it, eventually?

[@123TeeMee]

I lost my mind when i lost pokemon ruby, i realise now how dumb pokemon games are...

[@okzoomer5728]

@@AlanZucconi Never did :(. Replaced it in 2004. Some years later that CD broke too ;;

[@AlanZucconi]

@@okzoomer5728 you can find the full series of GoG!

[@leahstreader428]

I remember getting this game for free with our computer in about 1997 or 98. I would have been 6 or 7 years old and I was so excited to play this game but I had absolutely no idea what I was doing but I still loved the cute creatures. I never knew the game was so complicated and intelligent! Great video! Also thanks for the nostalgia bomb!

[@TNJX]

Surprised how hard I had to search youtube to find a Creatures Documentary. Might want to change your titles or tags. Thankyou for your work x PS. beautiful ending. Much love went into this. Bravo.

[@AlanZucconi]

You're welcome! I actually have a new documentary premiering on Monday, about Conway's Game of Life! Can't wait!

[@TNJX]

@@AlanZucconi I subscribed, but feel free to remind me

[@TNJX]

Still think you should add videogame documentary to the title dude

[@TheHairline]

This game was me and my cousins' favorite thing in the world and the reason that we looked forward to being on the computer at our grandmothers' house. I wish I had the original CD from when she died. We all had our own floppy disks with our own Norns saved on them and would take turns or shares playing over different weeks when we got to visit. Omg this brings back sooooooooo many memories of us as kids.

[@anthonyapm]

Awesome video man!

[@TheKiwiCoder]

Wow this is super interesting! You make it sound so simple :)

[@destinybobestiny]

I just found this game on Steam & played it last night. I'd love a remake. 💖💖💖

[@revimfadli4666]

Didn't know the AI was this advanced, awesome!

[@robinwobbles]

Happy birthday Alan!!!

[@DaxPegels]

I love that you react to almost if not every comment on your video! I see what i want to say has been said in the comments so many times already. Like many people here, creatures 2 came into my life somehow (forgot how really). And i found it very interesting. Even if i didnt really understand it. When creatures 3 came around, i understood a bit more, but, as I now know i had ADHD so the game bored me after a while. Sadly. Because i really loved it. One of the things that made an impression on me, which, to this day i still havent seen in other games was the ecosystem and seasons. I loved watching the critters walk around and dealing with each other and seasonal items. I think rain world currently comes close to what creatures 2 had.

[@AlanZucconi]

Thank you so much! I do my best to respond to everyone! ☺️ Have you played Wobble Dogs? I think it is the closest game that embodies the essence of Creatures (cute animals with genetics, ai and evolution)!

[@PatrickCharpenet]

That game broke my heart.

[@ethanhayward758]

This video is phenomenal. Fantastic work!

[@furcipus]

Thank you for the highly professional Video!

[@AlanZucconi]

You're welcome! ☺️

[@ok.meinong]

wowow !! this is an incredible video documenting an incredible game ! ty ty ty seems like this video & Creatures itself were passion projects for their respective creators

[@AlanZucconi]

Thank you so much! Indeed, there was a lot of lot into the making of this documentary! But I think it was the least I could do for a game that had such an impact on my life!

[@BeeBlueBubble]

Such an interesting video! I hope I can see more of this stuff on your channel!

[@AlanZucconi]

For sure! I'm already working on the next one! It's going to be about Conway's Game of Life...

[@MakerBen]

Thanks for making this video! This was really cool to watch!! Can't wait to build a modern version of this game :)

[@AlanZucconi]

Thank you! I'm dying to see a modern remake of Creatures!!! GET 👏 TO 👏 WORK 👏 🤣

[@brittanykateevans]

This is interesting, thanks for making this! As a kid I obviously didn’t think about it in this analytical way. I was 6 when I got Creatures and as the newer ones came out I continued to be obsessed with this game. Wow the nostalgia!

[@spiraldown2710]

I’m so glad other people were impacted by this game. That game is hard to describe properly- it’s immersive in an unusual way, and it’s gameplay is so unique. To be honest people usually don’t think it sounds “fun”, but it’s beyond that… it’s fulfilling, intricate, and sometimes really emotional. It’s been over 20 years (👵🏻💀⏳) since I last played, I still remember some of their names. 🤔 (and the time I attempted to teach the concept of “self” instead of it was a disaster) I had no idea what most of the menus even did, but damn was I familiar with high school chemistry later!

[@AlanZucconi]

I still remember my first norn! ☺️

[@Vespidazed]

This was very useful! I've recently got into creatures (about a year ago) and have recently tried my hand at making genetic breeds. You've put a lot of the complicated stuff into easy to understand language that makes gene-making much easier to get through. A lot of the older tutorials tend to be worded a bit complicated or relying on the reader to have some prior background knowledge.

[@andrewnye9402]

Some very interesting things in that PCI bus at the start :P Also this was wonderful :)

[@AlanZucconi]

That was actually fake! 😅 Although I did record Creatures on an emulated Windows 98!

[@golbezgirl6290]

Hopefully with the creatures series being on steam and getting the community bouncing back maybe it'll gain tration loved playing this game as a kiddo still dont know how the series didn't hit it off big but hopefully that will change playing the heck out od creatures 3/DS

[@sergpie]

I absolutely loved this game as a kid- lived in Italy until I was fourteen, and me and my cousin found it at a mercatino Thanks for uploading!

[@Lou-li5mv]

what would it be like if somebody rebooted the franchise, giving norns the kind of brainpower that modern machines can handle?

[@ericarichardson2983]

The sounds brought me back! Thanks for explaining this! It was my favorite game growing up and I’ve been curious as to how it was programmed.

[@AlanZucconi]

Thank you for watching! 🙏

[@woodsmanthepeasant]

i love the sunken artifacts in the background :D 😃

Thank you for the documentary! I could be counted as one who this game inspired back then. I was scientifically-inclined to begin with, but reading about Creatures when it was new was an eye opening moment for a teenager me and I've been interested in the development of AI ever since. I haven't thought of this game for years, but I'm now pondering if I should try and get it from somewhere and test if I could get it running on a modern computer.

[@AlanZucconi]

You're welcome! Creatures has changed so many lives! I'd suggest getting Creatures 3 & Docking Station from GOG. Creatures 1 didn't age that well, and Creatures 2 doesn't really run on modern machines.

@@AlanZucconi Ah, ty! You saved me quite some time :D.

[@AlanZucconi]

@ I've spent WAY too long trying to run C2! 😅

[@Madenice]

Oh lovely done!!!

[@AlanZucconi]

Thank you!

[@brianhershey563]

Love this, thank you, Creatures and Steve Grand's influence was and will always be a big part of me! 🙏

[@AlanZucconi]

I know right? I wish more people knew about Creatures!

[@synthetic240]

I had forgotten I ever played this game (I would've been 14), but I felt a wave of nostalgia when I saw the main settlement screen. I don't think I had the patience to teach them anything.

[@AlanZucconi]

Yeah, I felt so nostalgic working on this video! I wanted to feel almost as if you were playing Creatures while watching it!

[@ZoidbergForPresident]

Same. XP

[@jk743]

Loved this game as a child. I still remember you had to buy the eggs like a serial key and you would get them on a 3.5'' floppy. I never felt I could properly teach them though, they always did what they wanted to 😄

[@AlanZucconi]

I remember the floppy disk! 💾🥚

[@kamikeserpentail3778]

I didn't understand this game at all as a kid. I was fascinated by it, and a little scared for some reason. My cousin had it, so I didn't get to mess with it very much. Had no idea it was so influential or well known.

[@AlanZucconi]

If you want, I'd suggest giving Creatures 3 & Docking Station (the expansion) a try! They're on GOG!

[@s.s.anneticketguy]

I remember feeling scared, too. The first Grendel encounter shocked me.

[@mementomori7160]

I've never heard of this game. Now I have to play it and try to recreate it

[@7th_CAV_Trooper]

wow, this video was a throw back for me. loved this game.

[@AlanZucconi]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@7th_CAV_Trooper]

@@AlanZucconiI enjoyed your Minecraft video too. Keep 'em coming.

[@AlanZucconi]

@@7th_CAV_Trooper thank you so much!! It was a lot of fun to make! There's more documentaries coming, but they take a long time to make!

[@ndhk]

I loved this game when I was a kid :)) This was interesting to watch

[@Silence.Mortal]

I remember my moody teenage cousin playing this and she refused to tell me what it was or let me have a go. I spent a long time wondering what it was and every now and then I would think about it. Then I saw a small clip of it in Nostalgia Nerds mopy fish video. Now I am here.

[@idaparakila]

That's so funny, my moody teenage cousin was the same way about The Sims 1!

[@luxblitzar]

I never played this, though now I look forward to doing so. Great video! I ended up here after a lot of searching about Flatland- no idea how I got from a bidimensional world and the theory of further dimensions to This, but I won't question what brought me to discovering this amazing game.

[@AlanZucconi]

God bless The Algorithm! 🙏 Also, I'd suggest checking out my video on Conway's Game of Life...

[@oneeyedowl3888]

Loved this game so much.

[@AlanZucconi]

Me too! I grew up playing Creatures!

[@e-genes2727]

Very nice one i wasn't aware off. Im developing something close to it.

[@AlanZucconi]

Ohh tell me more!

[@AlanZucconi]

@@e-genes2727 looks super cool!!!

[@e-genes2727]

@@AlanZucconi Thanks. Still need alots of work but having alots of fun doing it (as an hobby).

[@gumball135]

Super cool, hadn't heard of this series before. Where can I read stories about it? I'm struggling to find anything through Google.

[@AlanZucconi]

Most of the websites about Creatures have unfortunately died. The Creatures Wiki ( creatures.fandom.com/wiki/Creatures_Wikia_Homepage ) is probably the best place to get some info!

[@jonathanf4082]

There's an archive of old content on eemfoo.org/ if you poke around there are articles and stories in there, though there's no obvious way to find them.

[@dorklymorkly3290]

I found your video in a desperation search about the topic. I have only played Creatures 3 but I liked it a lot, so much that it stuck in my mind for many years. I'm now using it to understand neural networks that aren't big and heavy and super elaborate. However, my research has been quite frustrating since I am relying on old tech that is not well documented anymore, it seems. Including those old C3 tools like the genetics kit and co, trying to reverse engineer things (I already read the paper but it's above my head lol...) Anyway, I am wondering if you could explain a thing regarding the genetics kit because it's documentation only covered the most simple use cases. Regarding Brain Tracts, you can connect a source lobe and a destination lobe. In the program there is a connectivity tab for editing how neurones are connected or can be connected, either fixedly or with migrating dendrites. What I do not understand there is the "Connections per Neuron" setting, which the documentation explains as: "For tracts whose dentrites do not migrate: their dendrites are initialised in order starting from the beginning of each source and destination connection. The 'Connects Per Neuron" refers to how many times the neurons should be connected up before moving to the next neuron. The most often used setting is 1 for source, 1 for destination, which comes out as connecting the first neurons together, the second, the third, and so on. A value of zero (never move on) is not allowed" The documentation only covers 1 to 1. But, the tract Combination -> Decision for example has a setup like this: Source : Combination connections per neuron "40" , with Start Neuron "0" and End neuron "439" (440 in total divided by 40 is 11) Dest: Decision connections per neuron "1", Start Neuron "0", End Neuron "10" (aka 11 possible steps) The ranges are inclusive. But what I don't understand, how this example maps out! Does it connect Neuron 0-39 from Source to Neuron 0 of Destination? Then Neuron 40-79 from Source to Neuron 1 of Destination? This WOULD map all neurons of the source to the destination basically 1:1 But maybe it doesnt' work that way? Sorry for the long winded question, I hope I am getting the meaning across well. If you don't know either but know resources where I could perhaps go and ask there, that would be helpful too. In any case, though, thank you for your time and this awesome presentation.

[@AlanZucconi]

I'm glad you've found this interesting! I'm not gonna lie: a lot of the knowledge about Ceratures' neural networks is somewhat lost. Many resources are not up-to-date, or are simply incorrect. I had to install so many tools to double check things myself! If I recall correctly, connections are "reversed" from what you would normally expect! The best thing to move forward is to use some external tools, such as "Brain in a Vat" and "Lobe Study". There is a lot of info here: double.nz/creatures/ which has been absolutely invaluable! That being said, Creatures is probably not the bet way to learn about neural networks. It had a very unique implementation which was strongly constrained by the lack of memory and computational power. If someone had to make Creatures today, the brain architecture and technologies would be quite different!

[@dorklymorkly3290]

@@AlanZucconi Ohhh, right. The brain in vat! yeah I grabbed it now, thanks~. And I see, hmmm. Well, the Creatures way is probably really outdated and stuff, yeah. But...there were games made with it, and you asked yourself, why is this ancient game so prolific in that regard, even today? Maybe it is limited and crude but, it's a proven model and if it ran on old machines like that, then phones and co should be no problem either. But I also agree that eventually I should also look into the contemporary, much more advanced ways. Anyway, the brain in a vat thing showed how neurons are connected, and my assumption seems to be correct (at first glance anyway) There are some caveats to tract connection, though, the stimuli lobe, for example, has four input tracts. So either there's some edge case under the hood for it, or the update order is doing the work needed to stay in the "two input limit". Or the Creatures 3 engine, aka, a different one than for C1 and 2, simply has a bigger limit. I'm going to check the open source thing, too. Anyway, again, thank you. At this point in time you/your video seem to be the most recent analysis of this. Helpful in either case.

[@yaloolah42]

Trying to figure this out as a kid on your own was insane. ... never did get all these nuances about the brain activity! Just did the best I could with the training computers on the other floors lol

[@ss-oq9pc]

I wish there was a book or video series explaining how to program things like this AI and the 'digital DNA'. It's absolutely fascinating. I've never been able to find anything that went into the details of the code and explained it thoroughly.

[@AlanZucconi]

It's a shame that so much knowledge about this game has been lost!

[@roninjoey]

I would play this game for hours and hours. I would get so frustrated by the lack of structure or goals, ignore my norns for newer, shinier ones, inevitably fixate on one at a time, explore the corners of the island again and again, torture the grendel…

[@gibraltaz0r423]

I'm doing a project for Uni. On one of the chapters I'm mentioning this game and jesus christ thank god for your video. Trying to understand the paper by Grand is hellish. Cheers

[@AlanZucconi]

I'm glad this helps! Doing research on Creatures was undoubtedly hard, as so much of the original knowledge has been lost! 😔 Anyway, as. lecturer I'd be very happy to see your project once is done! ✨

[@tehshape]

Omg i got this game at a book fair in like 3rd grade

[@zephyr.r]

i have the collector’s edition still new in the box in my closet for years now and have been wanting to try the game out ever since i’ve discovered it when i was a kid

[@AlanZucconi]

Now is the time! :-)

[@realcukiemonster]

Docking Station is free (and can be played without any of the games if preferred), and Creatures 1 I know for sure I saw on an abandonware website a few weeks ago, which can be docked with the Docking Station game, I'm pretty sure I saw Creatures 3 there too but not 100% certain - it also can be docked. CreaturesCaves.com is active still and most of the player created agents, metarooms, breeds, etc can be found there, both old and new. Just got back into it recently, myself :) Always come back to this game no matter how seriously I become burned out on it hahaha

[@AlanZucconi]

@@realcukiemonster The games are actually available on GOG!

[@s.s.anneticketguy]

Which box is the collector's edition? I have the original box from 1996, but I have never seen a collector's edition.

[@timrichter1980]

I too had no clue how complex the AI was. Even when the Sims games don't have such things like genetics, I wonder how the the Sims AI does compare to this. Anyway, I love the Creatures games, even though I haven't played them for a long time. My developer mind now wants me to develop a new and better Creatures clone...but I know, this would likely be highly too ambitious, even though there are many AI frameworks out there now. Which is the biggest Creatures community on the net? Something like a Subreddit?

[@AlanZucconi]

A very good channel to follow if you are interested in these kind of topics, AIandGames is definitely worth following! kzbin.info For Creatures, this is the subreddit where I sometime post: www.reddit.com/r/CreaturesGames/

[@timrichter1980]

@@AlanZucconi Very cool, thank you very much!

[@PeppersnGlowworms]

Thank you for the nostalgia! I wished someone had explained the workings of the brains in Creatures like this back in the day. I thought my Norns (in Creatures 2) were extra clever, then because they had some extra lobes... I managed to become a moderately successful genetic engineer with the Grendels of Creatures 3 / Docking Station later on, but the brains remained more or less a black box to me... I was fine with tweaking the instinct genes to influence behaviour and left the brain to freely evolve (but only in the males, thereby creating sexually dimorphic brains). Too bad Creatures 4 (it had many different names over the year) slowy withered away in developement. But I hear Steve Grand is still out there doing his thing (Grandoids etc.)...

[@AlanZucconi]

Thank you! Yes, I dabbled with the genetics as well, back then! But it was virtually impossible to find some good resources about the inner working for the brain! Even today, a lot of the knowledge that is online is very unreliable! For C4, I am somewhat happy it did not happen. I was not very convinced with the free-to-play direction the game was going. But I would love a MODERN Creatures, with all of the progress in AI we have done!

[@PeppersnGlowworms]

@@AlanZucconi Indeed a modern version of something like Creatures would be awesome. As for C4, when "free-to-play" came up it was already starting to spiral downwards... It's very sad that the last release was a buggy free-to-play minigame intended as a teaser for the real deal!

[@Lordodragonss]

This game and Wiggles are two games Iwould LOVE to get remade.

[@AlanZucconi]

I would seriously love to see a modern remake of Creatures with all the new advances in AI we recently had!

[@bryankreinhart]

If the developers ever released the full source of the _Creatures_ I know the community would continue improving and bring the code/graphics up to the modern. As a developer, I would even delve into the sources and see what improvements I could make.

[@AlanZucconi]

If I recall correctly, Steve Grant actually looked into that! But unfortunately it wasn't that easy! There are few things that people still haven't managed to reverse engineer, unfortunately.

[@michaelelbert5798]

cool this sounds basically exactly how a human mind works or at least mine

[@Alexander_Sannikov]

i really liked that game but it ran really slow on my Pentium I-133MHz with 32MB RAM and no gpu. and by slow i don't mean modern day "slow" 30fps, i mean actually slow like 4fps. i was also very young and understanding what the game wanted me to do was quite challenging.

[@AlanZucconi]

It's available on GOG, in case you're interested! I would suggest C3/DS though since a lot of the micromanagement of C1 can be tedious nowadays!

[@GamingPalOllieMK]

Instead of "push" i used "use" as a kid, it made more sense when I was teaching the Norn English and the Macedonian equivalent if I decided to teach them Macedonian. I was fascinated that you could teach the norns any language you wanted, you could even make up your own words and they'd associate them with the concepts and use those words.

[@AlanZucconi]

Yeah, that was great! I wish some other games had the courage to replicate what Creatures did!

[@epicmoo4830]

I know this game is available on GOG, but what emulation software did you use for the CRT with reflections on the bezel / bios / etc emulation?

[@AlanZucconi]

I made that in Premiere Pro and After Effects!