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The Wyvern's Lodge is my tribute to the Creatures series of artificial life games, which I whiled away a great deal of time playing in the late 90s and early 00s. These games were remarkable in several ways, one of them being the huge amount of third party customisation they were open to. This created a strong online community with a spirit of cooperation, in that if people weren't happy with the game, rather than whinging about it, they could get off their backsides and fix it! I created a number of breeds and objects for the game. Unfortunately through the years and through several changes of hosts, some of the files have become corrupted or gone missing. I've noted on the descriptions of each below any issues I know of. I have tried to repair what I can but have had some issues with compatibility on my current system.

As of 2024, people are still using this page and downloading stuff. I'm glad to see the game is still going and it's a privilege to know that people are still enjoying the things I created for it back in the 90s and early '00s.

If you notice a bug not listed here, or you think you can help solve one of the problems, please feel free to drop me an email to snapdragon9099 at yahoo dot com. You can download the Docking Station game for Windows and Linux free.

With the exception of the Uninteresting Norns which may be used in developing your own breed sprites, and genomes which I don't mind being used since the ones that came with most of the games were no good (!) please do not redistribute any of my work or use it in your own creations without prior consent. I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but it's not really flattering if something you spent time doing is used in naff recolours (you can make much better recolours by editing the genetics files) and sprites with the addition of gimmicky accessories.

Windows has caused an error and will now close. To resolve, please restart your computer and install Linux.

C3/DS

Genetics

Sphinx version 3
zip containing gen and annotated gno. The annoyingness and lack of survival abilities exhibited by the norns that come with the game are why most of my breeds' genomes are based on this. Hopefully less likely to spend all its time trying to get to the 'norn home' and whinging about 'crowded'. Reduces likelihood of wandering aimlessly into a corridor or platform with no resources and dying, several creatures clogging a lift and going from platform to platform incessantly until they die en masse, walking into a wall and lying on the floor and dying, and generally most stupidity-related deaths. Download for your own amusement or for use in your own genetic engineering.

Beefcake Grendel
zip containing gen and annotated gno. The grendels that C3 autocreates are unviable because reproduction is terminal to the female and they are highly susceptible to infection and injury, meaning it is pretty much impossible to maintain a breeding population for any length of time. Copy the gren-beefcake file to your C3 genetics folder to allow Beefcake grendels to be born in the world (n.b. unless you remove the original gren. file, some grendels will still have the genome that came with the game, since the grendel layer selects a genome starting with 'gren' at random). Beefcake Grendels are less inclined to attack Norns than are the original C3 Grendels.

Atavist Ettins

These Ettins are based on the C2 Ettin sprites. Their genetics make them more laid-back than C3 Ettins.
Readme file
Atavist Ettins in a zip.

Plague Ettins

A new breed of Ettin, to bring biological warfare to the Warp!
IMPORTANT: Before introducing Plague Ettins to your worlds, please read the readme file included for important notes on the care of Plague Ettins!

Plague Ettin zip

Agent Pack of two rather disgusting plants

The Asteroid of Dr Moreau, a humorous story.

The Bubonic Bugle, an agent created my myself and TwilightCat for keeping your Ettins in the worst possible health. A word of caution: Bacteria may only be small, but making 10,000 of them is guaranteed to ruin your world. Don't leave this agent in places where creatures are likely to activate it repeatedly, and use the ports sensibly (no wiring it up to a pulse generator and going AFK).

All-in-one agent of the above kindly made by Mkid. If I remember correctly, Mkid comes from New Zealand, likes rugby, and Capitalises Everything. Cheers Mkid. :-)

Plague Ettin Voice is for the benefit of people without C3. Ettins and Grendels can't be used in DS as they cause error messages because they have no voice files. This installs an alternative voice of snotty grunts and retches (copy to 'sounds' folder) that will suit your Plague Ettins!

Yettins

If Viking barbarians appeal to you, or you're just a huge Jamiroquai fan, download below!
Yettins zip

Sphinx Norns

The Sphinx Norns are a hardy desert type of Norn originally created for C2. They don't get overcrowded so much as the normal Norns and have a more robust immune system.

Updated 2016: the sprites for the youngest stage were missing. They have been recovered and should be working as intended now. Please redownload and reinstall.


All-in-one agent including Sphinx version 3 genome. This *should* put everything where it's supposed to be. If you're having problems with it, try the older zip download below.
Sphinx C3 zip

Slot: Geats x

Uninteresting Norns

C1 had the Banana Norn. C2 had the Desert Norn. C3 and DS never had a 'plain old uninteresting Norn' with no hair that was good for pigmentation experiments and beautiful in its own uncomplicated simplicity. Not until now anyway...

Updated 2016: recovered work in progress -- it was pretty much complete, but some of the images for the younger stages had not been imported to the sprites, and I cannot get the software to work on current operating systems without the palette becoming corrupted. They have been patched but don't blend quite as well as the adult stage (only noticeable if you look closely). Importable creatures included with colour genetics.
Uninteresting C3 zip

Slot: Norn Q
Less Uninteresting Norns



A breed made from the Uninteresting Norn base sprites with a genetic code that causes interesting colour variations between sexes and lifestages. Both sexes are born a dark camouflage colour. They gradually lighten with the female turning from green to olive and the male developing a bright blue pelage. The colour loci tend to mutate rapidly so you will probably get a couple of really weird ones cropping up after a few generations. Genome based on Sphinx version 3.

Less Uninteresting Norns egg agent download


Please install the sprites and atts for the Uninteresting Norns (above) before using.

Tiger Grendels

UPDATE 2016. Unfortunately in the process of going through my old creations, I've discovered that the 3rd lifestage has a bug that I have been unable to identify. :-( The fully mature Tiger Grendels are intended to look like this:

If you've installed them and need to fix this issue (unfortunately the game becomes unusable if you have the grendels in it) you will need to delete the sprites and atts for the adult stage body. To do this, go to the 'images' directory in your C3 or Docking Station directory and find and delete the two files b14x.c16 and b54x.c16. This will fix the error but the adult Tiger Grendels will have the wrong body appearance. If I find out how to fix it I will post it, and please if anyone else can see the error I'm not seeing to fix it, I will be very grateful if you can let me know.

UPDATED July 2011. Now includes 3 complete life stages.
Tiger Grendel zip

Slot: Grendels X

Agents

Pogo Knights for C3 A silly Pythonesque toy chess horse. One injection makes several all in random funky colours and keeps creatures entertained, without making annoying noises. UPDATED: corrupted archive has been recovered; agent should now be extractable and ready to install.

Magma Toaster vends hot, anti-Sod toast that always lands jam side up and keeps your Magma Norns warm, without making them die from thirst like some agents do. Includes a Quirky Cooker recipe for biscuits. Yes, biscuits. The British have tea and biscuits; the Americans have cookies and milk. I don't like incongruous transatlantic juxtapositions and I'm of the tea brigade. :-)

DS Agent Pack a pack of agents for Docking Station, mostly for nostalgic purposes to do with Creatures 1.

Boulder Renovation Script The boulders in the C3 desert are classed as 'toy', only they have no push script! This means that creatures trying to interact with them as toys don't get the boredom decrease stimulus, and over time they'll lose their instinct to play with toys. Here are some .cos files to fix the boulders (and the gnarlers) so the creatures won't think they're toys. You may also notice an improvement in Ettin behaviour! (put the .cos in bootstrap\world folder, and the catalogue in the catalogues folder. You will need to make a new world before the changes are effective.)

C2

Sphinx Norns

Same as above, but for C2.
Sphinx C2 zip

Hatchery Expansion
C2 included all the files for the C1 Norns. However, these creatures were not accessible in the game; you could only import them by converting C1 Norns using the Nornverter. For the benefit of people without C1, and also for those with C1 who want more C1 Norns in C2, I created this egg pack, which replaces the default eggs with improved Canny genetics based on Lis Morris's and Chris Double's genome, C1 -appearance Canny Norns, and adds a lot of variety.
Hatchery zip