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Creatures seriesWhere can I get the C3&DS Breed packs?(31 posts)(31 posts)
(31 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted March 24, 2014
It's stupid to cripple new players because of a lack of support, & yet block them from getting info to them to get them.

You're just shooting yourself in the foot.

"Why should I buy the game, when I can't get a complete experience with all the breeds?"
"Why is GOG selling an incomplete game?"

It's piracy when someone is choosing to download it instead of paying for it.
If you CAN'T pay for it, & it's not available, it is ABANDONWARE.

Abandon - having been deserted or cast off.

We don't sell it, but you can't get it? Doesn't work..

Let the people who still love the game, welcome & embrace those who are new, instead of gagging us.

I've purchased the entire breed set twice.
Once when it was individual games, and then when they repackaged, & you couldn't use the original installers.

The Breed Packs are out there, Neo, and they're looking for you, and it will find you if you want it to.

It took me a little time searching online for them, but after awhile, I found them.

Clue (Will probably get erased by GOG) : If the file is unavailable in one method of acquisition, search the file name.
Post edited March 24, 2014 by JamesWyatt
Posted March 24, 2014
One of the biggest reasons why the breed packs aren't available is because many Creatures players respected the final wishes of Gameware about not posting them up for download online. It's been a really, really long time since we've heard anything, though... And believe me, I'm not the only one who's tried to get a response about making the breeds publicly available! Gameware just doesn't respond anymore, unfortunately.

At the same time, at least one member of the community was given permission to share the breed packs with "close friends." Which is just about as confusing as can be, but players typically do share the breed packs privately. The trick is to hint at the fact that you don't have them without actually asking for them to be posted publicly... Someone usually will help you out!

But yeah, I do agree that the breed packs should be made available somehow. Free seems fair, especially considering the age and current price of the Creatures games. Even a small nominal fee (though not as fair) would at least make them available again. I've seen plenty of people offer to buy them just so they could have them. And then there are those people who legitimately paid in the past, but have no way of re-downloading their purchase. I remember paying real money for the Genetics Kit, back when it wasn't free.
Posted March 24, 2014
Yep.. I'm with you there..

Paid for all the Gen Kits, Breeds(twice), Sybex (Toby Simpson) Game Guides, & multiple versions of the game.
Even the The Cartoon Guide to Genetics book that was suggested to read in the GenKit docs)

Currently in the process of scanning the Sybex Guides & converting them to PDF files.
I had Kinkos cut the spines off the books years ago, & punched holes for my huge Creatures Binder.
A PDF will be so much easier to peruse.

Best part of the GOG version.. No Disc!! WooHoo!!

I miss the Docking Station multi player aspect.
I would do long runs with an open (to & from any) portal on, & come back to see some weird norns.
Body parts out of sync.. Odd colors...

Cheers!
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Posted March 25, 2014
I just wanted to say I'm grateful people are still willing to talk about it.

It is a shame there is no official or 'clear cut' way to get them. I'm sure we could type a small book on the various situations where it may technically be a backup copy for those who paid for it once or if it qualifies for abandonware.

I think the best advice people can take away from this thread is there is no harm in asking or showing an interest. No one is going to (or should) provide links publicly. Last I heard though, the creatures community is a pretty friendly and helpful bunch.
Posted April 22, 2014
Yeah, I'm still looking for the Banshee Grendels, myself. I still have the rest of 'em.
Posted June 12, 2015
avatar
DiscoverAlbia: At the same time, at least one member of the community was given permission to share the breed packs with "close friends." Which is just about as confusing as can be, but players typically do share the breed packs privately. The trick is to hint at the fact that you don't have them without actually asking for them to be posted publicly... Someone usually will help you out!
Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but as the 'one member of the community' who sought and obtained permission to share breed packs I thought I should probably offer some insight.

After a good six months or so of back-and-forth e-mailing in 2009 I managed to get in touch with Ian Saunter, who was Gameware Development's Development Director at the time (more info on him here if you need it: http://creatures.wikia.com/wiki/Ian_Saunter). The exact phrasing that I was given was, unfortunately, a bit narrow, and I never heard back from the person I contacted when I asked them to clarify it further and to expand the permissions.

For those curious, the e-mail that I received went like this:

Hello Luke

Apologies for the long delays in getting back to you after your inquiries to Paul. I'm afraid we have no immediate plan to revive the shop and the forum, sadly, become too uncontrollable latterly to make it possible for us to keep an adequate eye on what was going on in there, so, again, it's unlikely to be revived.

With regard to sharing of breed packs amongst friends. Yes, I feel you can do that in private unless or until you hear differently. But please do not make these public on a shareware or abandon-ware site.

Thanks for your long interest and support and if you have further questions please feel free to direct them to me

Best regards
Ian Saunter

Development Director
Gameware Development Ltd
There was a lot of discussion within the community over what exactly I'd obtained permission to do. The e-mail is at least fairly clear on what we don't have permission to do. DiscoverAlbia summed up what most people concluded pretty nicely - sharing in private is okay, sharing publicly is not.

I don't have all of the official breed packs any more but I do still have most of them (just missing Treehuggers and Siamese). Even though I've been a member of gog for a really long time now I'm not very familiar with the private chat options here, but feel free to get in touch with me using those methods, whatever they are.

If I don't respond or just up and vanish off the face of the universe, try taking DiscoverAlbia's advice and get in touch with somebody who openly comments that they have the official breed packs that you are looking for.
Post edited June 12, 2015 by 3kul
Posted June 12, 2015
Thanks for sharing that information, 3kul! It's a shame that you were never able to get any clarification. The Gameware Development domain expired at the end of May, so many of the free downloads are currently unavailable. I've been trying to contact Gameware Europe in every way to try to figure out what's going on with the site, and whether anything can be hosted. If you (or anyone else) has a contact somewhere at Gameware, it might be a good idea to at least inquire about the old domain and what's going to happen to all of the articles/downloads.

I've been through every company involved with Creatures Online to try to find out about Gameware, and what the policy is on the Mall breed packs. No luck with... Three companies? Maybe four? And, unfortunately, no one has contact information for someone at Gameware. I'm resorting to posting on their Facebook page and using their contact form. Sadly, it seems like no one is monitoring either at this time.

Private sharing might have to be the way to go with everything, since it's the last official word. Thank you again for posting!
Posted June 13, 2015
No problem DiscoverAlbia, I'm sorry for not posting earlier!

I just had a quick look around and it seems that most of the free downloads that you listed earlier in this thread are still available through the magic of the ever popular Internet Archive WayBack Machine:

Astro Norns
Fallow Norns
Harlequin Norns
Zebra Norns

Credit goes to KittyTikara for this last link, which she posted about on the CreaturesCaves forum:
Magma Norns

For those of you unfamiliar with the breed packs I'm pretty sure that the Magma Norns are the only visually and genetically unique breeds out of the ones I've listed here. The others are visually different to the norns included with the game, but I believe that as far as their genetics go there is nothing new (don't let that stop you from downloading them though!)
Posted June 20, 2015
Just a quick update that Gameware Europe got back to me regarding the expired domain and all of the downloads. You can find more information here. Basically, everything is in the process of being moved over to the Gameware Europe site, so it will be available again! I did manage to ask a question regarding the Creatures Mall breed packs, so I'm hoping to get an official answer regarding the sharing of them. I'll update within this post when everything is available again. 3kul is right in that many of the downloads can be found in archived versions of the site. Hopefully we won't have to wait too much longer for everything to be available again!
Posted July 28, 2015
Frustrating, really. I'm annoyed that they're taking so damn long. You'd think that a developer that was generous and loved its fans in the least bit would release content for an old game like C3 for free for the fans. But no... Looks like they still want to make some money from this old game. Not impressed.

There's still a chance the new owners will release it for free and the delay is simply because they are slow at making the web site. Bah.
Posted July 30, 2015
I'm a bit frustrated with the slow response from Gameware Europe, too... Still no word, and it's been over a month. They still own the rights to Creatures, though, as far as I know. The companies involved with Creatures Online only licensed the name, and didn't actually purchase the franchise. Still, I share in your frustration! I'll try again, especially to figure out what's going on with the Creatures Mall breeds. Goodness: One would think an official statement would have come by now!
Posted December 01, 2015
avatar
DiscoverAlbia: At the same time, at least one member of the community was given permission to share the breed packs with "close friends." Which is just about as confusing as can be, but players typically do share the breed packs privately. The trick is to hint at the fact that you don't have them without actually asking for them to be posted publicly... Someone usually will help you out!
avatar
3kul: Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but as the 'one member of the community' who sought and obtained permission to share breed packs I thought I should probably offer some insight.

After a good six months or so of back-and-forth e-mailing in 2009 I managed to get in touch with Ian Saunter, who was Gameware Development's Development Director at the time (more info on him here if you need it: http://creatures.wikia.com/wiki/Ian_Saunter). The exact phrasing that I was given was, unfortunately, a bit narrow, and I never heard back from the person I contacted when I asked them to clarify it further and to expand the permissions.

For those curious, the e-mail that I received went like this:

Hello Luke

Apologies for the long delays in getting back to you after your inquiries to Paul. I'm afraid we have no immediate plan to revive the shop and the forum, sadly, become too uncontrollable latterly to make it possible for us to keep an adequate eye on what was going on in there, so, again, it's unlikely to be revived.

With regard to sharing of breed packs amongst friends. Yes, I feel you can do that in private unless or until you hear differently. But please do not make these public on a shareware or abandon-ware site.

Thanks for your long interest and support and if you have further questions please feel free to direct them to me

Best regards
Ian Saunter

Development Director
Gameware Development Ltd
avatar
3kul: There was a lot of discussion within the community over what exactly I'd obtained permission to do. The e-mail is at least fairly clear on what we don't have permission to do. DiscoverAlbia summed up what most people concluded pretty nicely - sharing in private is okay, sharing publicly is not.

I don't have all of the official breed packs any more but I do still have most of them (just missing Treehuggers and Siamese). Even though I've been a member of gog for a really long time now I'm not very familiar with the private chat options here, but feel free to get in touch with me using those methods, whatever they are.

If I don't respond or just up and vanish off the face of the universe, try taking DiscoverAlbia's advice and get in touch with somebody who openly comments that they have the official breed packs that you are looking for.
Hey, 3kul! So if he says you can share these packs amongst friends privately, does this mean you can share them through email? From the sound of it, he's suggesting that you do have permission through anything but a public link. Please respond and tell me if it's at all possible for you to share them with me.
Posted January 02, 2016
I get one or two chat messages a month, requesting the breed packs due to my previous posts.

I always share the link, so new players, send me a request, & I will always respond.
Posted January 13, 2016
I myself have been trying to get in contact with Gameware Europe to see if they would re-sell them, but have got no response. Hopefully they do one day. I Used to own this game years ago but lost the discs and the computer it was stored on crashed, so when I found the game on GOG I was quite happy. Just wish there was a way to get those mall downloads back.
Posted November 19, 2016
Abandomware is Abandomware.
You want to know what i think about monegrabbing in this way? I hope soon mothers will aproach in same manner to breastfeed their kids if they felt they wil grow up to be such harmfull Creatures.

I can't post links, and i don't want give moderators a lazy excuse...so all i can advice to you...


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Community
Creatures seriesWhere can I get the C3&DS Breed packs?(31 posts)(31 posts)
(31 posts)