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History 
From Creatures Wiki

The Creatures series of games has had a long and

convoluted history. This page is dedicated to it, in
particular the events surrounding the companies
involved in their creation: Millennium, Cyberlife,
Creature Labs, Entraline and Gameware.
A good overview from Development Director Ian
Saunter is provided in:

A potted history of Creature Labs and Gameware

Development (the official story)
More on the relationship between the various
companies can be found in:

A step back in time

Large amounts of this timeline were derived from
Steve Grand's notes. Many thanks to Steve for
providing this resource to the community!

Creatures: Their Life Is In Your

Hands

Contents
[hide]

1 Timeline of Events
1.1 Pre-1992
1.2 1992
1.3 1993
1.4 1994
1.5 1995
1.6 1996
1.7 1997
1.8 1998
1.9 1999
1.10 2000
1.11 2001
1.12 2002
1.13 2003
1.14 2004
1.15 2005
1.16 2006
1.17 2007
1.18 2008
1.19 2009
1.20 2010
1.21 2011
1.22 2012
1.23 2013
1.24 2014
1.25 2015
1.26 2016
1.27 2017
1.28 2018
1.29 2019
1.30 2020
1.31 2021
1.32 2022

Timeline of Events [edit]

Don't hesitate to fill stuff in - and don't feel you have

to restrict yourself to official doings, anything that has
interest to the community is fine :-)

Pre-1992 [edit]

Late 1986/Early 1987: Steve Grand is inspired

by his reading of The Planiverse: Computer
Contact With a Two-Dimensional World and
suggests Creatures to his employers as an
educational game - but there is no interest
1988: Millennium is founded by Michael
Hayward, Tony Beckwith, Ian Saunter and one
other - they remain for a few months in Michael's
house before moving to a local science park;
Steve Grand remembers suggesting Creatures
again (although Ian has no memory of this, so
perhaps this was to his old employers)
1990: Millennium release Hoverforce, Horror
Zombies from the Crypt and Thunderstrike
1991: Millennium release Virtual Reality, Volume
2, Stormball, The Adventures of Robin Hood and
James Pond 2: Codename: RoboCod (which
makes a return 12 years later as James Pond:
RoboCod)

1992 [edit]

1992: Millennium release Cyber Empires, The

Aquatic Games, Daughter of Serpents, Global
Effect and Rome AD 92
September 1992: Creatures is 'officially'
conceived, although it will take years to develop
fully into the game we know today. From Tips.txt:

The initial ideas for this project were conceived on

a motel balcony in Winthrop, WA, USA in
September 1992.

4 November 1992: Steve Grand writes A Mouse

for Windows
16 November 1992: Steve Grand writes Little
Computer Ewoks
23 December 1992: Steve Grand writes Ewoks
techie bit for proposal

1993 [edit]

1993: Millennium release James Pond 3:

Operation Starfish
8 March 1993: Steve Grand writes Small Furry
Creatures: A Mythography (first use of Small
Furry Creatures as title), which contains the first
details of the Journey, Grendels (although not as
we know them today), Ettins (even dumber than
they turned out) and the Shee (Siðe)
1 June 1993: First available notes from Steve
Grand's programming diary - very interesting
reading
18 July 1993: Steve Grand writes the first
fragments of a Creatures-themed novella, Wulf's
Journey, creating the first Creatures fiction story
over three years before the game was actually
released
12 December 1993: Steve Grand explains that
the mythology is intended for background
purposes, not as an actual plot line:

I never intended Creatures to be an adventure

game or have a fixed plot at all - the idea was that
you would create your own stories . . . But
everyone had interpreted my mythography stuff
far too literally, and people were trying to make
Creatures into some kind of Norse adventure
game . . .

1994 [edit]

1994 The Creatures 0 MS-DOS prototype is

created.
March 1994 Small Furry Creatures is previewed
in Megazone #37.
3 May - 10 May 1994 A prototype Secret
Adventure Mode is documented in Steve
Grand's programming diary. [1]
6 July 1994: Michael Hayward decides that the
game needs more time to mature and that Steve
Grand should "take the game out of the
schedule" (see the diary entry)

It is also interesting to note the features described

as possible for the rewrite, many of which would
not be fully realized until Creatures 3 or Docking
Station: Decided to add 5 months to schedule;
more gratuitous graphics; more facial expressions;
new norns (monkeylike); everybody’s norn is
unique; complete rethink and rewrite of code; add
hooks for extensions; allow norns to travel from
one person’s system to another, via disc or
modem; buy new norns; possible speech in/out.

1 August 1994: The Cheat menu is added

10 October 1994: Plans for DDE support are
finalized, laying the foundations for external tools
to communicate with Creatures
14 November 1994: Michael Hayward first
demonstrates the Creatures prototype to Warner
Interactive, who liken its breadth of appeal to
that of the first spreadsheet, Visicalc
20 November 1994: Cyberlife is set up to
develop and exploit Steve Grand's ideas

1995 [edit]

23 January 1995: Steve Grand has the idea of

making a background model of the Creatures
environment and digitising it; Mark Rafter agrees
a few days later, and begins work on the model
Mid-1995: Cyberlife agrees a publishing deal
with Warner Interactive and a advance of £1m
is paid representing an estimated 200,000 units
of sales; in fact, over half a million copies of the
Creatures will eventually be sold, a large
proportion overseas
19 July 1995: Creatures finally has a complete
design definition - as with most software
development projects, it required actually
building most of the program to fully define it . . .

1996 [edit]

10:50 am, 21 March 1996: The first norn ever

bred in captivity was born. He was called Cain,
son of Ron and Eve.
22 April 1996: The twin spectres of disease and
bacteria are introduced to Creatures
October 1996: A grendel features on the front
cover of Joystick.
October 1996: Creatures is previewed in PC
Zone issue 43.
November 1996: The Cyberlife department has
10 people in it
11 November 1996: Creatures is released,
selling 100,000 copies in the first month; its
publishers - Warner Interactive - are quickly
acquired by GT Interactive, who become the
new distributors
December 1996: Christmas Pack 1 for Creatures
is released - it has over 4000 downloads in the
first week. The Object Injector Kit is included
with the Christmas Pack. [2]
December 1996: PC Zone issue 45 reviews
Creatures, giving it a score of 94.
18 December 1996: The "Norn 6-pack" is
released: Buffy, Dion, Jarvis, Melvin, Sharla, and
Teesha (download)

1997 [edit]

February 1997: Steve Grand, Dave Cliff, and Anil

Malhotra publish Creatures: Artificial Life
Autonomous Software Agents for Home
Entertainment at the International Conference on
Autonomous Agents
March 1997: alt.games.creatures is founded
April 1997: Cyberlife employees present both
Autonomous Agents: A Matter of Life and Death
and CyberLife: A biologically inspired
architecture for complex gaming solutions at the
1997 Computer Game Developers Conference.
May 1997: The term "wolfling run" is coined.
2 May 1997: Margot Adler of NPR reports on
Creatures, including interview segments with
Toby Simpson and Steve Grand: Virtual Pets on
NPR.org
6 May 1997: "Tamagotchi, Schmamagotchi:
Here Come the Norns" published on Wired.com
June 1997: In "mid-June", Creatures version
1.0.1 is released, patching the game to support
the new Observation Kit. It was available to
download from the website.
27 June 1997: Creatures is released in Japan,
costing 6,800 yen.[3]
4 July 1997: The PS1 division of Cyberlife is sold
to Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, along
with 60 of the 80 jobs at the company.
9 July 1997: Wired.com publishes an interview
with some Creatures Community members.
15 July 1997: Creatures is released in the USA
by Mindscape
19 July 1997: American Cardinal Norns starter
pack born.
21 July 1997: 'Creatures' Craze Is Now the Norn
is published in the Los Angeles Times.
22 July 1997: Slink prophesized Creatures
traveling the Warp from computer to computer.
August 1997: Object Pack 1 for Creatures is
released, along with the Observation Kit and
Preview Kit
5 August 1997: Creatures is awarded Best
Strategy Game at Macworld Expo
15 August 1997: Creatures 1.0.2 patch is
released, Object Pack 2 for C1 released. [4]
1 September 1997:The term "feral run" is
coined.
7 September 1997: The NORN Collective is
conceived
22 October 1997: The Naven is "discovered" by
NitGold, and is reported to A.G.C..
3 November 1997: Mindscape reports via
GameSpot that Creatures has sold over 100,000
copies.
December 1997: Christmas Pack 2 for Creatures
is released
15 December 1997: Ripley is born.
17 December 1997: The Genetics Kit for
Creatures is released.
21 December 1997: Brian is born.
28 December 1997: The Bacchus mutation is
reported to A.G.C.
29 December 1997: Flame forms the Norn Doll
Wanters A Lotters
30 December 1997: Cameron version 1.1 is
born.

1998 [edit]

14 January 1998: Jack is born.

11 February 1998: Mindscape announce that
they will be publishing the sequel to Creatures,
which is currently approaching 400,000 units
sold; their CEO says that:

"Anyone who has ever played with Creatures will

be pleased with the surprises the sequel has to
offer."

28 February 1998: The Secret Adventure Mode

in Creatures 1 is reported A.G.C. by David Wood
March 1998: Steve Grand and Dave Cliff publish
Creatures: Entertainment Software Agents with
Artificial Life in Autonomous Agents and Multi-
Agent Systems
17 March 1998: Cyberlife's Applied Research
department wins a Ministry of Defence contract
to research unmanned airborne vehicles
21 April 1998: Slave is born.
29 April 1998: AntiNorn launches Tortured
Norns, instantly becoming the most hated
person in the Creatures Community
May 1998: Lisa de Araujo joins as internet
marketing manager
8 May 1998: David Ball, formerly of Nortel, is
appointed as Chairman of Cyberlife, and
Professor Chris Winter takes over as
Development Director
9 May 1998 New Scientist magazine writes
Agents from Albia.
22 May 1998: Toby Simpson states that
Creatures 2 will be released "early Q3 this year"
in From Creatures to Androids: An Interview with
Toby Simpson of CyberLife
23 May 1998: Norn and Grendel Day
28-31 May 1998: Blueberry the norndoll is stolen
while Cyberlife are attending the E3 games
conference - a £1000 reward is posted but will
remain unclaimed for almost a year
13 June 1998: Bean posts the first of her
HoloDeck series of stories on
alt.games.creatures
29 June 1998: The Creatures series becomes
the only computer game to be awarded the
Millennium Products marque (archived page) -
over 500,000 units have been sold, and from this
The Creatures Global Digital Ecosystem (archived
page) later estimates a global norn population of
around 5 million.
29 June 1998: Wired.com interviews AntiNorn.
July 1998: Cyberlife does a survey (archived
page) of the Creatures Community - the
demographics have remained relatively the same
ever since the previous survey.
August 1998: At this time the Cyberlife team is
about 40 people
27 August 1998: Creatures 2 is released by
Mindscape; members of the Early Adoption
Program receive their copies some days later.
10-13 September 1998: Cyberlife host Digital
Biota2 in Cambridge - among the participants
are Steve Grand, Chris Winter, Richard Dawkins
and Douglas Adams (his talk)
Mid-September 1998: The Creatures 2 Object
Pack 1 is released
22 September 1998: Cyberlife release their
updated Creatures 2 genome.
October 1998: The Creatures 2 Object Pack 2 is
released
October 1998: PC Zone issue 68 reviews
Creatures 2, giving it a score of 90%.
13 October 1998: CptSiskoX is arrested for
copyright and trademark violations
December 1998: The Creatures 2 Christmas
Pack is released
December 1998: Simulation and Gaming review
published
7 December 1998: Mattel purchases The
Learning Company (which owns Mindscape,
producer of the Creatures series) for $3.8 billion
in stock - they soon realise they've made a
mistake and respond by slashing costs like
marketing budgets
12 December 1998: Frimlin's Kiwi Creatures
wins the Golden Shee Awards, being voted the
Most Popular Creatures Site; Ping and Ali come
joint second with CreaturesLife.net and Albia
2000

1999 [edit]

1 January 1999: Mike Raiford releases the first

version of GEL
2 January 1999: The [JNCOBOY] EVERYONE
READ!!!! thread starts on alt.games.creatures - it
subsequently receives over 7000 replies over the
next 6 years
11 January 1999: Francis Irving joins Creature
Labs
3 February 1999: Dillon creates
alt.games.creatures.moderated
5 February 1999: Cyberlife launches the
Creatures Development Network
1 March 1999: Cyberlife release the Sprite
Workshop, COB Compiler, Attachment Editor,
Egg File Maker, Genetics Mapper and RGB
Converter onto the CDN
9 March 1999: After raising £1 million in equity
from Foresight Technology and appointing
Howard Newmark as Publishing Director, Ian
Saunter as Development Director and Toby
Simpson as Creative Director, Cyberlife officially
splits into three departments - Applied Research
(defense projects), the Cyberlife Institute
(research and development) and Creature Labs
(entertainment); of the three, only Creature Labs
lasts more than a year
1 April 1999: jcarrcwalk releases Dragon Nornior
25 April 1999: Creature Labs begins selling the
Room Editor and the Pose and Gait Editor
(PAGE)
20 May 1999: Ash Harman (Frimlin) joins
Creatures Labs
June 1999: Ben Gonshaw joins Creatures Labs
June 1999: Wayne Stallwood joins Creature
Labs
16 June 1999: Moca creates the first issue of We
be Creatures!
18 June 1999: Creatures SETI@home team
founded
28 June 1999: Creature Labs becomes the first
computer game developer to be awarded the
ISO 9001 TickIT certification
13 July 1999: Chris Chat is founded by Chris Der
16 July 1999: Bean posts her last chapter in the
HoloDeck series on alt.games.creatures
7 October 1999: Creatures Adventures is
released by Mindscape
29 October 1999: HomeCreatures goes live
November 1999: The Applied Research
department is closed, including the Origin
project and Steve Grand leaves Cyberlife; the
Cyberlife Institute closes with his departure
1 November 1999: Creatures 3 is released in the
USA by Mindscape - as a result of problems at
the company it is barely promoted and sales are
dismal
20 November 1999: First patch for Creatures 3
is released
12 December 1999: CreaturesLife.net notes that
an add-on to Creatures 3 is in the works -
"Currently named 'docker' it allows you to dock
to C3 spaceships."
Late 1999: Dave Cliff and Steve Grand write The
Creatures Global Digital Ecosystem [PDF]

2000 [edit]

January 2000: PC Gamer (Feb edition) confirms

that there is likely to be a "Creatures 3.5 -
Docking station", scheduled for Q3 2000
1 January 2000: CREATURES - Artificial Life,
Autonomous Agents and Gaming Environment is
published in Kybernetes.
12 January 2000: Cyberlife officially begins
calling itself Creature Labs,

". . . and moves into the entertainment sector and

returns with a new direction and new focus."

15 January 2000: SteerPike dies; much of the

Creatures Community mourns his loss
18 January 2000: Creature Labs appoints a new
CEO, Chris McKee; his previous job was at
Interleaf:

"[a company providing] enterprise-wide software

solutions for XML-based Internet content
management"

17 February 2000: Update 2 for Creatures 3 is

released by Creature Labs; it includes a newer,
more expressive genome
23 February 2000: Creature Labs announces the
development of Beasts:

"Beasts" is an exciting new game from Creature

Labs based on the mysterious wilderness monster
known as the Abominable Snowman or Yeti,
tracks of which have been discovered in the
Himalayan regions of India, Nepal, and Tibet.
According to locals, the Yeti is but one of several
unidentified creatures that occupy the highlands
of southern Asia. Accounts of another giant
known as Sasquatch or Bigfoot have persisted
among some American Indians whose tribes
inhabited the forests of the Pacific Northwest."

March 2000: Mark Stamps is appointed Director

of IT at Creature Labs
10 March 2000: The Creatures 3 Genetics Kit is
released
April 2000: New Scientist magazine publishes an
interview with Steve Grand, titled "God of the
norns".
6 April 2000: Creature Labs announce the
development of Sea-Monkey Marina
(subsequently entitled "The Amazing Virtual Sea-
Monkeys") - CL Publishing Director Howard
Newmark states that:

"As long-time fans and admirers of the Sea-

Monkey phenomenon, we have always felt that a
Sea-Monkey title based on our CyberLife
technology would be a great success. We're very
pleased to be associated with such a huge brand
and we're looking forward to doing it justice with a
superb product."

25 April 2000: The first episode of The Last Shee

in Albia is published, introducing the Lone Shee
28 April 2000: Daniel Silverstone (Kinnison)
leaves Creature Labs
9 May 2000: The C3 Bootstrap V2 is released on
the CDN.
26 May 2000: Creatures Labs license the original
Creatures on Freeloader, an online game
distribution service
2 June 2000: The Creatures 2 World Switcher,
previously only available in the Life Kit, is
released as a free download
9 June 2000: Creature Labs and Chaos
Development announce the imminent release of
Montu
27 June 2000: Creature Labs announce the
complete mapping of the Norn genome (archived
copy)
July 2000: The C12DS project is started
6 July 2000: Prior head of Our Price and
Waterstones David Clipsham joins Creature
Labs as chairman
25 July 2000: A new newsletter is announced,
entitled Much Ado About Norns
August 2000: Issue 2 of Much Ado About Norns
asks whether norns are alive - 47% say they are,
20% that they aren't; the rest don't know
(original article no longer exists, formerly at
www.gamewaredevelopment.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?
p=31092&postcount=30)
15 September 2000: Creature Labs sign deals
for the Snowman Interactive Storybook with UK
publisher FastTrak and French distributor Emme
and with SWING! Entertainment for Creatures
GBA and the GameCube
October 2000: Venture capital specialists 3i
Group and Foresight Technology VCT invest
£2.5m in Creature Labs in convertible loan stock,
almost all of which will subsequently be written
off
4 October 2000: Creatures Playground is
nominated for a BAFTA award.
20 October 2000: Aktion Millennium starts at
Mummy's Creatures
2 November 2000: Creatures Trilogy is released
by Encore Software in the US, and Creatures
Adventures wins an EMMA
3 November 2000: Les Edgar - co-founder of
Bullfrog - is appointed to the board of directors
for Creature Labs
7 November 2000: NeoDecatur releases the
Americana Pack for Creatures 3
11 November 2000: Creatures Playground is
released by Havas Interactive in Europe,
Encore Software in the US and Canada
17 November 2000: Graeme Williams joins
Creature Labs
4 December 2000: Andrea Ciolini and
Dominique Whitman join Creature Labs
26 December 2000: Thaddaeus Frogley and
Gavin Buttimore win the 15th International
Obfuscated C Code Contest with THADGAVIN

2001 [edit]

24 January 2001: Ian Konrath joins Creature

Labs as CFO - Chris McKee says that:

"Ian has the right background - first-hand

experience of guiding a company through an IPO,
successfully negotiating venture capital and credit