How big is TechnoSphere?
The TechnoSphere (TS) environment contains large mountain ranges and expansive plains that cover 16kmē in total. The organisms that inhabit TS can be classified as animals and plants.
Animals
The two classes of animals are herbivores and carnivores. Herbivores eat plants, carnivores eat herbivores (and each other given half a chance). TS can accommodate many different types of carnivores and herbivores but currently, there are only two types: Grazers (herbivores) and Prowlers (carnivores). Animals in TS have no gender as such, but it’s easy to perceive them as taking on one role or another at different points in their life.
How long does my creature live for?
Creatures can live for up to 5 TechnoSphere months. They gradually get older and less fit until eventually, they die of old age, that is if they are not eaten by predators first!
An animal progresses through many phases during its life. Those animals conceived by amorous couples start life as a foetus and, after pregnancy that lasts around 5 days, the “mother” gives birth and the animal becomes a child. The onset of adulthood happens between 1 and 1.5 months of age. During adulthood animals are.
An animal may be in its fittest adult phase for 2-3 months, during which it is able to procreate. After the adult phase, it matures into a veteran. The luckiest veterans see the maximum golden age of almost 2 months. When the grim reaper visits depend upon how good the animal has been about keeping out of trouble, eating well and how lucky.
The oldest animals can be expected to reach over 6 months of age. When an animal dies it turns into a carcass which slowly rots away until it turns into a skeleton and the last remains of the animal disappear from the environment.
Do I need to feed my animal?
No, you do not. Your animal will look for the food itself. Of course, some creatures will move into areas where food is scarce and they will eventually starve unless they move into areas where food is plentiful.
What sex is my creature ?
There is only one sex in TechnoSphere. Creatures can become pregnant themselves and make other creatures pregnant. The creature which initiates the mating is the one that becomes pregnant.
Moving Around
Grazers stick to the plains because that’s where they can find the swathes of the grass that they love so much.
Prowlers also stay on the plains for obvious reasons. If an animal should wander to the edge of the known world, it will turn around and head off in a direction that won’t send them tumbling into an abyss.
Future animal types may be blessed with other forms of locomotion such as flying, swimming, etc.
Activities
The day to day life of an animal can be broken down into a number of major activities which are in turn composed of a number of minor actions.
The activities that animals currently amuse themselves with include foraging, sleeping, mating, procreating, playing, evading, relocating and rotting.
The minor actions which are all used at some point and in some combination to fulfil these activities include search, pursue, fight, play, bonk, labour, move, turn, eat and sleep. Some of the more important activities are described in more detail below:
Foraging
Where the next meal is coming from is a question that is always on an animal’s mind.
Animals are always driven to find food when they are hungry but occasionally they also just do it for something to do! After a quick look around either, they have located a source of food or they move on and start looking again.
What happens next depends on whether the animal is a herbivore or a carnivore.
Herbivores just move to the food as directly as possible and start eating.
Carnivores often have to chase their food, so after choosing an initial direction of attack they move in for the kill.
Frequently their prey detects that they are about to become somebody’s lunch and they start evading, moving this way and that to try and shake off and out run their hunter.
If the prey gets away then it will look around again for a less evasive subject. Should the carnivore catch its prey then a fight ensues until one of three things happens: the prey is killed, the prey defends itself too well and the predator has to give up, or the prey overwhelms their attacker and the hunter is killed!
When a carnivore does succeed it starts eating until it has had enough and leaves the remains to rot or be eaten by other carnivores.
Yes, carnivores are lazy by nature and when hungry they may choose to chew on the carcass of an animal rather than bother with all that hunting business.
It doesn’t matter whether the animal died of old age or by another carnivore, food is food.
Mating
The initial stages of mating are very similar to foraging but mating only starts when the animal has reached adulthood and ceases as it progresses into its veteran phase of life.
Selection of a mate is really based upon appearances: an animal looks for another animal of the same type (Prowler or Grazer) which has the same torso as itself – head, eyes, legs are unimportant – and isn’t already pregnant.
After looking (and possibly roaming) around and a suitable mate has been spotted, the animal will pursue them in the same way that predators pursue their food.
An animal may decide that there are more important things to do and will try to evade the amorous advances of their pursuer.
If they should be caught then there will be a fight and the winner gets their way.
Success for the initiator means that the relationship can be consummated, failure means that they may decide to look elsewhere or just go off and do something else instead.
Consummation doesn’t take that long and conception is rare. When conception does take place the animal that initiated the mate becomes pregnant and the foetus is blessed with a combination of the parent’s attributes.
Procreating
After a pregnancy of around 5 days, the “mother” finally gives birth to its child and it is immediately left to fend for itself in the big wide world.
The “mother” has no obligations to its children and the only relationship that exists between them is the bloodline.
Should an animal progress from adulthood and become a veteran whilst it is pregnant, then the foetus is aborted.
In the same way, if the “mother” dies for whatever reason when pregnant, the child it carries sadly also dies.
Playing
Life isn’t all about surviving attacks, looking for food and having children – all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
If the animal has food in its stomach and there aren’t any predators around it may often simply play around, moving from place to place, dozing and generally just being carefree.
Sleeping
During that busy day working and playing hard, even the most hardened animal has to sleep. Rather than spend long periods asleep, animals in TS prefer to have more frequent, shorter naps. That isn’t to say that they are an easy target for predators. All animals can detect danger, even when asleep, although some do it better than others.
Physiology
Animals in TS are composed of four major parts: eyes, head, legs and body. Each of the components is different and affects how the final creature works. However, we do not tell you details so you have to experiment a little.
Plants
Many different types of plant life can be simulated, but only one is present within TS at the moment: grass. Grazers love to eat grass, Prowlers couldn’t care less about grass but where there’s grass, you’re likely to find a nice succulent Grazer or two.
Why don’t I get any emails from my creature ?
Check your creature in the creature attributes tool to see if your email address is correct. You can use the change email tool to enterthe correct email address if you need to.
What is my password for ?
Your password is used for secure tools where you want to stop otherpeople from messing with your creature. For example, you need a password to change your creature name, and email. You can even change your password as well.
Passwords for creature offspring
Passwords are inherited from the mother only. If your creature is the father then you do not have access to the child. If you change the password of the mother then the passwords of any existing children will NOT be updated. All children conceived after the mother’s password is changed WILL inherit the new password. In other words, if you want to change your animal’s password then you should do it immediately after creating it!