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Black & White

An Ape in the Creature Cave

The Creature (previously known as Titan[1]) is an aspect for which Black and White is very popular. For this implementation this game won the Guinness Book Record of most complex AI.

0035

Early Titan concepts.

The Creature assumes the form of bipedal wildlife. Originally some Creatures were humans, but Lionhead ‘felt that it was a bit strange to hit or stroke humans’ and subsequently cut them from the final product.[2] The Creature is part divine and part mortal. It can use powers just like gods but it must eat, sleep and drink. Unlike gods, it can be targeted and killed directly, (once done that he will respawn in his pen) but can also prowl over the realm and manipulate physical items outside the influence of the god who owns it. Creatures start with no knowledge of what to do in Black & White and can learn on their own, or be taught on how to behave.

Creatures are mortal[]

Creatures have mortal properties, and must fulfill mortal needs like eating, drinking and sleeping. They can get hurt from fights or fires, and must be healed or rest and they also need to defecate or else they'll get constipated. Having a physical body, creatures can go and act beyond the area of influence, (unlike gods, who are mostly limited to their area). However, unlike real mortals they cannot die of old age.[2]

Platoon VS Creature

An evil Wolf Creature fighting Greek Soldiers

These mortal features also enables creatures to interact and learn from other mortal creatures (such as villagers): they can learn how to dance and harvest grain from a field or village store. In return, they are able to entertain villagers with dances and by telling them stories, which will impress them.

Creatures are divine[]

Creatures also have divine properties. They have a natural alignment which can be changed. This, in turn, reflects on their forms, which will transform, becoming progressively menacing (evil) or angelic (good).

Being divine, creatures grow with age without showing actual signs of aging (i.e. decreased strength, stamina, etc.) and they can keep every attribute (from fatness to miracles learned) when they switch bodies (see Creature Swap) with another creature.

As divine beings, they can learn and cast miracles to help or harm villagers, although they can only do so after the player completes the gold story scroll on Land 1 called "The Creature's Learning - Part 2" They can also interact with other divine beings (namely, their god owner), which can teach them just about anything, from where to defecate to playing with a ball.

Pen[]

A creature that belongs to a god has a pen located at the front of the temple. His leashes can be found here and the creature can sleep in its pen at night and it will grow faster if it does so.

Creature pen

A creature in its pen (leashes are not shown).

Leashes[]

Main article: Leash

The creature has a natural affinity for either the good or evil alignment, depending on what the creature is. In order to train the creature or supplement his behavior toward good or evil, leashes can be used. There are 3 leashes, and each leash has a versatile array of uses, they are:

  • Leash of Compassion: makes the creature behave nicely.
  • Leash of Learning: focuses the creature on whatever the god who owns it is doing.
  • Leash of Aggression: makes the creature behave aggressive and wreak havoc.

Creature controls[]

  • C - Creature mode; the creature's vital stats (hunger, tiredness and damage taken) will be shown and the camera will be centered and locked on them; if any of the three shown stats reach 100%, the creature will pass out and respawn in their pen.
  • double left-click on any creature - same as C, but also works on other god's creatures.
  • Ctrl+Shift - while locked on a creature, will move the camera away from any obstructions.
  • Shift+cursor keys - while locked on a creature, will move camera around them.
  • F5 - Enter the creature cave, here you can see other statistics and information, and give the creature tattoos.
  • hold right-click on your or friendly god's (Khazar's) creature - Interact with creature by petting, slapping, or smacking. The tip of the index finger is the hot spot, where that touches is the part being interacted with; the different interactable body parts are: the head, shoulders, torso, hands, lower body, and feet.
  • L - Leash mode; toggles the leash on/off the creature.
  • V/B - cycles through leashes.
  • right-click on your creature - enters Leash mode; puts the leash on the creature (shake or L to remove).

Nemesis' Secret[]

Lionhead Studios' Black & White official website states that all creatures have a piece of creed within their bodies. If three creeds are combined, they have enough power to destroy a god. That's why Nemesis is quick to kill The Guide, so that the secret of the Creeds is not revealed. To obtain a piece of the Creed, a god must generally kill a creature, although player characters seem to be able to obtain the third piece of the creed from their own creature without killing it.

Creature speed and carry weight[]

Bwtwocreatures

Two good creatures (Cow and Tortoise).

The creature's speed is dependent on a lot of variables. The taller your creature grows and the longer their stride becomes the faster they move across the islands. The table shows the creature's base speed while running empty handed. The more tired the creature is, especially above 70%, the slower they move. If they carry a rock or other item they slow down. Some creatures slow down much more than others given the same size rock. A mandrill is 10% faster than an ape of the same size but when both are carrying the same size rock the mandrill slows down to about 10% slower than the ape. Some creatures can carry more and some less at the same size. A horse can carry a rock one size larger than a leopard, ape, gorilla or mandrill of the same size while a tortoise can only carry a rock 2 sizes smaller than the ape and 3 sizes smaller than the horse. This effects how easily you can strengthen the creature by having it weight lift or run rocks around the island.

Creatures In Black & White[]

Physical Attributes[]

Creature Grow

Time[3]

Strength

Time[4]

Walk

Speed[5]

Reaction

Speed[6]

Strength

Decay Rate[7]

Tiredness

Rate[8]

Energy

Decay Rate[9]

Energy

From Food[10]

Ape 1,044.00 8.00 .70 28.00 .999991 .000036 .0001164 1000
Brown Bear 1,392.00 7.20 .71 28.00 .999991 .000036 .0001162 1000
Chicken 1,100.00 7.00 .95 25.00 Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown
Chimpanzee 1,035.30 9.00 .68 27.00 .999991 .000035 .0001162 800
Cow 1,305.00 10.50 .60 20.00 .999920 .000032 .0001162 1200
Crocodile 1,500.00 7.00 .75 45.00 Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown
Gorilla 1,131.00 7.00 .65 27.00 .999993 .000034 .0001164 1300
Horse 1,174.50 7.88 .78 31.42 .999993 .000039 .0001161 1000
Leopard 1,261.50 5.73 .82 45.00 .999993 .000040 .0001163 1000
Lion 1,174.50 4.85 .74 31.42 .999993 .000038 .0001163 1200
Mandrill 1,087.50 8.20 .70 27.00 .999991 .000036 .0001162 1000
Ogre 1,218.00 5.73 .70 27.00 .999993 .000036 .0001162 1000
Polar Bear 1,435.50 7.10 .70 27.00 .999993 .000036 .0001164 1000
Rhinoceros 1,653.00 7.50 .70 27.00 .999993 .000036 .0001164 1000
Sheep 1,196.25 12.12 .64 27.00 .999991 .000034 .0001162 1000
Tiger 1,218.00 5.00 .75 31.42 .999993 .000038 .0001163 1000
Tortoise 1,740.00 12.00 .58 12.00 .999991 .000031 .0001166 1000
Wolf 1,131.00 6.30 .80 40.00 .999993 .000040 .0001163 1000
Zebra 1,131.00 7.88 .77 31.42 .999991 .000039 .0001162 1000

Mental Attributes[]

Creature Learn

Multiplier[11]

Innate

Compassion

Innate

Aggression

Anger from

Aggression[12]

Innate

Friendliness

Innate

Lethargy

Calculated

Innate
Alignment[13]

Ape 1.03 .10 .05 0 .10 .05 Gentle
Brown Bear 3.37 .10 .05 0 .10 .10 Gentle
Chicken 3.10[14] Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Good?
Chimpanzee 1.30 .10 .10 0 .10 .05 Neutral
Cow 2.20 .20 .01 0 .30 .20 Angelic
Crocodile 3.10[14] Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Evil?
Gorilla 3.20 .20 .05 0.2 .20 .25 Testy
Horse 1.72 .10 .05 0 .10 .05 Gentle
Leopard 3.88 .05 .10 0.5 .05 .05 Mean
Lion 1.40 .05 .15 0.5 .05 .05 Evil
Mandrill 2.91 .20 .05 0 .20 .25 Good
Ogre 3.25 .20 .05 1 .20 .25 Psychotic
Polar Bear 3.31 .10 .10 0 .10 .05 Neutral
Rhinoceros 3.87 .20 .05 0 .20 .25 Good
Sheep 3.20 .20 .05 0 .20 .25 Good
Tiger 4.27 .02 .20 0.5 .05 .05 Demonic
Tortoise 1.50 .10 .05 0 .10 .20 Gentle
Wolf 2.69 .01 .20 0.5 .05 .05 Demonic
Zebra 1.72 .15 .05 0 .10 .05 Kind

Location[]

  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20090427135525/http://www.planetblackandwhite.com/blackandwhite/preview
  2. 2.0 2.1 https://www.gamespot.com/articles/black-and-white-updated-qanda-peter-molyneux/1100-2692754
  3. Num Minutes To Grow To Max If Fully Healthy in game files, unclear if initial height affects this.
  4. Num Minutes To Become Fully Strong From Holding Something Heavy in game files, full strength is the same for all creatures, initial strength isn't important.
  5. Initial Walking Speed in game files, crawl is 0.2 less, run is 0.2 more but capped at 1.0.
  6. Look Turn Accel in game files, might only be a graphical effect.
  7. Strength Decay Per Game Turn in game files, higher is better, cows lose strength fastest.
  8. Exhaustion Increase Per Game Turn in game files, lower is better, leopards and wolves get tired fastest.
  9. Energy Decrease Per Game Turn in game files, lower is better, turtles lose energy fastest.
  10. Fraction Of Food Value To Increase Energy By in game files, higher is better, gorillas get the most.
  11. How Many Times They Need To Learn Multiplier in game files.
  12. Anger Innate Aggression or Anger From Innate Aggression in game files.
  13. From Compassion-Aggression-Anger, Friendliness seems to only apply to other creatures. These mostly agree with the old community guesstimates.
  14. 14.0 14.1 Estimated, see https://forum.bwgame.net/threads/updating-the-data-with-crocodile-and-chicken.6955/ and https://forum.bwgame.net/threads/creature-data.6846/

Sources[]

Aztec Aztecs think many things should be destroyed.

However this article shouldn't so it has been awarded Featured Article award.

Creatures
Black and White
Starting Creatures Ape / Cow / Tiger
Unlockable Creatures Brown Bear / Chimpanzee / Lion / Polar Bear / Sheep / Tortoise / Wolf / Zebra
Creature Isle Only Chicken / Crocodile / Rhinoceros
Hacked Creatures Ogre / Rhinoceros
Patch Only Gorilla / Horse / Leopard / Mandrill
Black and White 2
Starting Creatures Cow / Lion / Ape / Wolf
Unlockable Creatures Tiger
Battle of the gods Starting Creature Turtle
Antagonist Creatures Wolf / Tiger / Gorilla / Undead Gorilla
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