NETCREATURE2

NCRC // Orientation

What you have volunteered for

A creature game about signals, static and a very small militia. Please read this memo before you sign anything. (There is nothing to sign.)

Item 1

Joining the Corps

The game opens with a question. Say no, and it asks again. It has time. Say yes, and you fill out Volunteer Intake, Form 7B, a questionnaire whose questions seem to have nothing to do with anything. There are no wrong answers. (There are some wrong answers.)

You come out of it with a partner, and a name to give it.

Item 2

One address, one creature

Whatever you type into the scanner is tidied up, hashed, and read back as a creature. For now the scanner reads web addresses. The world leaks in other ways, and the scanner is going to learn some of them.

  1. 1 · Addresshttps://www.Example.com/about/

    Anything you could type into a browser.

  2. 2 · Tidyexample.com/about

    The scheme, the www and the trailing slash are dropped, so near-identical addresses match.

  3. 3 · Hash

    The address becomes a long string of bytes. (These ones are only an illustration.)

  4. 4 · CreatureSomething lives there

    The bytes decide what it is, how it fights and what it likes. The game hints at which bytes do what. It never tells you.

The same address always gives the same creature. The scanner never visits the address. It only reads the text, and paths and query strings count, so one website can hold an almost endless supply of creatures. Some addresses name nothing at all. The scanner says so.

The scanner screen. A red panel reads NOTHING LIVES THERE. The address field reads 69. A ring of hexagonal bytes sits on the left, and a checklist on the right reads: reading the address, hashing with sha-512, and reading identity, where the check turns into a cross.
It reads the address, hashes it, and reads the identity. Sometimes the answer is nothing.

Item 3

Recover, keep or send home

Every creature has a disposition, and it comes from the same hash as everything else. There is no coin flip anywhere.

  • Friendly

    Comes along quietly, if you have the rank for it. If you do not, it tests you first.

  • Neutral

    Wants to test you. Send whatever you like. It yields once it has had enough, and you are free to run.

  • Hostile

    Always wants a fight. You may decline, and the address stays open. Beat it, and it joins you.

Every recovery ends in a choice. Keep the creature, and it takes a place on your roster. Or send it home, calmed and returned to its address, and the Corps pays you credit for the trouble. Keeping a creature earns you nothing. The Corps notes this.

Credit becomes rank. There are eight ranks. We can show you two.

Item 4

Fights run on a clock

Every creature has a speed gauge, and when it fills, the creature acts. Until then you have a window to coach: choose a move, and choose a tone of voice.

  1. Ask
  2. Tell
  3. Direct
  4. Order
  5. Yell
  6. Scream
The arena on a city street at night. A blue water dog in the foreground faces a small orange fire dog. A red banner reads THE DOG BIT YOU. Along the bottom are the move cards and the six tones.
Harsher tones get obeyed more. This is what happens at the top of the scale.

Every command winds your creature up. Push too far and it tunes you out, and it may lash out at you instead of the enemy. Each temperament has its own right voice: a loyal creature can be pushed hard, a jumpy one wants asking. Staying quiet is always allowed, and then it picks its own moves.

Elements are strong and weak against each other, and every element hits in its own way. There is a photo mode. The dogs were not consulted.

Item 5

Camp 7

Home between fights is a street under an elevated road, with a bus, an office, a skyline in the distance and a barrel with a fire in it. Your roster lives there. They wander, visit places, hang out and nap.

  • Medic

    Creatures come out of a loss wounded. The medic admits them, discharges them, or rushes the job.

  • Quartermaster

    Supplies for the road.

  • Champion

    Your partner, and its equipment. Nobody asked the champion.

  • Journal

    Your missions, and the addresses you flagged to come back to.

  • Record

    Your rank, your ribbons and your badges.

  • Archive

    Everything you have found. Replays, too.

Missions are things the Corps asks of you. There are no timers, and nothing is locked behind a clock. The first is Basic Training.

Questions

Good to know

What can I play it on?

Windows first. Mobile is planned, and so are more ways to find things than a keyboard.

Does it need an internet connection?

No. The scanner reads the text of an address. It does not visit it.

Do two people get the same creature from the same address?

Yes. Same address, same creature. Share addresses freely.

Can I scan my own website?

Yes. We cannot promise you will like what lives there.

What is the Saturation?

Nobody will tell you. Cause: unknown. Cure: unknown. Weather: yes.

Is it a sequel?

It is the sequel to a game we are legally unable to name. (If it is a sequel. We can’t confirm that either.)

Was it made with AI?

A lot of it, yes. It is a game about the internet drowning in endless content, made with a lot of help from a machine. We noticed too.

When is it out, and what will it cost?

Coming whenever we feel like it, but probably still before Winds of Winter. There is no price yet. The devlog is the best place to watch.

Can I try it?

Not publicly yet. When there is something to try, the devlog will say so.