Gameplay
Basic gameplay consists of hatching some creatures, usually norns, and guiding them to reach maturity and to breed more creatures, with the goal of a more intelligent future population. The player is represented by a disembodied hand in the world, and the hand can reward creatures by tickling them or punish creatures by slapping them. Words can be taught to creatures by a learning computer or by repeating the name of the object while the creature is looking at it. After a creature understands language, the player can instruct their creature by typing in commands. Some alternate play styles include "wolfling runs", where the player may not intervene in their creatures' lives, or even norn torture, or trying to selectively breed or engineer certain traits into the population, for example, coloured creatures, or a less-aggressive grendel.
Read more about this topic: Creatures (artificial Life Series)