Raven

[Sky]

I will try my best to make this a good story-based sim. If nobody seems to like it, it'll probably be discontinued, or keep playing but with shorter and less detailed updates. Please feel free to give critique, good or bad; I'd really appreciate it if you did!

 

Sandbox settings:

(the main thing is blind genes + 100x damage multipliers + partially specified starter genes)

Raven.sandbox

+ no mutation menu

 

Fallen Beasts and Rushing Tides ~ Prologue

The storm was coming. Every mother on the island gathered her young close... except Jea. Jea was young. She shouldn't have had a child at this age; she was too inexperienced. But she had loved him— Kayaht. He was so beautiful. His eyes, oh, his eyes, they shone like the sun. His fur was as black as midnight. And he loved Jea, as she did him. And despite the warnings of the Caretakers, Jea became pregnant with a child. The pair was so happy. Kayaht even explored the undiscovered high grasses until he found a perfect home for them: an oak tree, with the soon-spruced-up ruins of a nest below it, overlooking the ocean.

One fateful day, however, came upon them unexpectedly. Jea was resting in her new nest, belly swollen. Kayaht laid beside her, alert, in case of danger—they were far from the nearest family. He heard a rustle in the grasses, and went to check it. When Jea awoke, she found Kayaht gone. She went to look for him, and found a grievous sight. There, on the soft grass, lay Kayaht. Blood pooled from a fatal wound on his neck—he was dead. Nearby lay a bearyena, also dead—slain by the brave Kayaht, but having laid a fatal blow before it fell. Jea grieved her mate for days on end.

Then Raven was born. She looked just like her father—black fur, golden eyes. Jea loved her greatly, but she did not know how to properly take care of a child. Raven constantly came upon danger, barely escaping its grasp, saved by Annini alone. So when the storm came, Jea was unprepared. She was searching for food, having irresponsibly left Raven in the nest. When Jea had gathered as many berries as her nimble fingers could hold, she rushed home, looking forward to spending another evening with her daughter. But Raven was gone. The storm had caused the tides to come rushing in, beyond the thing beach and upon the very nest that little Raven and her mother lived in. Poor, tiny Raven had been swept away by the tides, never to be seen by Jea—or any other nicheling on the island— again.

 

Berries Awaiting~ Chapter 1

~ Tribe of Raven ~

LEADER   RAVEN   Naive and curious; Black furred, golden eyed baby

 

Raven opened her eyes, blinking. Why was the sun so bright, no leaves above to shade her? Why was the grass around her long soft, instead of short and prickly under her little toes? Why was she wet and cold? Where was her warm, milk-giving mother? She looked around, wide-eyed. This was not home. This was definitely not home! Where did Mother go? She mewed, but there was no response. She stayed awake for a time longer before she fell asleep.

In the morning, she found she was suddenly able to walk and talk, and suddenly she was quite taller, too. Raven remembered Mother telling her of this—little nichelings, if they are good and eat all their acorns, one day find themselves to have grown overnight, and able to walk and talk. And, when they are older, they will suddenly find themselves to be even bigger, and capable of having new little nichelings (how a nicheling gets about to producing new nichelings goes unknown to Raven, for Mother said she would know when she was old enough, whatever that might mean).

Raven, happy to use her new set of skills, hopped into the dark tangle of grass, eager to find Mother—surely she'd be here too— and tell her about these new developments. She found that she had a bit more energy than before, but she still fell asleep quite soon.

In the morning, Raven made use of her enormous sniffer. She found the aroma of sweet berries, and weaved her way through the grass in that direction. By the time she'd reached the bush, she was drowsy again. Only till the next day did she have the energy to pluck a berry off the bush. The rain pouring from the skies and soaking Raven's black fur made the berries a bit wet, but the juiciness was a welcome taste for Raven's tastebuds. She plucked another berry off the bush, stowing it away at the base of the skinny trunk so that new berries may grow. Sleepy, she curled up for the night.

*At this point I realized I shouldn’t write so much, so I’m ending the chapter there. Chapter two will be less ‘every little detail and more ‘only mention what matters to the story’.*

[Guest SilverTheNicheling]

Playthroughs are returning?? Awww yeah! Infact.. I think I should make a new playthrough of my own inspired by this!  

Great start by the way Sky! I can’t wait to see what else will happen to Raven, she looks cool! ^^

[Sky]

so my computer decided starting last night that it's gonna shut itself off every time I play niche. when it shuts off varies, once I opened it and 3 minutes later it turned off, once I opened it and 15 minutes later it turned off. but yeah, I can't play Niche (and possibly any other games, haven't tried it yet) until we can upgrade/replace the computer

[takoyamaaaS]

9 minutes ago, Skysplash8 said:

so my computer decided starting last night that it's gonna shut itself off every time I play niche. when it shuts off varies, once I opened it and 3 minutes later it turned off, once I opened it and 15 minutes later it turned off. but yeah, I can't play Niche (and possibly any other games, haven't tried it yet) until we can upgrade/replace the computer

Poor you. If it makes you feel better, Planet Zoo crashed 5 times in 2 hours

[Spacestar TheThundersuncat]

12 hours ago, Skysplash8 said:

so my computer decided starting last night that it's gonna shut itself off every time I play niche. when it shuts off varies, once I opened it and 3 minutes later it turned off, once I opened it and 15 minutes later it turned off. but yeah, I can't play Niche (and possibly any other games, haven't tried it yet) until we can upgrade/replace the computer

No, no, no! That can have various causes. If you don't believe me, my dad's gaming PC that can run any high detail modern game still crashes. My school laptop, prone to overheating by existence, never had that issue. 

Try again with 

-- nicheling count under 20

-- reduced enviromental details

But that's one thing. @Micha, any idea what can suddendly cause crashes? Does it have to be a broken graphics card or something equally as bad?

[Micha]

Hmm if the computer shuts down completely, it could be overheating of the GPU or a driver failure.
So make sure the drivers are up to date, and check if it gets too hot while playing.

If just the game crashes, I'd try to set the Animal pattern resolution to the lowest setting so Niche uses less RAM.

 

[Sky]

On 11/10/2019 at 6:11 AM, catsagainstdeterminism said:

No, no, no! That can have various causes. If you don't believe me, my dad's gaming PC that can run any high detail modern game still crashes. My school laptop, prone to overheating by existence, never had that issue. 

Try again with 

-- nicheling count under 20

-- reduced enviromental details

But that's one thing. @Micha, any idea what can suddendly cause crashes? Does it have to be a broken graphics card or something equally as bad?

 

On 11/10/2019 at 8:15 AM, Micha said:

Hmm if the computer shuts down completely, it could be overheating of the GPU or a driver failure.
So make sure the drivers are up to date, and check if it gets too hot while playing.

If just the game crashes, I'd try to set the Animal pattern resolution to the lowest setting so Niche uses less RAM.
 

Thank you both for the advice. A nicheling count of 1 was enough for the computer to shut down, we checked the drivers for updates but they're fully updated, and the computer doesn't get hot. I'll try lowering in-game settings to see if that will help. We think the problem might be that Steam got a huge update, and the game only started shutting down the computer after the update (though I hadn't played Niche in several weeks, so it could have been so), so it's probably taking up too much RAM. We're probably gonna need to get a new computer. But hey, the computer's old and I already wanted to replace it so i could play WolfQuest Anniversary Edition, so Niche is just speeding up the process.

[Sky]

Quality: Good

Animal texture Resolution: Ultra Low

Nicheling count: 7 (on a different save)

Time open without shutting down: 20 minutes before stopping by my decision

let us hope, though that poor Crowstripe's stripes will not stay in this horrible condition for much longer...

[Sky]

Quality: Good

Animal Texture Resolution: Medium

Nicheling Count: 7

Time open without shutting down: 17 minutes before stopping by my decision

 

Next Chapter of Raven coming soon, I guess  though the weekend is almost over (Monday is still weekend for me, as there's no school on mondays), so it might come late tomorrow or something.

[Sky]

Quinticles and Miracles~ Chapter 2

~ Tribe of Raven ~

LEADER   RAVEN   Naive and curious; Black furred, golden eyed adult

 

The next morning, Raven found herself to be an adult, just like how her mother had told her! She found that she had more energy than before, too! How wonderful. She used this newfound energy in chasing a rabbil, scaring a stagmole down its hole in the process. Eventually, she gave up, as the rabbil just kept on running, and went back to collecting berries. A couple days later, she was exploring under an oak tree when she came across another nicheling! 

R: “Hello?”
?: “AH! Are you going to kill me? Because if you are, I’d really rather not be here!”
R: “No, no, I’m not going to kill you, don’t worry! Actually, I’m quite lonely, and I think you’d be a great friend. I’m Raven!”
?: “You’re—you’re not going to kill me? And… you want to be my friend? Are you sure? You just met me. You don’t even know my name yet. Why would you want to be my friend? I’m a coward. That’s what mother said. That’s why I’m alone. ‘The Nikil Tribe doesn’t have space for a coward like you,’ she said. ‘If you’re not gone by sunset, I’ll send Huntress after you.’ I hate Huntress. She wants to kill me. So I got out.” The nicheling realizes he’s rambling and gets back to the point. “Why would you want to be my friend?”
R: “Because I’m lonely, and I don’t have any friends, and you look like you’d be a great friend. I don’t care if you’re a coward. I was stranded here… ten days ago, I think, when a storm washed me out of my nest and into the ocean. Now I’m here, all alone—except for you. Anyways, as I said, I’m Raven! What’s your name?”
Q: “I’m, well, Quinticle. I… I suppose I’ll be your friend. It’s okay if you decide later that you don’t want to be friends anymore. I’m used to it.”

Thus, Quinticle joins the Tribe of Raven!

The next day, while the pair gather nuts (Raven hates them but Quintcle says they’re very nutritious), they spot a small skeleton in the water. Some poor little baby must have drowned in the night! Raven and Quinticle are horrified that they did not notice in time to save the baby, but, of course, it’s too late now.

The duo spend several days simply gathering food—they’re very low on it. They become good friends. They even have nicknames for each other—Quint and Rave. Finally the day comes when Raven decides it’s time to ask Quinticle something…

R: “Quinticle?”
Q: “Yes, Rave?”
R: “I like you. I mean, I like like you, Quint.”
Q: “You… you do? Well… I like like you too.” He grins sheepishly.

The couple become mates, and quite soon, Raven is very happy to announce that she is pregnant.

 

[Guest SilverTheNicheling]

3 hours ago, Skysplash8 said:

Quinticles and Miracles~ Chapter 2

~ Tribe of Raven ~

LEADER   RAVEN   Naive and curious; Black furred, golden eyed adult

 

The next morning, Raven found herself to be an adult, just like how her mother had told her! She found that she had more energy than before, too! How wonderful. She used this newfound energy in chasing a rabbil, scaring a stagmole down its hole in the process. Eventually, she gave up, as the rabbil just kept on running, and went back to collecting berries. A couple days later, she was exploring under an oak tree when she came across another nicheling! 

R: “Hello?”
?: “AH! Are you going to kill me? Because if you are, I’d really rather not be here!”
R: “No, no, I’m not going to kill you, don’t worry! Actually, I’m quite lonely, and I think you’d be a great friend. I’m Raven!”
?: “You’re—you’re not going to kill me? And… you want to be my friend? Are you sure? You just met me. You don’t even know my name yet. Why would you want to be my friend? I’m a coward. That’s what mother said. That’s why I’m alone. ‘The Nikil Tribe doesn’t have space for a coward like you,’ she said. ‘If you’re not gone by sunset, I’ll send Huntress after you.’ I hate Huntress. She wants to kill me. So I got out.” The nicheling realizes he’s rambling and gets back to the point. “Why would you want to be my friend?”
R: “Because I’m lonely, and I don’t have any friends, and you look like you’d be a great friend. I don’t care if you’re a coward. I was stranded here… ten days ago, I think, when a storm washed me out of my nest and into the ocean. Now I’m here, all alone—except for you. Anyways, as I said, I’m Raven! What’s your name?”
Q: “I’m, well, Quinticle. I… I suppose I’ll be your friend. It’s okay if you decide later that you don’t want to be friends anymore. I’m used to it.”

Thus, Quinticle joins the Tribe of Raven!

The next day, while the pair gather nuts (Raven hates them but Quintcle says they’re very nutritious), they spot a small skeleton in the water. Some poor little baby must have drowned in the night! Raven and Quinticle are horrified that they did not notice in time to save the baby, but, of course, it’s too late now.

The duo spend several days simply gathering food—they’re very low on it. They become good friends. They even have nicknames for each other—Quint and Rave. Finally the day comes when Raven decides it’s time to ask Quinticle something…

R: “Quinticle?”
Q: “Yes, Rave?”
R: “I like you. I mean, I like like you, Quint.”
Q: “You… you do? Well… I like like you too.” He grins sheepishly.

The couple become mates, and quite soon, Raven is very happy to announce that she is pregnant.

 

Go Raven!! Woooo!

[Aether]

... *Goes on steam* oh frick it’s been a year! (Aka I need to make a play through help.)