1992 Thalamus
Platforms: Atari ST and Commodore Amiga
Creatures 1 and 2 were two fantastically cute, but violent titles from Apex Computer Productions, and published by Thalamus during the early 1990s. So popular, it was decided to convert Creatures to the the Amiga and ST, with a a ZX Spectrum version muted and never released.
The first game was converted to the 16-bit platforms by Wayne J. Smithson Design (or W.J.S for short), coded by Philip Watts, with graphics by Noel Hines and music by Tim Bartlett. Unfortunately the game didn’t fare as well as the C64 original, and had just above average reviews in general.
However, W.J.S were reported in a Thalamus newsletter to be working on converting the sequel as well, with a release date for late 1992 (as was the first game). Some magazines also reported the same thing too.
The first game would not see release until early 1993, but there would be nothing of the second game and at this point in time, its not known how far any conversions got. It doesn’t seem that any preview screenshots ever surfaced of the sequel in production – but if you know of any, please do get in touch.
Around the time, Thalamus were in a lot of financial trouble – so its plausible that the game was canned for those reasons. It might also be the poor reception of the first game which led to cancellation too.
We’ll try and get in touch with those involved with the first game, as we assume they were also involved on the sequel. Hopefully we can find out exactly what happened and if anything may have survived after all this time.
With thanks to David Jorge for the Thalamus newsletter scans confirming the conversions.
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