Evolution of Norns
The evolution of norns has been a mildly debated topic through the years. Statues in creatures 1 suggested Norns once looked very different. It is a timeline of design, and digital biology plays a far smaller role. It all begins with a simple model, and several sketches. These were taken from the gameware website archive.¹ A note on the club-tailed norn: the hoppity from c3 is claimed by the catalogue description to be related to norns, the family resemblance is fairly clear here. The following three pictures were from development versions, each build seemingly having a vastly different design for the Norns.² Interestingly, the creatures from the development versions seem to be a continuation of the cardboard model, preceding the kangeroo/dog mammals from the other sketches up until the goatlike norn. Imagine if these sketches and screenshots were not simply the fancy of the designers, but steps and branches in the evolution of Norns. In a way it is speculative biology. In a...
