No need to worry!  

Tree World downloads the images for some of the critters over the internet.  If the game doesn't have all the critter images downloaded yet, that critter will appear  as the critter clock loading image:

The game downloads these images in the background and when the images are ready, the critter will load correctly and stop looking like a clock.  There are a few different solutions to try to ensure that your game downloads the critter art assets.

To make sure that you have the latest critters available in the game, and to help if you see critter clocks on your tree, please first try the steps outlined below in Solution 1:

1.  Connect your device to the internet, preferable a strong wifi connection.
2.  Tap on the Options button.  See below.

3.  Scroll to the bottom of the page and tap on the Check for Updates button (this is available as of version 1.20). 

4.  Now just wait for the critters to download!  You should notice a Downloading Progress bar in the bottom right corner, depending on the size of the download.  

Keep in mind that the game will only download art while you are playing the game, it will not download art once you exit the app.

If this doesn't start downloading your critters, please try the following, please move on to Solution 2 as outlined below.

Solution 2:

To completely close and reload the app:

1.  Double tap the round home button on the device.

2.  Hold your finger on the game icon that will appear along the bottom of the screen.

3.  Once you see the icons start to shake, tap on the red minus sign in the upper left corner of the game icon.

4.  Tap once on the round home button on the device.  This will made the icons stop shaking and will close the app.

5.  Power off your device.

6.  Turn your device on again and try reloading the game.

Then, to allow your tree to load: 

1.     On your device, tap on Settings

2.     Select General

3.     Tap on Auto-lock

4.     Tap on “Never”

Once you have disabled auto lock, please open the game and leave it running until your branches and critters have all loaded. This may take as few as 5 minutes, or as long as over-night depending on device and internet connection speed. It is important that you do not close the game, send it to background, or open any other apps during the loading process. If your critters still do not load, move on to Solution 3.

Solution 3:

Critters can become stuck in the loading procress due to an error in downloading, or from restoring the game from backup files or cloud. If your critters are still not downloading after following the steps above, then uninstalling and reinstalling the game will allow your critters to download properly.  If you follow the steps below, you will be able to uninstall and reinstall without losing any progress: 

1. Know your username: http://support.theplayforge.com/entries/21827978-finding-your-username

2. Set a password: http://support.theplayforge.com/entries/21249206-how-do-i-set-a-password-or-email

3. Tap on the button in the bottom left corner.

4. Tap on the "Resources" button that pops up.

5. Close the game, go to your home screen.

6. Hold down on the app until it "wobbles".

7. Tap the black circle with the cross (x) sign that appears on the corner of the app.

8. Re-download the game directly on to your device from here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tree-world/id473130352?mt=8

9. Once it's done downloading, your tree should load up automatically. If, when you open the game, you appear to have "started over" don't panic, this just means you need to log in to your account. You can learn how to log in here: http://support.theplayforge.com/entries/21226068-logging-into-an-account

Once you've uninstalled and reinstalled the game, you should receive a pop up message that will say that your critters are loading. As per the steps above, allow your critters to load without closing the game or locking your device until all critters have loaded and the downloading bar disappears.