News Wil Wright: You will never see everything in Spore

Unlke some of you, I'm really looking forward to this game. If you haven't yet, watch this video: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=8372603330420559198

It's everything I've ever wanted to play in a simulation game and more.

 

Usefulness of parts can be debated until the cows come home. I'm just confused as why they'd include things such as wings, and fins, when we're creating land based aliens. There is the illusion of flying/floating aliens, but this is a work around and not a feature of the game. I don't understand why the game developers, didn't sit down, and segregate types of aliens, Water, Land & Flying... Instead, we're left with a land creature creator, with components such as fins and wings to use... I ended up using my fin decals to represent protruding ribs... not for my creatures swimming abilities.

I thought the DNA string in the top right of the screen was an interesting concept, and a good way to limit the excessive design of creatures. I'm somewhat confused still as to why they partnered this with a second "money DNA coin" system. To me, money seems out of place in a game where you're designing aliens to populate an entire universe. Maybe it'll make more sense in the full version of the game... but I still don't see how. For an idea as big as SPORE, a simple money system to limit design seems out of place, especially when they've got one already implemented (The DNA strange in the top right corner)! It just seems strange to me, that there's two things to watch, the DNA complexity metre AND my DNA money budget, when designing creatures. It may make more sense in the full game, as with your example of the given game play on the cellar, and other levels.

Would you mind posting a couple of games that you know of? I did a quick google, but didn't find much. The last creature design game I played was probably about 2 decades ago. I remember you designed a dinosaur type creature, and then ran around eating other dinosaurs! I can't remember what it was called...

Mass-appeal design. Instantly I've already thought of how things could/should/would have been done better in SPORE from a game players perspective, but apparently this wouldn't have mass-appeal? Like hell it wouldn't. I crawled the web and found many people, like myself, who have tried to do the things I've wanted to do with the creature creature, and found out we can't. I'm not alone regarding my disappointment. Mass-disappointment?

For someone like me, who develops and designs in industry for his day job, I find that the creature creator lacks many things... and I was especially bored with its drag and drop affair of body parts. It is extensively limited, and a lot of the creatures I see that are "cool" are using work arounds. They look ridiculously stupid (ie, crap) when animated and walking around as their decals clip and move oddly and mess things up. It's impossible to make something sleek and agile like a Cheater, or something square and alien looking, like Domokun. Or take my crab monster. I can never make a crab monster to dominate our Universe with. Well, not one that walks sideways with one claw larger than the other. Even the texturing system is limited and predefined to a handful of patterns. Green blood would have been nice too, or blue...

The wings included are not functional, they're simply decals. They don't flap, they're not functioning limbs. I think if anything they give the attribute +1 for jumping higher? If the Sims, Battlefield, Simcity 4, are anything to go off, there will be expansion packs. In my opinion, expansion packs are poor form from the consumer view point, and why they're so widely accepted I will never understand. Obviously not all expansion packs are the same. Take the Half Life 2 Episodes for example, which were decent sized games offered at a relatively cheap price. But I've a gut feeling that SPORE is being specifically expansion pack orientated. Reduce the original content, release it later in an expansion pack to make another buck.

Reeks of cash for comments tbh. My opinion is as valid as the next. Would you prefer I just sat back and typed "ZOMG SPORE!!!11 LOOKS AWESOME"!!! ?

 

I've designed creatures in the creature creator demo, and I've been able to do whatever I wanted and not had to worry about the money system (because I never reached the limit). It's really not that big of a deal, unless you want 30 pairs of eyes and 60 pairs of arms and legs (which would be ridiculous on the system resources). But, the game is not out yet, so it's quite pointless to complain or debate about things we simply don't know yet. SPORE!!!!1!11 1 !!1

 

Not at all, I'm just pointing out that although your opinion is valid, there does seem to be a bias.

Wings ARE a part of the full game and, having played the full game, I can confirm that I've made flying creatures. The 'wings' that are in the demo at the moment are not actually wins - they are cosmetic, but there are useable wings in the full game.

If you want realism and complexity, you're basically looking in the wrong place. Try this:

http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?name=G-Netix

 

Greetings!

Probably left those for the expansion packs.