GeekSugar

Have You Created Your Spore Creature Yet?

GeekSugar — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:45:03 -0700

I mentioned Spore way back in January in my 2008 Games Preview, but I'm hoping you haven't forgotten about it since then, cause I'm still totally stoked! Spore is coming this September (finally), but you have your chance to make your own creature now in a free trial download from EA.

If you remember, Spore is an evolutionary game that has you starting out in the first of five "phases" as a single cell organism, collecting enough DNA to evolve into a different creature that you create - which is where the creature creator comes in. I can already see hours and hours of time flying by as I tweak, smoosh, and stretch my creature just the way I want it - the possibilities are endless!

Test out your creative skills now with the free creature creator trial for your PC or Mac, so that you're ready to evolve when Spore hits the shelves this fall on your Mac, PC, DS, and your iPhone!

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Spore Mania: My Interview with Ocean Quigley

GeekSugar — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:00:18 -0700

We have just a few more days until Spore hits the streets, and I couldn't be more excited! In preparation for the release, I got a chance to speak with Ocean Quigley, Spore's Art Director, about the making of the game, and all the challenges they faced while producing this trailblazing title. We also talked in depth about Spore's Creature Creator; the thing that allows you to mold and sculpt your creatures to life.

I'm assuming that you've already been toying around with it, because there are more than three million creatures created and submitted to the Sporepedia - Spore's answer to the encyclopedia!

Not surprisingly, with all the fun creatures, buildings, and planets you can make (and take over) in Spore, this game has been in development for quite some time. But you won't believe just how long it took to get made! Read on for my full interview!

So exactly how long have you been working on Spore?
A great long time! I started on it back in '99 after finishing up Sim City 3000, doing a few months of conceptual design with Will Wright (the creator of The Sims and Spore), then took a break to work on Sim City 4. So I've been noodling with it, well, geez, since back in the 20th century!

You must be totally relieved now that it's finished!
It's kind of hard to believe that we've come to the end of such a long development cycle. I've accumulated about six months of vacation, so I'm going to disappear for a while!

To check out the rest of my interview with Ocean, and why Spore will change the face of 3D modeling forever, just read more.

Where did your career start? Did you always know that you wanted to get into video games?
I started out as an oil painter, but it's not too often that you get to be on the ground floor of a new medium like that has been done on computers. Oil painting has been around for centuries, and people have been painting on cave walls before that, so if you think about the opportunity to be in the thick of a formation of a new art form, those opportunities are really rare. With the explosion of computer power we've seen over the last few years or so, it's become possible to make no-holds-barred, straight up artwork. It's was obvious to me in the early '90s that I needed to be a part of this.

Coming from a fine arts background, was it hard for you to relinquish that control of what will be produced in the game by the players?
That was kind of interesting! Because you have to hold back a little bit. Usually, when you're an artist you say, "This is what I want this object to look like," and you sort of bang on it until it looks like what I want it to look like. But in Spore, I had to step back because how it works out will be up to the player. In Spore, you're really experiencing a new kind of artwork where it's made by the interactions of the player. It's not this static, inert object. It's a dynamic art form. It took years to figure out and get used to.

Spore's creation editor is similar to some professional 3D modeling programs out on the market. How do you think Spore's creation editor is better or different than those programs?
The main difference is that the professional programs like Maya don't make any assumptions about what you're doing, so you're working up from bits and pieces. If you wanted to make a creature, you may start with a cube, and then pull those shapes where you want them to be. Whereas in our Creature Editor, we've given a lot of thought about making creatures and how they are put together. So instead of starting with a triangle or cube, we give you the structure of creatures (spine, muscles) and they are just waiting to be sculpted. So really, you could make creatures, like, a thousand times faster in our editor than in other programs.

I get the feeling that Spore will spawn a whole new generation of 3D modelers and animators. Did you have that in mind when creating the game?
No question. It's such a wonderful experience to create things and bring them to life. But the barrier to enter the 3D modeling world is incredibly high - not only are the production tools really expensive, but they are really hard to use. So one of the things that I wanted to do was give that experience of creation - of what it's like to shape something and see it come to life and basically give tangible form to your imagination - to millions of people, not just the handful of artists that use these expensive programs.

I'd expect that Spore will be a gateway to thousands of visual artists, but also that professional modeling programs are going to have to learn from Spore's user interface. You're going to have these artists coming from Spore, and then into these higher level programs like Maya, and they will realize how awful they are to use.

You worked on The Sims, which has been hugely popular with the female gaming community. Did this fact have any impact on how you made Spore?
Yeah, no question. We have a lot of women in senior positions, and we wanted to make sure that we didn't just make something that would appeal to the guys on the team, so at every stage the art direction was critiqued by the women that were on the project. The final art direction that you see reflects the years of ideas we thought would appeal both to men and women.

Will you play Spore, or are you completely Spore-d out?
Yes, I will play, but I'm actually waiting for a release copy, just like everyone else! I've got a pretty good sense about what the play will be like, but I'm needing a little bit of a break so that I can play with fresh eyes. My kids are very excited to play it as well.

Do you play any other video games?
I like all kinds of games, but the only type that I really don't play are the World of Warcraft, or online games in general. I've got the kind of personality that I know it would just take over my life! It's good to know your limitations.

Spore Review: Not Just a Game In a Box

GeekSugar — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:02:18 -0700

During my interview with Ocean Quigley, Art Director for Spore, I mentioned to him that I hated calling this a game, cause it's much more like a tool for creativity. And after playing Spore every spare moment I could muster for three days straight, I can attest to that statement as being true. It's more than a game (although some will say it's not really a "game" at all), it's a lesson in evolution and a brand new way to watch something you've created come to life.

Spore is split up into five stages - Cell, Creature, Tribal, Civilization, and Space – evolving you from a tiny cell trying to make it in the muck pool, to a space cowboy who travels to other planets in his space ship. Along the way, you are able to evolve by adding new parts, molding, and upgrading your creature as you make your way up the food chain. It's really quite exciting to see something that you've made go from swimming in a tide pool, to walking on land and making friends (and enemies)!

To see my thoughts on the rest of the stages and check out some pics from the game, just read more.

The Cell stage is by far the shortest, your only task being to eat so you can gain enough DNA points to evolve to land. An interesting aspect you learn right away is that all of your choices from this point forward will affect your species' evolution, right down to the choice of being an herbivore, omnivore, or carnivore. I loved playing around in this stage, and kinda wish it would have went on longer!

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If I had to pick one stage to be my favorite, it would have to be the Creature stage! This is where all the magic happens. You get to mold, shape, and upgrade your creature, and I'll warn you now – you might spend longer on designing your creature than you did playing in the Cell stage altogether! Since there are other species in this level to interact with, you can either make friends with neighboring groups, or attempt to destroy them - either choice earns you DNA points so that you can evolve to be a more powerful creature. Eventually, you can add other allies to your pack and travel with them, which is pretty helpful when you do need to take on another species to the death!

The Tribal stage, although engaging, was probably my least favorite. I'm not the biggest fan of real-time strategy games, and this was like a simple version of one. Your creature has evolved, made fire, and can now build huts, hunt and gather food, and communicate with a language. To earn DNA points, your tribe gathers food to support your growing population. Again, you can either make friends with your neighboring tribes by playing instruments, or crush them into oblivion. Customization takes a nose dive in this stage, but you can dress your tribe members, and upgrade your huts.

The Civilization stage brings a grander sense of scale, where you can build cities (this is where all those hours you've invested in playing The Sims will come in handy), and attempt to dominate the planet. You generate a stream of income by collecting spice, so you can purchase more materials to build more buildings, and acquire more soldiers to conquer more land. Additionally, you can build factories and entertainment complexes so that your unhappy workers can unwind at the theater afterwards!

The Space stage was another favorite of mine. You build space ships, vehicles, mold planets, travel to other galaxies and either help a fledgling species, or dominate them. You can even abduct other life forms and transport them to other planets! This is by far the largest stage, and the longest one to complete. What makes this stage cool though, is that it's pretty open ended so you can go where you want, and do just about anything. Designing my space ship was for sure the toughest part - it had to be awesome!

Overall, Spore inspired me, not because of its complex design, cool art, or thought provoking gameplay (I was always worried about what the consequence will be if I exterminate a neighboring species – I'm too nice, I know.), but the fact that this will change the way games are made from here on out. Spore will require other games to have more customization, since it's pretty endless here. Besides, over three million creatures have been made with the Creature Creator, and no two are alike! I loved playing Spore, but I realize it won't be for everyone. There's not a constant stream of action, and there is a whole science class aspect to it, but it really is very fun to play. If you don't have a Mac or PC, you can also get the DS version ($30) of the game! Spore is available this Sunday, September 7 for $50 online or in stores, and guess what, it's worth every penny!

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