Spore is a PC (for now) god game under development by Maxis and designed by Will Wright that allows a player to control the evolution of a species from its existence as a multicellular organism to a spacefaring sapient creature. The game has drawn wide attention for its massive scope, and its promise to simulate this development of a species through open-ended gameplay using procedural generation.

Hyperbole aside, I am personally looking forward to it. I have already said I am a huge fan of sim games aside from "the sims" which I feel should be renamed "Dolly Dress-Up for middle aged men with control issues."

I wouldn't go and call a game the most anything until it's released and I play it for myself. It's been a long time in development, but it may end up biting off more than it can chew. It's aiming to integrate a lot of different gameplay mechanics, but in the end it could very well produce mediocre gameplay at each "phase" of the game and it could be a massive disappointment.

I'm looking forward to it, but hype is a game's worst enemy. It sets up unrealistic expectations and even if a game is well above average, hype can make it feel like far less. Being cautious is always a good idea.

Most innovative may be a bit overstating it. It's unfortunately the next logical evolution in the sequence of Sim games although not a lot of people refer to it as a Sim game. First you had the city, tower, town, household, you started controlling many aspects of people's lives first on a large scale to a much smaller. Now it's taking the control to an even smaller scale but stretching the development to a huge scale. If any part of these games were innovative it was the original Sim City, everything after is unfortunately a spin-off and less innovative by comparison.

We might as well call Rocky Balboa the most innovative of the Rocky movies (consider it the best for a moment), just because the last is the best at doing what they've all been doing doesn't make it the most innovative, Spore is just a new application to the same concepts we've been seeing for more than a decade now.

That aside I do feel Spore will be outstanding and I do have quite a few friends looking forward to it.

aye i agree with the above poster the games have basically been management:
first city scale
next town scale
household scale
person scale
now Cellular scale

but spore instead of just being the last and most detailed level takes it a bit further, you start in the cell stage moving up and through the other 'Sim Eras' until after passing city level you get to something new galactic level but with the same ammount of detail and control as cellular level, to me this tells me that this game IS innovative, well as much as the genre allows.

Not only does it start and 'end' (seeing as the game has no real end) with something new, from what ive seen in previews its all quality, its very very late and im really tired so i wont elaborate on the whole procedural animation, making your unbeliavably customizable critter etc.

night night

See, the idea of Spore might be innovative now, but I'm sure it won't be innovative say...one hundred years from now.

...which is probably when the actual game will be released. heh.

Adrenicide:
Most innovative may be a bit overstating it. It's unfortunately the next logical evolution in the sequence of Sim games although not a lot of people refer to it as a Sim game. First you had the city, tower, town, household, you started controlling many aspects of people's lives first on a large scale to a much smaller. Now it's taking the control to an even smaller scale but stretching the development to a huge scale. If any part of these games were innovative it was the original Sim City, everything after is unfortunately a spin-off and less innovative by comparison.

We might as well call Rocky Balboa the most innovative of the Rocky movies (consider it the best for a moment), just because the last is the best at doing what they've all been doing doesn't make it the most innovative, Spore is just a new application to the same concepts we've been seeing for more than a decade now.

That aside I do feel Spore will be outstanding and I do have quite a few friends looking forward to it.

i disagree i think simcity 2000 was and is the best in the series

The first thing I'm going to (as I've stated previously) is creat a race of giant penis's. Why? Because it's immature, playing with a mature game engine. A race of penis's first battle the elements, creat a tribe, a ciclizations... penis's with guns and tanks! Nah, my penis's will ride in EVA's!! Then they will go on and conqure distant planets in order of there giant penis overlord! BWAHAHAHA!!

Wow, I used the word penis alot just then.

PurpleRain:
The first thing I'm going to (as I've stated previously) is creat a race of giant penis's. Why? Because it's immature, playing with a mature game engine. A race of penis's first battle the elements, creat a tribe, a ciclizations... penis's with guns and tanks! Nah, my penis's will ride in EVA's!! Then they will go on and conqure distant planets in order of there giant penis overlord! BWAHAHAHA!!

Wow, I used the word penis alot just then.

Freud might have something to say about this post...

I wouldn't call it the most innovative game ever as it is not out yet. The most innovative game ever would have to be pong. It was the first home game system. How you can say that another game is more innovative then pong is beyond me, unless talking about a specific genre.

In Fable the trees grow. I bet you didn't know that.

I did originally found the concept and scope ingenious however I'm starting to doubt the variaty lurking under the hood. I'm trying to keep this nice and low on the hype radar until it comes out. I find Spore very amusing in the sense that if you watch the Old Hour long GDC Spore video (2006 i think) Will says that they wanted to cut development time and costs by reducing the amount of artwork, modelling and animation needed. Which is great apart from the fact that they then have to spend another three years creating the game to get it all working correctly. I suppose being a man in Will's Position you can do what you like and take as long as you like doing it, after all its not like he is going to lose money on it.

One thing is certain at this point, they will somehow make up expansion packs for it. I'm guessing one that has lots of Googley Eyes and various other appendages.

No, I would think The Sims would be the most innovative game ever. Before The Sims, there just wasn't anything like it, and it sold like hot cakes laced with crack.

I'm going to wait and see if Spore can live up to the hype, but hey, it's Will Wright y'all.

I think you are at least 6 months to soon to even think about posting a thread like this.

J

Yeh way to soon to comment on this. I'm not falling for any hype atm though. I'm just afraid it'l get boring real quick, tinkering everything exterior wise is cool but it doesn't have any lasting appeal to me. For me to really get into it, the game would have to use complex social structures, diplomacy, racial issues, heck just about everything.

I got bored with the sims after 2 weeks, had the most fun actually burning them alive with the cheap kitchen material. ( if you're bored, try surrounding them with wooden chairs and letting them use the cheap kitchen stove without any skill, it's guaranteed to burn )So I don't get what's so great about that game, most women only play that gamewise.

Anyway, high hopes but so far wait and see.

Hate to poop on the party but the previews I've seen have said they were a bit disappointed with how inorganic the evolution felt. They said it was just a sort of cellular level mini-game, then you designed a creature and went around eating things, and then it was a sim-city style game, soforth. A bit like how Molyneux promised a real, amazing aging system in Fable but in the end we just got a transition from childhood to adulthood consisting of 'childhood finished: would you like to become an adult? A for yes, B for no.' That pissed me off.

BUT, you gotta have faith in these things. If they can make the transitions between stages a bit smoother then I could be convinced.

I agree with Gigantor, with exception in one thing. Childhood to adulthood evolution actually develops in such a manner, only Fable forgot the third option: Press Y for "I'm a grown up already! You can't tell me what to do! No one understands me."

I liked the idea (ideas?) of Spore, but I never really got the point of the game. I know it is, like, the ultimate sandbox or something. But there's a difference from actually having a defined sandbox and calling a tropical beach a sandbox.
At first I was happy, "Hey, an evolution game!" then I went "Wait, now I control several copies of myself? We're Sim citying?" to finally "I became God? Seriously, what is my purpose here?". Spore just doesn't seem to decide what kind of role you have. And it confuses me.

A God game focused on evolution, first class irony.

If Spore contained a multiplayer feature in which all players were in the same universe, rather than downloaded and controlled by some random AI. The game would be awesome, mass slaughter of innocent children's creations. Bliss.

Shame it's single player.

So. Last I heard, this game was nearly done to the point the guy was showing off every little thing in it and giving to people to try. So when's it going to hit our shelves, or has it been delayed, or what?

Frapple:
A God game focused on evolution, first class irony.

If Spore contained a multiplayer feature in which all players were in the same universe, rather than downloaded and controlled by some random AI. The game would be awesome, mass slaughter of innocent children's creations. Bliss.

Shame it's single player.

actually its part single and part multiplayer game meaning that while u play the game other ppl's content will be downloaded

actually its part single and part multiplayer game meaning that while u play the game other ppl's content will be downloaded

But the content is still controlled by AI. So it is still purely SP.

You don't expect a Spore player to log in one day just to find out his race that he has raised for 6 months has been genocided last night, and his planet been converted into a huge fast food restraunt.

Instead of calling spore "the most innovative game ever" call it "the game with the most potential for player created humor."

For 'player created humour' read 'races of giant, walking phalluses, armed with willy guns and living in penis houses.' Call me a cynic but I've been around just long enough to know that when you give a gamer the tools, most of us will produce filth.

Including me! Yay!

First person to mention Freud gets a slap...

SilentScope001:

actually its part single and part multiplayer game meaning that while u play the game other ppl's content will be downloaded

But the content is still controlled by AI. So it is still purely SP.

You don't expect a Spore player to log in one day just to find out his race that he has raised for 6 months has been genocided last night, and his planet been converted into a huge fast food restraunt.

I'd expect conquering someone to be a long process in which they have many ways to protect themselves, but it's never going to happen :P

Call me a cynic but I've been around just long enough to know that when you give a gamer the tools, most of us will produce filth.

Including me! Yay!

Penis Lion vs Boob Walrus.

The penis lion will attack via a thrusting motion with its giant purple head, and release chemicals to mark its terit....wait, too far?

It's based on a natural process that has been occurring for millions of years..it's hardly innovative, except for the fact that someone decided to make a game out of it.

Gigantor:
For 'player created humour' read 'races of giant, walking phalluses, armed with willy guns and living in penis houses.' Call me a cynic but I've been around just long enough to know that when you give a gamer the tools, most of us will produce filth.

Including me! Yay!

First person to mention Freud gets a slap...

:)

Filth in games is fun.

In my opinion, Spore looks like the most fucking amazing videogame ever created in the history of the multiverse. It is the end result of decades of videogame evolution, from Pong to Super Mario to Zelda to Goldeneye to Half-Life to World of Warcraft and, finally, Spore. Think of it as the homo sapien of videogames.

I wouldn't go ask far as that Spleen, but it will be an amazing game. I am excited for it but until I get a date or a month, or even an year, I'm still keeping my excitement for GTA IV and Burnout Paradise.

At this point, I'm cautiously optimistic, at best. It all sounds good on paper, but we haven't really seen a whole lot of actual "game" in the game yet. Yes, being able to design everything from your species' appearance to their buildings and vehicles is neat, but if you strip all that away, what's left? From the videos we've seen so far, each individual section seems fairly straightforward, with what seems like very little depth.

I imagine that (hopefully) this is the sort of thing that they're taking the time to implement. All the snazzy procedurally generated animations in the world won't mean a thing if you're bored with the actual game in a day or so.

xVladx:

All the snazzy procedurally generated animations in the world won't mean a thing if you're bored with the actual game in a day or so.

I watched the 32 min long version of the spore demo. Aside from the fact that Will Wright used word "Procedural" to describe every element of the game, I was impressed. Not the kind of "impressed" when I first saw Sim City. I certainly don't see much innovation with the game modes individually, but when they are put together with the ability to share your creations on a giant social network, I see a great deal of potential in the communities it will create. That's what games are really about, connecting with people, sharing ideas and having a good time while doing it. Hopefully EA will nail the community aspect. They did a great job with The Sims Exchange. EA knows that no one fucks with Will Wright's games and lives to talk about it.

I'm fascinated by the concept of this one but think the actual game itself would bore me to tears. It fits neatly into the free-roaming/sandbox/create-your-own-content movement that's been growing wildly in the last few years (epitomized by Halo 3's Forge I think, it being a game no one thought they would be able to customize).

I'm afraid Spore's efforts will be lost by its lack of direction as you'll essentially be getting multiple games without actual endings, the first few just transform into another game once you get to a certain point and the last one turns the universe into a sandbox. What if the tribe game part is your favorite bit? Can you create a game locked into that era with a set ending, a la Civilization scenario's?

Spore seems to me to be rather unguided, especially when compared to something like LittleBigPlanet, which also appeals to me in a similar vein but seems to have a more tangible direction and sense of purpose.

Then again, I left Sim City behind me ages ago and wasn't too interested in the Sims so maybe I just fall outside the audience these days.

I'll be watching this one evolving intently though, just as I like to read up on Second Life from the sidelines.

Aside:
Talking genitalia will be a part of everybody's universe if the shared content isn't filtered. And whatever you say, there's definately hilarity in the prospect of seeing the yellow and the purple penis-people go to war in some kind of nuclear equipped version of a pissing or measuring contest... Not to mention the vulva-faced critters from planet 328... Youtube will go a riot with this game.

Ooooh,first post. Anyways, while I am looking forward to Spore, I can't see how you can call it innovative when big Willy has basically admitted that the game is inspired by a whole bunch of other genres mish-mashed together. Hell even the "evolving lifeform" gimmick has been done by a couple of obscure sim games and a cult16 bit title I can't remember at the moment. The worry is if the team can make the whole thing gell into one awesome game that charts the rise of a species to emperors of the galaxy or a whole bunch of mediocre games which insist on yanking you right out of your "Populous-lite" just when you're getting into it in favour of "diet Civ". But I'm optimistic that even if it turns out to be a car-crash design wise, the game will still be fun. Prattling about wise game design is all well and good, but at the end of the day people just want to make some purple and lime creature with eyes on it's arms and TRY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD! No?

sathie:
In Fable the trees grow. I bet you didn't know that.

I laughed.

Yeah, alright, so Maxis may have suddenly contracted the Molyneux Syndrome, but at least they're putting an enormous amount of development time into designing the game and producing results from it. I mean, when do we see films and screenies of Molyneux's games from the team themselves? Months before release? Spore has been teasing fans for the past year or so. Obviously they're making some progress, albeit bordering on vaporware, rather than fantasy, unrealistic goals.

A company had a project like this 10 years ago but it was dropped.

I personally can't wait for Spore. I'm going to make a bunch of creatures that look like Alphabet letters, and have them wage war on one another. Also, for kicks, the kingdoms of F, U, C, and K will be right next to eachother.

I think this world would be much better if God had my sophisticated sense of humor.