Wired put up a really great gallery/article with some updates about Spore.
First off, the game is being released September 7th for Mac, PC, and Nintendo DS, all at the same time. That’s still quite a ways away, but Will Wright has figured out how to keep everyone happy till then… a Creature Editor! It’s going to be released a few months before the game comes out, and will allow you to make creatures just like you do in the game. It’ll tell you as soon as Spore comes out, and allow you to import the characters you’ve made as well.

Another cool detail they’ve leaked is that you can start the game at any point. So if you don’t want to start out in the “cell” portion of the game, you can jump directly into the making of your creature. I think this could be helpful especially if you’ve played the game a million times and are sick of being a tiny shrimp in the evolutional tide pool.

I guess there’s also something hidden in the center of the universe, which you can try and find once you get the space travel ability. Will Wright and his creative team have totally done it again, and I’ll be posting more of these nerdy posts as more info becomes available.

Bobby

5 Comments »

1. i reported on this today too…
   this part sounded coolest:

   “Spore will make use of generative music, made up of themes and algorithms that recombine based on context, as opposed to yesterday’s static, linear theme songs.

   Wright collaborated with musician Brian Eno to create the music generator, which also allows users to jump in and create their own themes by clicking and dragging musical notes.”

   p.s. coming to project nerdway tonite, nerdface?

   Comment by mark h — February 13, 2008 #

2. In The Sims he used Mark Mothersbaugh, so it’s funny to see how many music connections Will Wright has.
   Maybe Trent Reznor could do the next game?

   And you bet your bippy I am!

   Comment by Bobby S. — February 13, 2008 #

3. p.p.s. did you download that ‘in rainbows’ remix record yet?

   http://www.onesevensevensix.com/amplive/index.html

   the grey album is about 1 million x better, but it is interesting to hear what amplive did.

   you are a whiteboy from norcal, so i assume you aren’t totally averse to hip-hop, right?

   Comment by mark h — February 13, 2008 #

4. Wright has a lot of connections to the experimental art and music worlds, hence Mark Mothersbaugh and Brian Eno. He’s a very fascinating guy and very down to earth. My former roommate worked on Spore in 2006-2007 and she had a lot of conversations with him. A little known tidbit is that most of his projects are the direct result of experiences in his life. For instance, The Sims came about because of his desire to design a modern “dollhouse” for his young daughter!

   The use of procedural generation has a lot of far-reaching implications for this game. For one, it means almost every aspect of this game can be customized and remixed. Secondly, because the content is generated via instructions to the algorithms, it’s portable and accessible. So in a sense, it’s as if the game has an API.

   Comment by Patrick — February 13, 2008 #

5. Mark: I downloaded that album and thought it was pure crap.
   They know how to cut up samples! How edgy!
   I was excited when I saw Del’s name on there too, but it was just pathetic.

   Patrick: You are smart beyond smart. And that does sound exciting, I hope people hack the crap out of it.

   Comment by Bobby S. — February 13, 2008 #

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