Few games can really claim years of quiet anticipation from the hardcore gaming masses like Spore has. After all, gamers are not known to be a patient lot, but most everyone acknowledged that the game was ambitious enough to warrant an extended development period. It was with great expectations that Spore finally came out to the masses in September 2008.
Now, is Spore 'Game of the Year' material as many had hoped it would be? It's hard to say at this point, though it has seemingly not been "all things to all people" as some had hoped it would be. Spore has, however, turned out to be a genuine success right out of the gate.
We talked with Lucy Bradshaw, executive producer on Spore, to discuss the latest from EA Maxis.
Millions of creatures created
Spore has not been on the market for an extended period, but the returns have already been spectacular. The game occupied three of the top four game software slots for the NPD PC game chart covering September 7 – 13, including the base game, Spore Galactic Edition and the Spore Creature Creator. This helped lead the title past the one million sold mark in only a few short weeks.
"[Players have] been able to do some things with the editor tools that we didn't think possible... They're really pushing things to the limit and it's great fun to watch. It's fun for the studio to sit back and scratch their heads asking, 'How did they make that?' "
"We're very pleased at how Spore has been performing," commented Bradshaw. "I think what's most impressive to all of us at Maxis is the number of creations that have been created since the release. Before launch we were at about 3 million and that's now jumped to more than 30 million and counting! It's pretty amazing just looking at how players have responded to the game in this way and to see what types of cool things they've been able to create."
Speaking of the aforementioned Spore Creature Creator, the creature editor gave players a taste of the tools of the full game. Players enthusiastically embraced the free online demo and full $10 edition, uploading roughly 1 million creatures in a week.
"I think [the Spore Creature Creator] helped hugely," confirmed Bradshaw. "With the Creature Creator, players were able to get a taste of Spore and give it a test drive of sorts. As I said, even before Spore launched, there were more than 3 million creatures created, which completely blew us away. From that point on, we couldn't wait to see what players would do with the other editors like vehicle, building, and spaceship, once they got their hands on them. Spore really provokes creativity from people of all ages. I did an interview with a journalist who said he plays with the Creature Creator with his two-year old daughter – the youngest player I've heard of yet. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the father of one of the studio members is even making creatures, and he's 80 years old! Not only was releasing the Creature Creator before the game crucial to really demonstrate what's at the core of Spore, but it helped give us a sense of how creative people can be."
While the Spore Creature Creator got players excited, the full release of Spore sent off a tidal wave of new creations. "What's especially cool to me is that the majority of these creations are things that players noticeably spent a lot of time and energy on," continued Bradshaw. "Their creativity truly shows through. They've even been able to do some things with the editor tools that we didn't think possible, like skeletal creatures, seemingly multi-faceted creations, which in reality are only a single creation, etc. They're really pushing things to the limit and it's great fun to watch. It's fun for the studio to sit back and scratch their heads asking, 'How did they make that?'"
Spore Screenshots
Spore, the highly anticipated game from the creators of The Sims, gives players their own personal universe in a box. Create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt entire worlds and explore a universe created by other gamers. Spore gives players a wealth of creative tools to customize nearly every aspect of their universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even UFOs. Players can then seamlessly share their creations with the world or explore infinite new galaxies created by other gamers. (Screenshot 1 of 114)
Spore, the highly anticipated game from the creators of The Sims, gives players their own personal universe in a box. Create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt entire worlds and explore a universe created by other gamers. Spore gives players a wealth of creative tools to customize nearly every aspect of their universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even UFOs. Players can then seamlessly share their creations with the world or explore infinite new galaxies created by other gamers. (Screenshot 2 of 114)
Spore, the highly anticipated game from the creators of The Sims, gives players their own personal universe in a box. Create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt entire worlds and explore a universe created by other gamers. Spore gives players a wealth of creative tools to customize nearly every aspect of their universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even UFOs. Players can then seamlessly share their creations with the world or explore infinite new galaxies created by other gamers. (Screenshot 3 of 114)
Spore, the highly anticipated game from the creators of The Sims, gives players their own personal universe in a box. Create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt entire worlds and explore a universe created by other gamers. Spore gives players a wealth of creative tools to customize nearly every aspect of their universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even UFOs. Players can then seamlessly share their creations with the world or explore infinite new galaxies created by other gamers. (Screenshot 4 of 114)
Spore, the highly anticipated game from the creators of The Sims, gives players their own personal universe in a box. Create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt entire worlds and explore a universe created by other gamers. Spore gives players a wealth of creative tools to customize nearly every aspect of their universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even UFOs. Players can then seamlessly share their creations with the world or explore infinite new galaxies created by other gamers. (Screenshot 5 of 114)
Spore, the highly anticipated game from the creators of The Sims, gives players their own personal universe in a box. Create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt entire worlds and explore a universe created by other gamers. Spore gives players a wealth of creative tools to customize nearly every aspect of their universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even UFOs. Players can then seamlessly share their creations with the world or explore infinite new galaxies created by other gamers. (Screenshot 6 of 114)
Spore, the highly anticipated game from the creators of The Sims, gives players their own personal universe in a box. Create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt entire worlds and explore a universe created by other gamers. Spore gives players a wealth of creative tools to customize nearly every aspect of their universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even UFOs. Players can then seamlessly share their creations with the world or explore infinite new galaxies created by other gamers. (Screenshot 7 of 114)
Spore, the highly anticipated game from the creators of The Sims, gives players their own personal universe in a box. Create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt entire worlds and explore a universe created by other gamers. Spore gives players a wealth of creative tools to customize nearly every aspect of their universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even UFOs. Players can then seamlessly share their creations with the world or explore infinite new galaxies created by other gamers. (Screenshot 8 of 114)
Spore, the highly anticipated game from the creators of The Sims, gives players their own personal universe in a box. Create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt entire worlds and explore a universe created by other gamers. Spore gives players a wealth of creative tools to customize nearly every aspect of their universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even UFOs. Players can then seamlessly share their creations with the world or explore infinite new galaxies created by other gamers. (Screenshot 9 of 114)
Spore, the highly anticipated game from the creators of The Sims, gives players their own personal universe in a box. Create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt entire worlds and explore a universe created by other gamers. Spore gives players a wealth of creative tools to customize nearly every aspect of their universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even UFOs. Players can then seamlessly share their creations with the world or explore infinite new galaxies created by other gamers. (Screenshot 10 of 114)
Where carnivores have to kill everything and herbivores have to die a lot
The reason for much of Spore's hype (along with creature creation) is the simple fact that the game offers several genres compacted into one game. Through the cell, creature, tribal, civilization, and space phases, players deal with a variety of gameplay types, each focusing on an increasingly broad universe. Still, some remarked that each of the stages was disappointingly shallow, causing a colleague of GameDaily BIZ to remark that the game carries, "an ocean of possibilities reduced to puddle depth."
"Spore encourages creativity on every level and we really aimed for creativity to play an integral part of the gameplay itself," commented Bradshaw. "The creature you make as you play evolves physically through the Cell and Creature Stages, but in Tribal it begins its social evolution. At this state the creatures become more self-aware by having the option of adding accessories, such as headdresses, bangles, etc. All of these things play a part in who the creature is and this of course reflects in gameplay. In Civilization and Space stages, players are able to create buildings, cities, planets, vehicles, boats, you name it. This all affects gameplay as well."
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