Spore in Action

[Vandenh]

A very impressive and rather long video of Spore has appeared on Google. It is a showing of the game by Will Wright during the GDC. Check it out here (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8372603330420559198&q=spore).

Procedural games FTW!

[lewsid]

Watched it last night. Made me misty-eyed.

[fitbabits]

35 minutes and 47 seconds is rather long!

[Cupelix]

I was blown away by this, but it remains to be seen whether this can actually be fun. I worry about cobbling too many ideas together in one game. Instead of one solid game, we have a lot of mostly good games.

[AntB]

I think this game is what I have been waiting for my whole life.
Where I start a world from scartch and dictate how everything evolves.

This game could feature a very high replayibility rate, as the outcome of the game is basically infinity!

Is anyone else just as excited as me on these boards about the game?

[ChunderMan]

I'm surprised this video is getting so much attention again now as it has been online for almost a year...

But, after watching it again, I'm still very impressed. Here's hoping Wright shows more during this year's GDC.

[fitbabits]

Is anyone else just as excited as me on these boards about the game?
I wasn't interested in the slightest until I saw the video. Now you can color me super intrigued.

[Stevercakes]

This reminds me of the SNES game E.V.O. Anybody else play that game? man that was fun starting out as a tiny fish and working your way up to take on the land... except I never made it that far... =(

[NoName]

The only thing I'm anticipating more than this game is the Nintento Revolution.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Man, this game is one more reason I'm thinking about getting a new PC this year. Between this, Oblivion, Gothic 3, and Civilization IV, the reasons are mounting.

Damn you good PC releases!

[fitbabits]

Man, this game is one more reason I'm thinking about getting a new PC this year. Between this, Oblivion, Gothic 3, and Civilization IV, the reasons are mounting.

Damn you good PC releases!
But the PC is dead as a gaming platform! Thanks to the Xbox, nobody even cares about the PC anymore. :rolleyes:

Message inspired by Borys and his undying contempt of everything Xbox-related.

[KhitomerRouge]

Wow. I haven't really played a WW game since the Sims first came out. This looks awesome. The first creature I'm going to design will be the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Also, I'm going to start up a lounge band and call it "Procedural Mating".

[LilEvilFish]

Even my ass is procedurally generated!!

Seriously, how many times did the guy say "Procedurally Generated"?

I like the look of this game, I think it'll be fun to play, but when you reach the "sandbox" stage, what else is there to do except mess around?

[Cool AN]

Looks great, I have been following Spore since I heard about it on Gaming Steves podcast.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

But the PC is dead as a gaming platform! Thanks to the Xbox, nobody even cares about the PC anymore. :rolleyes:


Good point. I'll just buy a Mac instead. :rolleyes:

[Gaz]

I saw this way back, just after GDC 05, along with the rest of Will Wrights keynote, and it still gets me going. It's a shame the icons on Google Video give a fair bit away, as if they weren't there, anyone who hadn't seen it before would be seriously amazed. Just zooming out from a planet to a solar system to a galaxy still gives me goosebumps. If ever there was a reason to upgrade my dated rig, this is it.

[Selar]

The only thing I'm anticipating more than this game is the Nintento Revolution.

Revolution > Twilight Princess > Spore

When these three things are mine, my life will be complete. Well, for at least a few months anyway.

[Heretic Machine]

I can't wait for this game... I love sandbox games, and this seems like the ultimate sandbox. I could easily see myself playing this game for years and years without getting bored.

[mrdrum81]

This game could quite possibly change my gaming lifestyle.....all I have to say is WOW!

[fitbabits]

Good point. I'll just buy a Mac instead. :rolleyes:
But the Mac is for people who are afraid of PCs. Or something. :p

[Zawath]

Bleh, it was that same old video from last year.

[bapenguin]

I never got to see the full vid, so when I saw this I was blown away. Can't wait!

[Varsity]

You people have been missing out on this for a year! It's been on www.gdctv.com since the last conference.

[megaman]

So is there another link :/

[Mortis]

He says "um" way too much. This is going to be a kick ass game though.

[Roc Ingersol]

This game looks better and better every time I see it.


(kinda surprised nobody's linked the Will Wright PA cartoon yet. ;))

[NoName]

If anyone cares more about the procedural process stuff, here's an entire video (including music and sound) in only 64k. It's pretty mind boggling personally. A screen shot of the video would probably be larger!

Link to video. (http://www.demoscenebook.com/books/demos/cns!phcy.zip)

[AntB]

I wonder how large the full install size of this game is going to be.

On the topic of next "next" generation of video games, I think a company should be created that deals with this kind of stuff.

Kind of like that physics engine that can be incorporated into almost any game engine out there. I heard they are also creating an AI engine along these lines.

Theres only so many times you can reinvent the wheel.

Why waste 2 years just developing an engine, when you can get the whole package, or choose a custom selection from various different engines and then incorporate that into games. Game development time will go down.
You have leave half of your artists on hold, because they cannot create content while the engine is in it's infant stages.

If for example, Bathesda was already able to buy the radiant AI system off the shelf, do you think it would have taken as long to develop their game?

[Kefkataran]

This videos been around forever. At least about a year now. It's what made me excited about Spore in the first place before I realized I had at least a two-year wait for it.

[midrael]

*boggles* I submitted this as news here like three days ago and it wasn't posted.
Well, glad everyone gets to see it regardless :)

[Grimmjow]

im jus now watching this vid....its GREAT!

[Tia]

"You have leave half of your artists on hold, because they cannot create content while the engine is in it's infant stages."

Of course they can. What is the connection between modeling and the engire? And before you say poly count and such, you must realize that an engine is build too fit certain spec, so they can get the polycount to be somewhat fitting, and optimize it later.

Not to mention you don't need a game engine to create concept art and such. Trust me, the artists are not sitting around doing nothing.

[MosBen]

Yeah, I'm a little confused about why this video was posted again, being a year old. Was the video of his presentation shown again this year? What is new about this?

[xcalibur]

This looks pretty amazing, but I will be interested to see how fun it ends up being. I remember alot of the same reaction to Black and White when it was first shown, but the game ended up not being that fun.


-X

[gzsfrk]

This is one of my most anticipated games. I certainly hope it lives up to its expectations, and doesn't pull a Fable on us.

Also, I think the mechanism for Multiplayer looks awesome! =)

Here's hoping the 360 version is excellent. (I wouldn't mind playing on my computer, but after using a mouse and keyboard at work all day, an Xbox controller is bliss by comparison for my wrists.)

[Oblivion]

wow! finally this idea of life simulation comes to life in a very cool and possibly fun way! trust WW to make it real.

[AntB]

"You have leave half of your artists on hold, because they cannot create content while the engine is in it's infant stages."

Of course they can. What is the connection between modeling and the engire? And before you say poly count and such, you must realize that an engine is build too fit certain spec, so they can get the polycount to be somewhat fitting, and optimize it later.

Not to mention you don't need a game engine to create concept art and such. Trust me, the artists are not sitting around doing nothing.

Engine specs constantly change look at DN3D, and things like feature creep tend to take place. If you have off the shelf stuff, you don't need to worry about technical feature creep, because if you want it, you can just incorportate it and you don't have to worry about your coders spending a month or two incorporating something specific.

[phantomhitman]

this guy is god, simply god. Even though I am not a big sim fan this interests me to the point where finally buying a new pc has crossed my thoughts.

[Grimmjow]

I wasn't interested in the slightest until I saw the video. Now you can color me super intrigued.


i agree...i saw this post when it orignally came up but then my friend put me up to watchign the vide oand came back here too post

[NeuroMan42]

COMPLETELY blown-away by it. Hell even my girlfriend who is a Graphic Designer, and her 8 year old Daughter were amazed. I am really really looking forward to it. Kinda reminds me on the SNES game E.V.O.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

But the Mac is for people who are afraid of PCs. Or something. :p


Well a PC did eat my dog once. :(



So is anyone else really glad to Peter Molyneux isn't behind this? This is generally more of his area of the God-game genre, not Wright's. I'm glad to see Wright finally branching out though - that guy's been stuck in "Sim" land for too long.

[Wedge]

Spore could be the new Black & White, or it could be as amazing as it seems.

[Kefkataran]

So is anyone else really glad to Peter Molyneux isn't behind this? This is generally more of his area of the God-game genre, not Wright's. I'm glad to see Wright finally branching out though - that guy's been stuck in "Sim" land for too long.

Er, Sims (and other Sim-games) is a kind of "god game". Wright and Molyneux have always done stuff in that most people consider in the same genre. But yeah, it's good Molyneux isn't behind this, since Wright usually tends to deliver and Molyenux, well... not so much.

[TRiLoGY]

I've wanted this game ever since seeing this video almost a year ago.. I Can't wait :D

[AntB]

I wish Wright and Molyneux would team up to create the most awesome god dame in the world. Both have great ideas, but both people tend to over state a little sometimes. If they teamed up I think they would become more realistic about their design ideas and deliver some really solid games. :D

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Er, Sims (and other Sim-games) is a kind of "god game". Wright and Molyneux have always done stuff in that most people consider in the same genre. But yeah, it's good Molyneux isn't behind this, since Wright usually tends to deliver and Molyenux, well... not so much.


Yeah, I know they develope in the same genre. That's why I said "his BRANCH of the god-game genre." I was trying to point out that Peter and Will usually have slightly different approaches to the same genre, and this game seems like something that Molyneux would attempt and not Wright. Given Molyneux's track record lately, I'm glad that Wright is taking this on.

[Rafer]

Saw the video on the GDC site last year, yeah it's pretty amazing, although I did like Peter Molyneux's "The Room" (which is a stricly experimental in-house beta that's suppossed to be incorporated into something called Project Dimitri) a bit more.

[insidious]

Conceptually (and apparently in execution) this game is one of the most innovative creations to come down the pipe in a looong time.

Having missed the video the first time (as had many others, so chill out haters), this is a game to really get excited over.

[ezra]

I saw this linked on vgcats the other day, glad to see its getting lots of looks! Spore looks amazing, and I really hope Wright makes good on what he's shown here.

[Kefkataran]

Yeah, I know they develope in the same genre. That's why I said "his BRANCH of the god-game genre." I was trying to point out that Peter and Will usually have slightly different approaches to the same genre, and this game seems like something that Molyneux would attempt and not Wright. Given Molyneux's track record lately, I'm glad that Wright is taking this on.

Ahhh, that makes a lot more sense. I agree. :)

[bstiff]

This reminds me of the SNES game E.V.O. Anybody else play that game? man that was fun starting out as a tiny fish and working your way up to take on the land... except I never made it that far... =(



Actually think i still have this sitting on my shelf somewhere almost want me to hook my snes back up. But unfortunately I think I lost the manual and it's been several years since I played it. Was cubivore similar? I always thought about picking that up but never saw it for less than $50.

[MosBen]

I certainly don't mean to be a "hater", particularly to the "players" out there, I'm just curious why this same video is news again. I'm almost certain this is exactly the same video that came out a year ago. Did they show a video from last years GDC instead of doing a new presentation? Why is this old video suddenly popping up out of nowhere?

[Steele Johnson]

I wonder if this will actually be a "game" and not some new type of sim (with micro-managment components) that I'm sure will bore me after a few days. I hope it's something that keeps my interest.

When I was a child, I got bored really quickly with my toys. But I always wanted to play hide-n-seek or Kick The Can. :) I need games, not toys.

[Kefkataran]

Did they show a video from last years GDC instead of doing a new presentation? Why is this old video suddenly popping up out of nowhere?

Yeah, I saw it last year too. Basically, somoene put it up on Google Video, a bunch of people found it from there, so now it's news again for some reason. Kind of silly? Yeah. But such is the videogame world.

[Liquidize105]

What Wright doing is incredible. He is stacking genres, pretty smart.

Just when everyone else is trying to go Hollywood with their minutely detailed but ultimately brain-dead brand of nondescript levels and explosions, Will went the shallower but infinitely gameplay-rich premise. This is neither hardcore nor mainstream, it's exactly in between.

[Borys]

But the PC is dead as a gaming platform! Thanks to the Xbox, nobody even cares about the PC anymore. :rolleyes:

Hey that's my line you line-thief!

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Wow, I finally watched that video. My jaw is on the floor now, never to be recovered again. That was just amazing. Absolutely a must have for me. No questions about it. I'm getting a new PC this year - Mac be damned.

This, Gothic 3, Oblivion, and Civ IV - I have to play them all.

Man, I'm super excited about gaming suddenly!!! w00t!

[Andendau]

Bstiff:

Unfortunately, Cubivore is not similar to EVO. Evo is a very clever 2d game with cool game mechanics and not really much of a story. Cubivore is pretty ugly and everything is has a cube shape. The writing is hilarious but the game is pretty ugly to look at. The camera is frustrating and you gain traits from what you eat instead of selecting it from a menu.

[Lint of Death]

Looks great, I have been following Spore since I heard about it on Gaming Steves podcast.

That's a laugh. I've been "following" Spore since before this video was released on the GDC website. I signed up for the "newsletter" at about the same time. I can say, with certainty, that nothing new has come up since this video was first released.

I never received a single email from that newsletter after the one that confirmed my sign-up. The website hasn't changed, either.

[fitbabits]

Hey that's my line you line-thief!
Edited my post! Take a look-see. :)

[Mason]

What Wright doing is incredible. He is stacking genres, pretty smart.

Just when everyone else is trying to go Hollywood with their minutely detailed but ultimately brain-dead brand of nondescript levels and explosions, Will went the shallower but infinitely gameplay-rich premise. This is neither hardcore nor mainstream, it's exactly in between.

I'm personally not sold. None of the sub-genres seemed particularly interesting or well-developed, and the connections between them were hand-waved away. And even the most open-ended of Wright's successful creations were still heavily goal-based. If Spore sticks to the stated design, wherein the progressive evolution meta-game is merely a tutorial for the galactic sandbox, then I could easily see this being Wright's B&W.

Games need a unified context in which meaningful actions can be made. The contextual gap between species-mode and god-mode is enormous, and made even worse by insisting that species-mode is little more than a tutorial. If they really try to sell the purposeless god-mode as the main game (where you can explore a galaxy of wobbly creatures meaninglessly doing the same things to each other, which are so unique and interesting that we can generate thousands of worlds of them in a few seconds), expect an over-hyped bomb the likes of which the industry has never seen.

I doubt it'll happen though. The next time we see Spore it'll likely have a lot of similar sub-games, but organized into a far more meaningful and directed meta-game.

The main difference between Wright and Molyneux is that Wright should know not to actually make the game he showed to us, but rather adapt the things that work into a more unified experience. Molyneux would keep forging ahead with the original vision, regardless of how little fun it was after the first 30 minutes of play.

[H.Bogard]

Yeah, I'm a little confused about why this video was posted again, being a year old. Was the video of his presentation shown again this year? What is new about this?

BECAUSE sherlock.....as you can see from everybody's reaction.....the majority of the people here havent seen it (or in my case been able to find it even).

[Spigot]

I've had a general understanding about what Spore was about, but this was the first time I've seen this video and I was blown away as well. It goes far beyond what I had understood the game to entail.

I'm with Maggie. I've been wanting to upgrade my PC ever since I couldn't really get FEAR to run on it, so this is yet another reason to do so this year. Of course, I'm just going to wait until Vista comes out so I can upgrade the PC and the OS at the same time.

As for whether the game falls apart in the end stages, I think that what was shown in the first 15 minutes of the video will take a LOOOOONG time to actually play through in the real game. The god-mode meta-game at the end of the video is an ultimate goal, but even there WW was saying that there are a lot of different sci-fi inspired scenarios to work on aside from the sandbox-style play.

This was on my top 5 games to get this year list and it is very close to being #1 on the list.

[Mason]

As for whether the game falls apart in the end stages, I think that what was shown in the first 15 minutes of the video will take a LOOOOONG time to actually play through in the real game. The god-mode meta-game at the end of the video is an ultimate goal, but even there WW was saying that there are a lot of different sci-fi inspired scenarios to work on aside from the sandbox-style play.

Ever play SimAnt? It had a standard gameplay mode which was basically interesting, where you'd try to conquer the lawn by defeating both red ants and the human owner. You could jump from colony to colony, but the problem was that the black ants would win anyways even if you weren't controlling that colony, so you were just supposed to play the game and not notice that the computer was winning it for you. It had some neat ideas, but it never properly organized them into a real strategic game, wherein you could perhaps direct all of your colonies (move food over here, send new queens to these squares) while having the option of drilling down and leading a particular colony to victory. It was just plain old bad design to leave the overarching game (conquer the yard by watching black ants automatically conquer all of its squares) as pointless as it was.

SimAnt also had a god mode, where you could fry ants, drop food for them, lay your own chemical trails for them to follow, etc. However interesting the idea was, it was fun for roughly ten minutes, as after that the sheer determinism of it all set in.

I don't think Wright understands why SimAnt was arguably one of his least popular games, while SimCity and the Sims, which are built around well-established goals and perspectives, were amazingly popular. He's trying to remake SimAnt on a far grander scale, basically, but he's making the same mistakes as the original.

[Neosho]

I think this game will be all about what you want to put into it. Far from the typical, i want an FPS so i buy fear type, this game really is the sandbox.

You played cops and robbers as a kid? This game is probably not going to appeal to you as much. You spent your days in the sandbox or daydreaming in your room about aliens? This is for you.

I think WW is the only person that i could think of that might even actually be able to pull this off. Simcity...you ate so many hours of my life. Spore...please be gentle with my time...

[Shifteh]

This reminds me of the SNES game E.V.O. Anybody else play that game?

I have that on my SNES emulator right now. And yes, it is quite similar.

I have to admit though, I think that this game actually has less replay value than many other games. Why? Because you're probably going to have to do the same things every time (make it to land, find food, kill guys, etc), and the only real difference will be how you look.

Chances are, if you have to evolve yourself to be better, you're going to have to do very similar things each time.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Actually Mason I thought SimAnt was great. I spent many, many hours playing it as a kid. I have very fond memories of that game.

I really don't think we can be critical of this title yet - we don't even know exactly how it will play how. I'm excited by the promise of what was shown. Of course I have been burned in the past, so I am going to contain my excitement. Black&White, Fable, and others have tought me to be somewhat skeptical, but it's still nice to get excited about the possibilites present in a title that looks to be doing something a little larger and a little different.

[RMan]

I'm willing to bet the game demos better than it plays, but still, it demos extremely well, so it's way up on my list. Even if it wears thin after one or two plays, it'll likely still be fun for longer than most titles.

[Spigot]

Ever play SimAnt?
I did indeed play Sim Ant. It wasn't bad, though it definately was limited by the tech of the day.

I also enjoyed playing Sim Earth, if only for the Bumper Continent game.

I have faith in this being a pretty decent game. I may be wrong and Wright may drop the ball and fail on a Molyneuxian scale, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for Spore.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

SimEarth was fun as well. I always liked seeing how much destruction I could cause. Of course nowadays the game's graphics don't communicate much in the way of destruction, but back then those volcanoes erupting all over the U.S. sure looked devasting. ;)

[thewayistao]

The only thing I'm anticipating more than this game is the Nintento Revolution.


My sentiments exactly.

[51|RandoM]

Even my ass is procedurally generated!!

Seriously, how many times did the guy say "Procedurally Generated"?


This was shown at GDC. The entire focus of it was how it was generated in that fashion. The point is that the development house doesn't have to spend a year making content for this game. The content is generated on the fly, with a bit of user input, and then that content is used for all users.

Not only that, but you end up with a reusable codebase that can be put into any number of other projects. If we can animate characters based upon how they're put together, instead of using motion capture and any number of other expensive, time-consuming techniques *and* have it look reasonably good, that is a huge achievement.

Even if it doesn't turn out ot be a great game, it will probably still be a great toy. Be nice to have something that meets both requirements, with the only major limitation being your imagination. With the feature of using other people's content, the replayability, at least up to the galactic stage could be very good. Hopefully it'll be smart and remember past selections and make sure not to continually repopulate with the same "optimal" creatures, even if you design exactly the same creatures yourself. Think about it a bit, it'll be like "discovering" new creatures every time you play, and not just the ones you think up yourself.

Whether or not this succeeds as a game, it has already succeeded in trailblazing a new path for game development.

[Verocity]

I've read articles about Spore but this is the first time I've seen the video. Contrary to popular belief, when something like this is released a year ago, not everyone on the planet has the knowledge instantly fused into their brains. So yea, who the hell cares if it's a year old.

I am very excited about what I just watched. When he started making volcanos on that lifeless rock, my jaw dropped. This looks to be a game that can truely be different every time you play it. I will own Spore...

[jwbxx]

Lionhead take notes this is how a real game is made.

[TruRAV3N]

I can't believe this concept has not been done before. I watched the video a few weeks ago and was amazed.

I cant wait to create some monsters!! :p