Will Wright Talks Spore

[Baron Samedi]

Level Up has a great two (http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/levelup/archive/2008/02/12/exclusive-will-wright-on-why-spore-is-taking-so-long-and-much-more-part-i.aspx) part (http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/levelup/archive/2008/02/12/exclusive-will-wright-on-why-spore-is-taking-so-long-and-much-more-part-ii.aspx) interview up with Will Wright talking about all things Spore:

What is "pollinated content"?

Whenever you make something in the game, a very compressed representation gets sent to our servers. As you play the game our servers are continually sending you new content for your world to fill out your ecosystem; your galaxy; opponents; cities; vehicles; whatever-it's being drawn from our database of content that other players have made.

Now, it's also trying to pick stuff that's appropriate for your game level. You don't want kick-ass creatures killing you right at the very beginning of the creature game. But the player also has a lot of control over that stuff. I can make a buddy list, and it will try to put my buddy's content in my universe at a higher priority. I can subscribe to Sporecasts, which are aggregations of content that players have decided to basically organize themselves. Also, when I get a card for a piece of content--whether it be mine or somebody else's--at any time I can open that card and leave a comment on the card, and the person who made that content will get the comment. It's like a guest book for every card. So the idea is that there's going to be a running community discussion group based around the content where every piece of content is its own thread discussion. Then we add things like Flickr tagging of content and stuff like that so that people can search what is probably going to be a very large database of content.

Will goes on to touch on social networking, difficulty levels, playtesting, procedurally generated music, genre mashups, influences and where to next.

This interview has taken the game from wait and see to must buy. Quite possibly GotY.

[Dukefrukem]

If anything, this will be the game that takes over WoW. Having your own customizable look is something no MMO can touch. I am very curious on how the Massive Single Player ocial networking will work.

[roboninja]

Lots of interesting concepts there on shared, user-created content.

[H.Bogard]

Prepare for the onslaught of hideous-creature-buttsecks videos on Youtube.

[LongStepMantis]

Prepare for the onslaught of hideous-creature-buttsecks videos on Youtube.

I had the same thought.
I thought of Second Life, and the menagerie of completely fucked up things coming out of there, and then multiplied by 10. *shudder*

[netcraazzy]

I've been waiting so long for this game, it may be the straw that breaks the camels back and forces me to upgrade my PC.

[PathMaster]

Some great social ideas, but I do wonder how well the final product will show that integration. If it at all removes me from the game, then it will not necessarily be a failure, but will certainly not be as great. I also wonder if you really need to be connected at all times for this game to run. The way he presented the information, it leans in that direction.

[Kuya Cocoy]

I wonder how much content will be DRM'd, if EA won't be able to help themselves, or if EA will charge you real money for Sporepoints, or anything like that.

Or if there will exist a Planet Dew Mountain. ;)

[Banacek]

I can't wait for this game. It really sounds like something right up my alley.

[asimonk]

I somehow feel like I'm the only one that isn't super excited about this game. I just don't see the point.

[torrefaction]

Yet another example of the turnaround from EA executives in terms of quality and creativity. I'm a little excited to see if they keep this course of action, because it would basically mean awesome games. I like awesome games.

[Baron Samedi]

Just goes to show: Peter Moore is the fucking man! Now if only NOA would hire him...

[Shankle Bunny]

i will probably play the HELL out of it for 3 weeks

then stop

same as sims

concept sounds awsome, but i need plot driven motivation to keep at a game

[Heretic Machine]

I somehow feel like I'm the only one that isn't super excited about this game. I just don't see the point.

Yeah, I don't get the point either; it is only the game that I've been wanting since I was like, four. Making my own race of super advanced creatures who dominate the galaxy and manipulate lesser beings? Naa, that'll never be fun.

[Kuya Cocoy]

Oh wow, upon further reading into TFA, I have to say it sounds like this thing would be the simplest (in terms of accessibility) and the most complex (in terms of possibility) game at the same time. And it's possibly coming true, too. My mind just can't process how this game is going to deliver and be good at it.

Sounds like.. Fable? :)

Oh, and another terrifying thought: How about a creature.. covered in genitals? You know someone's already dreaming this up, LoL!

[Karamazov]

Yeah, I don't get the point either; it is only the game that I've been wanting since I was like, four. Making my own race of super advanced creatures who dominate the galaxy and manipulate lesser beings? Naa, that'll never be fun.

Sounds great, but I'm reasonably sure that it will be a disappointment due to the massive hype.

[cp#]

Sounds great, but I'm reasonably sure that it will be a disappointment due to the massive hype.

Have you watched any gameplay?

[Scull]

This game sounds spectacular. I've been quivering in anticipation for so long...
Innuendo goes here
Now just imagine if the Sims had this same level of social interaction. Players create and share content easily, and get comments about it. That game would have doomed mankind I tell you. Spore, fortunately, won't be as massive in popularity as Sims, so humanity should be safe for a few more years.

[Wraith]

One thing about the Sims/Sims 2, I rarely bothered looking for other user-generated content, as you have to do so outside of the game experience (and content varies widely in quality). And I generally get sort of bored with the built-in furniture/wallpaper/faces that came with the game. Spore's genius on this point, as everything is integrated into the game itself, and import of new creatures/buildings/vehicles can happen naturally, behind the scenes, without requiring any action outside of the game itself.

I look forward to multiple EvAv Sporecasts, once this game is out, for pulling down awesome community content.

[Karamazov]

Have you watched any gameplay?

Yeah, and it has failed to impress me.

[CoachCrazyMcScot]

Sounds great, but I'm reasonably sure that it will be a disappointment due to the massive hype.

It's algebraic:

EA + HY(PE) = EPI(FAIL)

[Heretic Machine]

Yeah, and it has failed to impress me.

But do you even like these kinds of games?

[Banacek]

Yeah, and it has failed to impress me.

Then why are you here?

[Karamazov]

But do you even like these kinds of games?
God type games?

Then why are you here?
:rolleyes:

[Varsity]

We found it was so fun, we've actually built this little kind of harness where Brian [Eno] and our sound engineer could play around with the underlying levers on the procedural engine. This is one of those things that became so fun to play with, we decided we had to surface it the player. So in the game right now, when you're designing a city, one of the things that we allow you to do is open this little device and compose your own theme song for your city and it's actually using the procedural generator. So I can hit the "roll the dice button," and it generates a new procedural melody with rhythm, or I can actually grab the notes, and if I want to even put in my own tune on the notes. We've basically turned the procedural music generation into its own little toy and embedded that within the game as well.

Haha, brilliant! :D

[Spectre-7]

I already posted this in the other thread, but I figure it won't hurt to put it here too... Bit-Tech posted a hands-on today, which I thought y'all might find interesting. It's a little light on details, but it's the first report I've read from someone not directly involved with the project.

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2008/02/13/spore_hands-on_preview/1

[Zurik]

Whoa, so many on the fence and don't care posts here. I guess this game is only for those with enough creativity to make it awesome, since its all based on what type of creatures you design.

[Loganrapp]

I wonder how much content will be DRM'd, if EA won't be able to help themselves, or if EA will charge you real money for Sporepoints, or anything like that.

Or if there will exist a Planet Dew Mountain. ;)

If anyone can tell them no and get away with it, it'd be Will Wright.

[Heretic Machine]

God type games?

Sim games... like Sim City, for example.

[Phanto]

What is "pollinated content"?

Whenever you make something in the game, a very compressed representation gets sent to our servers. As you play the game our servers are continually sending you new content for your world to fill out your ecosystem; your galaxy; opponents; cities; vehicles; whatever-it's being drawn from our database of content that other players have made.

So this game require online connection to play?

[Wraith]

So this game require online connection to play?I haven't read anywhere that you must have an internet connection to play. My assumption would be that the objects that you receive online are stored locally, rather than grabbing them from a server every time you play.

And I think there was mention before that Spore would come with some number of pre-made objects to populate your universe.

So I'm guessing that you can still play the game if you have no internet connection, you'll just have less variety if you're never connecting to the central Spore database.

But really, how many who buy this game for PC will have no internet connection whatsoever?

[dr1]

Sounds like.. Fable? :)

I'm glad I'm not the only one getting a slight Molyneux vibe here.

"It'll have totally customisable characters, procedural landscape and music, social networking, and all of the internets will be producing content for it!"

I'm trying to avoid getting too much into the detail of this game before release, for fear of disappointment (cf Black and White :mad:)

[Arphahat]

I'm glad I'm not the only one getting a slight Molyneux vibe here.

"It'll have totally customisable characters, procedural landscape and music, social networking, and all of the internets will be producing content for it!"

I'm trying to avoid getting too much into the detail of this game before release, for fear of disappointment (cf Black and White :mad:)

Yeah, but Willy has yet to disappoint, whereas Moly is incapable of creating a good game.

[vallor]

I'm pretty ambivilent about the game already but this is scary on so many levels. The fact that content can be injected into my game without any form of control worries me.

I also worry about who is going to vet this content? How do they get this through the ESRB? I don't think the typical "Experience may change with online play" is going to be a good enough disclaimer considering that the content comes at you without any real controls by default if you have an internet connection.

Plus, lets face it, only about 5% of all user generated content is worth the network packet it gets sent on.

[H.Bogard]

I'm pretty ambivilent about the game already but this is scary on so many levels. The fact that content can be injected into my game without any form of control worries me.

I also worry about who is going to vet this content? How do they get this through the ESRB? I don't think the typical "Experience may change with online play" is going to be a good enough disclaimer considering that the content comes at you without any real controls by default if you have an internet connection.

Plus, lets face it, only about 5% of all user generated content is worth the network packet it gets sent on.

Its a mix of facebook and youtube. You can subscribe to the content feeds that you like. They're rated by popularity and number of downloads. As far as the ratings/certifications go, I think the EULA might cover that.

[Parsifal]

Yeah, but Willy has yet to disappoint, whereas Moly is incapable of creating a good game.

I just feel I have to (off-topic as it is) step in here and defend Peter Molyneux, who has made some of the finest games ever.

[MacD]

Any game where you can zoom from bacteria to fullscale freaking galaxy has me exited, if only for that feature alone.

Now add in creature customisation, city theme tune customisation!, procedural everything for everything and many modes of play including a sandbox galaxy with (semi?)realistically physically modeled planets (creatures dropped on a planet without atmosphere go splat!), different modes of gameplay....well, that's just full of awesome.

What's funny is, reading that list, I do get a sense of 'Black and White'. But as mentioned, Molyneux has shown he can only program great games himself, and fails when he produces a team. Wright has shown that he's just allround awesome and can create games himself or through a team.