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Spore Stats

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Re: Spore Stats

#51

Post by slfnflctd »

DonHopkins wrote: post #35
actionfromafar wrote: post #2

Last time I played Spore a long time ago, it was very limited and linear.

Will's original intention, which didn't really come to fruition in the final game, was that Spore would have a "T" shaped structure, where you start at the base of the "T" and work your way up to the top bar, like a guided tutorial. The top bar of the "T" is is a horizontal intergalactic storytelling game spanning all the other levels, that lets you swoop back down to the lower levels. But the swooping down part didn…

I really like that T shaped concept. It almost seems familiar to me, I may have ran across something about it at the time.

I remember looking forward to the game for quite a while-- then after release, when the reviews were so mixed, I lost interest. It didn't sound close enough to what I'd been reading about.

This part seems key to me:

> the layers tended to be isolated from each other, and not have direct or interesting effects on each other

If that could be looked at more closely, reworked & resolved better, another attempt at executing the original vision might turn out to be worthwhile. I would love to see a team with enough expertise (and budget) give it a try.

After seeing how No Man's Sky has evolved, it seems to me like Hello Games might be one possible strong contender. Or at least someone who was heavily involved with working on that title.

Re: Spore Stats

#52

Post by cubefox »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #19
delusional wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spore wasn't really a victim of high expectation, but rather a cool ambitious idea that just didn't work as a game. Unlike many others, I think the game they delivered matched very well to what they demoed. The issue was that it just didn't congeal into a game. The sacrifices they did have to make (making it linear and limiting the freeform sandbox aspects) were necessary to make it a game at all. The ambitious "this…

There was a lot of potential, and I think that if they did a sequel where they added depth to every stage it would've been a lot better. I mean the last part of the game is a 4x like Stellaris, other parts are RTS / city builders, etc. On that note, I wonder why there hasn't been anything like it from the indie developer space.

There was a community effort to make such a game since the original Spore came out.

https://revolutionarygamesstudio.com/

Since this was too ambitious, they focussed just on the cell stage. They are working on that to this day.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1779200?updates=true

Re: Spore Stats

#53

Post by [deleted] »

guidedlight wrote: post #6

Oh, Spore. That game was hyped so much, given it was designed by none other than Will Wright it previewed like it would be the most amazing game ever made. Despite it being reviewed every well upon release, gamers expected even more. It's a good example of how it is important to temper your customer's expectations regardless if you believe you have a solid product, as you may inadvertently set expectations higher tha…

[deleted]

Re: Spore Stats

#54

Post by joshuaissac »

naillo wrote: post #24

At this point I feel like people should just feel free to remake clones (with improvements) of classic titles such as spore and other games that for some reason hasn't gotten a modern version or some kind of continuation. (15 years seems well outside the time where if nothing like it has appeared again, making improved clones shouldn't be discouraged.)

For Spore, there is Thrive, an attempt at an open-source replacement: https://revolutionarygamesstudio.com/

Re: Spore Stats

#55

Post by pickingdinner »

A few modern youtubers have great Spore videos. My 7yo wanted to play and I assumed it was going to be in the app store, just to find out it was a Windows game from 2012. An easy install through Steam though.

Re: Spore Stats

#56

Post by Etherlord87 »

tharkun__ wrote: post #48
lordnacho wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I thought as well. I thought it was a bunch of little games glued together into a... little game. I didn't quite understand what you were carrying with you from one stage to the next, and why it mattered. I ended up not playing it much after buying it, such was the disappointment.

Spore is the only game I ever actually sold. It was just so bad and boring. The first stage was the most fun and felt too short. The space exploration part was so tedious and boring I just restarted the game a few times to play the fun parts. Then I sold the game.

I agree, I also likes the first part the most. But it wasn't that amazing either, it was just barely good as opposed to the rest of the game.

1st part: Cell - on the level of free Kongregate/Newsgrounds flash games, except with better graphics. Later an online game agar.io came out which I find better in regards to challenge, fun, replayability.

2nd part: Evolution - Very basic MMORPG, except single-player (the mmo part is being able to see other creations in your world). Animal creation was quite innovative, but also underwhelming, because it didn't affect the physics of the animal… Something like QWOP would be nice, where the computer would try to automatically convert simple controls to animal muscles…

3rd part: Tribe - Again, a simple flash game, boring

4th part: Civilization - again a simple game, I think the most challenging phase and quite fun, but building designing being only decorative was again underwhelming…

5th part: Cosmos - it had a Star Control feel to me, except it was simpler, and Star Control is a much older game!

Re: Spore Stats

#57

Post by Levitz »

CoryAlexMartin wrote: post #49
delusional wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spore wasn't really a victim of high expectation, but rather a cool ambitious idea that just didn't work as a game. Unlike many others, I think the game they delivered matched very well to what they demoed. The issue was that it just didn't congeal into a game. The sacrifices they did have to make (making it linear and limiting the freeform sandbox aspects) were necessary to make it a game at all. The ambitious "this…

There actually were things of note from the early demos that didn't make it into the final game. For example, the way you created your creature had gameplay implications. Things like limb length, limb count, limb placement, center of mass, etc were going to influence the viability and pros and cons of your creature. However, there were philosophical disagreements between team members and ultimately the decision was m…

Entire sections of the game were cut. I remember a puzzle section at the very start in which you had to combine aminoacids to start creating life that never made it, for example.

The option to be a water-based species didn't make it either.

The game did overpromise and underdeliver, hard.

Re: Spore Stats

#58

Post by Levitz »

grubbs wrote: post #23
stavros wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Despite it being reviewed every well upon release, gamers expected even more. Gamers expected what was presented in the initial demo. A really dynamic world that changed depending on your creature's abilities, a sandbox game where you could affect things by designing different types of creatures. All this was scrapped, and what was developed was very different than what was shown in the early prototype demo: https:…

I remember playing this game quite a bit instead: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_%26_White_(video_game)

One of the few games in which I couldn't for the life of mine advance, even years later.

Re: Spore Stats

#59

Post by samstave »

MagicMoonlight wrote: post #40

I want a modern sequel for this. It was so good. Making your little wigglebugs and then conquering the other wigglebugs and burning their towns and taking their women.

Spore with Subnautica style graphics would be nice.
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