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I'm just bored enough to think about dropping fifty bucks on the MAC/PC version
of Spore(The "Make-A-Creature" game)and thought I'd solicit some feedback
first. Does the game offer any real opportunities for creativity and/or
interesting problem solving or am I destined to be disappointed one more time
by another "no-brainer" surrounded by a lot of hype and pretty pictures?
Thanks in advance for replies.
Best Regards,
Mike C.
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http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/comic.php?d=20080627
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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Mike the Elder <nomail@nomail> wrote:
> I'm just bored enough to think about dropping fifty bucks on the MAC/PC version
> of Spore(The "Make-A-Creature" game)and thought I'd solicit some feedback
> first. Does the game offer any real opportunities for creativity and/or
> interesting problem solving or am I destined to be disappointed one more time
> by another "no-brainer" surrounded by a lot of hype and pretty pictures?
I haven't played the game (nor even seen it), so I can't give you any
feedback on it. However, I'm definitely going to buy it.
The only reason I haven't already is that I have so many games in line
which I haven't yet played...
I should really visit game stores less frequently. There are people who
visit the shopping mall and buy all kinds of useless stuff they don't
really need (usually clothes). With me it's a bit the same, but with
computer games. Right now I have 4 PC games and 3 PSP games I have not
even tried, because I'm still playing older games...
--
- Warp
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Mike the Elder wrote:
> I'm just bored enough to think about dropping fifty bucks on the MAC/PC version
> of Spore(The "Make-A-Creature" game)and thought I'd solicit some feedback
> first. Does the game offer any real opportunities for creativity and/or
> interesting problem solving or am I destined to be disappointed one more time
> by another "no-brainer" surrounded by a lot of hype and pretty pictures?
There is a lot of creativity involved, but is pretty light on problem
solving. It doesn't take much to get through the different stages, the
space stage can be a bit monotonous. It all depends, I enjoy the game,
but for some reason it draws me in. You get to participate in the world
with the things you make, which is really cool, and once you have a
sizable library of your own creations it's kind of cool to go down to a
planet's surface and see your critter running around. There's lots of
room for improvement, so, expect a lot of expansions to the game.
Interaction with the game is rather simplistic: Cell you basically float
around and devour other cells, protein particles or plants, depending on
your choice of mouth. Creature stage you move around and can either
interact socially with the creatures, (you have 4 things you can do:
sing, dance, charm, pose) or attack other creatures, again 4 things
(bite, charge, strike, spit) Tribe is basically the same sort of thing.
you can either perform for or attack another village, performance is
much like the social game in the creature stage, where you chose the
instrument they request. Civilization you'll start out as one of 3 city
types, based on what you did in the tribe game. You can capture other
cities and assimilate their type, or convert them to your original type.
Then it's on to space: The galaxy is huge, there are some things you can
find, such as galactic formations, the center of the galaxy, and other
items, You can see what life is on other planets, and interact with
other space-faring races. Space is mostly exploration and empire
building with a large dose of trading.
Don't expect deep gameplay from Spore, though. It is revolutionary in
many aspects, and the scenery is beautiful.
> Thanks in advance for replies.
>
> Best Regards,
> Mike C.
>
--
~Mike
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Mike Raiford <"m[raiford]!at"@gmail.com> wrote:
> There is a lot of creativity involved,...
> ...Creature stage you move around and can either
>interact socially with the creatures, (you have 4 things you can do:
> (sing, dance, charm, pose) or attack other creatures, again 4 things
> (bite, charge, strike, spit)
We already have this stage in real life in the US; we call it "campaigning".
;-)
> --
> ~Mike
Extra thanks for taking the time to make such a helpful reply.
Best Regards,
Mike C.
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On Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:35:47 +0100, Mike the Elder <nomail@nomail> wrote:
> I'm just bored enough to think about dropping fifty bucks on the MAC/PC
> version
> of Spore(The "Make-A-Creature" game)and thought I'd solicit some feedback
> first. Does the game offer any real opportunities for creativity and/or
> interesting problem solving or am I destined to be disappointed one more
> time
> by another "no-brainer" surrounded by a lot of hype and pretty pictures?
Personally, I was disappointed.
A few points to be aware of (in my opinion):
Despite what Will Wright may have led you to believe, Spore is not about
evolution. With every new generation of your creature, you can completely
redesign it in every way.
Your choices in any particular stage of the game has negligible impact on
later stages.
95% of the game is the final stage (Space stage). The other stages (Cell,
Creature, Tribal & Civilisation) are pretty much just mini-games you play
while waiting for the real game to start. In the Space stage you basically
fly around the galaxy doing missions, trading & fighting.
For me, the game got repetitive real fast.
Phone-home activation DRM.
--
FE
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Mike the Elder wrote:
> I'm just bored enough to think about dropping fifty bucks on the MAC/PC version
> of Spore(The "Make-A-Creature" game)and thought I'd solicit some feedback
> first. Does the game offer any real opportunities for creativity and/or
> interesting problem solving or am I destined to be disappointed one more time
> by another "no-brainer" surrounded by a lot of hype and pretty pictures?
>
> Thanks in advance for replies.
>
> Best Regards,
> Mike C.
>
Well, most of what I have read suggest its like 3-4 smaller, and
differently styled, games for each "stage", and that its was "basically"
gutted of anything either actually science based, or complicated and
hard to do, for the "cute and easier to play" option. There was
basically an internal conflict over direction and the whole design team
split into a "cute" team and a "realism and difficulty" team, and the
"cute" one won. So.. Take from that what you will. lol
--
void main () {
if version = "Vista" {
call slow_by_half();
call DRM_everything();
}
call functional_code();
}
else
call crash_windows();
}
<A HREF='http://www.daz3d.com/index.php?refid=16130551'>Get 3D Models,
3D Content, and 3D Software at DAZ3D!</A>
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Warp wrote:
> I should really visit game stores less frequently. There are people who
> visit the shopping mall and buy all kinds of useless stuff they don't
> really need (usually clothes). With me it's a bit the same, but with
> computer games. Right now I have 4 PC games and 3 PSP games I have not
> even tried, because I'm still playing older games...
Dude, last week I randomly bought *climbing shoes*! o_O
And power-heated gloves...
...OK, the gloves are actually gonna be useful. ;-)
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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Patrick Elliott wrote:
> hard to do, for the "cute and easier to play" option. There was
> basically an internal conflict over direction and the whole design
> team split into a "cute" team and a "realism and difficulty" team,
> and the "cute" one won. So.. Take from that what you will. lol
A little bit about this from the designer himself, posted to the Spore
forums:
MaxisWill wrote:
> for me to jump in and clarify a few things from my point of view.
>
> perspectives in Spore. It is true that during most of the design
> process we had team members on different sides of this debate. While
> I was officially on the science side at the same time I always saw
> this as a crucial tension that I wanted to foster, in other words I
> were represented in the game to some degree.
>
> the most vocal representatives of what I started calling the cute
> team but they were by no means the only ones, they represented quite
> a large portion of the team. And their agenda in our design process
> was most certainly not to dumb-down the gameplay but rather to
> foster emotional engagement with the players in the game experience.
> An early example of this was the decision to add eyes to the cell
> game which in no way changed the gameplay, but we found for certain
> players made the cell experience more humorous and personal.
>
> I see that many of the criticisms about the depth of play in Spore
> seem to be personally directed to Chris Hecker in particular. This is
> both ironic and incorrect. Chris was the leading talent behind the
> voodoo math of the procedural animation system in Spore, the system
> that brings the creatures you design to life. As the author of this
> system Chris was quite aware of how flexible and also how
> unpredictable it could be. I had many discussions with him in
> particular about how much of the players design decisions would
> affect the actual performance of your creature in the game world.
>
> To take a quick tangent let me use the creature design vs.
> performance as an example. We had competing issues to face. First, we
> Second, we wanted the economics of the editor to be simple and
> understandable and connected to performance. Third, we wanted a high
> ultimate design direction that the simulator was forcing all the
> creatures into. In other words if to be fast you had to have long
> legs that would have met the first goal, conflicted with the third
> goal and made the second much more complex.
>
> As the lead designer my goal through most of the project was to make
> simplifying many of the level dynamics and editor consequences. I
> felt like we were already asking quite a bit from the players as we
> took them through the various level genres. This was totally my
> certainly not the fault of Chris Hecker. So to make a long story
> my job on the team.
>
> to work with in the game industry and he takes his craft quite
> been unfairly vilified for what were in fact entirely my design
> decisions.
>
> A genre-spanning game like Spore is almost by its very nature
> experimental. Not only do we not have an existing game to learn
> demographic of our players will be (and hence their expectations for
> complexity and depth). As we move forward with the franchise we plan
> to listen closely and learn. Our plans for the first Spore
> from our players so far.
>
> for the countless, wonderful creations that have been posted to
> Sporepedia. And I also want to give thanks and encouragement for the
> discussions here on our forum that will help us make Spore a cooler
> experience for everyone.
>
> -Will Wright
--
~Mike
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Mike the Elder wrote:
> I'm just bored enough to think about dropping fifty bucks on the MAC/PC version
> of Spore(The "Make-A-Creature" game)and thought I'd solicit some feedback
> first. Does the game offer any real opportunities for creativity and/or
> interesting problem solving or am I destined to be disappointed one more time
> by another "no-brainer" surrounded by a lot of hype and pretty pictures?
>
> Thanks in advance for replies.
>
> Best Regards,
> Mike C.
Not Spore-related, but World of Goo is finally out:
http://2dboy.com/games.php
It looks like it's all about creative problem-solving.
Sam
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