creation | Right Next Door

Have you ever played SimCity or The Sims? Even if you haven’t, you undoubtedly have heard of them. They are games that don’t really have an “end” per se, but they do have such incredible depth that it is amazing to explore all that the game has to offer. They also have one other thing in common, they were both created by Will Wright.

Enter Spore. This is a Will Wright game that has been in development since 2004 and that will release on September 7, 2008 in North America. Although I never really got into The Sims, I was a huge fan of Sim City. I tend to have a geeky/technical bent, but I also love to design and explore. Add that to my endless need for competition, and you can see why I tend to like these types of games. And, if I have been sufficiently convinced by the marketing hype, I think that Spore is going to be an amazing game.

So, what is Spore? It is like five games in one. (And it better be, since it took years to develop.) Here is a brief rundown of the five stages:

You start off as a single-celled organism in a tidal pool.
You cell emerges onto land as a creature.
You creature forms bonds with other creatures and forms a tribe.
Your tribe becomes modern and develops into a civilization.
Your civilization launches into space, exploring other planets and galaxies.

Some people have criticized the game for promoting evolution. I think it does just the opposite. It requires a God (you) to actually create your creature. Without intervention, this random assortment of cells would have never formed into a complex creature.

What astounds me the most is the sheer size of the game. Once you reach the space stage, you can interact with the creations of other players on over 500,000 planets. That’s insane! You can even browse the database of other creatures and their creations (vehicles, weapons, spaceships) and use them yourself.

If you want to get a free taste of spore, download the Creature Editor. It allows you to create and save creatures just like you would in the Creature phase of the game. It’s fun!

I highly recommend you check out each of the videos below to see exactly how Spore will play out. As for me, I think I’ve already convinced myself to buy it when it comes out tomorrow.

Cell Phase