The Leipzig Games Convention was kicked off the other day with a much-awaited look at Will Wright’s life-simulation game Spore. In a 30-minute demonstration the Sims creator showed the details of the game, which was announced in 2005 and is due for early 2008. The game is separated into five different levels. Each level is a different stage in the evolution of a critter the player creates:

Level 1 - Cell: At the beginning of Spore you roll around as a single-celled organism for 30 minutes, eating other organisms and improving your DNA.

Level 2 - Creature: Once you’ve gobbled up enough and grown a little, you’ll flop out of water and proceed to the next step of evolution. Now you’re on land! You will progress based on the way you interact with other creatures, through what you eat, and how you design your creature.

Level 3 - Tribe: When you have enough members of your species your goal will be to make a simple population with them, and your group will grow by mating and getting creatures from other tribes to join you.

Level 4 - Civilization: When your tribe is big enough (in the demo it was shown as 15 members), you get to progress to the next level of Spore. While your creatures are done evolving now, you can use tools to do other things like design buildings, vehicles, etc. Communication with other civilizations becomes more complex, as strategies like diplomacy and cultural conversion become available.

Level 5 - Space: The last place to expand to in the game; after you’ve succeeded on your planet, you’ll get to go to space and see other planets and species. You’ll get to decide whether to be friendly with them, fight them, or pretend they aren’t there.

The Leipzig showing was primarily about levels two and three, Creature and Tribe. After the organisms crawled onto land a pair of them mated, and laid an egg. The egg hatched and introduced the creature editor, which is a tool that a player uses to define the flow of the species’ evolution.

The creature editor allows for nearly unlimited freedom in creating creatures. The player started with a spine, which he could grab and pull around to change however he wanted. The flesh around the spine was likewise fluid to change. Limbs were added next and within reason it doesn’t matter how many are added or what is done to them. Long, short, inverted: it shouldn’t work, but the game somehow takes it and animates it anyway.

The creature presented ended up with four legs, two inverted of course (why not?), with spikes on its knees. There were two arms, eyes on its chest, and a beak at the end of a long neck. Such a thing was not meant to live, but Spore did it anyway, and the beast was animated to run, dance, sing, and fight. The beast even re-created a scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey; it threw a piece of wood in the air in slow motion, orchestral music blazing the background.

In level two, your creature will roam around your planet with up to 15 other kinds, which are imagined by other players (though Spore isn’t a multiplayer game). Drive to interact with other species is the acquisition of DNA points and the unlocking of new body parts which you buy with those points. You start out with very limited ways to communicate, only singing at first, but over time you’ll get to do things like dancing and gesticulating. Fighting methods are limited at first too, but the way you war will be based partly on the shape of your creature. Your abilities are enhanced or changed as you add limbs to your beast, which you will discover over time.

Besides shape you’ll get to customize the color of your creature too, and while this wasn’t demonstrated in depth at the presentation, it’s certain that there will be a large variety of colors, markings and patterns to use. The complexity of this is increased as a number of these visual effects can be combined. The importance of aesthetics can be seen in game too; in the presentation, when an alpha male was appointed in the tribe level, the creature becomes bigger and brighter in color than the rest.

Important in the second level is meeting with other creatures, and you get to learn this in various ways. You’ll learn a mating call, which you could arrange procreation with. You’ll get to make friends with other species, and if you can get them to join your group, they’ll help you when you’re fighting or socializing. To get someone to join you, you have to impress three members of its species. When you get a group of three together you get to go to level three.

The Tribe level is like a simplistic real-time strategy game. You have a home and you’ll need to gather food, and eventually you’ll have to socialize with other tribes. During the demo, for instance, the player’s tribe tried to make friends with another by giving them food. It didn’t quite go well, and a fight broke out, which didn’t stop until one of the main huts was crushed. The survivors on the losing side gave up and joined the attacking tribe.

The rewards for a growing tribe and saving food include better weapons, tools, and buildings. Simple clubs became axes, and as the demonstration tribe grew, a healing tent was one of the first new things built in their village. You’ll also get to customize the clothes your creatures wear when they do different things. For example, specific outfits such as helmets and loincloths can be added to war paint to suggest which creatures are doing what at specific times.

The demonstration came to an end when level three was complete and 15 members had joined the tribe. The lucky visitors were treated to a quick glimpse of level four, Civilization, before they left. Using tools close to what were used to build creatures, more complex things such as buildings and land, sea, and air vehicles can be built, and even things such as monuments and futuristic buggies can be made. Battles become more complex as well; military aircraft were seen closing in on another group of creatures. It was barely a peek at the depth of game play level four reaches, but it was so much more complex than when the first creature flopped onto land in level two, it‘s hard to imagine this is all one game. Frankly just hearing about it all gives me a big girly crush on Will Wright all over again.

Despite the awesome features the presentation showed, it’s rather sad that the demo wasn’t playable yet. In my humble opinion though, Spore is probably the best thing about Leipzig 2007, and the Games Convention has only just started!

Tags : electronic arts : games convention : Leipzig 2007 : Spore : Will Wright

Comments

By: Mobius Zero On: 08:10 Aug 24th, 2007 Offline	Wait, we are in between Stage 4 and 5, we seriously need to reevaluate ourselves or is that this game plays us, DUN DUN DUN! Seriously, it sounds like that's a few steps farther than they (Will Wright and co.) thought of so I say that with all the info given to Spore's recent showings/information given and maybe they will make do on their promises after all. Either way sounds pretty cool.

By: MHarrison72 On: 08:15 Aug 24th, 2007 Offline	Sounds cool. What platforms is it coming out for?

By: Dragonfly On: 08:50 Aug 24th, 2007 Offline	I honestly don't think it'll be a stretch to say that this could easily becomes the biggest PC hit since The Sims, if it keeps building the interest and enthusiasm from gamers that it has been. There's always the fear that these different play types may not blend together well, and it's just become a blend of different genres that don't compliment each ther, but there's no reason to think negatively just yet. This is Will Wright, the man who created Sim City and has developed his illustrious career on his capacity to make infinately elaborate games that put the player in true control of the gameworld, and Spore very much seems to be the ultimate expression of his gaming ideals. Question is, where can he go from here?

By: MHarrison72 On: 07:19 Aug 24th, 2007 Offline	I abs loved this site. A bunch of screen shots and everything. Check it out. http://www.spore.com/"]http://www.spore.com/[/URL]

By: Zombie Hugz On: 08:17 Aug 24th, 2007 Offline	Gah, this game got announced way back when, I remember that. Would really love to play it, but my poor computer would get too confused and refuse if I tried.

By: StarFox9000 On: 01:36 Aug 25th, 2007 Offline	It looks...eh