Revision 40013680 of "Talk:Spore (2008 video game)" on enwiki

== Initial Impressions ==

I would just like to say that this game looks amazing. There are only a couple other examples that I could draw from that really come close to what Maxis is attempting to do. There's this game called [[E.V.O.: Search for Eden|E.V.O.]] on the SNES (I never played it) that has you managing the evolution of a critter... instead of your character leveling up and getting new abilities, you can for instance upgrade its fins into land-loving legs. Another example comes from a young-adult book (which is part of a sci-fi series, "The Animorphs") written by K. A. Applegate called "The Ellimist Chronicles". At the beginning of the book we see our hero before his life-altering adventure, playing a Galactic Civilizations game that involves the manipulation of life. I won't spoil things, but the adventure begins once a real alien race discovers the broadcasts of said games, mistaking them for reality. Wouldn't you want to purge the galaxy of such a menace if you were in their shoes? Hopefully Spore's art style and lack of sub-space tunneling communications will keep the same thing from happening here once people start playing Spore! Also it seems there won't be multiplayer, I would love to have my aliens duke it out (or cooperate) with those created by my friends. Anyway, we should be getting lots more information at E3.

:I too am looking forward to it, esp. to see whether Wright has a good idea with the procedural stuff (that is, the novelty can be continually generated, and not peter out and become repetitive.). But what do you mean there will be no multiplayer?  The podcast certainly made it sound like you'd be able to visit other players' planets. --[[User:Marudubshinki|maru]] 16:35, 20 May 2005 (UTC)

::The game will periodically go onto the net and automatically download stuff made by other players. Apparently next to everything you see in the game will be player made as opposed to being included on the CD. You can even get a little thing that tells you how your creations are doing with other players, how many people have seen them, how many people have destroyed them or made alliances with them, etc. This way, says Wright, you'll be able to play with other player's creations (and they yours), while still being able to do anything you want and not ruining the experience for the other person. Ex. if you're powerful enough, you can blow anyone to smithereens. So it's not true live multiplayer, nope. --[[User:24.76.141.128|24.76.141.128]] 20:57, 22 May 2005 (UTC)

:::Well- at least there is some semblance of multiplayer; but I can't say it is really surprising.  The Sims, if I recall correctly, did the same thing.  Too much to hope for a vastly expanded and improved hybrid of sim and RTS I guess.  But it still looks good. --[[User:Marudubshinki|maru]] 12:24, 23 May 2005 (UTC)

::::Sims wasn't automatic, you had to download and upload them to fan sites. Also, a big difference is that the game is supposed to figure out what type of things you need in the environment, before going to the database and grabbing stuff. This includes different types of animals to fill an ecosystem, or planets that are a bit more suitable to your species. This looks like too hard a game to have real multiplayer without cutting back a lot of the really cool sandbox stuff. -- [[User:Consumed Crustacean|Consumed Crustacean]] | [[User talk:Consumed Crustacean|Talk]] | 05:30, 28 May 2005 (UTC)

:::::I cannot wait! this is just what i'm looking for ^^ bring it on WW!

:::::This game needs to come out sooner. I read a preview in a magazine and it looks awesome. Fall 2006 is too far away! But I do have a qustion. Could really strong players wipe out a plaer's entire species? Or would the game prevent the entire species from being wiped out? Also, would it be possible to accidentally alter other players' worlds? And what would happen if your species died out? Is there a continue, so you don't have to start over? Overall, the game has a wonderful concept. --[[User:Mred64|Mred64]] 21:29, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

::::::There will probably be nothing stopping you from wiping out an entire species, or altering other player's worlds. This isn't a massive multiplayer game, the changes are not sent back to the original creator of the planet (though they may see it in a status report of sorts). What happens in the game is that all of your content is automatically added to a central database, and other player's stuff is automatically downloaded into your game universe as it is needed. Your little universe is totally seperate from everyone else's. (This article's in my watch list, incase you're wondering about my constant talk-page talking and whatnot.) -- [[User:Consumed Crustacean|Consumed Crustacean]] | [[User talk:Consumed Crustacean|Talk]] | 00:13, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)

:::::::I figured it was on some people's watchlist. I added it to mine for updates I so desperately crave and to see if anyone responded to my message. Does anyone know the timescale of the game. Is it going to take several hours just to go beyond the waterdrop or tidepool you start in and into the ocean? Or will it be a moderately paced game that won't make you waits hours or days for advancements? [[User:Mred64|Mred64]] 03:31, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

::::::::Judging from what Will Wright said during his presentation, the game will probably offer fun in bitesize chunks. You could fire up the game and fiddle around in your tidepool for a bit and before you know it, you advance. As I understood it, there's no necessity to spend hours upon hours doing tedious swimming around before you can get to the next stage. Also, which is one of the best features in my opinion: the player can revert back to any previous stage in the game, without penalty. So if you want to create a second species from the bottom up, you can start them off in the tidepool, and let them evolve while you continue to work on your more advanced species, and later check back on them to steer their further evolution. [[User:Theroachman|Theroachman]] 02:34, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

== Demo scene ==

Any way, possibly, to mention the [[Demoscene]] in reference to procedural content generation, as one of the few current counters to things like the [[Grand Theft Auto (game)|Grand Theft Auto]] reference in the article? [[User:24.76.141.128|24.76.141.128]] 01:36, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)
:Also, ''The last stage of the game, in which the player is in control of a space ship (the UFO) with an interstellar drive, appears to be a giant sandbox mode. The player will be presented with wide-ranging missions similar in game mechanics to Grand Theft Auto.'' is a bit wacky. The missions are not that similar to GTA's, he likened them more to being like [[WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$]]'s minigames. They aren't story driven or any of that. [[User:24.76.141.128|24.76.141.128]] 01:39, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

== Link Bickering ==

I changed the link to Spore World after the anonymous person changed it to Spore Universe by mistake (I just wanted to change the description). Spore World is pretty dern devoid of content, and is horrible site in terms of layout. I don't see a good reason to put it back in... -- [[User:Consumed Crustacean|Consumed Crustacean]] | [[User talk:Consumed Crustacean|Talk]] | 00:03, Jun 17, 2005 (UTC)

== Single Player ==

Spore is not a multi player game! Although it can download other people's creatures, they then become computer AI. Each player owns his own universe, and will never meet another human player. <nowiki></nowiki><font style="color:#00BB55"><u><b>s</b>murray</u><font style="color:#00AA77"><u>in</u><font style =""color:#00EE55"><u>chester</u><sup>([[User:Smurrayinchester|User]]), ([[User talk:Smurrayinchester|Talk]])</sup><font style="color:#000000"> 09:45, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

:Didn't Will mention that ''creatures, buildings, vehicles'' and ''planets'' are being downloaded? (I'll have to watch the video again) Although you'll never meet another player, lots of stuff you encounter will be player-made. Sounds just a tad like asynchronous multiplayer. [[User:RoadKillian|RoadKillian]] 10:27, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

::It's kind of like playing Sims 2; you can download other people's Sims, but the original owner has no control over them. They become AI. Multiplayer means specifically playing with or against a human; if I were to blow up Joe Bloggs's planet, he would suffer no ill effects and it would have no effect on his game except adding a 'Your planet was blown up by Smurrayinchester' message to his his high score chart. <nowiki></nowiki><font style="color:#00BB55"><u><b>s</b>murray</u><font style="color:#00AA77"><u>in</u><font style =""color:#00EE55"><u>chester</u><sup>([[User:Smurrayinchester|User]]), ([[User talk:Smurrayinchester|Talk]])</sup><font style="color:#000000"> 10:39, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

::It has nothing to do with multiplayer. AT ALL. It's about as multiplayer as installing player-made mods for any other singleplayer game, just that the game does it behind the scenes. If it was multiplayer, that'd mean multiple players can interact with eachother and the environment. In this case that doesn't hold true. Mislabelling it as multiplayer is strongly misleading and should definitely be avoided. Sign up at the GDC website using bollocks data and watch the video if you have problems with that concept. -- [[User:80.135.211.232|80.135.211.232]] 20:44, 10 January 2006 (UTC) ([[User:Ashmodai|Ashmodai]])

:::I'm quite aware of all of that, I ''did'' watch the GDC video shortly after it became available (and I stuck the URL on the Spore article). The problem is that we're all jumping to conclusions on an unfinished game with presumably many features left to add with some perhaps affecting whether we class it as 'multiplayer'. Consider this (with the known featureset):
:::#Two players are happily playing Spore at the same time.
:::#The automated content distribution system exchanges content between the two players while they're still playing.
:::#The two players expand their empires and now encounter the creatures/buildings/vehicles of the other player.
:::If this unlikely series of events were to take place, would it appear to be multiplayer to the casual observer? If so, does this make Spore multiplayer in some circumstances? [[User:RoadKillian|RoadKillian]] 05:10, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

::::From what I can tell, only the designs of the buildings/critters/vehicles are sent across, not the positions of them. You might meet the other empire, but they would just be a random computer controlled civilization with that player's designs. <font style="color:#00BB55"><u><b>s</b>murray</u></font><font style="color:#00AA77"><u>inch</u></font>[[WP:EA|<font style="color:green">'''''e'''''</font>]]<font style="color:#00AA77"><u>ster</u></font><font style="color:#00AA77"><sup>([[User:Smurrayinchester|User]]), ([[User talk:Smurrayinchester|Talk]])</sup></font> 07:50, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

:::::That's what I understand too, but the point still stands. To a casual observer, would they call this multiplayer? [[User:RoadKillian|RoadKillian]] 07:57, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

::::::I suppose it depends on what you call '[[Multiplayer]]' I guess; it seems to be a bit of a grey area. <font style="color:#00BB55"><u><b>s</b>murray</u></font><font style="color:#00AA77"><u>inch</u></font>[[WP:EA|<font style="color:green">'''''e'''''</font>]]<font style="color:#00AA77"><u>ster</u></font><font style="color:#00AA77"><sup>([[User:Smurrayinchester|User]]), ([[User talk:Smurrayinchester|Talk]])</sup></font> 08:01, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

:::::::Hence the argument. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see. [[User:RoadKillian|RoadKillian]] 11:51, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

::::::::I'm normally just a passive observer here, but I would like to add that Wright himself had once also described the game as "asynchronous multiplayer." I believe it was in the GDC video at some point during one of his dialogues.

:::::::::Aha! Nice catch. Here's what he said:  "Overtly browsing other players worlds. Asynchronous multiplayer online game. Because the time scale changes as you zoom in and out in scale, it's not possible to play synchronously with other players. Instead, content created by other players at each scale migrates from game to game asynchronously." [[User:RoadKillian|RoadKillian]] 05:42, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

::::::::::Some have termed it (and I believe Will agreeed with this) as massivly single-player online game. or simply a massivly single player game.  Either way it sounds good and applies. [[User:Mason11987|Chris M.]] 03:02, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

== xbox360 and spore ==

Should someone Add something about spore's possible coming to the xbox360? Although it hasn't offically been confirmed by maxis, Both Gamingsteve(who so far has been %100 right from whatever connections he's getting info from. Just thought i would point that out.) and later on A microsoft Rep have Talked about it coming to the xbox360. Something is wrong with the actual Interview Article joystiq did with Steve Baumer where he sort of let it slip about spore coming to the 360, and half of it (including the part where he said it) got chopped off since being archived, but Gamespot has something on it: http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-9399-2040-4-4-x+Interview+Microsoft+Spore&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3
Scroll down to the last one.
Also here's the link to gaming steve's: http://www.gamingsteve.com/blab/index.php?topic=209.0 Of course he found this out back in April. Note how he called it the xbox 2, instead of the 360(sorry, forgot to sign).--[[User:72.228.6.188|72.228.6.188]]