Kotaku
Spore's certainly been a long time coming, but it seems that fans of just about every genre are overwhelmingly excited about it. It's finally coming in September, thank God. Now we just want to know: what the hell took so long? Newsweek's N'Gai Croal asked that very question of the game's designer Will Wright who reveals that it wasn't just frequent smoke breaks that led to the delay, but an ever increasingly complex set of features. And coolness.
The largest factor, though, was dealing with the millions of regular gamers out there who might not have the gaming know-how to actually play a game like Spore should it arrive with an inaccessible interface. Wright tells Croal that "probably the biggest design challenge was keeping it very accessible to players so that every bit of the game was intuitive, easy and approachable."
But the most gee-whiz stuff, the kind of additions that make such a long development understandable come in Wright's descriptions of Spore's "pollinated content." He explains, "I can make a buddy list, and it will try to put my buddy's content in my universe at a higher priority. I can subscribe to Sporecasts, which are aggregations of content that players have decided to basically organize themselves. Also, when I get a card for a piece of content—whether it be mine or somebody else's—at any time I can open that card and leave a comment on the card, and the person who made that content will get the comment."
In other, Wright-fanboy words—awesome.
Level Up's Q&A with Wright, split into two parts, is just packed with interesting reading. Reading his thoughts and getting an insight into Spore's lengthy development seems almost as much fun as playing it. Guess we'll know in September.
Exclusive: Will Wright Gives Level Up the Scoop On Why Spore Is Taking So Long to Get Right—And Why It Will Be Worth the Wait, Part I and Part II [Level Up]
Comments
Obligatory Obscure Reference:
Are you sure he wasn't just street racing the whole time?
Anyone else think this game looks an awful lot like Gene Wars? Might not play the same but graphically it's somewhat similar.
It was high on my radar two years ago.
This time around..meh.
Woo hoo!, 2008 is the year for DNF!!.
I was doing some cleaning on a old closet when I found boxes of old gaming magazines, i.e. EGM, gamepro and so on and found a CGW with DNF on the cover from 8 years ago.
I should scan/picture the stacks of magazines and create a blog of memory lane.
Good things come to those who wait as they say.
Spore will be great, but my enthusiasm for it has degenerated much in the past.... 2 years?
I can't wait for this game. Very original.
And this is why I get pissed at people that complain about the release date of this game. Seriously? Its easily one of if not THE most ambitious games to date. I can wait for perfection.
It's been so long in development that the money i'd put aside to buy it was spent long ago. Looks like another one to queue up.
@willy626: You're setting yourself up for a universe's worth of disappointment.
@willy626: Agreed. Looks like it's gonna be worth the wait. Until then...I still have The Sims 2 installed <.<
I'm sure I'm reading this wrong, but does that quote imply the delay is due to simplifying the interface and adding what, in my opinion, seem to be the digital equivalent of Facebook applications? Oh well, I guess I'll have to read the article.
It was a great interview. For anyone who cares, IGN just did an interview with two members of the Spore team, but the interview wasn't nearly as good as this one.
[uk.pc.ign.com]
Also, newish Spore video, it's from Feb 6th.
[blip.tv]
Its games like this that'll revive PC gaming, you could never run something like this on a console with a gamepad without severe UI problems.
I know many people who are VERY excited about this game. Me? Not exactly...and I don't really know why. I will probably get it, but its not like "OMGZORZ!" or anything. I know the concept is really cool, but the hype has been lost I think with the fluctuating release date. I don't know, I'll check it out but I'm definitely more excited about...BRAWL! *Hahahahahah*
I love the concept, too bad they made it so goddamn ugly.. I just hope I can stand looking at it long enough to enjoy it.
@ The people complaining about the wait...
Stop reading game sites and game mags now. When a game comes out, hear about it from friends and then go buy it or read reviews first.
Drooling over every little article about games in the making is only setting yourself up for personal disappointment somehow. You either wait too long, or get hyped up too early, or complain about all the features it is missing.
Seriously, if you browse a site like Kotaku that has all the latest scraps of news, are you really blaming the developers for the premature burnout?
DNF doesn't count. That game has dared us to make fun of it.
@Morberis: Im sure they'll try to port it to the consoles either way. I know im playing it on my new rig.
Guys, it has something named 'sporecasting'. That is worth my $50 right there.
@GHamilton: I'm not sure it's really like that, at least for me. Yes, I find the concept of this game quite interesting, and I'll more than likely end up picking it up when it drops, but I am certainly not waiting with bated breath for its release.
More to the point, I think it's more of a situation where developers feel pressed to saturate the media, and perhaps rightly so. And while it's not a Spore related issue, I can't help but feel a little befuddled when I see all these "developer diaries" for a game like Fable 2, which I'm sure will be delayed to the n-th degree in order to get the dog physics right or whatever.
I dunno... I think I'm fortunate not to work in an industry with as much community pressure as modern gaming.
@Impurethinker: I wuz castin' mah spores LAST NIGHT! Oooh, burn.
Okay, now no more Spore innuendos. Ever.
Just bring spore please! I want to make my city of Butt people >_>
What's he mean by regular gamers? :P
@Moonshadow101: Nah, at most, 50% a universe of disappointment.
@tamago007: Nice VG Cats reference.
SPORE RELEASE DATE: SEPT. 7 2008
[www.spore.com]
i doubt my pc can run this >_> so wii version ftw!???? =(
@willy626: @Aethyr: I agree...BUT, in all seriousness, it can only get that title if it does indeed deliver on all it's promises.
I'm right there with you in excitement & anticipation, but I for one still haven't forgotten how 'well' Fable delivered.
The Spore excitement is once again building.
God oh god oh god.
@Sub:
Thanks for the link! That video was amazing.
@Morberis:
Two words: Wii Version
Is there a DS version or something in the works too? This game is so long in coming I can't even remember anymore... PC gaming's time is coming, and come it shall. It's "revival" is a pipedream that will come as a result of a second console crash, which will likely come as a result of consoles making the same mistakes that the PC market is making now: Progressing too fast regardless of costs, making things too complicated with regards to system requirements (a weird forshadowing with the hard drive requirement for 360 games now) and/or requiring upgrades.
This game tries to do too much...
This game will own the universe.
And it will show why PC gaming is, and will forever be, the best platform.
You all complain when games are released that have problems, holes, issues, etc, and then you bitch when a game gets pushed back a lot so it can be done the right way.
Bottom line: You're impossible to please, and your comments don't mean much.
So go ahead and keep being negative, I'll just patiently bide my time until the Game of the Year is released.
This game is gonna be soooo epic, it's amazing.
I never lost faith or hope in Will Wright or Spore. There are going to be so many nuanced, subtle little joyous things in this game that we don't even know about yet. I'm really looking forward to this year's E3, and the torrent of information that's going to be coming out over the next several weeks and months.
Like The Sims franchise, this game won't be for everyone, but I bet it'll have an even broader appeal than The Sims (which is gigantic), and it looks like it has something for everyone.
Hell, I'll probably spend two hours just using a tractor beam to fling my citizens into orbit alone.
Ive said before, like 20 times, Gods gift to man.
After reading the interview and watching the video posted above, all I can say is "wow."
"...keeping it very accessible to players..."
That usually means dumbing it down.
Like BioShock and, from the looks of it, Age of Conan (MMO) the games where economical wise to complex for the average/mediocre gamer. Which would mean it would sell less. Dumb down game = more buyers.
Just look at console history contra pc, where back in the day you had to have some brains just to get some games to start (Ref: Dos QuickMem, 4MB ram etc stuff.). While console dumb down everything pc had complex games, which they still do, but to allot less degree, apart from some niche game types like TBS (Turned based Strategy).
A sad fact of the games today, I think.
Spore could still be entertaining doh, dont get me wrong, but "The everything" of what hardcore gamers hope?
Am not to sure on that tbh...
Will Wright is better than Santa Claus.
I love this quote: Recapturing that magic where come up to the computer, and in ten or twenty mouse clicks you've done something that really surprises you, that you didn't think you could do or the computer could do, but really the credit comes back to yourself, that "Wow, I didn't know I was so good at building cities or designing space ships or whatever." In some sense, it's a self esteem generator. You should go up to the computer, and you should walk away thinking, "Wow, I didn't know I was so good at that."
Spore, eh? Spore, like mold. Mold, like what's grown over what has now become the fuzzy, sketchy, once ripe and full or delicious promise fruit that was borne of Will Wright's head like a hundred millenia ago.
Still... I guess mold won't kill me if I decide to eat it...
This is likely one of the most ambitious games to come out. I've been slavering over it for a long time now. I'm so glad it's actually, you know, coming out. That it will exist.
But it has a lot of potential to suck. I'm terrified of that chance.
@Cola82: If Will Wright had a history of "hit or miss" games, I'd be concerned. I'm not concerned.
@RickyTV: This is off-topic, but your avatar is the same design as my favorite shirt. Awesome.
Sorry, everyone else, for the off-topic-ness.
@JojoTheSlayer: the hardcore don't matter for this game. the sims sold close to 100 million units (greatest selling game of all time), and it wasnt made for the hardcore. Spore is in this vein, as Maxis/EA are trying to re-create a 100 million plus franchise.
this game isn't all that. basically it's a collection of other games watered down:
phase 1 is flow but less interesting
phase 2 is wow but less interesting
phase 3 is settlers/age of empires but less interesting
phase 4 is civilization but less interesting
phase 5 is elite but less interesting
honestly. take phase 4 as an example, you're tasked with taking over your planet, you get a 'city' as your stronghold - ok, so the units you can buy? light tank, medium tank and defensive turret, 1 plane and 1 boat type. the good part about it is that you can edit your units to be however you like - oddly enough you can edit them with time paused so you could be in a fight and decide your units are a bit weak, so you just pop open the editor and give them more guns...
anyway, it's looking decidedly last gen and there's no real coherence. also the point in doing well in phase 1 is completely spoiled by the fact that phase 2 doesn't care how well you did. and so on in fact.
Well, lets all hope the wait was worth it
Too bad they made it sooooo damn ugly, with its way-too-vivid colors, plastic-y feel and looks. I prefered the 2006 previews, which, though less technologically advanced, had alot more style...
After watching some of the videos of the creature editor and the MMO style content sharing, how is EA not concerned that there will be hundreds of thousands of planets populated with walking penis societies??
@comedy: you can take that attitude towards any game. you pick a game and i'll make it sound silly. go
@baccardi84: i've played it, i know what i'm talking about.
actually, if you're not up for age of empires but wouldn't mind a taster then this game will be good. but if you want some depth then you soon find that just as it's getting good it's over.
admittedly i haven't played much of stage 5 - which had some real potential.
@baccardi84: oh, and pokemon diamond. game i've played a lot.
@comedy: Well damn, I guess I better get my pre-order money back.