Spore
I was tempted to write about yesterday’s debate (Obama is so steady) and the inglorious (non-) plumber Joe but it already seems overdone so instead I’ll talk about Spore.
(today’s post: 390 words)
(The above is a widget highlighting some of my (and Candice’s!) creations.)
Coming into Spore, I didn’t know what to expect. The premise (start with a cell and end by exploring the universe) sounded overwhelming. But once you play the game it’s pretty simple. You design your creature and its personality through gameplay, strategically colonize your planet, and then do whatever you’d like in the vastness of space. (Or you ignore the game and play with the toolset.)
I’d argue it works and is successful, despite the simplistic gameplay, because of a few smart decisions (in order):
- Creature Creation: Every creature piece is associated with an ability. Legs let you walk. Eyes let you see. Some feet are good for jumping. Others dancing. It’s natural to pick parts that let you play how you want. And it’s natural to try different pieces to see how else you can play the game. Snapping pieces together and re-sizing them is easy. And no matter how well or badly you throw something together - i.e. snap eyes to its hands and four legs to its head - it always works. That inspires creative experimentation.
- Community: Maxis took their Sims-like approach to community building and evolved it (pun intended?). I add a buddy to my Spore account and his weird creatures entered my world and Candice’s cool pumpkin houses were added to his world. Not only that, but your creations get shared around the community and you receive back updates on them – such as the game letting you know that some other gamer conquered one of your species. The whole process keeps the game from becoming stale and tightly integrates and encourages the community.
- Achievements: I think Microsoft hit the nail on the head when they introduced achievements with the Xbox 360. Spore is one of the first non-360 games that I’ve played that pops-up achievements while you play. You receive achievements for anything from creating a creature with three heads to sharing videos of your creature with a friend to using that creature to beat a stage quickly to spending hours playing - and your achievements are logged to your account page.
Spore isn’t perfect but it’s a game that was designed to appeal to many on different levels. It’s also a game built on upgradability. I’m excited to see how it evolves (*groan*) in the years (yeah, years) to come.
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(Yes, I know this post went over 250 words. By 56%. Sorry.)
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I’ll admit that I installed a pirate copy (not buying a copy as long as EA insists on their current DRM/Secur-ROM philosophy) and played it for a week before my conscience got the better of me and I uninstalled it. I didn’t get too far into the tribal stage before that. My opinion is similar to yours. I enjoyed the creature creation and achievements, but found the gameplay simplistic and repetitive without the community interaction.
I actually pirated it as well! But I was curious enough about it to then pre-order it and I’m pretty happy I did. The online component is a significant portion.
Not that I’m going to try to sell you on it, but tribal is still pretty early on in the game and still feels more like character creation than gameplay. I think space is the stage where everyone feels like they’re playing a game.
I bounce around a lot myself. I actually spent a day befriending species in the creature stage (that was mind-numbing but I couldn’t stop). Yesterday I went through the civ stage twice and am looking forward to doing more of that today.
PS I like how some people claim every illegally-downloaded copy of a game equals a lost sale, but in our case neither was; we both used it as a no-limits demo to inform our decision.