Will Wright's E3 Spore Presentation

moto writes "ThinkGaming is reporting from E3, and had a chance to take a look at Will Wright's Spore during the early-hours press access. From the article: 'To start, Will showed an overview of the latest creature editing system. He mentioned that almost all parts of the editing system, from hands to the mouth, control the creature in its entirety - from its personality to the way it sounds, etc. In addition, the color system is a procedural texturing system that lays initially colors, then various textures (scales, etc.) and more all on top of your creature model. It looks like an incredibly intricate system, as has been seen quite a bit so far in previous videos. It looked like it was nearing completion and would allow for endless possibilities.'"

Comments

Procedural

[330Pilot]

If I hear the word procedural one more time from this guy...

Re:Procedural

[Anonymous Coward]

I have 4 words for you: procedural procedural procedural procedural...

Re:Procedural

[Tackhead]

> > If I hear the word procedural one more time from this guy...
>
>I have 4 words for you: procedural procedural procedural procedural...

Oh, crap. Will's just procedurally evolved a Steve Ballmer.

Oh, double crap. The procedure's viral, too.

Re:Procedural

[Shark]

Now I just *have* to make one when the game comes out. I hope they have some good procedural 'yelling ape' sounds and sweat marks overlay textures.

For lack of a better word...

[DaHat]

Wahoo!!!

I'm not a big gamer myself... heck, I've touched my xbox once in the last year (and still haven't finished Halo 2) but this game... bo ya! It's one of the few I am truly looking forward to.

I may need to save my vacation time so that I can avoid work and sunlight for a week or two after things baby comes out.

Re:For lack of a better word...

[Chosen Reject]

and still haven't finished Halo 2

It's OK. Neither did Bungie.

Re:For lack of a better word...

[Anonymous Coward]

You go for the low-hanging fruit, and yet I still laugh out loud. Honestly.

Video of presentation Words

[Suddenly_Dead]

IGN has a nice video of Wright demoing Spore at E3. I'd kill for a high-res mirror, though.

There is one thing I am scared of with this game.

[Lordpidey]

If your computer downloads content produced by OTHER players.... And then populates the world with them, I could see a problem. Look ma, my creature just got eaten by a giant goatse!

Expectations

[reldruH]

No real new information other than that progress on the game is... well, progressing. The screen shots look absolutely amazing. My only fear is that all this publicity will do the game in. I think it will be a great game but even I realize that my expectations are so flagrantly high that there's almost no way he'll be able to meet them. Maybe we should all take a step back, remember that this game will not take the place of wives, kids or food and give the game a chance to be succesful. Because with expectations running as high as everybodys are right now, there's no way it will be able to meet them.

Re:Expectations

[Amouth]

honestly get the 10min video and watch the midle 5 min and it will answer your question

Re:Expectations

[Roguelazer]

Perhaps, if your attention span is so short that you are unable to focus on a 10-minute video, a complicated strategy game spanning billions of years of evolution isn't the right game for you.

Re:Expectations

[reldruH]

As far as I know, formal advertising has yet to start. All the hype right now is coming from those 10+ minute videos. I'm sure there will be much shorter videos released closer to when the game comes out (it's not slated to be released till 2007). If I was you, I'd ignore it for now. Wait until the holiday season to start checking it out. Getting as excited as a lot of people are this far in advance of the games completion sounds a lot like a recipe for disaster.

Re:Expectations

[Yi Ding]

Check out their E3 video. It's a nice condense introduction to the game.

Re:Expectations

[Crizp]

We, the excited people have had better reasons to be excited than in the case of many other games. Rarely does one see hour-long videos explaining the game in great detail, displaying it in what seems to be an almost-complete -- or at least a very much working -- state.

Now we get, what, 10 minute videos, and of course when the marketing starts there'll be 30-second spots etc. And this is supposed to be a _better_ reason to get excited than a nearly complete walkthrough? 30 seconds of shallowness?

Attention span... expanding! Must... view... action movie! Need... explosions! Fast cuts!

If only thirty percent of what was shown in the hour-long presentation floating about gVideo and MeTube is in the finished game it will still be one of the greatest games ever made, up there with the Sims. No accounting for taste though; some hate the Sims, others love it. It'll be the same for this game.

My expectations are high, but realistic.

Re:Expectations

[Lord_Dweomer]

Honestly....I'm starting to get the same feeling in my stomach as when Black & White was about to come out. So while I may doubt the expectations I have for this game, I still have really high hopes that this game pulls through, because this concept is absolutely FASCINATING to me as I love evolution in general and to put it in game form....capturing gameplay from all the main genres...well, its just awesome. Then you throw in the fact that Wil Wright is behind it and it will be humorous as well and its really amazing.

I honestly don't know which I'm more excited for at this point.....Spore or Wii. Although for Spore I hope they release a demo first to encourage people to buy it......mostly just because I want to get my fucking hands on it already!

Re:Expectations

[reldruH]

One more thing to think about. You're feeling now the way you felt just before Black & White was released. It's currently the beginning of May in the year 2006 and Spore isn't slated to be released until 2007.

Re:Expectations

[linzeal]

Has black and white 2 been shown much lately?

Re:Expectations

[MindStalker]

You can also design your war machines..

http://thinkgaming.org/articles/spore_e3/211.jpg

excited yet?

Re:Expectations

[DrunkenTerror]

Dude, don't even be QUESTIONING this game. The Mod Jihad will bust you down faster than a pair 110-storey buildings. It's worse than dissin' Apple Computers around here. Folks like you and I, The-Bus, see, we're too stupid to appreciate this, so don't even say anything about it.

Re:Expectations

[PrescriptionWarning]

I remember my expectation and excitement for the release of Oblivion was very high and after playing it for 40 hours in the first week I can say it was definitely warranted. Who's to say Spore can't deliver just as well even with such expectations and hype?

Re:Expectations

[RexxFiend]

this concept is absolutely FASCINATING to me as I love evolution in general

From what I've seen, the game looks more like intelligent design to me..

(..ducks)

An Impressive Demonstration of the Slashdot Effect

[Anonymous Coward]

The Slashdot effect has taken the site down in less than 20 minutes! Most impressive!

4 posts. . . .and /.'d already. . . .

[Salgak1]

Dang. . .is that a new record ?

Re:There is one thing I am scared of with this gam

[reldruH]

Content will be download from other players, but just like in the Sims there will be content filters. All of the same innapropriate content problems Spore will face have already been dealt with in the Sims and the way I understand it that process will just be moved over in whole to Spore. I can't remember exactly where I heard that, but I know I've heard it from multiple sources. Check the Gaming Steve podcast #48 (I believe) for a summary on how that's going to work.

back up

[Anonymous Coward]

looks like its back up

Re:Boring

[reldruH]

How boring does: 1. Hack 2. Slash 3. Repeat sound?

Re:Boring

[Giant Ape Skeleton]

Yeah, substitute "yourself" for "your creature", and eliminate step 3, and it sounds pretty much like my life.

Re:Boring

[bluemeep]

Well, my suggestion to you would be not to purchase it, then. That's the nature of the sandbox game; build something and play with it. If that's not the kind of game you enjoy, it wouldn't be worth your money.

Speaking as someone who keeps a small tub of Legos by the computer, I think I can probably say that I've got it preordered!

Boring evolution.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Does this sound excessively boring to anyone else?"

I suppose ID is boring compared to one being:

Boom! Waiting a million years.

For lack of a better word...Try mine.

[Anonymous Coward]

"I'm not a big gamer myself... heck, I've touched my xbox once in the last year (and still haven't finished Halo 2) but this game... bo ya!"

Doctor to Xbox: Show me were your owner touched you.

"I may need to save my vacation time so that I can avoid work and sunlight for a week or two after things baby comes out."

Most new fathers don't see sunlight, or work for the first couple weeks.

Uh oh

[darkhitman]

A popular game?

Complete control over all aspects of the creatures?

Textures that could possibly be construed as flesh-colored?


I think we have a Hot Chromosome scandal coming up. Jack Thompson, get your subpoenas ready.

Re:Uh oh

[DrEldarion]

Next target: MS Paint.

Re:Uh oh

[Flyboy Connor]

Oh, I am sure that when travelling the galaxy in Spore, you will encounter multiple instances of the Planet of the Hot Nymphomaniacs. If only real space were like that, humans would have conquered the galaxy by now.

Re:Uh oh

[DragonWriter]

If real space were like that, humanity (at least the male half) would more likely have found the first of those planets and then suddenly discovered better things to do than space exploration.

Re:Boring

[Crizp]

Great point. What about
1) walk around.
2) shoot.
3) repeat until sick and tired.

The variety comes from all the different colors of keys you can find.

Re:Boring

[CableModemSniper]

You missed

5) Form tribal society
6) Advanced technologically to a city based civilization
7) Interact with other civilizations on your homeworld
8) Advance to space faring race
9) Colonize and terraform other worlds
10) Search for and find other intelligent life in the universe
11) interact with these civilizations (trade, combat, etc.)

Re:Boring

[pkhuong]

More like

1. Move around
2. Make a creature
2. Move around
3. Change your creature
4. Play civ
5. play sim earth
6. play sim galaxy

Re:There is one thing I am scared of with this gam

[Anonymous Coward]

If you manage to evolve a giant carnivorous vagina...well...I'd download it.

Drat

[aztec rain god]

"In order to move from one step to the next in terms of evolution and generations, you must find a mate."

Looks like I won't be getting very far in this game.

Re:Drat

[Kuvter]

Look on the bright side, atleast you scored on slashdot (Score:5, Funny).

Re:Boring

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

1. Move around
2. Make a creature

How can you move around before you even make the creature?

longer video from GDCTV

[amazon10x]

There is a longer more detailed video at http://www.pqhp.com/cmp/gdctv/ . scroll about 4/5 down on the page. The video is just over an hour long; I'm not sure if it shows more gameplay or not.

Re:longer video from GDCTV

[Durinthal]

It does show a bit more of the gameplay, but it's also less polished at that point since it's from 2005. There's a condensed version just showing gameplay on Google video.

Re:Boring

[OakDragon]

This game sounds somewhat boring.

1) Make your creature
2) Move your creature around doing everyday things
3) Mate

Okay, stop right there. The first two may be boring, but when I'm bored with number 3, I'll go to step 5: death.

Where's the FUN...?

[AdamTrace]

Don't get me wrong... Spore looks AMAZING! The whole creature-creation stuff is like nothing I've ever seen.

But will the game be FUN?! I guess maybe it's kind of like the Sims, where users create their own fun...?

Can someone explain it to me?

Adman

Re:Where's the FUN...?

[Anonymous Coward]

Can someone explain it to me?

Yes. You're a simpleton.

I hope this helps.

Re:Where's the FUN...?

[Flyboy Connor]

But will the game be FUN?

That depends on who you are. I expect it will be fun for me.

Re:Where's the FUN...?

[Lord Phaeton]

I recently read an article that noted how few details were known about Spore. Notably, the writer wondered how the game would be "scored", and how one would "win". In the view of the writer, these seemed to be terribly important aspects of a game. After I read that I wondered if they really are. Some of the most enjoyable games I've played lately (Nintendogs, Animal Crossing) lack these "integral" componenents. Both have some sort of loosely defined goal (raise a dog, build a cool town), but neither have anything closely related to a score or even a way to "win". Maybe Spore will be more fun if it lacks those comoponents as well.

Re:Where's the FUN...?

[Soybean47]

Nintendogs has various "scores" (trainer points, competetion scores, and money), and various things that might be considered win conditions, although the designer's real goal was to get the gamer playing in perpetuity.

Animal crossing, similarly, has a few different score-like things, as well as different win-conditions depending on user preference. A "perfect town," a full catalog at Nook's, museum collections, HRA scores, etc. Depending on your goals, it's entirely possible to "win" at Animal Crossing.

You're right in a sense, in that in these games, users select their own goals. There isn't a clear "you've beaten the game!" scenario. But that's true of a lot of games these days, as many developers take the "open ended" approach. There are still all sorts of intermediate scores and achievable goals. It's a reasonable question to ask about Spore, too.

Re:Where's the FUN...?

[Gorkamecha]

Designing a killing machine over eons, and knowing it will be unleashed on other, weaker (shall we say "Sissy") creatures doesn't sound fun to you? The carnage!! Or take the other side, designing a critter that can defend itself from the warp perversions of life that the twisted minds of the web can throw at you? Come on, that sounds a little fun doesn't it? It's like Robot Rumble, except with fake-organics ;)

Re:Where's the FUN...?

[Gothic_Walrus]

I don't think the game's going to be "scored" per se. The impression I've had from what's out there is that the motivation for playing is simply to advance to the next stage of evolution, which would be fine by me. Of course, I don't know for sure, but considering that The Sims didn't have attempt to score your character or their life, I'd bet that's going to be the case again here.

Really, how WOULD you score the game? Number of times your creature mates? ;)

Re:Boring

[Anonymous Coward]

How could you forget Sim Ant?

God damn it Zonk

[caitsith01]

Learn to LINK man. Take the following phrase:

"ThinkGaming is reporting from E3, and had a chance to take a look at Will Wright's Spore during the early-hours press access."

The Zonk approach: link from "Will Wright's Spore" goes to thinkgaming.org article.

The *sensible* approach: link from "Will Wright's Spore" goes to official site; link from "ThinkGaming is reporting" goes to thinkgaming.org article.

I mean seriously, how many times do you have to post "edited for clarity - Z" before you figure it out?

Re:God damn it Zonk

[masterzora]

(I know, don't feed the trolls, but I can't help myself):
Here's an idea: maybe by linking relevant text rather than the website name, spiders can extract meaningful data about the linked page other than the obvious "it's from ThinkGaming". Useful in a different way than what you mentioned. After all, you don't stop using a spoon altogether just because a fork exists, right?

Re:There is one thing I am scared of with this gam

[Swift(void)]

My friend laid down a bet that his world of Giant Walking Penis' would be delivered to my computer before mine was delivered to his.

The Future of Gaming

[Bones3D_mac]

This game goes a few steps beyond all of those first-person shooters that are open to modification by skilled designers. It literally makes the all the tools needed to create fully custom, playable characters available to the average person using a highly intuitive interface. Combine this with the possibility to create several hundred thousand variations in character design, each with their own custom world for them to populate in a virtual universe open to millions of users around the world via the internet to interact with them and you have one hell of an experience that is going to put any Sim* games before it to shame.

I am really looking forward to this game and the uproar it'll inevitably cause with the "intelligent design" proponents.

Re:The Future of Gaming

[Flyboy Connor]

I am really looking forward to this game and the uproar it'll inevitably cause with the "intelligent design" proponents.

Why would there be an uproar from them? Basically it simulates a universe that is constructed as they think it actually is.

Re:The Future of Gaming

[MatterOfMind]

I doubt this game would cause any sort of uproar with proponents of "intelligent design" ... mostly because this game is all about intelligent design, and maybe even includes some aspects about the heritability of acquired traits. I'm still excited about playing Spore, both personally and professionally (I'm a high school biology teacher and a biology education researcher). I'm hoping to get this loaded on all of our laptops in school (that is, if they have the horsepower...) and have the students play as a part of our evolution curriculum. My suspicion is that the game will help students to imagine the results of population changes through generations, while also giving me an opportunity to talk about the differences between "evolution" in Spore and biological evolution in our world.

Re:The Future of Gaming

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, it doesn't.

Intelligent Design proponents are actually Creationists in diguise; They'll attack it because it will bring widespread popular understanding of how evolution can work - & a large part of their PR campaign is to lie, subvert, quotemine & twist to make its seem like evolution doesn't work.

At the very least, PAX-TV-watching-households will ban their kids from playing the game; At the most, there'll be a large PR campaign - probably involving Jack Thompson, who knows? - to make it seem evil.

Re:The Future of Gaming

[Flyboy Connor]

Actually, it does. Spore shows that evolution does not work without intervention by a higher being. And that higher being is the player in Spore.

Re:Boring

[salle_from_sweden]

Because you start of with a little spore. and so you move the spore and eat stuff, then you change/evolve it, move it around some more, then change/evolve it again, repeat lot's of times untill brain is big enough to go tribal.

Re:There is one thing I am scared of with this gam

[Jugalator]

Damn, there goes my idea for Nisplipia, an alternate reality where celebrity creatures with permanent nipslips roamed the world. :-(

Re:Boring

[Robmonster]

Thats pretty much al you do in The Sims, which ended up being one of the most popular games of recent years sales-wise.

Re:Boring

[FoamingToad]

Hack... Slash[dot]... Repeat?

I think you just described my career.

Re:There is one thing I am scared of with this gam

[Anonymous Coward]

But we could still make what was going to be the sequel, "bigtitia", a hit!

Re:Boring

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

Yeah, but changing it and evolving it is not the same as making it. You 'make' the creature by starting the game.

Re:Boring

[DragonWriter]

I think that understates the case; the last I saw, The Sims was the best-selling computer game franchise of all time, not merely one of the best of recent years.

Re:Boring

[DragonWriter]

Does this sound excessively boring to anyone else?

I'm sure it does to lots of people; that's why they make different kinds of games for different tastes. But games with similar profiles have been popular (most notably, of course, The Sims), so I don't see why this wouldn't be.

I know I'll be buying it when it comes out, and then fighting my wife for the computer to play it, even worse than with The Sims 2.

Maybe it'll justify keeping two good desktop systems.

Re:Boring

[gknoy]

6) Advanced technologically to a city based civilization
7) Interact with other civilizations on your homeworld
8) Advance to space faring race
9) Colonize and terraform other worlds

It's amazing how difficult progressing past 7 seems to be for the residents of this planet. :-( Well, sad, but maybe not surprising.

Obligatory Penny Arcade Link

[tigris]

Obligatory Penny Arcade link. I just hope it's better than Black & White. For some reason, I could never get into that game. The ideas were great, but it never jelled for me.

Re:Video of presentation Words

[Suddenly_Dead]

There was supposed to be a > in the title, incase it makes no sense to anyone. Ooops :)

Re:Video of presentation Words

[jafuser]

I waited in line about 1.5 hours to see this demonstration. The line moved very slowly too, since about 2/3 of the audience in the room of about 30-40 people were invited, so they could skip the line. I didn't even know WW was going to be demoing it himself, and at first I didn't realize it was him (he didn't say his name).

The parent's linked video is pretty much the exact same demo I saw in person, with only some minor differences (i.e. he said that the ability to toss things with your abduction ray was a bug). Plus, in the video someone's head wasn't blocking a quarter of my view of the screen =)

On my way out of E3 on friday, I noticed there were about seven or eight nominations/awards for "Best of E3" and the like hanging on the wall around the doorway to the demo room.