GeekGirl
03-25-2005, 10:42 PM
http://www.gamespy.com/articles/595/595975p1.html
Worth the 5 page read.
"Bacteria to Galactic God"
"What's unique about Spore is that unlike many other 'sandbox' titles, the game starts out very focused. Players begin the game very goal-oriented: they just need to survive the different phases of life, starting from the most simplistic form of all. Then, once they've gotten familiar with the editors and every stage of a life form's development, they're turned loose with a UFO and the ability to simply play with whole species, worlds, and solar systems.
In the process players can play out whatever science-fiction cliché they want. Invasion? Supervision? Uplifting? First Contact? Abduction/Cross-Breeding? Diplomacy? The game is what players make of it.
The important thing to take away from this is not "Will Wright is making a cool game," but the way that he is making the game. He's sidestepped the whole idea of massive teams of content creators in favor of a system of building games based on player-content and emergence. The results are stunning.
At the end of his talk Wright pointed out that the hardest part of making this game was not the act of making it, but his own imagination. For a while he didn't think it was possible. Then, once he got over that, he went big. He encouraged everyone else in the room to do the same -- not to be intimidated by what everyone is saying about the next generation of content -- but just to go out and make great games! "
Worth the 5 page read.
"Bacteria to Galactic God"
"What's unique about Spore is that unlike many other 'sandbox' titles, the game starts out very focused. Players begin the game very goal-oriented: they just need to survive the different phases of life, starting from the most simplistic form of all. Then, once they've gotten familiar with the editors and every stage of a life form's development, they're turned loose with a UFO and the ability to simply play with whole species, worlds, and solar systems.
In the process players can play out whatever science-fiction cliché they want. Invasion? Supervision? Uplifting? First Contact? Abduction/Cross-Breeding? Diplomacy? The game is what players make of it.
The important thing to take away from this is not "Will Wright is making a cool game," but the way that he is making the game. He's sidestepped the whole idea of massive teams of content creators in favor of a system of building games based on player-content and emergence. The results are stunning.
At the end of his talk Wright pointed out that the hardest part of making this game was not the act of making it, but his own imagination. For a while he didn't think it was possible. Then, once he got over that, he went big. He encouraged everyone else in the room to do the same -- not to be intimidated by what everyone is saying about the next generation of content -- but just to go out and make great games! "