Ah yes, science spore. It would have been nice.

But, have you all that where disapointed just had you expectations to high?

Anyway... I would also love to have more realism in the game.

Ifrit4 wrote:

DernGalaxyfist wrote:YOur talking about a spore game with more scientific accuracy gravity and limb length affect instead of "+ 3 dash" a science spore would be awesome and there could be one and im so sorry your original image got kicked out...Maxis just has a teen audience in mind..

don't you mean toddler image?

Heh, think that is a large part of Spore's problem. They don't seem to know what demographic they're going for. As simple as the gameplay is, and as cartoonish as the style is, the underlying concept still aims for a much more mature audience, and I think that confused focus cripples the game's potential, not just in terms of how good it is, but in how popular it will ever be.

mflux, those points you made are just TOO TRUE!!! spore is nothing like what it should have been.

WOOT we have "inside" information

@mflux: i have only a few things to say, 1st off i agree with everything you say! i love the idea that how a creature acts should be based on the way its built (you have no idea how many times i have made a emu like creature and i just wanted to bolt across the creature test ring) and it erks me so bad cuz im like a major zooogly/art wiz, i mean the main reason i got spore was cuz i thought it would be the ultamite do what you want , and still have a realism side attached to it.

And the space ship thing is so true (why to i gotta go around and do all this crap i mean im freaking omiponet)
and hte space fleet thing is somthing i want so bad i mean seriously i have 53 colonies i gotta baby sit.

i mean the game is good for a "1st time" and stuff but if 3 games were made that are simular to this spore would mroe than likly not be my #1 choice, i mean i would go with the one that makes my creatures act real,express emotions in a way it seems animalistic,and lets me free lance like hell.

but basicly what im saying is wha ti said in the 1st sentence "i agree!".

After thinking about Spore for a while, expectations, watching videos on the development and testing - I'm beginning to wonder if the play-testing may have been impacted by the "sip test" effect.

The "sip test" I'm referring to is the classic Pepsi vs. Coke sip test Pepsi ran back around 1980. Pepsi wins a sip test - it is sweeter and tastes better when all you're taking is a sip. But having a super sweet drink isn't as desirable when you're drinking 16oz, and had the test been longer - to drink a full bottle, Coke would've won the test.

What I'm wondering is did the complicated play-testing of Spore (I've seen videos saying it was extensively playtested which was unbelievable to me) was akin to a sip test. Were they only getting feedback from people who were sipping the game? People who were only coming in for a day and playing it for the first time? Did the specific testing methodology potentially mislead them into over-valuing the feedback from gamers playing it for the first time, and de-valuing feedback from games who want to drink the whole thing and drill down deep?

I wonder this because something had to make Will drop many of the cool ideas, and I'm wondering if a flawed testing methodology led them down the wrong road?

There are some videos posted of the actual testing sesions... My best moment is a girl who encounters an early and goes: "hmmm... should I kill it?" (looks at camera, feels embarassed) "err... no... it's too cute, let's dance and sing".

I love the game, but screams faulty testing on every stage. The fact that you could not destroy the Grox and that inventory and tools cannot be resorted, or keys reconfigured, pretty much proves it. A game that takes six years in the making and that finally comes out without noone checking if it can be beaten? tssk... sip-test, clearly.

The fact that you could not destroy the Grox

You can destroy the Grox... it just takes a LOOONG time!

Or not that long... My favourite is a .package that makes the Grox start just with a hundred colonies on the Core. It's of course solved now, (They went with the expanded-radius-on-the-core solution-.package) but that wasn't the case when Spore came out...

Sorry, got something on my throat... (ahemmm, ahem* muddytextures... ahem*)

when I first played the game, one of the very first things I noticed was the exclusion of the underwater part of the creature stage. when I got to the end of the cell stage, it of course said "click here to evolve legs and move onto land!" and I was like "wait, what?! I go straight to land from here?!"
and then when I went to land, I ended up spending the LONGEST time trying to find a skeleton that would give me some parts I needed for my creature to be the way I wanted it to be. when my brain grew fully, it said that I could access the editor one last time before evolving to tribe, and I was thinking "the last time in the editor? that must mean you'll have every part!" so I just went on to tribal, and I was like "WHAT!? I STILL don't get all the parts I need! my creature will be incomplete for the rest of the game!" and then I went through the whole boring tribal stage which didn't last very long, and then I went to civ stage (the most boring experience of the whole game!) and I quickly decided to ally as many civilizations as I could to prevent a lotta wars, but when I allied everyone, I was stuck. I had no way of progressing without taking over other cities. I was military, so I went to conquer a city. I asked a nearby ally for help, and they were a little late and came as soon as I had already captured the city and then they converted it and said "haha! we have captured your city!". that was a strange experience. so then, I took the rest of the cities on my continent (4 in total) and as soon as I took the last one on my continent, all the other nations (who were my allies) each said "WE'VE WON! let us unite so we can be stronger!" and before I knew it, I was in control of the world. I then went to space stage, and it was fun at first, but it got boring.... quickly....

so even the first time around, the game was boring.

*bump*

tl;dr... Much...


What I did read though I have these following comments on: I agree. Some creatures I've seen have rather pointless structures. I've seen creatures with short, stubby legs outrace my creations because they have better feet. Legs play absolutely no role in how fast they move save for how tall they are. But even then that's kind of pointless apart from reaching fruit that's higher up in trees. And having an access of legs just seems to glitch things up and look awkward (and rather funny).

I usually keep my designs realistic looking. So I don't have creatures whose bodies are going off at dramatic or odd angles. Wouldn't they fall over at such dramatic angles?


And yes, once you get to the space stag the missions get rather repetitive and pointless. When I was sent on my first errand boy mission I was told the items I needed to retrieve had some relation to the Grox. However in the end I was only thanked and given a tiny sum of money for my time. No information on the Grox was given to me so that I could feel some kind of purpose in my mission. It turns out most of what I know about them are from the scrolls I run across and from actually meeting with them face-to-face and talking to them about their philosophy. I at least expected a story of some form in the space stage. But due to repetitive game-play I normally stop as soon as I get there and begin planning my next endeavor and set my eye on an achievement.


But, instead of complaining like many people I would like to put forward ideas to fix this.

Fixing the creature creator to be more realistic is rather self evident. Stop making legs clip into each other and make them play an role apart from how tall they are. Pick up the pace the creature can move based on the length (or number, if that counts) of legs, and not solely feet.

Giving the missions in the space stage a kind of purpose will make them more exciting. Will the missions end war or start them? Will you get information regarding the Grox? A sense of fulfillment is needed in these missions and a larger variety or length of some could help. But alas I don't think the varying length bit would be doable because of length.

I think Spore 2 should be more hardcore and more based on morphology

Could not each a fish stage went to ashore earth? I would hope there was of! it eould fee to find, find the things we want for Oun animals. And it would be fun-y to play Spore I think ik. This is because the 2 stage is the seagell i prefer to play on spore. And a LIVE with, as in spore galactic adventures= It should alsp be in every creature phse.

Could not each a fish stage went to ashore earth? I would hope there was of! it eould fee to find, find the things we want for Oun animals. And it would be fun-y to play Spore I think ik. This is because the 2 stage is the seagell i prefer to play on spore. And a LIVE with, as in spore galactic adventures= It should alsp be in every creature phse.


MY EYES!!!