It is interesting to note that though Hecker is respected within the game industry, as of 2005 he still has not shipped a single game (this will likely change when Spore is released).

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Chris-Hecker


Hecker left Microsoft about 1995 to create a game company, called definition Six.

http://www.d6.com/

From 1995 to 2004 he did not ship a single title. What he did create is here:
http://www.d6.com/games/index.htm


http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/13/joystiq-interviews-spores-chaim-gingold-and-chris-hecker/

Chris Hecker wrote:
So, I was working in indie games for, like, eight years, and my wife was basically paying the mortgage. She kinda had the high-powered, executive job. And then, we had a baby, and she decided: "Well, I'm quitting. It's your turn to actually work." And I was like "Uh-oh! I guess I'm going to have to make some money." Indie games don't pay that well.

Chris Hecker wrote:
So when I finally "sold out to the man," I was like "Okay, I'll sell out to Maxis -- that's at least the smaller 'man.'"
The reality is, EA pays my paycheck, and I actually have a great job.

The reason he got the job:

So, I knew Will from GDC stuff, I'm on the advisory board of the GDC. And I was like "Hey Will, what're you working on now?"

This is the guy that started the "cute team" and was telling Will what the game should look like as well as being the lead programmer for the animation system.


http://seedmagazine.com/news/2008/09/the_creation_simulation.php

Spore's resident uber-geek and artificial intelligence expert Chris Hecker was having strong misgivings about how appealing all this hard science would be to the wider world. "I was the founding member of the 'cute' team," he says with pride. "Ocean [Quigley, Spore's art director] and Will were really the founding members of the 'science' team. Ocean would make the cell game look exactly like a petri dish with all these to-scale animals and Will would say, 'That's the greatest thing I've ever seen!' and some of us were thinking, 'I'm not sure about that.'"

And who could forget about:
http://wii.ign.com/articles/771/771051p1.html

Ocean would make the cell game look exactly like a petri dish with all these to-scale animals and Will would say, 'That's the greatest thing I've ever seen!' and some of us were thinking, 'I'm not sure about that.'"

Wow this isn't going to blow up into some petty internet fight, is it?

No. This just makes me feel more and more like I still want to have a cup of coffee with Will :p.

He's like Colon Powell. A couple of idiots take his long life of success and progress and just crap on it to win a popularity contest (Yes he was a good guy before the current administration used him ).

I actually really like the cuteness of Spore. Just wish there was more gameplay options, at the least it could have been a space-SimCity type.

sc4s2cg wrote:I actually really like the cuteness of Spore. Just wish there was more gameplay options, at the least it could have been a space-SimCity type.

Well it isn't cute in just looks. They mean cutesy visually and in depth. Sort of like a teletubbies game.

3rdtype wrote:Wow this isn't going to blow up into some petty internet fight, is it?

Possibly. Possibly not. There's a lot of unhappy people about Spore, so.

That sounds very disappointing....


I wanted the science game!
I was sold (so was everyone I know that wanted Spore), was sold on the idea of the science spore.
Not a single person out of the many that I talked to (I own a computer store), said anything to hint they were interested in a cutesy game.

Think about it....its a universe creator. People that want cute would not look for it there!
They would look at simple games like "catz","dogz"ect, Sims 2 perhaps, some wii titles, and others....but look for cute in creating your own species? Some of it made sense to make you attached to your creation, especially in the cell stages...but beyond that "the game" should not be styled "cute" even if your creation is a "cute" species.

No excuses though...Will Wright has his name stuck to this, its his baby, so why would he let/like what Chris Hecker did to Spore. Cute is good for attachment, but Spore was FAR oversimplified, and now the complictaed game I typically enjoy never came. It looked like it was on the right path in 2005...

TormakSaber wrote:

3rdtype wrote:Wow this isn't going to blow up into some petty internet fight, is it?

Possibly. Possibly not. There's a lot of unhappy people about Spore, so.

It would be funny for them to do a poll (without editing it) to all SPORE owners to see who would return it or request a rebate if one was optional.

But that would be even more bad PR .

Oh, I wouldn't return it. I already had a "dubiously legal" free version, but decided to buy it.

Still reckon cute works? (clicky)

Extreme example aside, there is one teeeeeeny detail about all this that bugs me. They removed the blood in Spore and used cutsier graphics to help ensure it got a very low age rating thus maximising it's potential audience.

Yet in the space phase, no less than 40 entire races have been wiped out in my game, I've boiled the lithosphere off planets by accident killing everything on it, and delibratly dropped anti-matter bombs on cities killing every last man woman and child. I've had interstellar wars where each side has been slaughtering one another in all out genocide, simply because I don't hold the same religion as them and launched a nuclear holocaust

What part of that last paragraph is "cute"? - Spore's the most violent, genocidal game I've ever played xD - I've probably killed more creatures in Spore, than I have in every game I've played before now combined, including kills I was not directly responsible for in those games (Even when you include stuff like the entire Strogg War in Quake 2/4). Ok, so cutesy graphics helps take the edge off it... but, a teeeny bit of cartoony blood couldn't have hurt could it after putting it into perspective? ;p

He should've watched out to not have that baby in the first place.

Some of us wage peace, not war.

Like those dirty Spodists? After a few... um... adjustments... peace reigns! I'm a pacifist. I just pacified that guy. He's not hurting anyone now.

tormaksaber wrote: Like those dirty Spodists? After a few... um... adjustments... peace reigns! I'm a pacifist. I just pacified that guy. He's not hurting anyone now.

Well sure. I solve all my problems with Subtlty and Persuasion.
The AAM-31 "Subtlty" Anti-Matter missile and AG-15 "Persuasion" Anti-Matter bomb ^__^

I kid, but I never ever start wars. I only fight to defend my allies and that's only after diplomacy has failed, yet the death toll is still amazing thanks to the inability to ask empires to cease attacking an ally even when they have no quarrel with you

"I was the founding member of the 'cute' team," he says with pride