• After several generations of your creature, it will reappear with different stats.
• There are achievements you will need to meet, several of which must be unlocked.
• When entering the game, there will be all your games, plus a few ‘new game’ planets, after using up the new game planets, new ones will appear.
• The game will have cheats (accessed by Ctrl+Shift+C). Some cheats: ‘levels-unlock’ means to unlock all the phases, and typing ‘help’ will list all the cheats.
• There is not a detailed tribal weapons editor, but there is an accessory editor in all the phases past and including tribal. Things like rings, helms, etc.
• Badges in the space phase act as avatars: rank of captain, general, etc.
• There is a slim chance on your planet to start with a moon.
• Spaceship has a scanner, you use the scanner to get information on ruins you may find. I must say, this is probably the coolest feature to see because it would give so many clues and hints, opening up so much more to do within the game.
• No new parts in the Creature Creator, and Maxis says it will be extremely difficult for anyone to add parts, but it is not impossible.
• While traveling in space, your spaceship can only travel within a large circular limit, but don’t worry, when you travel to the edge, it follows!
• The flora editor will not be included in the game...yet.
• One copy of Spore on your computer means one base account. Why? Because Spore online capabilities are free and it is meant to stay free.
• New consequence feature. Have you done something wrong? Perhaps it will catch up with you later..
• DNA acts as currency in the tide pool and creature phases. In the other phases it’s what you use to progress in the game. (example: befriending a neighboring nest or conquering it will give you DNA points, the more you get, the closer you become to the next phase.)
• In the cell phase, doing tasks and eating food can give you the opportunity to get new parts, you get new parts by using the mating call option.
• When your creature dies in the cell mode, a new one will hatch and nothing is lost, (note: this is different for the other phases.)
• The minimum time of playing the cell phase is around 10 minutes, however it took me a good 25 or so.
• There is a detailed history of everything your creature does, and everything that happens to your creature. It’s awesome!
• A user can control any content found in their game, whether they want everything, their buddies, or just don’t like something, the player has total control over content.
• You can ban creatures, or any other content from appearing in your game.
Okay, that was the presentation given by Caryl, now we move on to playing the game, something where I felt like I had to walk faster to keep up, everyone was so excited! I was able to answer most of the submitted questions myself while playing the game, but here is the collection I received from playing the game and the QA we had with the developers afterwords:
Will the Spore music editor be in the game?Yes! The music editor is confirmed and will be in the game.
Will the flora/plant editor come with the game?No, at this time no but it was hinted several times that it will come later. There are over 150 different plant and tree types already created.
What’s the stand on underwater cities, life, and phases?There will be nothing underwater.
Can my creatures live in trees?No, they cannot live in trees, only nests, tribes, etc.
Is there a detailed weapons editor?There is not a detailed tribal weapons editor, but there is an accessory editor in all the phases past and including tribal. Things like rings, helms, etc.
Are there any new parts in the Creature Creator?No new parts to be released with the game.
When a creature dies, what happens?Well I can tell you this because it happened more than I expected! In the tide pool phase, you will start from where you left off and it’s not a big deal. As you mov on in the phases to creature and tribal, you restart the phase and all earned DNA points (to progress to the next phase) will be lost. The creature falls to the ground upon death and the screen goes black and you re-hatch.
What happens to the history when your creature dies?It shows my good friend the skull and bones, hm..it decorated my history very well. On the history time line, it shows that your creature died, and all the history that was made up until the death of your creature will still be there.
Will there be systems with multiple stars?No, one star per Solar System.
How long will the day and night cycles be?I didn’t really notice but they are there and I would say anywhere from 4-7 minutes for day and I think night was shorter. There will be morning and dusk, and you can tell the difference!
Will the asymmetrical creatures work in the game successfully?They should yes (depending on the part), my tribe were carnivores and they were hunting a large rhino like creature with wings, and every once in a while they would jump up and fly for just a little bit. I noticed they did it more as my creatures approached them for the hunt.
Will the complexity level of creatures affect game play beyond the tribal phase?This has been a concern at Maxis and it shouldn’t be a problem, but if it is, a cheat was created for it. Also, if a dialog box pops up saying your creature is too complex, you have the option to proceed to the editor and tone down the complexity level.
How do you [the developers and designers] feel about the massive Creature Creator leak?A simple mistake.
Is it possible to have more than one village per creature?No, one creature species, one village.
How many vehicles can I have of different styles?One vehicle per specialty; meaning that you can have one design for military, one design for religious, etc. That does not mean quantity.
What about creatures that I don’t want to have legs?They should have no problem advancing through the game. Although I didn’t get to try it but the animators said that somehow they got them to throw spears.
Are the times per phase different or still the same?Should be the same, but it all depends on how slow or how quickly the player wants to progress. I moved along pretty quickly with my creatures and only got to the beginning of the tribal phase, and I played for around 3 hours! There’s just so much to do, and so much to explore.
What is your [the company’s] stand on copyright infringements on content?Well, if there is a complaint by the copyright holder, then the content will be removed by Maxis, but if there is no complaint, the content will remain.
What decides an epic creature?Epic creatures are generated randomly, and it’s interesting to see a giant teapot creature come after you..
What are the plans for future expansion packs?We’ll find out!
Is a connection to the internet necessary to play Spore?Although we didn’t get a straight answer on this question, there are ways around an internet connection and EA customer service is ready for your calls.
Along with Hooked on Spore, here is a list of the other sites that attended. Also be sure to check out photos from the event! I’m in them, see if you can find me!
Deamache, from xSpore (
www.xspore.com)Hydra, from Sagan 4/Gaming Steve (
www.sagan4.com)
Rybolton from Sporeum (
www.sporeum.com)
Elenor from MySporePage (
www.mysporepage.com)
JudHudson from SimPrograms (www.simprograms.com)
LadyM from GamingSteve (
www.gamingsteve.com/
www.ladympire.com)
Petreak from SporeSite (
www.sporesite.com)
Rexer from Simphoni (
www.simphoni.net)
Be sure to read all of their articles at their sites, as we all had different points of view and I’m sure we all have different sorts of information.
