![]() ![]() The game hasn't even been released yet and we are already seeing the fruits of this thing called user-created content as it applies to Spore. It is extremely easy to make something that looks good with the tool, and seeing your creature come to life as you add elements to it is both exciting and immediately rewarding. Playing with the Creature Creator was one of the most amazing play experiences I have ever had, and I'm looking forward to playing with it some more. I was fortunate enough to be selected to try out the creature creator ahead of time, and I spent the entire weekend last week making creatures with it ( warning: it's highly addictive). You can also take pictures of your creatures within the "Test Drive" portion of the editor (screenshots included here), or take movies and upload your movies directly to YouTube from within the Creature Creator(!) Your creatures are automatically animated based on the spine and appendages you've given it. Sharing creatures is therefore exceptionally easy, and brilliantly implemented. Creatures are embedded into a 32KB image (PNG) of the creature that contains all of the data necessary to load it back into the editor. With the Creature Creator you can, of course, create and edit new creatures, and you can save them and share them with others, too. ![]() There is a demo available that is free, but it comes with only a small subset of what's available in the full version. One of those tools is being released today, the Spore Creature Creator, and it can be yours for about 10 bucks. The Spore team accomplishes this by putting powerful and easy-to-use tools to create elements of the Spore universe in the hands of the masses. One of Spore's most touted and talked about features is how it leverages user-created content to populate the countless planets within the Spore universe. The game is the brainchild of Will Wright, the father of SimCity and the Sims, and judging from what we've seen of this game so far, we're in for one heck of a ride. Such a disappointment.In case you haven't heard, there's an exciting new game on the horizon called Spore, and it is set to release this September. I was promised a Ferrari, I got a toddler's tricycle. These could perhaps change Spore into what it was supposed to be, but I for one won't be buying them. What we got was a series of minigames, none of them terribly interesting or entertaining. Essentially, Spore is a mere shadow of what was promised. ![]() The creature, building and vehicle editors are, however, fun to tinker around in. No real planet terraforming in the space stage - you just dump a few different plant and animal types down and they magically spread all over the planet. ![]() No interesting creatures to be made in the cell stage - we're limited to making blobs. No living, breathing ecosystem - animals stand around their nests, doing absolutely nothing. No creature animations based on where body parts are placed - every animation is the same. Somewhere along the line, everything that had made the game unique and exciting had been replaced with content that we haven't just seen before, we've seen it done a whole lot better. So when I finally got to play Spore, I was almost entirely let down. I devoured every preview as they came out, barely able to wait for what would naturally be one of the greatest games ever. What he was attempting was truly amazing user-generated content, procedurally textured and animated. I've been following Spore for several years now, waiting with baited breath as Will Wright showed off his masterpiece at different I've been following Spore for several years now, waiting with baited breath as Will Wright showed off his masterpiece at different conventions. ![]()
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