I am well slept and recovered from the Bird & Bird summer party last night, a perfect way to celebrate a good IP & Commercial exam (though I don’t actually finish until Tuesday). It was held at The Eve Club, resplendent in its Moroccan themed decor although sadly a little too small for the rapidly growing firm, which must make these events harder and harder to arrange each year. The crowded venue meant it did not quite live up to the riverside Boat Club do two years ago, but it was nevertheless good fun with a chance to meet a few more future trainees to fill in most of the missing gaps. This year’s summer students were invited too, so it was odd already not being the “new kids”, though it was pleasant to know everyone was watching them and not us!
A trial version of the Creature Creator for Spore, the forthcoming game from Sims creator Will Wright, has been released and I recommend everyone tries it out. Although limited in terms of body parts, the ability to totally shape the body means the trial still allows massive scope for possibilities and EA have announced that over 300,000 creatures have already been uploaded by people in the last few days. My first creation was the gravitationally challenged DownLow on the right. The real surprise for me was how intuitive the editor feels, something you can only really experience by trying it out rather than watching Robin Williams playing with it.
Spore is essentially a game based around evolution so that you start of as a single-celled organism which you gradually evolve first as an individual then a tribe, and finally a planet-conquering species before heading out into the stars. With the Sims many people spent half their time just in the editor recreating friends and family, so releasing the creature creator for free seems like a bold move. However with Spore it seems much of the fun will be in seeing how they animate and interact within the game world, whether they work well or not. I suspect the DownLow, for example, may have significant balance issues…
So download, give it a spin and share what you come up with.
21 June 2008 at 2:27 am
They haven’t released the creature creator for free, the full version costs $10 (of which $5 can be claimed back when you buy the full game if you download it from EA’s online store). The free demo version has a limited number of body parts and colour schemes.
Also, having browsed through several of the 300,00 new creatures I would estimate that a good 40% are phallic in nature.
P.S. “Spore is essentially a game based around evolution” – the zoologist in me would like to point out that Spore is in fact intelligent design.
P.P.S. I particularly like this creature (if offended by rude words, do not click) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vnUXnnH6sY0
21 June 2008 at 8:50 am
Technically it’s both intelligent design and evolution — it’s not the natural selection theory of evolution but your creature still undoubtedly evolves gradually throughout the game…
You’re right that the trial is limited as I mentioned (25% of body parts available apparently) though I believe the full £4.99 price can be claimed back, but requires buying from the official website. I do wonder what proportion of people are actually willing to pay for it, since the unique part for me was the body shape moulding, all of which is available for free.
P.S. That creature was quite special. I think I’d call it intentional design but might stop short of intelligent… 8-|
21 June 2008 at 11:13 pm
Oh this is fun 😀 I’ve even got Rosie into it – haha! I decided that I’d make a Trogdor creature – soooo much fun!
22 June 2008 at 10:28 pm
What’s your screen name Priyan?