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http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=83...0559198&q=spore

Maxis is getting reeeally ambitious with this one. Sounds incredible, but it could also fall flat on its face. All I know is it's a hot discussion topic in the gaming world. Your thoughts?

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Lou: There's a couple of guys fighting down at the aquarium, Chief.
Wiggum: Do they still sell those frozen bananas?
Lou: I think so.
Wiggum: Let's roll.

Judging by what I saw in the presentation, I can't see it falling flat on its face. The game may not succeed in the multiplayer market like Will Wright was stressing, but the controls for developing the creatures look very well developed such that I would find it difficult for fans of sim games not to eat this up.

This link is a little longer, it includes a nice introduction and Im guessing a conclusion of sorts since the original video cuts off before the end of the gameplay even:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-262774490184348066

I should also say that I WANT THIS GAME!

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

31:30 NUKES A FREAKIN' PLANET!

This post has been edited by WildHalcyon on 8th March 2006 04:51

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Oh sure, I don't have to get kicked in the junk to activate it, but I like it anyway. -- Thief commenting on the difference between Throw and Blue Magic.

It's a beautiful tech demo, but nothing revolutionary that couldn't be/haven't been done many, many years ago. Maxis is just bringing together a lot of procedural algorithms together under one roof.

The technical aspect of this is impressive. I've written procedurally-generated media before (mainly worlds; terrain-generation techniques are very, very extensive nowadays) and can appreciate the effort (and fun!) writing this stuff involves. However, like I said, while the implementation looks solid and well-presented, it's hardly revolutionary.

As a game though, it looks a bit bland. It's more of a toy than a game. There isn't some impending doom about to sweep across your little world, points to be scored, or whatever. In fact, it seems a little boring after a while. Proedural media gets very boring very fast if something solid and involving isn't attached to it, and wandering around might not last past a few months at the most (by my standards, that's a slightly short lifespan for a game; it's sad to think that many games nowadays hardly last past a few weeks, but yes, I still DO actively play games I've been playing 3-4 years ago regularly (ie, more than once a week) so it's hardly unreasonable.)

My impressions can be summed up by, "this is a very sexy tech demo, a highly fun-looking toy, but not much in the way of an actual game." Maxis has made awesome sims in the past and it's unlikely this won't be yet another one of them, but it won't be a Final Fantasy VII or a DDR.

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

I'd just like to play it and download a bunch of other worlds created by other people and see what they did with their worlds

That is amazing. I'm really excited to buy and play this one.

Honestly, I think that it's like the sims where the best part is gonna be the building creature and vehichle editors. In the sims all I would do was make a krad house and then I would lose interest, but this looks like it could be different. It looks like the gameplay isn't so constantly demanding and it's really just about the worlds and creatures that you can make. I don't think it looks like a toy so much as simple gameplay. I'm betting a bunch of people spend no time actually playing the game and just make wacky worlds and creatures and the like, mcuh like the sims. The only gameplay that I wasn't excited for was the stage where you have to take over the planet you're on, because he described it as a simpler version of Civ or Risk. Civ is understandable, my head can hardly contemplate civ 4, supposedly the simplest and most organized game in the series, but Risk? How can you get any simpler than risk? All you did in that game was roll dice and try and get 10 people so you could have a badass cannon. Hopefully they'll include some strategy or more thought in the actual conquering of your planet, but other than that this game is really exciting looking.

This post has been edited by FallingHeart on 8th March 2006 06:23

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"We're not tools of the government or anyone else. Fighting... fighting was the only thing I was ever good at, but at least I always fought for what I believed in." - Frank Yeager (a.k.a. Grey Fox)

I think he just threw out 'Risk' as another example of "world domination" style gameplay. I don't recall seeing any dice come into play in the demo.

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Oh sure, I don't have to get kicked in the junk to activate it, but I like it anyway. -- Thief commenting on the difference between Throw and Blue Magic.

Too early in the game to tell. The sheer scope of the project is astounding - but you can't judge based on appearances, despite Will Wright's reasonably reliable track record. That being said, if they pull it off, it could very well be one of the most comprehensive, versatile, and entertaining game experiences of all time. On the other hand, the market is no stranger to supposed gameplay revolutions falling under the weight of their own hype - Fable, anyone?

I must say I was impressed every time he would scroll out of the current world view into something larger and larger, until he eventually got to a whole galaxy. The depth and complexity of the game at this point is really intriguing, and I hope to see more details as development fleshes out. I'm going to stay optimistic about this one.

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"I always have a quotation for everything - it saves original thinking."
~Dorothy L. Sayers

"The truly remarkable thing about television is that it allows several million people to laugh at the same joke and still feel lonely."
~T.S. Eliot

"Defeat is not defeat unless accepted as reality - in your own mind!"
~ Bruce Lee

It's sort of funny how everyone seems to have just now discovered this game, when the event that this footage is from is at least a year old (of course, the video wasn't on the net, but there were TONS of articles, features, etc. about it back then). Doesn't mean that finally seeing the video doesn't rock, however!

I must say that it looks pretty fantastic, provided it accomplishes its lofty goals (which may or may not happen, but I'm talking about the IDEA here, not the actual execution of it). It sortof reminded me of Katamari Damacy, in the sense that your world just kept getting bigger... and bigger... and BIGGER... you get the picture.

So... yeah. Brilliant idea, totally awesome game if it works, but who knows if it will or not...

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The island bathes in the sun's bright rays
Distant hills wear a shroud of grey
A lonely breeze whispers in the trees
Sole witness to history

ICO-You were there-

The main concern I have is that this game is trying to do so much. Can it do everything well? The beginning of the game looks incredibly interesting, and developing your civilization looks like a lot of fun. But how well will they develop the warring aspect? Can they really compete with a Civilization/Age of Empires kind of game? I'm also worried about the open ending. It's like getting tired of SimCity once your city is completed. You can keep improving it or make a new city, but the core of the game is pretty much done with. Wright seems to suggest that the game "begins" once you take control of the UFO and move from planet to planet... but then what?

All I know is it's gonna be a heck of an interesting game and I definitely want to play it.

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Lou: There's a couple of guys fighting down at the aquarium, Chief.
Wiggum: Do they still sell those frozen bananas?
Lou: I think so.
Wiggum: Let's roll.

hey, that's a great game but nothing special... i'm still gonna buy it...
...urge to destroy planets rising...

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They may be monsters, but they're sea monsters. What're they gonna do? Flop around on deck and suffocate at us threateningly?

http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/flowing/

Fun little game. May or may not have something to do with this thread. ;P

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

uhm... like what do you need to do or acomplish cause i don't get it

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They may be monsters, but they're sea monsters. What're they gonna do? Flop around on deck and suffocate at us threateningly?

There's help available riiiight above the flash window but in the event your mouse is broken and won't reach there, here's a brief guide.

- Move using the mouse; the little dude follows your cursor. Hold the mouse button to move faster, but you can't make sharp turns if you do that because you'll be moving too fast.

- Eat stuff. It makes you grow and evolve.

- Big stuff requires some effort to eat. Basically chow on their midsections until they burst into food chunks. Careful, they can eat you as well and losing all of your cells will "kill" you (ie, you lose a section and go back one layer.) Orange enemies are attacking you, black ones are running from you.

- To switch layers, eat the colored cells. Red goes deeper, blue goes higher. The help doesn't mention this but you can also use up and down on the keyboard. If you get lost, you'll see little sonar-like circles indicating which direction they're in.

- There's no ending as such but if you can beat the super-worm at the bottom of the sea, you're the top worm! Although the ball-like entity about 1/3rd of the way down seemed a hell of a lot harder to me...

Of course it's just a small flash game, so don't expect a full-blown Spore clone, but it's cool.

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Yes, the ball-like thing you're referring to was a PAIN! He was the last one I killed.

That just became one of my favorite flash games. I mean, there's not a whole lot TO it, and it's kindof short, but everything in it... works. Jolly good fun bob.

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The island bathes in the sun's bright rays
Distant hills wear a shroud of grey
A lonely breeze whispers in the trees
Sole witness to history

ICO-You were there-

I actually heard of Spore many a year ago, but I'm glad it's coming along nicely.

This goes on my (soon to get) laptop when it's released!

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The frosty one.

The more I see about this, the more excited that I am. I saw a couple more videos from E3 that I had apparently missed and it just seem slike a really novel, fun game. Part of what intrigues me is the combination of depth and ease with which you can manipulate/create the world - creatures, buildings, plant life (?), etc.

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Oh sure, I don't have to get kicked in the junk to activate it, but I like it anyway. -- Thief commenting on the difference between Throw and Blue Magic.

I am very much looking forward too it. However I guess some players will go about this game like this.

Then again cruelty is fun sometimes

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"I fell off the mountain of words at around the 10,000ft mark. Tell my family...they owe me money." -Narratorway

"If you retort against this, so help me God I'll shove any part of your anatomy I can find into some other part. Figuratively, of course." - Josh

"We have more, can deliver tuesday." - Del S

Good old CoN