Questions answered @ Maxis Studios
On August 22, I got to travel to Maxis Studios at Emeryville, visit other community site owners, top Spore enthusiasts, meet the developers and finally play SPORE.
To start off my posts regarding our community day I thought I might answer a bunch of questions. Most of these came from my lengthy gameplay session, and a few from our interview with developers. I just went through the forum thread and picked off the ones I could answer. Sorry for no attribution, just trying to get through the huge number of questions!
I’d like to get a verification that creatures with ‘hidden’ parts and creatures made with the ‘invisibility glitch’ will function normally in the game.
Yes, they will. We explored space as a cactus, and one of the group had a giant teapot chasing her around. Even creatures without things like arms will work with things like spears in the Tribal phase.
Future Patches/Upgrades
Spore will be a platform. It’s not like we’ll see “Spore 2″ or anything (how can you do that?), but elements from Spore will appear all over Maxis.
Floral Editor?
Not in this release. It’s likely we’ll see more editors, but as the dev team said repeatedly “we wanted to get it out so bad”
Ability to fight other peoples Creatures in PvP , either by server or Direct Connect to peoples compies [like the good old days]
Well… not sure what you mean. It’s completely possible to craft a sporecast (collection of creations) of certain people’s creations and have them appear in your game, then go and pwn them yourself.
How many editors are there?
6 graphical editors (Cell, Creature, Dressing, Spacecraft, Building, Vehicle), 1 sound editor (national anthem).
How will communications (inter-species or otherwise) work?
If you mean how we read them, it’ll be in the language of your choosing (one of the 22 languages Spore ships with).
Are they really going to make the currency ‘Sporebucks’?
Nope, it’s in spice. (Dune FTW!)
Will there be any expansion packs or sequels?
Always and forever. Remember, this is a video game company ;)
Will they (at any point in time) release a planet editor to create your homeworld?
No confirmation, but from the slyness of the developers, I’d say that’s very likely in the (distant) future.
What kind of problems they are working on currently that makes the game release so late.
Balance, scope, online capabilities… so many things.
check how much blood there will be ;p
None from what I saw.
Is the weather gameplay related or aesthetic; in other words, how much will the weather affect gameplay?
Each world has a terra score that affects things like how many colonies you can plant on it. So, weather (err, planetary conditions?) have an impact.
Similar enquiry about day/night cycles. Can you choose to be a nocturnal creature?
I don’t think so.
To what degree can you name in-game elements? It’s obvious we can name creatures and vehicles, but how about cities, planets, moons, or that valley where we fought our first successful war?
It seems pretty complex, you can name lots of things. You name your first planet, not sure about future ones. That’ll be a question for hours of exploration :)
I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW IF YOU CAN BLOW UP STARS? PLZ
No, stars are static (for now).
Is there any major advantages to high jump and/or glide, besides the fact youll be able to move around alittle faster? Yeah, it’s a lot like any other part. Faster legs means you can run faster than your predators, catch prey, etc.
And also, Can you swim???
Yes, to an extent. You can swim on the surface out to a certain point before your health starts to diminish.
If you are an aggressive style player can you still befriend other species to join your fleets without socializing with them?
That’s kind of a dumb question ;) You gotta socialize to build friends, attack to make enemies.
Can you choose what planet you start on?
Yes, there’s a number of “new game” spots in the galaxy you can chose from, then you get to name your planet and start out.
Can you choose what creatures start on your planet?
Yes, using sporecasts and buddy lists.
How many parts is it possible to unlock in each stage? A lot.
What stage are fans most looking forward to?
TRIBAL! :) Seriously, this stage is funny as hell to play around with. The developer’s favorite too.
How does the Maxis team decide which content gets featured? I have made alot of really great creatures, that fail to get featured. Some of the featured creatures are even a little…dull.
There are almost 3 million creatures right now. The shear volume of stuff coming in is overwhelming to say the least. I doubt they see every creature :)
Will the web based Sporepedia grow to include all content including vehicles and buildinds, and the like.
Yep, on launch day it’ll change to show all this.
Is the web based Sporepedia ever going to be removed?
No. In fact, the in-game Sporepedia is pulled in from the website in some parts. Definitely staying around for good.
Is Spore easy for the community to mod legally? Did you intend to make Spore moddable? Is it moddable?
Let’s say the developers recognize the ingenuity of the modding community. It’s not “easy”, but definitely not impossible either.
When you go from ceell to creture can you pick a cretur from one you made in Spore CC or do you have to start at Creture stage for that
You can start at any stage you want (after you unlock them) and chose a creature to start off with. But keep in mind complexity & DNA cost for the stage your creature is at.
What is the cheat codes. LOL
Disappointingly unimaginative :( I won’t release them cuz I’m not lame, but I am sure they will be out on launch day.
I saw in a new vid that Cells mate is that true it use to be by yourself
They mate.
How is the Spore Figuerens going to work. How much will it cost,Size ECT.
No confirmation on this, but there’s HUGE demand, and it’s obviously possible. They’re working a lot with problems like the fact that not all creatures are 3-D printable.
In Tribe and Civ do your species talk in English,Spanish you know the players laugengue
They speak in their own language.
Can we have more details on sporecast
A sporecast is a collection of content, cultivated by people. You can either create your own content to put it on, or act as a moderator and make a great list of content created by others.
What is weapon cool down lengths in Creture Phase
Depends on the part, and type of attack. It shows as a little circle that closes up when it’s ready.
I want to know if there will be higher resolution available,
High resolutions. Depends on your video card, not really the game. For example, my CC maxes out on my 24″ display (I think it was like 2400×1600 or something?). But I have a good video card :)
What kind of needs will your creatures have in the Creature Phase (apart from food), and how will they be fulfilled?
Food, health.
If my creature has two heads one is carnivore and the other is herbivore will my carnivore eat plants and my herbivore eat meat?
You can have any combination of carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore mouths. Adding each one will allow you to each each type of food. No, it will not put you at an advantage :)
What was the most surprising thing you saw about the game(directed at you).
Intro to the tribal stage. Awesome :)
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August 23rd, 2008
OMG this is sooo awsome Kyle :) Thanks for answering a bunch of these questions!!!
Haha, ugh im happy about mine.
MAybe modders will add blood yay!!
August 23rd, 2008
YES 3 of my questions were answered.
August 23rd, 2008
Sweet, one of my questions was answered. :)
August 23rd, 2008
awrrr…didnt learn anything about binary systems/space phase im taking it? ah well, at least we know more about it now :3 even though its only 2 weeks …happy seizure only 2 weeks o.o
August 23rd, 2008
Wow! Thanks for answering all 3 of my questions Kyle. Lots of great info there, I’m especially glad about the in-game object naming capability, which sounds like it could be extensive.
Hope you had a good time!
-Geo
August 23rd, 2008
Nice! Great answers to most of the questions!
August 23rd, 2008
Awesome!
Thanks for answering some question where we all where able to only speculate!
;)
August 23rd, 2008
Ah, my one good question, the one about the customization, I.E naming of stuff, got a nice long, and satisfying answer. Kyle, May I say, i envy you right now. This is Awesome. Really.
August 23rd, 2008
Three cheers for Kyle hip hip… hooray!!!
August 24th, 2008
THANK YOU KYLE!!!
August 24th, 2008
YES! Five of my questions were ansered!
August 27th, 2008
Grr…none of my questions were wnswered.
Fine dont ask me to download any of your content…
August 28th, 2008
[...] | Information | Experience MySporePage - Impressions Sporeum- Pictures | Impressions Total Spore - Q&A | Pictures | Impressions SporeTube - Coming Soon LadyM (Gaming Steve member) - First Night | [...]
August 31st, 2008
OMFG IM NOT GAY OR ANYTHING BUT I F***IN LUV U MAN!!!!!… i also hate u cause u got to play and i didnt… >=(
September 2nd, 2008
[...] got an interview with Maxis about Spore, and asked quite a few interesting questions about Spore. Read the full interview here. There will be no Spore 2. Spore will be looked at as a platform, and hopefully not turn into an [...]
October 28th, 2008
how do you delete a creature and start new game without uninstalling the entire game because when i delete creature the hole planet blows up and is gone.