Advance content editor
When The Sims 2 came out, EA released a small program in advance that let people create their very own Sim well before the game came out. A thought occurred to me — this is the perfect move for EA to do with Spore. It would be nothing short of good business to release an advance content editor in the next few months (in combination with a pre-order of Spore). Here’s a five reasons why I think this is a good idea:
1: Hype, hype, hype
Back in May, Spore was on the tongue of every geek out there while the E3 previews rolled out. The only hype left now is arguing over how late Spore is actually going to be. Releasing a creature editor would give people something to chew on while the rockstar programmers building Spore take some time to iron out the kinks.
2: Populate the universe early
Spore is completely reliant on user generated content. In order to make the game playable, an unimaginable amount of content needs to be created to make the universe feel even somewhat complete. What better way to supply this content than to call upon your users? Seems like a perfect fit to me.
3: Free QA
Something as complicated as the creature editor in spore is bound to have a few bugs left in it, no matter the amount of QA EA pours into it. Why not release it early, and let the users find the bugs? People don’t complain about buggy free software. They complain about buggy expensive software.
4: Viral marketing at it’s best
People love to show stuff off. Give them a chance to build their very own creature and I can only imagine the possibilities. I can see sponsored contests for coolest creature, galleries, and general mayhem. The marketing effect for this would be absolutely huge. Just look at how popular custom maps for games have become; how they take a player and turn them into a dedicated fan overnight.
5: People want it
It’s pretty clear that people all over want this editor released. Remember that good old Supply & Demand philosophy?
A promise
I think that this is a no-brainer for EA, and hopefully we’ll see a content editor within the next few months. Actually, I’m so sure this is going to happen that I’m going to make a promise: When EA releases said content editor, Total Spore will have the very first contest for your creations. I can’t give any specifics since I don’t know how much of the editor they’ll release (duh!), but once it comes out — keep your eyes peeled on Total Spore. Now’s a great time to subscribe to our RSS feed or newsletter so you can be the first to know.
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August 16th, 2006
I’m all over that! I don’t need a contest, I’ll be building creatures as soon as I get a chance to. Contests are just icing on the cake…
August 24th, 2006
I think this would be an excelent idea, All id want is a simple creature creation program, so i can make my creature ready for imediate play once i get the game.
Alot of people on other boards have been saying that they would not buy the game if something like this happened, but they wont give reasons. :S
August 25th, 2006
That would be great, just making my own creatures would probably keep me busy for the few months waiting for the game after the editor is released. I’d definately post them in contests too, I like to show off my creations :P
September 5th, 2006
ANY taste of Spore would be enough to hook thousands of people…so yes they should release some sort of beta version…. i’ll keep my hopes up
September 8th, 2006
Doesn’t this run contrary to just about half the point of the game? From what I gather a large bit of the “fun” of it is evolving your creature up from a “spore” all the way through spacefaring civilization. What sense does it make for EA to essentially remove the requirement of playing that part of the game and allow impatient geeks to have their creature premade?
September 8th, 2006
That’s true to a point… In game you will only have access to the editor for the first phase of the game (excluding the cell stage tutorial). You will of course gain access to it again later in the space stage, but you still have the tribe, city and civ stages to play through.
Also, using the editor in game will not be the same as the editor they have shown at the various conferences. In game, you will have to start with very few DNA points, and evolving to you “prefered” level of evolution will take some time.
The plus of a pre-release is that players will have a template that they’ll want to work up to. It might make things easier on those that will have trouble thinking things up on the fly.
I really hope that the editors are the true “bread and butter” of this game. I’m hoping for more of a “hero sandwich” with all the parts making the game great.
September 16th, 2006
sweeeeeeeeet, finally i can’t wait!That’l keep me busy till the game comes out! Yea! You r the bomb!
September 17th, 2006
I hope this happens… but they should make it so you can’t play the character in the real game when it comes out and you can only make the character in the Demo and it can no way be implemented in actual game play.
October 29th, 2006
It’s hard to argue with your reasoning (but I feel a need to try–I’m caffeinated)–but I think they have no dearth of volunteers to provide free focused QA–not just us screwing around out here in cyberspace…so how much QA utility they’ll get out of turning it over to the public, I can’t say (though I’ll qualify this in a mo’).
I also don’t think they’re worried about generating content–I suspect, again, dozens of people are very quietly doing this now, for free, and weighed down by some intense NDAs. Remember–the game is basically done, they are spending the next 8 or 10 months on balance issues. & again, the amount of content generated in the game will be staggering–and the first efforts won’t be the best.
The rest of your post fits exactly with my best guess–they want us more hooked than we are (first one’s free!), and at some point, they will want to distract us–so they can get some work done.
& though I think it will be easy to put out a stand alone editor–not sure a creature editor is what’s coming–from what I can tell, your choices for what kind of creature you’ll make will be very limited in the actual game–much more so than what people have gotten to do so far–not sure how good an idea it is for them to let us make creatures we can’t play. Might be more likely then we’ll see a release of a building editor or vehicle editor. Just talkin’ out my neck–don’t get worked up. :-p
Lastly, knowing a bit of the history of Maxis & their projects–I think there is some chance there will be at least some kind of limited beta, maybe for pre-orders, maybe for invitees, in order to test the ‘massively single player’ server functioning primarily.
I’ll take anything–I’ve been waiting for this game (or something very nearly like it) since at least SimEarth…I also didn’t think anybody could pull it off.
Black & White disappointed after Populous. Sims 2 disappointed after Sims. Star Craft rocks but Warcraft bores–it’s like D&D in a puffy shirt! The last stand alone Ultima game was unplayable. It takes more than a killer rep & a fantastic company to put out a great game–but if anybody can do it, it’s W.W.
How the hell am I supposed to wait until late next year to play this game?
I want it now.
November 1st, 2006
I see what you are saying but it may actually be possible to reach that “pre-release-editor” creature you created. Yes, I can almost say with out a doubt that if you make some complex awsome creature, there is no way you will be playing that when you get spore… in the begining. But like I said, it can be a template for what you work up to.
They have shown that in the game, evolution will be in steps, and most parts will not be available right away. The same issues will happen with the vehicles and buildings, but the delay will not be due to cost, but due to getting to that stage in the game.
If they announce that all pre-orders get the spore editors (maybe all?), then I will for sure pre-order. Other wise I’ll wait till it hits the shelves.
As to the completeness (?) of the game, I don’t think you can say that it is complete and they are just balancing. Well, maybe. The last report was that they were working on how to gell the pieces together, and that underwater creatures might be cut (AUG’06). That was a few months ago, but with a game this scope, balancing the game may mean major changes and fixes…
November 25th, 2006
That would be a tough decision to make. By releasing a pre-release demo, Will and Maxis are kind of gutting thier own game. (except for the space stage). But by not releasing it, they would
a. have to use the same content over and over again until players made more
or b. release it, fill the universe with amazing, diverse things and give everybody the reason they want the game in the first place.
But maybe they could release a content editor just for the purposes of populating the worlds, you know? Make your homeworld feel like your own homeworld, where you created everything.
November 29th, 2006
omg! brilliant….i wish the ppl at EA had that of this…i would do almost anything to get that XD
January 12th, 2007
@Rob Stafford: I don’t see why the development of an unnaturally complex creature seems like an impossibility. From what I have gathered of the game thusfar, there doesn’t seem to be any arbitrary time limits to the Creature Phase or requirements to advance your creature’s brain concurrently with an arbitrary level of complexity; rather, there is only a requirement to advance your creature’s brain in order to unlock the Tribal Phase. Given that, it’s conceivable that one could remain in the Creature Phase indefinitely, accruing DNA Points and spending them solely on body parts until a desired level of creature complexity is reached, and only then moving forward into the next metagame.
However, it’s just speculation, so of course I could be mistaken.
January 14th, 2007
Hi,
I sat with Will at a conference this fall. He told me the creature editor would be released two months prior to the game. It will include a hook to allow you to pre-order or purchase the game from within the demo.
M00k3r
January 24th, 2007
http://qwe.com/?5scV qweqwe
February 22nd, 2007
So who is this Booker guy anyway?
April 29th, 2007
If they do release it there will be only one problem. The creature editor will be the only thing people play! Not everyone… but at least 25% And when the real game comes out they won’t buy it. I think they should just realease a very narrowed down version of the game or maybe one of the of the other editers like… OHH!!! The Vehichle editor… or the sperm…erm…one…celled…organism editer.
September 22nd, 2007
No- those stages will have their own editing needs. In fact, I have seen them being edited as people must create their buildings (as far as I’ve seen) so… you’re right to a point- no, the ‘creature’ editor might not be used, but the ‘building’ editor will be. And chances are that they’d be one combined thing.
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