I missed Will Wright’s demo of Spore when I was at SXSW, but thanks to zachinglis and his sometimes-shaky-but-who-cares hand-held video, I just got to see it on Viddler.
Wright is the guy behind Sims. Spore is a “massively single-player online game” due out 3rd quarter this year, and after seeing the demo I intend to be one of the first amoebas to crawl out of the primordial soup.
Creature creation looks like something that binds aspects of Mr. Potato Head crossed with Lego crossed with Clay modeling crossed with a Pixar studio.
The demo shows just how simple the basics are, how smart and intuitive the editor is, and what howlingly complex , bizarre, and lifelike things you can make and animate with nothing but mouseclicks. Thrillingly, Wright has been quoted as saying he doesn’t want to make players feel like Luke Skywalker or Frodo Baggins. He wants them to feel like George Lucas and J.R.R Tolkien.
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