Spore/Sim Everything...

[Adagio]

There's an uncut version of the video here:

http://www.gamingsteve.com/archives/spore/index.php

There's also a few other stuff there (haven't really checked the site, so not sure how much new stuff there is there)

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by vovan
If you honestly don't know, he meant procedural content generation, not procedural programming. However, I think that is obvious, and you are just picking on words. Just MHO.

To me, the term should be "algorithmic content generation."

Originally posted by vovan
And just a point of technicality, since you are being picky: procedural programming is definitely not just for 'quick and dirty stuff'. That little language called C is still alive and well.

If you come right down to it, COBOL is still widely used.

Originally posted by vovan
I suppose that's the beauty of procedural generation of model animations - you aren't restricted in the kinds of physics models you use. Whether you wish to use fast and crude algorithms, or complex and precise ones, you can plug the one desired in, and get the results.

I think the model and the view should be separated. IOW, the graphics just gives you an idea of what's going on underneath. For example, if there is an explosion, it does not mean something blows up precisely as the graphics indicates, or anywhere close, for that matter.

[Qwertqwert]

Spore seems like an interesting idea, but in the video Will Wright said it was basically a bunch of simple games streamed together, first a pac-man, then an extreemally simple RPG, then a simple RTS, then a simple City simulation, then your creature goes to other planets and you just obserb it.

[Solver]

Regarding Spore, I think I will be in the minority. The concept is mildly interesting because of the scale, but I don't think I'll enjoy the game. At least I found the gameplay video to be very boring. Then again, I think most Maxis games are like that. SimCity is moderately enjoyable, but the Sims is, to me, boring both as a concept and as a game.

I dunno... if Spore amounts to just a bunch of simple games one after another, I'll hate it.

[Nikolai]

Weirdo. I was very thrilled by the video, and so was several of my friends. We sat sucked to the screen, and all of us is anticipating the release even more than before.

[Solver]

Yeah, I guess I just don't "get it" with Will Wright games.

[FrostyBoy]

Will Wright creates half-game half-simulation productions.

Of course he wants his creations to be fun, but he is also half experimenting and many people like to take part in that. Sim City is mildly amusing, Sims is also mildly amusing, and I imagine Spore will be too, but each of these games has an interesting concept that you can't help but want to understand more about.

However, unlike Sims and Sim City, Spore is not just another creation, it is an attempt to fix the growing problem of game developing and it is that, which I am most interested in - can he pull it off, will it be fun, will it create faster/better avenues for all other types of games? I believe it will.

[Solver]

Yeah, I'm also interested inwhether Wright will pull this off. At least the concept is something new, which is probably better than nothing. I doubt though that people who dislike Wright's games (like me) are going to enjoy Spore any much.

I guess I'm also afraid that Spore might go the way of the Sims, starting later to churn out endless expansions just to make more greens.

[FrostyBoy]

I don't think you need to worry about expansions.

As Will Wright stated, there was an enourmous amount of work required to build Sims 2, and of course they didn't have enough time to continue adding to it, so they just added to it via expansions (which of course logically brought in a lot of money), but I have this gut feeling Will Wright is not as concerned about money as EA is and would rather see gaming take a less money-driven path and more fun-driven path.

Spore is the attempt to do away with expansions, and let the users create their own "expansions".

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Solver
Regarding Spore, I think I will be in the minority. The concept is mildly interesting because of the scale, but I don't think I'll enjoy the game. At least I found the gameplay video to be very boring. Then again, I think most Maxis games are like that. SimCity is moderately enjoyable, but the Sims is, to me, boring both as a concept and as a game.

I like SimCity a lot. We used to run it on the computer at maximum speed when we go to classes so the city could rack in loads of $$$ so we could spend it.

OTOH The Sims is just blah.

[Nikolai]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


I like SimCity a lot. We used to run it on the computer at maximum speed when we go to classes so the city could rack in loads of $$$ so we could spend it.

That was with SC2k I guess. I loved that exploit. In SC3k that became harder to do with the limited lifespan for some buildings...

[bipolarbear]

I have high hopes for Spore. I think the game looks like it will get very interesting once your creatures become sentient. My one worry would be that the editor will be terribly glitchy and creating a creature will be less of a creative pursuit and more of a strategy to seal with its many shortcomings.

I think the possibilities of procedural generation that he proposed open up video games in an entirely new way. I'd hope that at least a portion of the industry pursues it to see what they can make of it.

I think the game may end up requiring a sequel or an expansion pack. Though I don't see exactly ow it could succumb to the same fate as The Sims.

I think that the first release of the game will be amazing, however it won't allow players to go to the extremes of their creativity. For instance, what if someone wants to make a planet like Halo? Or a Dyson sphere?

While it looks amazing there is a lot that I can not expect them to put into the game unless they push the release date much farther back from Fall '06.

[Adagio]

Has anyone here been to Gamespots Spore forum? That place seems to be the worst forum I've ever been to... and I'm not even talking about their sucky forum software they're using (which is pretty bad IMHO)
The worst part of that forum is that there's at least 20 new threads per day. 40% of them are "How would your creature look like" and 40% are "New Spore Game, try this". The last 20% are mostly about questions about the game, 90% of these questions are like "will this be MP?"

Those 'spore games' are really stupid, all of them are 'pick' game (current situation blah blah blah, do you evolve brain, run faster, bla blah). One game is dumber than the other. But they still create at least 5 new of these every day

The few interesting threads are all hidden behind all the 'spore games' thread. I can make a post in a thread now, and in a few hours I can dig up the thread (somewhere on page 5 or 6) and see that it has 5+ new posts


That's one hell of a scary place to be

[Solver]

Oh, just look at this forum with all the forumgames or the off-topic with all the "yes it is" "no its not" debated .

[Adagio]

At least we don't have 20 mafia games running at the same time, like they have spore games (and that's just counting the ones on the first page)