GDC: Will Wright’s Spore
Even if you don’t know his name (or are unsure of whether or not you wanna hear about some guy’s spore), you’ve seen his games or have at least heard of his games. Will Wright is the creator of the Sims, a series of simulated environments where the user either builds cities or controls a character’s development, depending on which version he or she has. During his The Future of Content
lecture, he displayed his new PC game, Spore. The bubble in the shot says, “Today the tide pool… Tomorrow… the Universe!” That’s basically how it goes. More after the jump… You start off as this insignificant bit of bacteria and you grow and evolve through advantageous mutation that the user determines through an engine that Wright has designed that has different parts (depending on stage of development) that you can add on and manipulate, like size for example. As the slide states, you go from being bacteria to a galactic god. It incorporates many different types of game play that Wright has created from the Sims series, such as individual character development and urban planning, all in one game. Although it is not a massive multiplayer online game, it does allow for the user to download content that has been created by other players into their own version. So as you’re cruising around the galaxy in search of new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man hasóyou get the driftóyou can check out other player’s races, make contact to see if their friendly… help them, abduct them, or just blow their whole sorry excuse for a planet up. I have no idea when this game is coming out since it’s all hush hush. But I do know that he’s been thinking about it since at least Spring 2003, and that it will be out for PC.
