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The hype machine behind Spore, the highly anticipated Electronic Arts Inc. game developed by Sims City creator Will Wright, was enough to make The Dark Knight seem like a small, art house film. Well, Spore hit the US today (it arrived in Europe late last week).

So was it worth the wait? Early critics note that the game raises interesting questions about intelligent design (or creationism) vs. evolution. "With both evolution and 'creator control,' the game has something for everyone, though looking at some of the designs people have built using the already-available Creature Creator raises the question of whether Intelligent Design exists here on Earth," writes the Indystar.com blog.

"Is this intelligent design or evolution?" Eric Gwinn, a Chicago Tribune reporter asks on Chicagotribune.com. The answer, he adds, is that the game makers are not weighing in, leaving it to the players (and critics) to "see the game as they want." One way to avoid the argument, Gwin offers, is to say that the game "lets you play the role of homeobox genes, the bosses of the genetic factory, which build body parts inside every organism, regardless of religious or philosophical leanings."

Spore follows the same basic principles of EA's successful Sims franchise—gamers must make crucial decisions that affect the entire world in which they operate, and must then deal with the consequences of their actions. Whereas the Sims series focuses on what happens in societies created by gamers, Spore also gives control over the evolution of an entire universe.

Players are able to create and evolve life through tribal and more developed phases right on up to the point where they're advanced enough to leave their home planet and explore other worlds throughout a simulated universe. One of the coolest aspects of the game, senior designer Alex Hutchinson told me at an EA event earlier this year, is the ability of gamers to see the crest of a planet in the sky of their world and know that you’re their creations will eventually be able venture out to explore those new worlds.

The amount of work that went into creating Spore is apparent from its initial phases, during which players create the creatures that will populate their world. Gamers have several hundred categories from which to select attributes for creations, including facial characteristics and body types. Life can also start at the cellular level, where there are about a dozen different categories of attributes to assign. The biggest challenge from a design standpoint, Hutchinson told me, was making all of these different part co-exist naturally to give the game a consistent look.

EA designers refer to this process as procedural animation, a process during which players control a sophisticated 3-D modeling system using nothing more than their mouse. Players can even comment on other players' creations—and use them to populate their own worlds.

(Images courtesy of Electronic Arts, Inc.)

8 Comments

1. 1. dberthia 01:54 PM 9/8/08

   Stay away from this one. Check out the comments regarding the draconian DRM scheme on Amazon's site:
   http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B000FKBCX4

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2. 2. E.W. 02:27 PM 9/8/08

   Well, I don't know how creationists actually feel about this game, but my wife and I (staunch free-thinkers) were wondering how the fundies and right-wing christians weren't already up in arms over it. I imagine it's only a matter of days before the Pat Roberts types in the world are raising a stink over it for some reason or other. "Fiddling with God's design" or some such.
   It's a very fun game. We bought it yesterday afternoon and took turns controlling it, though I'd say we played it together. I wish there was a multi-player mode, though. By bed-time we'd progressed to the point that we are about to enter the "civilization" phase of the game. The game progresses quickly. The best new game I've played in years.
   
   E.W.

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3. 3. canteen3944 02:31 PM 9/8/08

   I like the game, saw a trailer/review for it at
   http://ramogames.com/blog/ea-launches-long-awaited-spore/

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4. 4. mlacrosse 03:51 PM 9/8/08

   I'd try it if not for the stupid DRM mess.

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5. 5. karlchwe 06:25 PM 9/9/08

   I am curious as to how the game models the interaction between species in an environment. How does it create a biome? Does the world have one uniform, entirely open environment?
   
   Or does it just follow a single species, and what it eats and what it excretes is just hand-waved away?
   
   Curious that the pinnacle of evolution, and the climax of the game, is apparently an intelligent "civilized" society that begins to explore other planets. That is either a very anthrocentric, and further, western-centric, point of view, or a very premature and probably undeserved pat on the back for ourselves.
   
   Perhaps the pinnacle of evolutionary development is a unicellular bacteria, or a roach. And maybe our own space-exploring race will be responsible for gutting the world we live on.

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6. 6. Setsuna777 10:23 AM 9/11/08

   As a gamer and an aficionado of evolutionary biology, Id say this is an excellent gameone of the best Ive played in yearsthat allows a player to imagine a narrative of life as it has transitioned on Earth in the most realistic yet playable way possible.
   Before people jump to criticize this game for not being more literal about the specifics of the evolutionary process, its important to remember that the scenarios had to translate into a game that could be played. This means it had to have pragmatic objectives with specific actions players could take to achieve goals. Over the course of the game the player is rewarded for accomplishing a series of goals, this relatively fast gratification being one of the reasons why people play video games.
   All the while, these playable scenarios had to retain some symbolic value about evolution. So, considering this challenge of balancing playability and a scientific understanding of evolution, I think the game does a great job. If nothing else, its entertaining enough to make people use their imaginations and ask questions about evolution, which are the important beginnings of real learning.
   If Spore was completely an objective representation of evolution theory, the game couldnt exist. The entire game would unfold from start to end& without a player.
   

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7. 7. Setsuna777 10:25 AM 9/11/08

   As a gamer and an aficionado of evolutionary biology, I’d say this is an excellent game−one of the best I’ve played in years−that allows a player to imagine a narrative of life as it has transitioned on Earth in the most realistic yet playable way possible.
   
   Before people jump to criticize this game for not being more literal about the specifics of the evolutionary process, it’s important to remember that the scenarios had to translate into a game that could be played. This means it had to have pragmatic objectives with specific actions players could take to achieve goals. Over the course of the game the player is rewarded for accomplishing a series of goals, this relatively fast gratification being one of the reasons why people play video games.
   
   All the while, these playable scenarios had to retain some symbolic value about evolution. So, considering this challenge of balancing playability and a scientific understanding of evolution, I think the game does a great job. If nothing else, it’s entertaining enough to make people use their imaginations and ask questions about evolution, which are the important beginnings of real learning.
   
   If Spore was completely an objective representation of evolution theory, the game couldn’t exist. The entire game would unfold from start to end… without a player.

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8. 8. computernerd 09:36 PM 8/24/09

   sick very very sick

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