Maxis' ideas for Spore are so vast that the game as it exists today represents only one percent of what the developer could do with it, according to producer Thomas Vu.
"Speaking as a developer, we always want more. With a game like Spore, when you start imagining what could be in there, the scope of it is enormous", Vu told us last week.
He explained that, because of Spore's nature, Maxis had to sit down and be very specific about what it wanted to include, but said that "This is like less than one percent of the things we could possibly do".
It's abundantly clear that the developer's already looking ahead, Vu describing Spore as "a great platform" in terms of "making the rest of it at some point". However, the reception of the game will prove critical in shaping future plans.
"If the fans really love it and the game is as relevant, as great as, The Sims, and sells as well, we have pretty much anything you could possibly think of", Vu continued.
"And we can just do it - because giving players the ability to make these wild and wonderful and crazy things allows us to start making things that those things can do, like the content that those things can live in".
Elaborating, Vu explained that Maxis has already started working on rough ideas and prototypes of that content, and that in theory the sky's the limit when it comes to ways in which the developer could evolve the Spore experience.
How about another version with nearly the same content but more realistic and less cartoony graphics?
How about the pre-simplified version for those of us who remember the days of searching through 500-page instruction manuals and code books to find passwords?
So basically they're saying that they hope Spore will become a huge cash cow like Sims, so they can release expansion after expansion which include things they've already thought of but are holding back for said expansions.
So basically they're saying that they hope Spore will become a huge cash cow like Sims, so they can release expansion after expansion which include things they've already thought of but are holding back for said expansions.
Or maybe I'm just being a bit synical today
Nope, I'd say that's bang on the money. EA is publishing after all.
So basically they're saying that they hope Spore will become a huge cash cow like Sims, so they can release expansion after expansion which include things they've already thought of but are holding back for said expansions.
Or maybe I'm just being a bit synical today
Nope, I'd say that's bang on the money. EA is publishing after all.
Just what I was thinking, on seeing that I just though "Christ, EA are going to flog this thing to death".
i must say, i hate these sort of games (i usually like action shooters) but this is really drawing me in. if they plan on cashing in with expansion packs though, they can get lost.
hahaha theres always a wii douche on every forum. NO ITS NOT COMING TO YOUR CRAPPY WII. now run home to mommy
Er, actually it is. You non Wii owners are a pretty thick bunch aren't you? You should definitely get hold of some of those 'kiddy' educational programs as your grammer is awful.
How about another version with nearly the same content but more realistic and less cartoony graphics?
How about the pre-simplified version for those of us who remember the days of searching through 500-page instruction manuals and code books to find passwords?
Nah, it had to have graphics like that to appael to younger gamers, girls and parents. It's also a good way of having s**t graphics but hiding it behind the cartoony art, allowing all but the oldest PCs to run it and thereby maximising the amount of people who will get it (same as Battlefield Heros). They are trying to make it accessible to everyone, but I still can't see it being half the phenomenon as The Sims is.
I would have felt more valued as a customer if I was promised a product a little more than 1% completed. Do we have to provide the other 99%? Tell you what, I'll buy it if it's 1% of the usual retail price. So 39p then.
So basically they're saying that they hope Spore will become a huge cash cow like Sims, so they can release expansion after expansion which include things they've already thought of but are holding back for said expansions.
Or maybe I'm just being a bit synical today
I concur. It's ridiculous. Such content should not be necessary. To say it is is to admit that your game is broke.
Surely most games are only a minor percentage of their potential ambition.
While I am sure this will be a fine game, I cannot see it having the mainstream appeal of the Sims. I don't have much of a problem with expansions as long as they genuinely provide and extra aspect to the original software rather than making you feel they should of included the content in the first place. Sims is one of the few games where I think expansions make a lot of sense.
I like the Sims as a concept, but I really don't think it does what it promises quite well enough to be classed as a game. Will Wright has rarely pushed the gameplay experience... Sim City was great though.
I concur. It's ridiculous. Such content should not be necessary. To say it is is to admit that your game is broke.
No it's not. It's exactly like writing a book and saying "this is less than 1% of all the stories I could write"
And nothing more.
I think expansions - so long as they're good - are a great way to add nifty stuff to a game...
What this is is yet more cheap publicity for a game we've really not seen in action and the PR's means to promote the game just that little bit further.
I'm going to put my money on this game being completable within 4 hours and being so simple your gran could play it. They bottled it in my opinion. Saw the £ signs and got tempted.
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