Spore Creatures Great and Small

By George Walker | June 17, 2008

I had the chance to spend some more time with the Spore Creature Creator, and not only that, my entire office got in on the action.

Since we are a web development agency, we’ve got lots of Macs and lots of creative types. Once they caught wind of the Spore Creatue Creator trial (no full download for the Mac, unfortunately) the office was thick with the sound of strange alien life.

The interface and concepts behind the SCC are so simple that even the least game-inclined was building. More than once was heard, “I am definitely installing this for my kids.” As a self-styled “hardcore” gamer, I sometimes forget what it’s like for casual gamers. The “Wii Effect”, where the non-gaming masses are inextricably drawn to well-designed, simple programs, is in full effect with Spore.

Will Wright definitely still has what it takes to appeal to the every-gamer. And even a jaded old gamer like me has to admit to a certain level of charm and polish. If I had kids, spending $10 on a program like this would be a no-brainer. It’s basically like having a digital Lego set where one’s imagination can pretty much go where it wants, and just like Lego bricks, there is no cumbersome interface to get in the way. It’s intuitive at it’s core. The leg bone’s connected to the hip bone.

The program starts out with a lot of options, and each arm, eyeball, and feathery appendage has several configuration “handles” that you can manipulate to adjust size and orientation. If you’ve played Galactic Civilizations II and spent any time at all with the ship designer, then this will seem very familiar. This is, for all intents an purposes, GalCiv2’s ship editor. Although I’m a huge fan of Stardock’s opus, I must admit the interface in the Spore utility is far superior.

Another featureset of the Spore Creature Creator is the online functionality. When you build out a creature you can upload it to the “Sporepedia” to join the thousands of others that have already shared their creations. I’ve uploaded a few myself, and I know they’re not the best, so cut me a little slack. There are some weird ones, though. Like this “Harley” creature.

Overall, I’d have to say that only you will know if $10 is a suitable price for this software. Just like the Wii, it’s hard to say how much use YOU will get out of it. Go download the trial and give it a try, though. If nothing else, it’ll give you something to do for the 80 days until Spore ships.