Spore Makes You Feel Smart

It simulates the complete history and future of life. Spore was originally the title suggested by developer Ocean Quigley and Wright took the idea further with a little trimming here and there in order to give the world an easy to play yet complex and deep-layered game.

Will Wright's presentation at the D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas, made it clear for everyone present that the real key behind making a successful "god game," as some may call it, is making it's complexity simple to maneuver. Spore gives the player the ability to mold and guide a species across many generations, growing it from a single-celled organism into a more complex animal, until the species becomes intelligent. At this point, the player begins molding and guiding this species' society, progressing towards a spacefaring civilization. Spore's main innovation is the use of procedural generation for many of the components of the game, providing vast scope.

Fair enough the game is complex and if Wright says it's easy to play, we'll take his word for it but what does that say about the game itself? A simulation that ranges from the cellular level to the galactic level consisting of several pretty long phases "easy?" Making a game that requires a lot of spare time to play easy will do nothing but bore the player. Rule #1 in games is that with each passing level/stage, the game gradually gets more difficult and it is that exact feature that keeps you stuck to the screen. The satisfaction of finishing a difficult stage, episode, chapter and so on can't be compared to anything else.

The presentation went smoothly as the Maxis team along with Will Wright broke down every possible aspect of Spore. In the end, it proved to be a game worthy of our attention. Wright finished his speech saying: "There is a trend of games to be less complicated...which is almost at odds with this game". "less complicated", huh? Why don't you just make "special" games for those who suffer from Down Syndrome?