Spore

I had the chance to play a bit of Spore yesterday at a friend's place and, I have to say, it looks pretty nifty. I only played through the cell stage and the initial bit of the creature stage, but I certainly liked what I saw of it. I definitely think I'd like the game, which makes it unfortunate about the DRM that it uses. I don't want to seem to support DRM (which I don't think does one whit of good towards its intended purpose and only manages to annoy/harm the legitimate users), but I want to get the game. Dilemma.

One thing that intrigues me about Spore is all the content editors (like the creature editor). The editors seem to have a certain amount in common (at least in spirit) with my Master's thesis. Oh, there are plenty of differences, yes, but the goal seems similar. My thesis was an animation tool geared towards allowing those with no or minimal artistic experience to easily and quickly create character animation. Spore's editors are (or seem to be) geared towards allowing players to easily and intuitively create 3D models, like the creatures, though the animations are pre-made. So, there seems to be a similar spirit there.

Playing around with the creature creator, I think I can make a reasonable guess as to at least some of what's going on under the hood. I'm sure there's plenty of details that would be tricky to work out without some R & D, but the basics, at least, I've got ideas on.

In summary - Spore: neat game, DRM: not so neat.

Freak Out,
-TFitC