As videogame technology expands, limitations on concepts, control and freedom are becoming a non-issue. As with any medium, videogames are going to have their pioneers: those who can take this new technology and turn it into solid work.
Will Wright, the designer of the upcoming PC game Spore (March 3, 2008), has proven to be one of those pioneers. While most gamers are probably unfamiliar with his name, they have likely played or heard of one of his games.
Wright is best known for SimCity, The Sims and a group of smaller-scale Sim games. His style, as a "god game" designer, has no end; gamers can't technically "win" at The Sims. Instead, players interact with the gaming world and try to reach their own goals, lending itself to game play that only ends when the player decides to stop.
In Wright's own words, taken from a speech at South by Southwest in March of this year, "I want you to be George Lucas rather than Luke Skywalker."
Wright's style of control and freedom has proven profitable, with the SimCity series being a major success and The Sims remaining the highest-selling PC game of all time. If Wright can be considered some kind of videogame Scorsese, Spore is aiming to be his Raging Bull.
Spore is, quite literally, a game taking part in every stage of biological and social evolution. The game is more than a process: it begins with the creation of a species at the molecular level, moves through the tide pool, evolves into a species, forms into primitive civilizations, goes through technological advancements, interacts with other civilizations and finally becomes advanced enough to travel into the furthest corners of the universe.
Each aspect of the game has its own unique characteristics, and to fully describe the game would require a virtual encyclopedia.
This is possible thanks to the pre-emptive hype and discussion; a Spore Wiki site, spore.wikia.com, already contains 2,000-plus articles about the game. The Wiki's System Operator has followed Spore since the original announcement. Preferring to be called Vetsin, he sheds a bit of light on the hype.
"There are people who are very into the idea of creating their own races," Vetsin said. "Not to mention the sheer scope and idea of the game is interesting in and of itself."
On a more technological level, Spore could prove to be revolutionary.
"The way Spore is coded is all procedural," Vetsin said. "Traditionally, a person models the character, another person animates it, another applies textures - a time consuming process. In Spore, everything is dynamically generated from code."
Imagine a town in a videogame. The oldest of games would simply have a single house graphic repeated multiple times. The next step up would be a game with a variety of houses, to give a more genuine look. Another technological step would be random placement of these house designs as opposed to a set pattern, avoiding a generic appearance.
Procedural generation would have a basic house algorithm that would then have allotments for computer-generated variation. This is both a more unique experience and is smaller in game space.
Many games, such as the Doom or Quake series, have used procedural generation to some extent. Spore is the first game that is coded entirely in this fashion, leaving infinite game play possibilities.
"In a very real sense, in Spore you are playing God," Vetsin adds.
Given its evolutionary nature, it is appropriate that Spore has consistently remained an "upcoming release" since 2005. The release date of March 8, 2008 has been set, and the game is now available for pre-order. It now becomes an issue of whether the long delays will have any effect on the game's general success.
"I don't believe so," Vetsin answers. "It's an entirely new way to program; it's not unexpected they would have problems setting a release date. I can't even tell you how many videogames have gone way past their expected release dates and still done great."
Release dates aside, Spore promises to be one of the more fascinating releases of next year. The experimental, epic nature of the game will prove fatal to spare time nationwide. The gaming world should expect the average World of Warcraft addict to hang up the armor and buy a copy of The Origin of Species.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
