EA to release Spore creature editor early

[Rider]

http://www.spore.com/press_042508.php

Apparently they're gonna release the creature editor prior to the release of spore. This way they can build up a collection of species to seed to players on the release of the game (y'know... since all the species you'll see ingame are player built) and at the same time give players a taste of creating life.

I'm excited

[Megagun]

Note though that the free creature editor doesn't contain all the parts (only about 25%). To get a *real* glimpse of the creature editor that will be in the full game, you'll have to buy the creature editor, for about 10$.

[Eth]

  As excited as I am about Spore, the idea of making creatures that can't do anything doesn't appeal to me much.  I'll probably download it anyway because I'm really curious about the procedural animation stuff they're doing. 

[Lukipela]

This is a brilliant business idea. "Hey guys want to pay 10$ for something that will be included in the final game, without which you can't use it? Oh, there's a free version too but it's pretty broken!"

They're going to make a lot of money off this game even before it's released.

[Dabir]

It's Maxis. Of course they are. Instead of releasing expansion packs for Spore (they probably will anyway), they're releasing pre-expansions, to make the game have more content before it's even got content, if that makes sense.

"The new expansion pack for Spore^TM! Spore^TM: Night Life!^TM Send your alien creatures for a night out clubbing, interact with other aliens, and build up short-term, long-term and post-apocalypse relationships, all within one Snazzy, Smooth, Functional and Mysteriously Blue Interface (SSFMBI^TM)!"

[Valaggar Redux]

It's Maxis. Of course they are. Instead of releasing expansion packs for Spore (they probably will anyway), they're releasing pre-expansions, to make the game have more content before it's even got content, if that makes sense.

Technically, I suppose it's EA Games (which Maxis is a subsidiary of) that imposes the production of that kind of mini-expansions. Maxis is innocent.

This is a brilliant business idea. "Hey guys want to pay 10$ for something that will be included in the final game, without which you can't use it? Oh, there's a free version too but it's pretty broken!"

Not only is that very good advertising (slippery-slope-style advertising, to say so), but most Spore "fans-in-advance" are completely bewitched by the idea of the creature editor, and have long been demanding a demo; the 10$ demo will certainly earn EA a lot of money by itself.

[Rider]

So the Creature Creator was released yesterday (although the free version was floating around on the 'net a few days before that) and naturally I bought the stupid thing because I'm that much of a conformist fanboy.

Anyway,

It's pretty fun to make your own creatures! Even with the limited part set you have in the trial version you can do a LOT of cool stuff! You can check out my creatures at the Spore Profiles which keeps track of all the creatures you've shared online.

I already tried my hand at creating a Spathi as well, which you'll also find there

Anyone else checked this out yet?

[Valaggar Redux]

Nice, though I resent the limitations. I mean, how hard would it have been to give us the ability to make non-bilaterally symmetric creatures, for example?

Also, it'd have been a really neat addition if the game checked for collisions between the organs of the same creature, because putting a big mouth on the creature, for example, makes it look really stupid, passing through its own body as if it weren't there...

Also, since Rider has bought the full version...
Rider: In the full version, does the Details part contain stuff like blobs and "fake spines" to alter the shape of the creature more radically, or not? (I mean, normally you're restricted to the linear spine-part, and the other organs)

EDIT: FOUL HERESIARCH AND BLASPHEMER, BEGONE FROM MY SIGHT! HOW DARE YOU MAKE A TWO-LEGGED SPATHI, TRANSGRESSING THE MOST SACRED REVELATIONS OF THE TWIN GODS THEMSELVES!!

From the 1998 IRC chat with Toys for Bob (Fwiffo is both Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III here):
    <Mephisto_> Fwiffo: Do Spathi have feet, and what do VUX look like from the waist down?
    <Fwiffo> Spathi have a foot (like an abalone), but it is specialized for high-speed locomotion, usually away from anything vaguely threatening.

EDIT 2: Also, were my self to occupy your body, I would place the Spathi's eye right on the top of their neck, looking upward. Then I'd rotate it so that it looks forward (using Tab) and I'd make it larger too. I think that'd look more Spathi-ish.

P.S. I saw the *silly cow* reference...  happy fun!

EDIT 3: When Eth finally decides to post here, I bet it'll be something regarding the way they've dumbed down the procedural generation... That makes me sad too.

[Lukipela]

Cute. More creatures can be found over on UQM if anyone is interested.

[Eth]

EDIT 3: When Eth finally decides to post here, I bet it'll be something regarding the way they've dumbed down the procedural generation... That makes me sad too.

Nope!  I was so digustipated about the invasive DRM that I've decided to forgo playing the games that I've most been looking forward to for years. 

[Lukipela]

Cute. More creatures can be found over on UQM if anyone is interested.

Alana just posted tons of adorable SC critters over on UQM, so I suggest you head over there and check them out. No offense Rider, but i like her Spathi (especially the Mk. 2) better than yours.

[Rider]

Yeah, mine was a bit of a rush-job anyway