Spore - A Retrospective 

spore is like the bad ending of no mans sky, and it's still a masterpiece.

I think the tribal stage, is to the civ stage, as the cell stage is to the creature stage. Each stage acts like a diet version of the next. Like in cell stage you learn the most basic idea, of mating, editing, eating, fleeing and fighting. In the tribal stage, you learn the most basic parts of the civ stage, like moving around the world, manipulating units and so on. I think the only downside is that much of the space stage feels like an echo of the other stages. Well with the exception of how GA lets you kinda feel like a creature again.

There were five different things I'd propose to a second Spore game: 1. All Stages are Optional: Let the player stay in any given stage for as long as they want. The difficulty will come from other species from other stages. If you remain in the creature stage, you'll not only be opposed by other creatures, but also by cells (pathogens) and tribes (hunters). Thus, the player has to either evolve into the tribal stage to create healing substances for pathogens and weapons against other tribes, or remain in the creature stage, and add parts to themselves to help them survive in their never niches. Same would apply to the other stages. 2. All Stages are Gradual: You can seamlessly transition from the creature to the tribal by adding the brain size to craft tools. The bigger the brain is the hungrier the player becomes, though, which contributes to the development of other tools to make gathering food simpler. Sometimes, in some cases 3. Outfitters Augment Existing Parts: Instead of outfitter parts being glued on top of the creature, some outfitter parts become new feet, hands, legs, arms, joints, eyes, and ears. If your creature in the creature stage was slow moving, a pair of shoes in the tribal stage could make them move faster. Some gloves could make them better fighters or gatherers. Some pants might make diplomacy with civilizations much better. 4. Climates & Random, Unscripted Natural Disasters: The world itself will come with various biomes, though some planets can still be mostly swamp, or mostly desert. The planet's climates, alongside the natural disasters and extinction events, are random. 5. Change Perspective: The player can swap between third-person and first-person perspective in all stages. Third person allows for sweeping collective action and coordination, at the expense of your species creating things organically. First person allows for individual actions that lead to historical developments, with no guarantee of your species' progress to the next stage.

Hey, you. Yes, you. Here, have a comment to help you with the algorithm.

I've returned to Spore recently, and I see the cons, but... for some reason, I enjoy playing it as much as I was a kid. I develop my cosmic civilisation, develop a made up story, set myself a goal and just dick around. It's really a core memory for me, unironically.

Spore... Spore never changes...

Wow, what timing. I really enjoyed and appreciated a retrospective on a game that was so important to me growing up and I still revisit sometimes now. I was just talking about Spore with an old friend of mine - he and I both played Spore as kids, were both seriously on the hype train following its development and eventual release, and both played way too much of it as kids, and we were just chatting the other day about the issues with the game and why it doesn't live up to the lofty expectations. I was HUGE into Spore as a kid - I was 11 when the base game came out, and I got the special Galactic Edition and the Prima Games guide (I still own both, and I love all of the items associated to death), and I have played - to my knowledge - every spinoff. I agreed with just about every point you raised, so if I don't say anything about a point in the video, just assume I agree with it and have nothing to add! I have a lot to say, given this is a long video about a game I care a lot about, so please bear with me! Spore feels like one of the most ambitious, incredible, expansive games ever made, yet at the same time, one of the most dull, buggy, sometimes bordering unplayable messes, too. It's really something to think about. And I think part of what keeps me coming back and thinking about it is, like you mentioned, the passion and charm that's so evident. You also touched on the music, which I agree is a very underappreciated part of Spore, everything Brian Eno touches is golden. It reminds me of Disney's Toontown Online in a sense - objectively speaking not a great game, but the people behind it seemed to care so much about the silly thing they were making that it's fun despite that. And I think a lot of people attribute the mishandling of Spore solely to EA - that's not an entirely unwarranted opinion to take. They took such an interesting concept and had it boiled down to the product we see now, then churned out a bunch of spinoffs that ranged from OK at best to really pretty bad to literally unplayable at worst (rest in peace, always-online DRM Darkspore), and finished it off with two DLC packs that were kinda half-baked. The C&C pack was okay since it added more to the best feature, the creature creator, but did nothing else, and Galactic Adventures feels like it isn't what was promised, but I'll return to that shortly. You mention that Spore feels like five smaller games strung together and I think that's absolutely true. Each stage taken on its own is really a shell of a game and doesn't have much to do with the stage that comes after it. Galactic Adventures feels the same to me, a sixth smaller gamemode stapled to Space. It's cool conceptually, but my impression leading up to it was that we'd be able to beam down wherever we liked and interact with things, somewhat akin to the Hologram Scout tool in Space Stage but with a lot more freedom to actually do stuff. Instead, we got a mission creator that's... interesting, but ultimately not a very realized concept. Beaming down to missions in Space Stage feels very disconnected from the rest of the stage you're in, like you're taking a break and briefly playing another game entirely, especially since the missions that players create tend to have their own little world and their own storyline going - which is fine! They should! People should make their own vision! But at the same time, it doesn't feel attached to anything you're doing in the rest of the game. Also, Social Captain parts (from Bard/Diplomat) are so hilariously useless in Galactic Adventures, I just wanted to mention that. I consider Galactic Adventures kind of a disappointment overall. Another thing that bugged me in Space is something you both touched on briefly, and that's how you are - for some reason - the only one that seems to do anything in your Empire. Everyone else has got scores of ships, why don't we? You also said that your allies are useless, and I wanted to add that they're LESS than useless; not only are allied ships weak, losing an allied fighter that's in your squad damages your relationship with the empire you got it from, so it's actively detrimental to keep friends with you! It's genuinely better to just do everything alone. Really questionable design there. Furthermore, nobody ever makes Adventures that allow you to beam down with allied creatures (probably because it would be hard to balance), so there's no reason to collect allies to get a good ground crew either. Yet another Space annoyance you touch on is that when you're in Space, enemy ships can follow and shoot at you, but for some reason, you really can't fight back. That always bugged me. You're much more defenseless while traveling from star to star than you are when in a planet's atmosphere. Just a weird choice. Final mention for Space stuff, you also suggested almost in passing that having Space be more focused on editing more generally would've been really cool, and I wanted to say that I agree completely again. There's hints of that with the Creature Tweeker and whatever that other tool is that causes species to go extinct, along with the Wildlife Sanctuary, suggesting that you can modify and change creatures to some end in Space - a great idea, but all the Terraforming Food Web ever seems to care about is whether something is a Carnivore/Omnivore or an Herbivore to fill out the system, the functions and stats of a creature don't actually matter when considering an ecosystem. Maybe having each planet have a complex ecosystem would've been too much for the game to handle or the developers to implement - admittedly it sounds like a pain in the ass - but on the other hand, you question why you'd ever bother tweaking existing creatures or taking out certain creatures from your Food Web at all. The only reason you'd ever do that, it seems, is just on a whim or to see what it does. It all speaks to a further issue that you explore. The game is afraid of complexity in each stage. Everything is so simplified. Each stage feels like there's room for something deeper to happen - even Tribal - but instead has the simplest, most surface-level possible interactions. Civilization's Diplomacy screen has literally three options most of the time, so you expect that Space's will be a lot deeper, but it really isn't. Creatures, like you talked about, all function more-or-less the same. Wherever you go, the game seems to be turning away from opportunities for depth. Having played most of the tech demos and prototypes for the game (which I linked at the end if you wanna check them out, they're interesting!), Maxis definitely leaned more on the science-heavy, more grounded side of things early on in development with real evolutionary theory and biological principles at play, but somewhere along the way - as the interviews and posts you showed indicated - they turned away from that in favor of something more accessible and simple. Maybe that's EA's fault, maybe it isn't, we'll never know. EA definitely didn't handle Spore very well, as I said. I also want to briefly defend Tribal stage - not as a gameplay idea, but conceptually. I won't lie and say Tribal's very fun or interesting, it's definitely the least fleshed-out and least realized-stage mechanically, but I think the game would be worse off as a microcosm of evolution without something like it. If you're gonna have the story of a cell evolving to a space-faring race, a mention of how they briefly evolved from intelligent creatures into smaller, communal societies seems like it needs to be there. I'll say that Tribal should've been something DIFFERENT, but still should exist in some way. Finally, at the end of this stupidly lengthy reply (and if you read this far, bless you), just a few minor notes: First, your part placement DOES actually change your animation for attacking actions in a singular instance, if you place a striking implement on your tail your creature will strike with that instead of their hands. Mechanically it makes absolutely no difference, though. Second, Empires CAN actually declare war on you unprovoked, though it's extremely rare! It's mostly Zealots that will do it, since they're most likely to demand Tribute from you. If you deny them Tribute enough times, they'll eventually get angered enough to declare war. Takes a long time, though. Third, you mentioned Missions in Space Stage sucked. I have nothing to add to that, you're both just right and you should say it. Fourth, you didn't really talk about this, but the list of bugs and glitches in Spore is absurdly long, and I just thought it might be worth talking about. There's almost 200 bugs in Space alone. Fifth, I appreciate that you recapped what the gameplay of each stage is like! I still remember each one vividly, but I'm sure a lot of viewers don't, and it's great to remind everyone. As for the future of Spore, well, I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume there isn't one. EA tried to franchise the game with a pile of crappy spinoffs instead of improving on the base game, which is what people probably would've wanted more. I don't know what inspired that decision, but it wasn't a good one. The creators still hold up to this day, but as for everything else, there's a lot of problems that I could still spend even more posts just this long and I'm sure you could make more videos (if you were insane enough to do that) still talking about. Maybe there will be a Spore 2 someday that fixes it all and delivers on everything we always dreamed of, but I doubt it. Might as well appreciate what we have, I guess. It was still so important for so many of us. If you read this far, again, thank you so much for paying attention to the psycho ramblings of someone unhealthily addicted to Spore in her pre-teen and teenage years. I really appreciate this video and the retrospective. You deserve a lot more views than you've got! www.spore.com/comm/prototypes for the tech demos

This deserves more views, such an entertaining and well made video of some serious nostalgia

I played the game in a mostly pacifist way back then. Exceptions were in creature and cell stage, where I defended against creatures that were already hostile to me. But especially in space stage, I usually allied with everyone around me. One thing I always found annoying in space stage was how many times you get ecological disasters or pirate attacks on your colonies (and sometimes allies as well), when you were out somewhere discovering new star systems. You could either go all the way back to help your colonies when you just were busy with something else, or ignore it but then come back to a colony with a destroyed ecosystem. It was just far too frequent if you had a big empire. About the Grox, I always just flew through their area as fast as possible so they could barely damage me. You were also able to place colonies in empty star systems in the Grox area as well, they would actually stop attacking you after a while, and your colonies were actually safe there as long as you didn't start a war with them. Regarding tribal stage, I think the main problem was the lack of design possibilities, you couldn't design your huts or anything, only your tribal outfits which were quite limited (also my game back then often crashed when opening the tribal outfitter ingame). The progress was also very linear since you always had five tribes appearing in the same pattern.

while it did not live up to the hype, i think ultimately SPORE came out far better than it could've, especially for such an overly ambitious project during that time. it wasn't necessarily a flop either, it still hit 2.8 million sales!

I’m glad this game is still getting attention

Spore was always kind of doomed to never be what it started out as. What they originally wanted to make would have been trapped in development hell given they already missed the first deadline with a game that feels less then half baked as is. It was a Herculean task to get out what they did.

Warfare in the space stage is actually quite easy after you get the “unlimited” terraforming tools… Just terraform your enemies planets and they become much less powerful! Also, you can become friends the with Grox! It’s not easy, but it is a fun challenge!

5:20 you fucking spent 30 minutes in the cell stage??? that's like, the shortest stage in the whole game!

I got this channel recommended through RU-vid for GTA content. But seeing a Spore video recently uploaded was a way better surprise. Been on somewhat of a spore nostalgia trip so it couldn't have been uploaded on a better time.

What you get in Civ Stage is Based on how you Played Tribal Friendly is Religeous, Resilliant is Economic and Hostile is Military

7:41 I disagree, if design AND functionality were both major factors for how your creature would look, many players would most likely fall into the same, repetitive type of creature design

This video made me feel weird. Spore is one of my favorites, but damn thry did dirty on development.

The tribal stage was one of my favorite and the first time I got introduced to RTS as a kid and I loved it. The space stage has always been a bit complex for my kid brain at that time.

Spore was a unique game that was also... a good game? I just remember being a kid and watching will wright play through that early demo and I was so excited. I can still remember starting the game for the first time. The cell stage was decent, but a good introduction. I was so excited entering in the creature creator the first time and emerging onto land (although, being able to create a sea creature was also one of my desires for this game) and then I blinked and the creature stage was over... All of this emphasis on evolving and becoming the apex predator and dominated the planet, slowly gaining sentience... and it was over so quickly. I felt like I accomplished nothing. My creature didn't deserve to be one of the top creatures. I couldn't 1v1 a rogue creature. My creature didn't feel special. regardless, onto the tribal stage. Time to start developing my creature slowly expanding our technology until we can build cities... or just just destroying other villages... Now, the Civ stage was pretty fun, but it felt like it was built to take 30 minutes. The space stage was fun for the first few hours, but became repetitive. Still fun though. Ultimately, the creature stage was the most fun part of the game while also being the most disappointing stage. I still love the game, but it could have been so much more. It could use a modern reboot.

Cool vid, hope you get some more attention soon

something curious about spore is that a lot of stuff is destined to happen, like i entered a planet and my game crashed and i lost all progress in that planet and i was sent back to before i chose the planet yet when i got to creature stage the map was literally the same, even the crashed ship set piece was there where it should have ben

It is astounding to me, and depressing, how much people have forgotten the controversy over the style/scope changes and how many people nowadays think Spore is good.

6:39 every time you mate, you can customize the next generation

As someone who was around for the pre-release hype, and got the game when it first came out, I still enjoyed Spore, but man, I really wish we got something closer to the GDC 05 version. I think some of the devs (and probably EA) getting cold feet, believing the game might end up being too niche is what ultimately held the game back from it's true potential. Something else to note about this game was it's DRM policy. Basically, the physical version came with a code that you had to redeem online in order to play the game. DRM is (unfortunately) commonplace now, but back in 08, they rightfully got a lot of flak for this practice. These days the physical version is outright useless because of this, unless you can somehow find a copy that still has an unused code in it, since the code can only be redeemed once before it no longer works. It also sucks that these days, a lot of the online functionality no longer works. I really hope that someday, if that GDC 05 build still exists somewhere, that it leaks online so people will be able to try it out. I would love to give that build a go just for the creature creator alone.

Someone pitch the 2005 version of spore to EA as Spore 2. Please.

Amazing video! Laughed at multiple parts lol Stan Morbulus Blojan the III

Haven't watched this whole video yet, but commenting just because it's a Spore retrospective

im here for gta v infinity killer mystery you should go to those map locations eddie low left in gta iv

Yeah, once you played through the stages once, you quickly realize how simple the actual gameplay mechanics are. But I still have a huge soft spot for this game and come back to it every couple of years (until the servers finally shut off for good). Meeting other people's creations on your way is what makes this really special to me. And even with the simplistic mechanics, it can spawn fun and memorable moments. I was absolutely obsessed with it back in 2008. One of my favorite gaming experiences of all time was playing this as a teenager the first couple of times. But it is an absolute shame how hard it was dropped and abandoned by the devs after Galactic Adventures was pushed out.

Oops i misspelled :game#😅

I remember watching a favorite youtuber of mine play spore, I remember it fondly, I shpuld probably go play it instead of watching it, it still looks like it holds up.

I saw a spore judgment. And the creator of the game. he made a scaly bird

I don't fucking understand why everyone hates tribal stage. It's the best one.

I actually like Tribal Stage... :D-(

I only once got to the tribal stage I was bad at the game

Banger video

I'd argue that civ stage is worse than tribal stage, what with the vehicle functionality balancing act and how easy it is to spread yourself overly thin. Not that it's difficult to spread yourself overly thin in space stage, mind you; even so.

Algorithm comment + Very good video, I hope it gets more attention in the algorithm

ayo thi shie is bussin fr fr ong no cap

nostalgic

Just someone PLEASE bring back the creator of spore and update it with 1000 times MORE parts than the spore mod called creepy and cute!!!

But they forgot to add BACTERIA CELLS!!!!!

Spore would be SO MUCH BETTER THAN WHAT WE HAVE NOW

I still love this game

Other people that created spore would have the original version of the game!... ...which means they are the ones behind all of this!!!!!!!!!!

What happens when you die during the space stage? Do you have to replace your Captain?

What have they done to the beautiful goame?!😢

Hey eletronic atrs! GIVE BACK SPORE,S GIFT RIGHT NOW!!!

And add more idea,s!!!

I think you are the first to hate more the tribla stage isntead of the civ one haha

Some of those other creature designs seems to specific to be random, so I’m guessing some are premade designs or pulled from other players on the internet?

spore could have been one of the best games ever created

Very nice Video❤

23:29 the other civilizations are your own species as well?

lebron jame

I remember when my friend's mom was told me she got my friend "Spore" for christmas because she wanted a pokemon game, but Spore was cheaper. And I don't think my friend even played it ever. I guess I'm amazed it's still being talked about lol

41:34 the map isn’t procedurally generated?

Dont mind me, im just leaving a comment because algorithm

WHY!?!?!?!?!?! What did we do wrong?!

👍

But what happened to the willosaurs?#🤔

Wean I first play spore I haven't wach this trailer and was kid like you said For my the best part about spore it not the 5 different stages this game have it the creativity In spores you able to create crechoures vihicules house 🏠 ECT One thing I didn't like and still don't understand why the do that is 1. Why wean you go next off crechoure stage you don't let modified the shape of my crechoure any more. 2. Wean you move for the fish stage to crechoure stage you able to have all those 9 items so my question is why the don't give those items as option to add and I have to add those for before ? (I'm not sure if is 9 or not but this not the point.) I agree that it's multiple ways to improve spore but I also think it's great consept with creativet I always wish to have spore 2 but i don't see that happening it's true this game have out date graphics even with 2008 standard and it has more pontesal but it's still fun game. And because of that potential I wish to have sequel but I don't see that happening. At least not EA if spore 2 release I will probably be for indie developer's 😅 and I don't know what I will goin to do to make better game or different.

7:41 well that sounds kind of dissapointing

Last

EA fuck it up

imagine a celestial / deity stage where you create planets and stuff

Awesome vid, guys!