Frequently Asked Questions:
Categories: General, Production, Gameplay, Platforms, Misc.General Questions:
What is Spore?
Spore is a multi-genre "massively single-player online game" that has been developed by Maxis and designed by Will Wright (the same man who brought you "The Sims" series). It allows a player to control the evolution of a species from its beginnings as a unicellular organism, through evolution to an intelligent, communicative and social species, to interstellar exploration as a spacefaring culture. The game is notable for its wide scope and procedural generation of various aspects, most notablly the user created creatures. The game allows sharing of custom made material via a game mechanic called the Sporepedia. Users with an account are able to upload their creations, and simultaneously download others. This adds an even greater depth to the game.
What is Spore rated?
Spore has been rated by ESRB as E10+, by OFLC as PG, and by PEGI as 12+. However, the DS version, "Spore Creatures", has been rated "E for Everyone" by all regulatory organisations.
What was the release date for Spore?
Maxis set the game to be released on September 7, 2008 for North America. The game was released two days earlier, on September 5 for Europe. The other versions of Spore such as "Origins" for DS and for Iphone were scheduled for the same date. The Ipod classic version of the game was released on August 25th 2008, though due to bugs, was pulled, then re-released on August 31st 2008
How much does Spore cost?
Approximately $49.99 U.S. dollars. That's about £25.00. The Galactic Edition costs $79.99.
Was there any sort of demo before the full release?
The Creature Creator (CC) served as the game's only demo. The CC came out on June 17 2008 in two different packages. The first package, which is free to download, includes 25% access to the creature creator. Alternatively, fans can purchase the creature creator for $10 (£5) and have full access. The free version can be downloaded here.
Production Questions:
Who is developing Spore?
Maxis, the developers of The Sims and its various spin off games, developed Spore. The primary designer is Will Wright, who is well known for his revolutionary work on SimCity and The Sims.
And the publishers?
Spore is published by Electronic Arts (EA).
How is Spore licensed?
Spore uses Securom which checks the number of time the installation has taken place via the EA servers (therefore an internet connection is required during installation). In the unpatched version of the game, this limit is set to three installations. Patch 1.01 increases this limit to five. Should you exceed this limit, you will need to contact EA to have the account reset. It has been stated that users will be able to deauthorise an installation thus returning that credit (similar to Apple's Itunes on Windows and Mac. This has not been implemented yet, but should be available in the near future.
Gameplay Questions:
Is Spore a multiplayer game?
Unfortunately, no. Will Wright refers to Spore's unique playing style as a "massively single-player online game." That is to say, while the game is single-player, user interaction is encouraged via a central database (aka the Sporepedia) which automatically uploads a user's created content and allowing them to be randomly re-distributed to populate other games. For example, players will get randomly generated features each time they load Spore. Your enemies may be different from time to time based on what type of creature has been redistributed. There is also the option to limit the downloads to people marked as friend's. This prevents the sporepedia downloading questionable object designs. Spore also allows users to interact by searching another's account to view their statistics and to see how they would fair in that other player's game. Spore is integrated with Youtube so players can upload and view videos of their planets and creatures while still in-game.
What is the playing style of Spore?
Each of Spore's five phases features a different playing style. The first phase, the tide pool phase, plays like Pac-Man. The creature phase has a similar style to Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo. Populous is the basis for the tribal phase and the civilization phase is modeled after games like SimCity, Civilization, and Risk. The fifth and final phase, the space phase, can be compared to SimEarth. Each phase includes several unique quests you can choose to complete. The phases are linked. The paths you take in previous phases affect certain abilities and specialities in the later phases.
A few questions back, there was mention of a creature creator. What's this about?
Spore gives you the opportunity to take on the role of God. You are able to form your creature however you wish. In the creature creator, you can make your creature the way you want it to be, with a wide variety of accessories and body parts including wings which enable your creature to fly for short periods of time. How you craft your creature will play a large role in your game play. But don't forget, evolution is key to this game, so you will be able to make changes during the creature phase, that will give you the advantage and a new generation. In tribal phase you can no longer edit your creatures physical form, however, you can add items of clothing that will assist you in the tribal stage. In civilization and space stage, a wider range of clothing is available, however, the changes are purely for show and do not affect the game play in any way.
Is there a limit to how much you can edit?
The editor is pretty limitless however, you are given a certain amount of DNA points. Each time you add something to your creature, you are spending DNA points. The purpose of these points is to keep players from building units so complex they may crash the game. You are also given a complexity meter which shows how complex you creature is. Once it is full, and regardless of your remaining DNA points, you will not be able to add any more body parts to your creature without first removing some. However, there are cheats that enable you to gain more DNA/ignore the complexity limit. However, using these cheats will prevent the creature from being pollinated into other games
Besides creatures, what else will I be able to edit?
In addition to the creature creator, Spore features a variety of other editors. These editors give you the ability to to edit the starting cell, vehicles, spacehsips, buildings, and the music (your city's anthem). It is possible that there will be editors for clothing, tribal hut or accessories in future expansions. Maxis has stated that the planned flora editor has been scrapped from the final version (though it is present in the final game via a command line options, though it is unstable and it is not recommended that you access it)
How long does it take to evolve your creature?
It's entirely up to you. Players can spend as much or as little time on each phase as they wish, thought if they wish to progress to the next phase, players must fulfill the prerequsities. One is free to spend years evolving a single organism with mastering each of the five phases or players can quickly skim through the phases before deciding to move on and finish the game in a a few hours.
Will I need an internet connection to play Spore?
You will need an internet connection when you first install the game for authentication purposes. After that, you can play offline however, you will need to be connected if you wish to download new Sporepedia content and patches or if you use other online features.
What do the Spore creatures sound like?
The creatures speak a common language much like Simlish, the language spoken by The Sims. Perhaps it's called Sporish, Sporese, Sporian.
Are there any patches available?
Yes. There are numerous patches for Spore ranging from bug fixes to Asymmetrical editing. The most recent Patch released was Patch 1.05.0001. To install a patch, lauch Spore and follow the instructions.
N.B. This information is correct at the time of writing
Platform-Related Questions:
What platforms is Spore available for?
So far, Maxis has confirmed Spore and released Spore for PC, Mac, Nintendo DS, and Mobile and Ipods. It is possible that additional consoles will be added in the future.
Is Spore the same on each platform?
Spore is, more or less, be the same for PC and Mac. The DS version, titled "Spore Creatures," focuses on the Creature Phase. "Spore Creatures" will feature more of a story-based game style with several quests along the way. The mobile/ipod version, called Spore Origins, will focus on a different phase: the Tide Pool Phase.
Misc. Questions:
What type of music will Spore feature?
Spore features an ambient score composed by Brian Eno. Eno has been in the business since the 70's. Over this time, Eno has worked with several groups including U2 and Coldplay. Needless to say, Spore's music will be a nice treat.
Will the same music be a constant factor in Spore?
Nope. You should know by now, nothing is constant in Spore. Spore features a generative music system meaning the music will change as you progress and based on a player's actions. In an interview with Mac Life, Will Wright went as far as saying "you're composing the music as you're building the creature." Your actions and how you've designed your creature will once again have an impact on gameplay and music.
Does Maxis have any plans to create Spore expansions?
There are currently two separate expansions for Spore. Spore Creepy and Cute is a parts pack that adds over 100 new parts, backgrounds and animations to the creature editor. Spore Galactic Adventures adds many game play changes to the space stage in the form of adventures that the player can complete in space stage. The player can also create their own adventures and share them with other players via sporepedia.
Will Spore have a monthly fee?
No.
What are the tech specs?
The tech specs for the full version of Spore are:
FOR WINDOWS XP
- 2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
- 512 MB RAM
- A 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
- At least 6 GB of hard drive space
FOR WINDOWS VISTA
- 2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
- 768 MB RAM
- A 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
- At least 6 GB of hard drive space
- Intel Integrated Chipset, 945GM or above.
- 2.6 GHz Pentium D CPU, or 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo, or equivalent.
- 768 MB RAM
Supported Video Cards
ATI Radeon(TM) seriesNVIDIA GeForce series9500, 9600, 9800
X300, X600, X700, X800, X850
X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900, X1950 2400, 2600, 2900
3650, 3850
Intel(R) Extreme GraphicsFX 5900, FX 5950
6200, 6500, 6600, 6800
7200, 7300, 7600, 7800, 7900, 7950
8400, 8500, 8600, 8800
GMA 950, GMA X3000, GMA X3100
Laptop versions of these chipsets may work, but may run comparatively slowly. Standalone cards that are installed in vanilla PCI slots (not PCIe or PCIx or AGP), such as some GeForce FX variants, will perform poorly. Intel integrated chipsets featuring underclocked parts, such as the 945GU, GML, and GMS, will not perform adequately.
Integrated chipsets such as the ATI Xpress and the NVIDIA TurboCache variants will have low settings selected, but should run satisfactorily.
Please note that attempting to play the game using video hardware that is nott listed above may result in reduced performance, graphical issues or cause the game to not run at all.
The NVIDIA GeForce FX series is unsupported under Vista.
MAC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
- Mac OS X 10.5.3 Leopard or higher
- Intel Core Duo Processor
- 1024 MB RAM
- ATI X1600 or NVidia 7300 GT with 128 MB of Video RAM, or Intel Integrated GMA X3100
- At least 4.7GB of hard drive space for installation, plus additional space for creations.
For computers using built-in graphics chipsets, the game requires at least:
- Intel Integrated Chipset GMA X3100
- Dual 2.0GHz CPUs, or 1.7GHz Core 2 Duo, or equivalent
Supported Video Cards
ATI Radeon(TM) seriesNVIDIA GeForce seriesX1600, X1900, HD 2400, HD 2600
Intel(R) Extreme Graphics7300, 7600, 8600, 8800
This game will not run on the GMA 950 class of integrated video cards.GMA X3100
