If there’s one thing Spore got right, it’s the creators. Even when I’m not playing the game, I still create several new creatures every week. Others delight in recreating automobiles from the 50′s, WWII planes, or famous landmarks.
It’s the only game of which it’s possible for me see a TIE Interceptor warp in and steal all my livestock…and then for me to go slaughter a tribe of Zerglings, trusting in my Orc allies to watch my back. Or to encounter the Mona Lisa displayed in giant relief as a prominent civic center on another planet.
Maxis continues the emphasis on user-generated content with their upcoming expansion, Galactic Adventures.
The expansion makes it possible for players to outfit their various creations as space captains, and beam down to planet surfaces to battle monsters, rescue princesses, collect artifacts, and wreak general havoc.
Who creates these adventures?
You do.
The game includes an adventure editor allowing you to create adventures in up to 5 acts. You can designate triggered events, dialog of NPCs, and parameters for any of a number of objectives, such as kill, collect, deliver, protect, survive, etc. Videos of the incoming expansion have shown shooting galleries, invasions, races, and arena tournaments all as just a few of the possibilities you’ll have at your fingertips.
The goal with Spore was to allow the average user to experience the power, awe, and wonder of a Pixar animator with just a few mouseclicks. For all the gameplay lacks, in that goal, they have succeeded.
Will Galactic Adventures be equally successful in letting the average user feel like a mighty game designer?
Only time will tell.
There are a few disappointments in the expansion’s parameters. A common complaint of Sporeans everywhere was not being able to beam down to planets in space phase. Galactic Adventures ostensibly solves that problem, but only for designated (randomly assigned) adventure planets. (There is also a ‘quick play’ mode for those who just want to play the adventures without the hassle of Spore’s space phase.) The remainder of your planets will still be experienced only from orbit.
I’m also disappointed in the interface I’ve seen for Galactic Adventures play mode. Only four weapons are at the player’s disposal at any given times, so hopes of designing grand adventures around the player’s ability to do a number of complex things at once won’t be realized. My greatest fear is that now matter how inspired our adventures, play will be reduced to mashing four buttons repeatedly.
But perhaps that only provides greater incentive to make play interesting and fun. Spore Galactic Adventures pledges to succeed where Neverwinter Knights and a plethora of map editors have failed; to make user generated content the primary mode of play.
So what kind adventures will you create?
“Thank you for saving me, Mario…but our princess is on another planet!”
We’ve seen Star Wars games by the dozens and MMORPGs by the handful. Even a Star Wars-based MMO is nothing new. The franchise alone doesn’t always sell games, which are inevitably judged on their own merit.