// VC dot com

Spore Creature Creator will release on 17th June 2008 (Full version US$9.99 & free limited version), which is tomorrow. Somehow, there’s a leaked version on the internet. This is why I can write this entry. Spore full game will be release on September 7th 2008(North America), September 5th 2008 (Europe).

Updates: Now you can download SPORE Creature Creator Trial at here.

Spore is a multi-genre “massively single-player online game” under development by Maxis and designed by Will Wright. It allows a player to control the evolution of a species from its beginnings as a unicellular organism, through development as an intelligent and social land-walking creature, to levels of interstellar exploration as a spacefaring culture. - wiki.

I am quite surprise that the creator is NOT similar like the sims 2. It is way more powerful compare to the sims 2 creator. Sadly, this leaked version is only 25% of the full Spore Creature Creator. One of the big different is user can test out the creature created in the test environment. User will have a full preview of how the full game (Spore) is going to be.

The game engine or game style is similar like the sims 2 creator. There will have three main section, building your creature (with parts such as eyes, mouth, legs & hand, weapons and etc), painting your creature (with rich texture and various of colours), and testing your creature in the test-lab environment.

Building your creature is a pretty fun section. It is similar style like sims 2, where you can adjust the part sizes and etc. Spore lets you create more in your own taste. You can adjust the size of your creature by dragging. It is a fun experience.

Painting your creature is not so great. Probably due to the leaked version fault. It is quite limited and I can’t paint in a very specific area, let say only the eyes section. It has a feature(a list of predefined paint libraries) and you can select that paint style to apply to your own creature.

Testing your creature in test-lab environment is pretty cool experience. Sadly, your creature only allow to move within the test-lab environment (inside a circle compound). There is a similar taskbar like the sims 2. There are some interactive actions. These actions will able the user to view your creature react. For example, user click the jumping action. user’s creature will jump accordingly. There is also a feature to let user view how user’s creature interact with its child/children. Other than interaction part, it allow user to capture the screenshot or video. User has the option to mail the screenshot to friends or upload the video to youtube. It’s a great integration. One last thing, it can create your creature avatar in .gif format.