Topic: One of the reasons why Spore is "cute" and dumbed down

[Sub]

Please keep this civil.

http://forum.spore.com/jforum/posts/list/8555.page

[Andrew Ryan]

GOD DAMN THAT CHRIS HECKLER!!! HE RUINED MY GAME!!! 

[Sub]

Seriously, as time goes on and I look back at my experiences with Spore, it was a huge disappointment.  Whatever the finished project ended up as would have most likely ended up in disappointment for me due to my high expectations, but not to this degree.  Spore had vast potential yet threw it out all to appeal to a mass audience.

[DarkDragon]

I find myself playing more with the editors than with the actual game 

[DaMuncha]

Even FlOw is more fun than the Cell phase. Spores Cell phase is just too bloody cartoony and the animation is not fuent enough, sure the background look great, but the cells still move around like bricks with fins attached.

Tthe 2005 vid kicks ass, why they changed it I dont know , But Chris Heckler shouldnt be shot.

[Sub]

Even FlOw is more fun than the Cell phase. Spores Cell phase is just too bloody cartoony and the animation is not fuent enough, sure the background look great, but the cells still move around like bricks with fins attached.

Tthe 2005 vid kicks ass, why they changed it I dont know , But Chris Heckler should be shot.

When I said keep it civil, I meant don't say thing's like the guy should get shot.  Everyone's entitled to their opinion and if Hecker thought that it would make the game better, fine, he's wrong but fine.

[gec05]

Fixing these development blunders would be an agreeable route for future expansions. But something tells me this is wishful thinking. The Spore we have now may never be as it was.

One thing is for sure Maxis shouldn't be happy about what their devoted fans are saying.

Also, as Sub said I advise anyone to refrain from the Chris Hecker bashing. This was all just a shortsighted mistake.

[DarkDragon]

Fixing these development blunders would be an agreeable route for future expansions. But something tells me this is wishful thinking. The Spore we have now may never be as it was.

One thing is for sure Maxis shouldn't be happy about what their devoted fans are saying.

Also, as Sub said I advise anyone to refrain from the Chris Hecker bashing. This was all just a shortsighted mistake.

You're right on that one, Chris Hecker is not the only one to blame for how the game turned out, after all he's not above the whole Development team, he gave an idea and they went with it. (unfortunatelly)

[Sub]

Fixing these development blunders would be an agreeable route for future expansions. But something tells me this is wishful thinking. The Spore we have now may never be as it was.

One thing is for sure Maxis shouldn't be happy about what their devoted fans are saying.

Also, as Sub said I advise anyone to refrain from the Chris Hecker bashing. This was all just a shortsighted mistake.

You're right on that one, Chris Hecker is not the only one to blame for how the game turned out, after all he's not above the whole Development team, he gave an idea and they went with it. (unfortunatelly)

Truth.  Wright has basically said in an interview that sales were more important than the actual quality of the game.  I understand that companies want to make money, but that still doesn't make it unfortunate.

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/09/07/will-wright-reacts-to-crtical-spore-reviews/

[gec05]

But doesn't product quality contribute to, but not initially, long-term sales?

I can tell you right now Spore sales are slowly dropping.

[Andrew Ryan]

But doesn't product quality contribute to, but not initially, long-term sales?

I can tell you right now Spore sales are slowly dropping.

Couldn't this also be attributed to a slowing of the gaming market in general and the fact that so many god looking next-gen titles have come out in such a short amount of time, thus passing over Spore in favor of a more gritty and less kiddy FPS.

[Sub]

But doesn't product quality contribute to, but not initially, long-term sales?

I can tell you right now Spore sales are slowly dropping.

I'm not sure that long term sales matter.  I think that if a product is marketed properly, it'll sell well at first regardless of product quality.  And a fact of the game industry is that the vast majority of game sales occur within the first month.

[Hydromancerx]

You know what they need? 2 flavors of the game. Cute and scientific. Have the game where you can play it like the the science team wanted it and the other how the cute team wanted it. That way both groups can be happy rather than both pissed off because one thinks it too cute while the other thinks it not cute enough.

[DaMuncha]

Yeah I was thinkngi that would be good for an expansion: "Spore: The way it was supposed to be"

[Sub]

Hydro, that would be a horrible idea.  

There are a few ways that idea could be possible, none of which would work.

They could make it an option in game - Do you want to play the scientific spore or the cute spore - But that'd essentially be two different games sold as one.  It would either require double the resources to produce the game or the quality of each respective title would drop drastically.

They could sell them as two separate product, but honestly, that wouldn't fly either.

And at this point, an expansion pack turning Spore into everything we envisioned it to be is also out of the question.  Expansion packs add content, not change the very fundamentals of the game.