Topic: !!! Read Before Making a Creature !!!

[gec05]

For those of you who are new...

Welcome to Gaming Steve. Here in the Creation Corner, you can create a journal or written documentary of your creature and it's history, evolution, culture and technology. Providing illustrations of your creature along with scientifically reasonable stats (such as weight and height) are preferable. But certain references to Spore are generally shunned. Why is this? Well since the beginning, back when word of Spore first surfaced in 2005, many people began to create very elaborate and distinctive creatures. Overtime this unique universe exploded into it's own sort of history. A universe very much different from the Spore we know now. Once we've realized the immense amount of expectations put on Spore, and the great deal of detail put into our creations. It was agreed that certain articles or perhaps the entire game should have no interference in our special universe. To put it simply, you cannot recreate the entire Star Wars lore in Spore. End of Story. So if you wish to elaborate your creature outside the limitations of Spore. Here is a list-in-progress of certain details you may wish to leave out.

For you old farts...

Since the release of Spore, it has become a growing issue from time to time when people can't distinguish what is acceptable and what isn't. Especially when references to Spore are used in the creature RPs. At the same time, we have never made a list of these things. But now we need it. So we need to make a list of dos and don'ts for the Creation Corner.
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The Rules

Now, this should not be considered a How To RP thread nor should it force you to follow these rules. But if you expect a relative amount of recognition (with significantly much less hassle from the veterans,) you'd best consider these guidelines.

No Grox

No Spice. (You may use it. But There are more things to trade than spice. How about herbs? Gemstones and minerals? Technology and ideas?)

No Sporebucks. (Each creature has their own native currency. If you wish, you may adopt Galactic Credits as a universal currency)

No Humans or Earth. (Some creatures can have contact with or have reference to Humans and Earth. But this is strictly regarded as canon to the main galaxy.)

No Spode.

No Blue/Red Meteors from Spore Hero.
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About Prefixes in Thread Titles...

So you're probably wondering about the bracketed letters and acronyms for some creature threads. These are indicators of what time period or galaxy they reside. I will describe each of these and what they mean and their background.

[OG] Old Galaxy - A golden age long gone during the youth of this forum. You may not see the tag being used in the older threads because we had no system yet, but pretty much any creature thread in the last pages of this board belong to that age. There are a few remnant [OG] races that still exist today. If you are making a new creature, you are not allowed to use this tag since it throws off the timeline.

[OMYL] One Million Years Later - A period set in the distant future from the [OG] and [RG] time periods.

[RG] Reborn Galaxy - This is pretty much the old galaxy, but with fresh and young activity. This era is for budding new faces wishing to meet and live with [OG] races. A word of advice: new creatures cannot have a history or past that interferes with current interstellar history outside of their system or planet.

[NG] New Galaxy - This is a separate galaxy altogether, perhaps in another universe entirely. Either way, it has no contact with any of the other galaxies and has it's own set of rules to conform to in keeping it neat and clean. Sadly though, it is dead and abandoned now.

[NC] Novus Cluster - A large cluster that hovers over the [OG] with limited contact with the old galaxy. Unlike [NG], Novus Cluster has it's own pre-existing history to be discovered. This is for people with a story-driven motive. Good RP experience is preferred.

[AC] Alpha Cluster - Another different universe, spanning a super cluster of galaxies. Has a reasonable set of rules to conform to, but also great for a fresh start or are new to the Spore RP scene.
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A request to all veterans. Your suggestions are appreciated. If you find something from Spore that should not exist in the old galaxy please let us know.

[Tesla]

You forgot one thing...

People will pay more attention to your creature if you have a picture. Don't get annoyed if you post a wall of text and no one comments...

[Grangan]

Oh!  If someone makes a reference to common maxis creatures (ie Bananaz)  I'll scream.

Also, is mentioning a Grox-like race (ie very powerful and evil and computerized) ok, so long as it isn't the Grox?  I was planning a story going on involving one.

[Kenotai]

One thing that annoys me, and probably shouldn't, is when people describe their planets as "T3".

I hate that.

Why?  Because it's so lazy.  Of course it would be T3 if you're basing it off of Spore.  If people have to classify their planet by habitability, then I think they should use the Star Trek type classification (letters), or, even better, the Galactic Civilizations classification because there was a number for Earth, which would be T3 if recreated in Spore, but there were numbers far higher than Earth's.

[UFO King]

Oh dear...I'll fix that right away. Although clarify one thing for me: What are those Star Trek and Galactic Civilizations classifications you're talking about? I've never heard of them before. Can you provide a link?

[Kenotai]

Earth in Star Trek is "M", and I think it was 20 for GC, and the highest I ever saw in the game was a 30, and I only saw that once, the most common high was 25.

For reference Saturn was a 3, so you can figure the scale from there.

I don't have a link, but the Star Trek one is used a lot in the series.

[UFO King]

Never mind, I Googled it and found it on Wikipedia. I guess I'll use the Star Trek system from now on. Speaking of Star Trek, I've always liked Star Wars more, mainly because of the incoherent nonsense uttered in Star Trek commonly known as technobabble, which is to me like kryptonite is to Superman. Although I'm not saying Star Trek is bad or trying to start a flame war or anything. I saw one of the movies and it was pretty good.

"Captain, the trilithium crystals are causing quantum space-time fluctuations! An atomic singularity might convert us to anti-matter, phasing us in and out of the third and fourth dimensions!"

ARRRRRGGGGGHHH!!!

[Kenobro]

Although it doesn't have to be followed, if you can't draw(not referencing anyone, it just annoys me) a creature, then ask someone.  Generally people are very friendly when receiving drawing requests.

[Darth Grievi]

I had a planet classification system simmilar to Star Trek's. See if you like it;

Class A -- Barren -- Mars
Class B -- Volcanic -- Mustafar
Class C -- Desert -- Tatooine
Class D -- Icy -- Hoth (or Csilla, take your pick.)
Class E -- Mountanous/Canyon -- Cato Neimoidia
Class F -- Wattery -- Kamino
Class G -- Forrest/Jungle -- Kashyyyk
Class H -- Earth-like -- Earth, duh...
Class I -- Grassland -- Cerea
Class J -- Helium/Exotic Atmosphere -- Dorin      
Class K -- City World -- Coruscant
Class L -- Dumping World -- Raxus Prime
Class M -- Irradiated -- Venus
Class N -- Artificial -- Teh Death Star

[UFO King]

It needs to be more specific and include gas giants and the like. And I'm pretty sure a real planet cold not be entirely grassland.

[Darth Grievi]

True.

The Star Trek system is much broader, but, unfortunately, glosses over many of the "M" class planets. It can be anything from a verdant, overgrown jungle, to an urbanized, grey waste.

I suppose, we could combine the two? Like M-1 M-2, etc?

[UFO King]

I was thinking several planet traits which could be organized, like 2-5-14-22.

[Darth Grievi]

Something in the vein of my Species Sheet?

(Section 1 -- System)
Star: (Name of Star)
Star Type: (Color (blue, white, yellow, red) and size (giant, medium, dwarf, etc.))
Planet #1: (Name of the planet closest to your star. Is it a hot rock? An ice ball? Asteroid belt? Gas giant? Habitable?)
Planet #2: (Rinse and repeat. Put as many of these as you need.)

(Section 2 -- Terrain and Atmosphere)
Average Temperature: (Very hot, Hot, Mild, Cool, Cold, Bitterly cold)
Liquid: (Where's the water/magma/ice/other fluid on your planet. Are there oceans? Or are they more like lakes? Or puddles?)
Average Terrain: (What's the majority of your planet like?)
Density: (How thick is your atmosphere? No Atmosphere, thin, average, dense, very dense)
Composition: (Values below)

(Section 3 -- Life)
Main Species: (Who is the main Intellegent race on your planet? Are they native to this planet?)
Native Animals: (Are there any animals native to your planet? Are they primitive or advanced? Are there many, or just a few?)
Imported Animals: (Same as above, but for non-native animals)
Native Plants: (Same as native animals, but with plants.)
Imported Plants: (Same as above, but for non-native plants)

(Section 4 -- Development)
Structures: (Are there any artificial structures? Tents, buildings, monuments, etc?)
% Urban: (How much of the habitable area is covered by city?)
Spaceports: (Are there spacedocks on the surface? In orbit?)
Imports: (What does this planet need?)
Exports: (What does this planet produce?)

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Atmospheric gasses: (Pick five maximum. Nitrogen/Oxygen is the standard atmosphere)

Nitrogen
Oxygen
Argon
Carbon Dioxide
Carbon Monoxide
Water Vapor
Neon
Hydrogen
Helium
Methane
Other Hydrocarbons (ethane, propane, etc)
Krypton
Ammonia
Chlorine
Iodine
Nitrogen Dioxide
Ozone (Most atmospheres are assumed to have at least trace Ozone)
Xenon
Nitrous Oxide
Sulfur Dioxide (related to volcanoes)
Silicon Dioxide (Realy sand, here it is a gas, for silicon races)
Ash
Hydrogen Chloride
Hydrogen Flouride
Formaldehyde
Hydrogen Cyanide

[UFO King]

*Claps*
Good job, Grievi. Do you think I should replace my planetary classification with yours?

[Darth Grievi]

It's a matter of preference.

I've been doing simmilar sheets for weapons, ships, and computer technology. Weapons is done, but the others are a work in progress.