Topic: IS SPORE a disaster in the making?

[papaboom]

The actor Morgan Freeman once said that he can generally tell if a movie he is working on is going to fail because of a series of unfortunate mishaps during the film's creation.

SPORE has all the makings of a runaway hit or a total disaster. A large budget, an industry legend (WW), unusually high expectations (I mean how many awards can an unfinished game win?), and a big corporate backer (EA - who some would say is a disaster in itself.) Combine that with PR fracases, communication snafus between developers and marketing, and release dates that seem to be on a permanant slippery slope - and you have all the essentials for a meltdown.

Even without these factors - the sheer ambition of it all is enough to send SPORE over the cliff..

Dont get me wrong - I still have high hopes for the game - but I am really starting to have doubts about whether or not it will deliver.. Anyone else?

[Name Lips]

I have to say that the lack of email newsletters has been disturbing. I thought I'd be getting updates about the progress of the game, and instead, I get silence.

[Fumanchu]

It's a good point. I remember when I was nearly obsessed with The Movies game, following the boards (lionhead) quite a bit. While we didn't get very much in terms of actual gameplay structure, we did get some videos that were culled together by the devs. Moreover, some of the devs were able to post what they were working on, which was very instrumental in giving those of us following some light at the end of the tunnel.

With Spore, I didn't know obsession could be so all-consuming, but it is. But the lack of information for extended lengths of time, with no newsletter updates, no updates to the community except through official channels (corporate interviews, magazine articles, seminar attendees)--it's a little disconcerting. Especially since the delivery date has not been solidified yet--not even an assurance of "Don't worry, it's definitely coming out in 2007."

Alas, I am not a developer and this Spore team is (voluntarily) small to keep things centrified and tight. Cut out the underwater stuff, I don't honestly care; I'll get the expansion for it when it comes out. I'll just start with the land-based stuff as soon as possible, thanks.

[Behumat]

Hmmm, I wonder if we, here on these boards, are becoming the spore version of No Mutants Allowed?

[Hunter]

This game won't be disasterous.. it just probably won't live up to all of our 2 year long hype

[Hectonkhyres]

Of course its not going to live up to the expectations we have built for it. Its original name, after all, was Sim Everything. It was to be the summation of all possible biological or technological existences with a little humor on top to keep things from getting morbid. It was to make the player god, his only limits being how imaginative and patient he can be. There was never any way in hell even Will Wright could manage that.

But still... something of the sort should be possible. And by all rights it will be the greatest game ever created in the history of man.
Which, considering our track record, shouldn't be all that hard to do.

[LucasUP]

Spores not going to be a disaster, thats for sure.

Spore /could/ however, be dissapointing in certain aspects, and fail to live up to hype.

But it wont outright fail, even if it poorly lives up to hype, it still does things that games have never done before, and it will probably start a new generation of games which use procedural and user generated content.

[Hectonkhyres]

Most of us are just going to have to distract ourselves until Spore 2 to truely be omnipotent lords of time and space.

[Cyrus]

No offense papaboom, but the title of this thread is total flamebait

I wouldn't go as far as to say there's been any "fiascos" with Spore.  A game getting delayed 6-12 months from it's initial estimated release date (which was announced a year and a half before it was supposed to come out) is not that unheard of...unfortunately, it's a rarity that a game ships on time as initially promised, but it's not to say that a delayed game is a failure (Half-Life 2 was delayed 14 months, but was still one of the best games I've played).  One could argue actually the opposite...Enchanted Arms (a Japaenese developed RPG for the 360) was rushed to release, and reviewers are saying that it had a lot of potentialy, but ultimately feels rushed and mediocre. 

I also wouldn't say that the lack of information is a sign that something's wrong with the game or anything.  Over a year away from release, I can sit down and watch two gameplay demos of the game that come close to an hour total in length (the 35 minutes in-game from GDC 05 and the 20 minute demo from E3 06).  That's pretty impressive.  I can think of few other games that have had this much media available, especially so far off from release.

I think the real problem was that the game was announced a year too early.  Most games do take several years to develop, but may not be announced to the media and public until a year off from release.  But EA is so proud of this game, they didn't want to keep it under wraps (can we really blame them?)  Will Wright implies in his GDC talk that his primary motivation in demoing this game to the audience at GDC 05 was that he wanted to premiere it first before EA did, and EA had made it clear they were going to premiere it that year at E3 05.  It's usally the big-name titles that get announced far in advance.

[russellmania4]

Is Spore flying up a mountain of success, or is it going too high and flying off the other side in an explosion of fire and little walking penismen? Will Spore fly off the other side of the mountain crushing all the little children in its path? "RUN JIMMY!! RUN!!! NOOOO!!!! JIMMY!!!!!!!!!" BOOM!!! Who will save the children now?!!! WHO? WHOOOOO???!!!!!!

*cough* *cough* Sorry, I get a little excited sometimes... ....

No...Spore will be great.... *cough*

[papaboom]

No offense papaboom, but the title of this thread is total flamebait

None taken - and I am a big boy I can take a little flames. I'm not trolling - just expressing some concerns and trying to make some talk.

I wouldn't go as far as to say there's been any "fiascos" with Spore.

Nor would I say there have been "fiascos" - but there have been some fracases, miscommunications, and slipping release dates..as well as excessive hype, presumptive awards, and mounting evidence that editor-to-game integration is not as smooth as some believe.

I think the real problem was that the game was announced a year too early.

Absolutely agreed - it is to my chagrin that I discovered this game at all.. I really wished I hade never seen the GDC 05 demo and had been suprised by this game after release.. But we on this forum are not the only people hyping this - it seems everyone is - particularly the gaming press and the various confrences.. All the awards seem more than a little premature for a game that is still a year away..

In an aside for a moment - Cyrus reading your posts I would swear that you are a marketing mole for EA.. Most of your posts are spent defending slipping release dates etc.. Likely you ARENT a mole - but if you look at your post history you can see how one might get that idea..

[Myshuno]

[plugs ears] LA LA LA LA i cant here you LA LA LA LA LA...

[Hydromancerx]

Oh come on. The editor was so fun and thats not even the entire game!! Everything else will be icing on the cake really! And you know if there is stuff missing such as underwater, they will be making an expantion for it for sure. They always do that. They did it for the Sim1 and 2 and those turned out great

[Spriggand]

Will Wright is making the game, not Peter Molyneux, so I think it'll deliver. Instead of going around saying stuff like "You'll be able to engineer viruses to attack certain species based on examination of their cellular stage" or "You'll be able to make underground cities that hook up through tunnel systems to the surface" or "There will be a sort of galactic forum where you will take control of one of your creatures and meet up with other races in an MMO type environment," Will Wright is focusing on making the game. The fact that the Leipzig demos used a months-old build of the game is actually good news to me: it shows dedication to making a game that is great rather than a game that looks great.

[papaboom]

I dont think SPORE is going to be crap for certain.. I just wonder about it's ultimate success commercially and that it will not live up to the hype - most especially the editors. One of my chief fears is that the eidtor-to-game integration will derail develpment and that they will ultimately have to compromise the best part of the game.

I KNOW nothing - this is just a topic thats all.