Just last Saturday, I had the chance to play Will Wright's so-called "next big thing" which is the Spore. Four years or more of development, hyped up presentations by Will Wright thru Game Developers Conference, E3 and this game has received most of the positive and negative criticisms alike last year upon its release.
While many game critics applauded its one of a kind god-mode gameplay concept, they quickly threw away its promise as the countdown of its release diminished. Gamers and review writers alike were caught in the middle of game thinking "That's it?" and yes, truthfully, that's it. With all the design, procedural programming, autonomy and other brilliant ideas popping out in this unique game, the gameplay lacked length and depth. In the cellullar phase, creatures need to eat and eat and eat to survive. And that's just about it. And so forth and so on that every phase features a short length of gameplay that you'll crave for more. For the hype it has been, and for all the salestalk on how this game can easily surpass the best selling game of all time - The Sims, it couldn't live up as the golden franchise. But don't get me wrong. I was one of those fans of Will Wright who criticized gaming review sites for rating it lower than what is expected of it. And yet 8 months or so after its release, after playing it for the first time, I was shocked myself with the lack of depth. However, for those people who loved The Sims, I'm expecting positive feedback from them because they play with excitement and imagination towards the game. Exploration, autonomy and creature and object designers are its selling point.
And while it has gaming review sites quick to forget and regret they rode the bandwagon that this game is, they were also, sadly, quick to dispose appreciation of its game development. If you've followed Will Wright's speeches regarding the unique attack on game development and how it is applied into a real game which is the Spore, you will be amazed at how this was actually ever cleverly done and brought to life. And as a developer too, I am still amazed at the brilliant concepts they've put into the game. If you've played The Sims 3, you'll be quick to notice that maybe just maybe, some of the Spore's concepts were adapted to it as well. Just as Nintendo has started to attract casual and non-gamers alike to play our games, maybe other game developers especially the mother game producer Electronic Arts as well must learn to adapt its ideas. Sure graphics is clearly the way to go to attract gamers but money spent on production of these games are not getting cheaper by the minute. More and more game developers are required to work on the game's physics, graphics and other eyecandy which tends to getaway with the actual gameplay quality.
Spore maybe failed on its way to becoming such a great legacy game that gamers will look upon on. However, don't take away the brilliance of its creation. It's still one of a kind. And maybe you won't find anything like this again. Let's learn to appreciate how games were developed and not just on how these games are played. After all, gameplay comes after game design.
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