Generative Gaming
After watching "Will Wright and Brian Eno Play With Time", I was struck by how far generative gaming has come from the days of the Game of Life. Also, I want to play Spore!
The patterns generated by the Game of Life were beautiful, plus Eno's music complemented the images nicely.
The part that excited me most, however, was the Spore demonstration. Like Wesmaster, I downloaded the demo immediately upon viewing this video. My favorite part of the Sims was the user generated content - I could find practically all of my favorite book, movie, and video game characters online, set them up in little Sim houses, and have them all interact. With Spore, it looks like people can generate the entire world of their favorite story and manipulate it however they want! For instance, if one wants to play with a Pikachu civilization:
then all you need to do is download your creatures from the user-generated Sporepedia and go. Personally, I'd probably go for more of a fantasy route:
The Sporepedia also has buildings, vehicles, and adventures. Unfortunately, Spore does not have an automatic homo sapien template. This a shame, since most stories that I have encountered feature humans rather prominently. Plus, imagine being able to create a world, fill it with creatures of your design, then make a human (or not) avatar to explore and experience user-generated adventures. It would be like a completely customizable World of Warcraft ... actually, wait, this sounds like Second Life. Hmmm.
At any rate, I wonder if gaming will follow Reality T.V.'s lead and feature more user input. Just as television used to be stories where regular people could view but not participate, video games right now are stories that players can participate in but not create. Even the MMORPG's have pre-existing quests and bosses to fight. Using tools like the Spore editors, the next generation of players may be able to create their ideal gaming experience, share it with fellow enthusiasts, and enjoy.
The patterns generated by the Game of Life were beautiful, plus Eno's music complemented the images nicely.
The part that excited me most, however, was the Spore demonstration. Like Wesmaster, I downloaded the demo immediately upon viewing this video. My favorite part of the Sims was the user generated content - I could find practically all of my favorite book, movie, and video game characters online, set them up in little Sim houses, and have them all interact. With Spore, it looks like people can generate the entire world of their favorite story and manipulate it however they want! For instance, if one wants to play with a Pikachu civilization:
then all you need to do is download your creatures from the user-generated Sporepedia and go. Personally, I'd probably go for more of a fantasy route:
The Sporepedia also has buildings, vehicles, and adventures. Unfortunately, Spore does not have an automatic homo sapien template. This a shame, since most stories that I have encountered feature humans rather prominently. Plus, imagine being able to create a world, fill it with creatures of your design, then make a human (or not) avatar to explore and experience user-generated adventures. It would be like a completely customizable World of Warcraft ... actually, wait, this sounds like Second Life. Hmmm.
At any rate, I wonder if gaming will follow Reality T.V.'s lead and feature more user input. Just as television used to be stories where regular people could view but not participate, video games right now are stories that players can participate in but not create. Even the MMORPG's have pre-existing quests and bosses to fight. Using tools like the Spore editors, the next generation of players may be able to create their ideal gaming experience, share it with fellow enthusiasts, and enjoy.
Comments
Currently, there is a Spore add-on software that allows the user to build their own planet from scratch, and then create a story, if they wish.
Someone I know on the site (using the username fotosynthesis), has actually created a few Mario Kart related adventures. I'm impressed, because they are actual races with realistic components.
basically what I'm saying is that Spore has caught up a good distance over this video you blogged over a few days ago.
considering the video is 3 years old, that gives Spore a good head start.