Returning

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/txt/archive/?postID=6114#more

Welcome to the rebirth of the greatest game! Remember how you feel now and carry this on to make Uru the best it can be. I have faith we can do this. We have the power, technology, time, and energy and the final hurdle has been crossed. The floodgates are open. Let the waters come!

Spore Set One: Creature Creator Trial

First off, I saw concepts of Spore back around 2004 or so and kept an eye on it because I loved the concept. That concept, at its core, being a "massively single-player game" as the game's creator Will Wright puts it. A game where the game is single player, but the content is all fan-made.

I downloaded the free trial version of the creature creator (one tool in the Spore toolbox that literally spans galaxies) this morning. Ten minutes after installing it, I can't wait for the game. The trial has a quarter of the creature parts used in construction, but you find yourself straining to find limits even so. You can see my exploits (and pull them into your own Creature Creator) by going here. Simply open the Creator and go to the Load Creature area. The click and drag the creature from the website into the Spore program. The creature's there. It's that easy.

Now, here comes the kicker, and the reason why (if the issue is ever put up to global vote) I will elect Will Wright to be named to replace God: Every creature takes up 25 kilobytes of space. Let me repeat that. 25kb of space to describe nearly any species you can imagine. You could fit three species on an old floppy disk. You can fit several thousand on a modern USB flash stick. The data is held in a 25kb thumbnail image of your creature stored locally in your My Documents folder.

I'll be having more posts on the game later.

Cyan's Future

Debates have raged throughout the community about Cyan and Gametap and the rights to Uru. Questions of the cost of buying the rights back, the time it might take to do so, and the rumors that Gametap is Satan, have swirled around the forums since Uru’s third death was announced and the prospect of a Cyan-owned server was first brought up by Greydragon (then Community Manager). The core of the matter is this: Gametap owns the rights to distribute Uru content for at most two more years and Cyan owns the rights to make said content. So Cyan has three options: 1. Buy the rights back for an unknown amount of money, 2. Wait two years for the rights to expire, or 3. Work out a deal where Gametap keeps the rights, but allows Cyan to operate a server of its own and allow user generated content.

I suggest to Cyan that they take option two. For the simple reason that it will lead to a stronger Cyan when the rights are released back to them. Why should they pay money they likely don’t have to buy back the rights when they can move for two years to new ideas and new games to make money? I think Cyan would be helped by making new games, a new Myst-like, mold-breaking, genre-making game. Even a kids game. Appeal to the parents who would like a more stimulating learning experience for their children than the Cartoon Network and the few children’s shows remaining on television. It won’t get most Uru fans (aside from those with kids), but it might just revitalize Cyan and put it in a powerful position when the rights default back to them in 2010.