Track your comments!
[x]


When you register, comments on your articles and replies to your comments appear here. Register Now!

Sign in to your account
[x]

Not a Scientific Blogging member yet?

Register Now for a Free Scientificblogging.com Account

  • Customize your profile with pictures, banner, a blogroll and more.
  • Leave comments on articles, add other members to your friend lists, chat with people on the site.
  • Write blog posts that can be seen by hundreds of thousands of readers.

It's free and it only takes a minute!

Already a Scientific Blogging member?

Sign In Now

Banner
By T. Ryan Gregory | October 25th 2008 09:16 PM | 4 comments | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
.

More Genomicron articles

All

About T. Ryan Gregory

I am an evolutionary biologist specializing in genome size evolution at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Be sure to visit Evolver Zone


... Full Bio

I came across this interesting forum on Spore. I hope SpongB6F1 won't mind if I quote this posting at length, as I think it is very insightful.

"Science Spore" would be ideal.

...

I think many people will claim that although some kind of abstract commitment to science would have been nice in Spore, what they really want is just some decent, engaging and clever gameplay, instead of a rigid pattern of repetitive, simplistic grinding tasks.

But I think these are two very interrelated issues. The gameplay elements that attracted many of us to the game were precisely the "sciencey" parts. Because by science we're not talking about the propounding of abstract theorems or doing calculus problems here--the science parts most of us want are basically just the interesting game mechanics everyone is talking about (e.g. functional consequence to parts placement in Creature, or a more realistic Creature ecosystem and behavior system, or any number of sci-fi features we wanted in Space, etc.).

These are science-related not because of any didactic teaching of facts, but in their basic nature and the mental approach you'd have to take to them. Such as trial and error, experimentation, exploration of the world, problem solving, inducing general principles of how the world works, etc. E.g. figuring out what kinds of creature design would be effective. Figuring out what kinds of creature behaviors and strategies are appropriate for which niche, etc.

So in asking for a "Science Spore," most of us are really asking for a game that actually engages our minds on some level. That's why we play games in the first place.


I am, of course, pleased to see that many others are interested in a game like Spore that incorporates some actual evolution, and that there is even hope that this will arrive in the form of an expansion or sequel someday. But would there be a market?



Comments

adaptivecomplexity's picture
I'd line up to buy it. So far (after playing to the end of Tribal Stage), I've been disappointed in how irrelevant creature design or other problem solving skills are to progressing in the game.

That's amazing! The convergence of science content and gameplay goals is something I never thought of... but it makes sense. It's true that the appeal of a great science story has much in common with the appeal that makes for a great game. I imagine that this is what Will Wright originally imagined for Spore... before it became corrupted by Electronic Arts' corporate principles, e.g. make as dumbed-down a game as possible by spreading the R&D out over dozens of future editions of the game.
-John Bohannon (a.k.a. the Gonzo Scientist)

i heared that some students are making a game simillar to spore but more realistic they call it evolutions!

This "Science Spore" game is the one that captured my attention and had me following the game's development, thinking that this could be the best game ever made. However, that was not the game delivered, and (after reading the reviews) that's the reason that I never even bothered to buy Spore.

So is there a market for "Science Spore?" Absolutely, and I think it includes most, if not all, of the people who were excited about Spore from the time they saw the first demo video.

Add a comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <sup> <sub> <a> <em> <strong> <center> <cite> <code> <TH><ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <img> <br> <p> <blockquote> <strike> <object> <param> <embed> <del> <pre> <b> <i> <table> <tbody> <div> <tr> <td> <h1> <h2> <h3> <h4> <h5> <h6> <hr> <iframe>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
CAPTCHA
If you register, you will never be bothered to prove you are human again. And you get a real editor toolbar to use instead of this HTML thing that wards off spam bots.