Spore figurines at E3
by C.K. Sample, III 
{ May 11th 2006 at 4:45PM }
Randall Bennett and I got a nice little sneak peak at Spore last night at Wired Magazine's presentation featuring Will Wright and guest starring Robin Williams. We shot some great video that will be up on the site as soon as it's ready. We also managed to get a private screening of the game thanks to the people at EA Games. Randall will be doing a full write-up of the game play experience later today, but I just wanted to share one little cool thing in the room where they hosted the preview: Figurines of creatures different Spore designers built in the game and then printed out as three dimensional models (like the guy pictured above). Check below the jump for more pics...
Sleepy frogman?
This little guy is a stomach, and by the looks of him, I think he has indigestion.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Danno @ May 11th 2006 4:50PM
WANT SPORE NOW
Paul @ May 11th 2006 4:55PM
One thing concerns me. It seems every creature is reptilian in nature. Is Mammalian life not possible?
Ford Dent @ May 11th 2006 4:59PM
I think I speak for everyone when I say Spore needs to release, and soon.
Otherwise I'm going to go INSANE WITH DESIRE.
C.K. Sample, III @ May 11th 2006 5:04PM
Hey, Paul,
It's not just reptiles. There's a pretty wide array of textures, colors, and limbs available in the creature editor areas, but some of them aren't quite prime time as yet. There was some talk at last night's event about more skins being added, more limbs, more bits and pieces available for download down the road. w00t!
MosquitoControl @ May 11th 2006 5:13PM
Aren't a few of those from the last Spore presentation a few months back?
Couldn't they have come up with more than just those?
Kyle McHenry @ May 11th 2006 5:16PM
"There was some talk at last night's event about more skins being added, more limbs, more bits and pieces available for download down the road. w00t!"
Oh geeze, here comes the expansion packs
icelight @ May 11th 2006 5:26PM
To 2:
Two possibilities. Both revolve around the fact that from the outside, mammalls only get told apart by fur (Whales look like fish with sideways tales, after all). The pink and red things at the back of the second to last picture, for instance, could very well be a shaved, six legged warthog with a spiky rear. I'd guess that either procedurally gennerating and then rendering that much fur is too much to ask of a system, or that the printer they used to create them just couldn't handle that level of detail (although those are some very nice models.) So, one of the two, and I'd lean towards the former. Pre-rendered cut scenes have a hard enough time making hair move realistically, to ask a game to do it, and without a pre-built model, is asking a lot. On the other hand, they may have just not gotten that far in the build process yet, as it's a fairly comsetic difference. Certaily the textures have improved between the GDC video that was released and those from E3, there may be even more room for improvement.
Unless you were talking about the whole egg laying thing, in which case I'd say it's just a game dynamic issue, and they'd feel akward if you had to click on the mother's belly to make the genetic changes.
EdZ @ May 11th 2006 5:43PM
One thing I haven't seen in any Spore trailers yet is fur. All the creatures appear to be smooth-skinned.
Chyld989 @ May 11th 2006 5:46PM
To 6:
Will's already said that he doesn't plan on having expansion packs for Spore, because everything should be in from the beginning, and becaue they'll be adding new stuff periodically (which I'm assuming you can just patch in like EQ or any other online game).
Whether or not he holds true to that statement remains to be seen, but here's hoping.
Ryan de michigan @ May 11th 2006 5:48PM
Im hoping eventually we can "Print" our creatures from the game (for a fee, of course) What better Game Mascot to sit on your desk than one you spent hours and hours creating and building from scratch?
Victor Agreda, Jr. @ May 11th 2006 7:50PM
"mass customized" figures would be totally brilliant, and I'd wager people would pay a premium for them. But chances are not enough people would be willing to pay... These were hand painted but sculpted from that laser/resin process, yes?
Jon @ May 11th 2006 10:52PM
Spore looks like its gonna be so sweet, I just wish they would stop showing us so much so that when we can actually play it we will be suprised. I have yet to see a Spore creature that has hair and I hope they include more 'mammal like' creatures in the game.
baR_n1 @ May 11th 2006 11:11PM
Gotta catch 'em all! That sleepy frog and stomach creature are too cute!
I also hope we can make more mammalian creatures in the final game... 6 armed poo flinging monkey ftw!
Andrea @ May 12th 2006 4:28PM
I'm almost 40, I've seen a lot of games and too many they are alike just better graphic taking advantage of new hardware or internet for multiplayer... I lost my videogame fever. Its 3 years that I just look at the video demos with little excitement and no interest for playing.
Its about time for something like Spore, I'm intrigue, I want to play again!
Evan @ May 13th 2006 1:10AM
Is there an official release date yet?
God I hope so.
i want it.
i want it so bad
Eat Snow @ May 19th 2006 12:20AM
Evan, I think Will Wright said it was going to be released around April 2007.
DaMuncha @ Jun 26th 2006 4:25AM
i cant wait that long,
so many beutiful games coming out at the end of this year, UT 2007, Halo 3 (even though i dont like halo).
and spore, im just itching in my boots, i need it now!
Kris @ Jul 22nd 2006 4:01PM
I can't wait... I'm searching for all the information I can on the game
VP Spore @ Jul 27th 2006 6:00PM
These 3d print out option look sweet I really hope EA can do it, if not then you could take it to this site I found that offer print outs of any 3d object you like, but a bit pricey at £112 to get a model, lets hope EA can do it cheaper.
http://www.3dmodelprinting.com/publish/3d_model_printing_service_bureau_costs.html
Skidoodilybop @ Aug 9th 2006 2:10PM
KYLE MCHENRY - I wouldn't jump to conclusions about expansion packs yet! I've read that if you play while connected to the internet, you will be able to use player-created building styles, creature creations and many other custom things - and share your own! Seemingly endless possibilities without the cost of expansion pack after expansion pack.
I can't promise we wont end up finding expansions after the game comes out, but I bet (since the game is so fantastically involving and detailed as it is) they would be definately worth the purchase, with another Universe-worth of material and styles to use (unless the exp(s) end up over-priced). If you play The Sims 2, I bet Spore's expansion(s) would be much more efficient and cheaper than the Expansion/Fun packs that Sims 2 has been coming out with (though I end up buying them anyway so I don't have to be limited with my Simly options :p).
If you have any worries, visit www.snootyspore.com - a very realiable site with insider info, interviews, images, links and everything.