Spore Q&A - The Creator Speaks
Famed Sims designer Will Wright answers our questions about his ambitious new civilization-building project in this exclusive interview.
GS: We saw at E3 that Spore's creatures may not live just in the game or in editors, since the game catalogs them using an interface that looks a lot like a collectible card game...
WW: We're looking at how we can leverage all the stuff in the game and bring it outside. So we're exploring all those things right now; we're not really announcing any of it yet. But I think the amount of ownership that people feel over this content they create is amazing--just in testing, watching people create a creature, how proud they are of it, and how much they want to bring other people to the screen and show it off to them.
GS: What are your general thoughts on next-generation game consoles and handhelds?
WW: We were kind of assuming that the next-gen consoles would all be superpowerful, but now we're looking at how expensive the Sony [PlayStation 3] is, trying to leverage the value of Blu-ray; we look at how cheap the Nintendo Wii is going to be and its innovative controller; we're looking at Microsoft's early mover advantage and its focus on network games. We're actually seeing the manufacturers going off in their own directions, which is interesting. And at the same time, we're seeing that handhelds are very different from each other; they appeal to very different groups with very different styles of gameplay. So, I think we're seeing a kind of explosion of gaming, where games are going out to all these different platforms, with all these different styles, and we're starting to see lighter, more-innovative, more-casual games on some of these lower-end platforms.
GS: Do you see a home for Spore on any of the new consoles or handhelds in the near future, or is it too early to say? What can you confirm for us at this time?
WW: We're certainly looking at [Spore] as a franchise. The PC [version of the game], for me, is the tip of the iceberg. You can imagine Spore in a lot of different variants, because we have all these different types of gameplay. We can pull out individual levels; we can use the editors in totally different ways; and so on. I can easily imagine Spore on any conceivable platform, and that's something that we've definitely been looking into. We're not announcing anything yet, but it's pretty obvious that I want Spore to take over the world (laughs).
GS: Then what we can confirm is that Spore is a game with the potential to expand somewhere else, but right now, it's only for the PC.
WW: Yeah, but my ambition is for it to become a major franchise. You can take that for what it's worth.
GS: So the idea is that this is intended to be a franchise that goes beyond being a computer game? Where else will it go?
WW: I think [Spore] definitely wants to go beyond being a computer game. I think the essence of Spore as a franchise is creativity. So, we have these editors with which players will be making huge amounts of content, and the question is: How can we leverage that content into other game styles, maybe other platforms, and other experiences? I think that's what will distinguish Spore as a franchise from a lot of the other games out there--it's not totally dependent on peer-to-peer, head-to-head gaming. That's why I don't feel Spore is as constrained to its original platform.
GS: We understand that you've been focused primarily on Spore and you no longer work on The Sims on a day-to-day basis. But while we've got you here, could you share your thoughts with us on the Sims franchise?
WW: I think The Sims struck a chord with a lot of people, a lot of nongamers. It was interesting watching how a lot of players didn't really convert into "gamers," even though for a lot of them, The Sims was the first game they'd ever played. So, I think it's very important that we don't lose the accessibility that brought the core group into The Sims...but also to push things into more of this creativity direction, because I think that where The Sims really struck a chord was how players felt like they were authors, or directors.
My answers on The Sims are almost of a speculative nature--this is really what I'd like to see in the game, but it doesn't necessarily mean that [the Sims development team] is actually working on it.
GS: Finally, we've heard a few different dates get tossed around for the release of Spore. When is the game scheduled to launch?
WW: We're saying the second half of next year [2007] for now.
GS: Thanks, Will.
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