Hypothetical Spore Expansion Packs If you had to develop a Spore expansion pack, what added functionality would you add to Spore?
That is a very good question. There is still much to learn what the game has to offer, but I do recall that the base game won't ship with a plant editor. So that should be included. I cannot really think of more possibilities the game could offer until it is released to try it out...
Hopefully the ability to make the M-class planets look more smoother and not with the cartoonish look they've had in the various screenshots.
That is a good question because EA has already stated that they fully intend to support the game for 10 years if the community supports it! Lets hope this one sells a million units in September... Some ideas for expansion packs, loosely speaking: Clothing, Weapons and Tech - This would be outfits, uniforms, blaster pistols, gear, props and accessories. Genetic Bounty - Thousands more body parts, natural weapons, and a plant/botany editor. Money, Faith, and War - Addons that extend the units, gameplay, editors, and missions of the three factions in the Civilization game; "Economic", "Cultural", and "Military" Cosmic Conquest - The ability to not only create planets, but even to alter the local arm of the galaxy, sending planets smashing into each other or into black holes. Also massive starfleets and space stations can be created for interstellar battles. All the names are the first thing I thought of and probably not that marketable...
IF the base game doesn't already permit it (IF), I'd like an expansion pack that will let us make humanoid creatures also. Something like the Aliens from Sims2 would be really cool. I haven't seen any examples of any creature looking somewhat human, yet. That doesn't mean it can't be done though...???
Humanoid simply means human like in form. It doesn't have to have the characteristics of a human face to be a a humanoid. For example an upright biped with two arms and a human like head would be considered a humanoid (even my creature is semi-humanoid... which kind of annoys me in a way because I always took a 'non-humanoid' approach). I guess with enough time in he editor you could create something almost human like, but I doubt it will be anything even sim like. Personally I'd like an expansion pack that introduced megastructures. I want my Ringworld and Dyson Sphere dammit! (I guess an alien civilisation would call them something like a solar sphere or something like that (instead of a Dyson Sphere)... and even then 'sol' from solar comes from latin so it wouldn't even be that.)
The ability for a creature to live completely underwater (in a 3D environment, not 2D like the tide pool phase). You can see this in some of the old 2005 videos, but it was cut from the game. I believe when they announced it was cut, they said it might be an expansion. While I believe the creature had to venture onto land before moving to the tribal phase, a completely underwater intelligent species would be interesting. Also, in one video there was mention that in the space phase, when you can create domed cities on uninhabitable planets, that you could also create domed cities underwater. I'd guess that was also cut with underwater creatures.
I don't know how I'd expand on Spore, as I do not know what its going to be like when it originally releases.. But I would definitely expand the RTS military portion of the game.. as I hear there will be no infantry.
Alien Humanities I would really like to see procedurally-generated behaviours such as art, politicial organization, philosophical attitudes, and the like, evolving on their own (as a function of the organisms' phenotype/lifestyle?). If each race evolves a unique set of artistic sensibilities that inform their creative style, then thought-provoking reactions could occur by bringing alien art to a world where it is new and strange. You could then see the local artistic sensibilities impacted by the new idea by expressing imitation or compensation... I'm thinking you could have more interesting interactions and kind of bring out some of the model's potential for a-life. Just my $0.02!
