Spore Tips

Creator Tip: Tricking Miss Complexity

2010-08-28T16:01:00.000-07:00

Many creators out there are always angry that Miss Complexity won't allow for decent vehicles or spaceships. The spaceship editor already allows more, but that still isn't enough. Despite that, since patch 5 there is a trick: asymmetry.

Once you have your core game all patched up, all you have to do to is hold down "a" and select a base part. This will remove the base part's double as well as all those from the detail parts attached to it.

Warning: This will make all new parts attached to it asymmetric.

When you start hitting it high on the complexity meter, just do that and you should get it down a few notches, ready to add more to your vehicle or spaceship.

If you still need to add a symmetric part, you can still use a flat, square block and move that into the already asymmetric base part, but don't forget to hold down "a" first to get even more out of Miss Complexity.

How to draw in Spore: Moogle

2010-08-27T22:52:00.000-07:00

So for this tutorial, I’ve selected a simple line art – a moogle from Final Fantasy. I know it’s cute, but you creepy creators don’t have to share it :P It may look daunting at first, but hopefully I can help you out with that. The easiest way to figure out how to make it, in my opinion, is to look at in the editor and take it apart. But here’s a hopefully detailed and easy to follow tutorial. To the right is the moogle we will be making. This is also posted in my All About Buildings thread too.

Step One:

The first thing you should do is place a block, or whatever you’re making your picture on (I’m going to refer to it as the backdrop), in the center. Turn it to face the screen, raise it up using Ctrl, and make it as big as you see fit. You should probably make it as big as you can so you don’t have to squish everything together or fix it later. The next thing is to make your border. I usually just do a simple rectangle-ish one with a little color. You can go as extravagant or as simple as you want, but you have to take complexity in mind. I make the border first so I don’t have to worry about adding one later.

Step Two:

Now we will start making the image. When I make line art, it is almost entirely made of the Epee part. Since the moogle’s pom pom thing is at the top, start with that. Grab a Candominium base part, turn it with a connector (you won’t need to if you have DVDMaster’s mod), and put it near the top and a little to the right of the center. Make the rim black and the inside red. Then take an Epee, turn it so it’s smooth against the backdrop and sink it into the Candominium. Next take another Epee, make it bigger with the mouse wheel and extend it a bit. As you can see in the diagram, I circled it in red, the base part of the Epee is outlined in white. You’ll have to turn it a bit using the axis, and sink it into the backdrop using Shift. I turned the screen a bit so you can get a view. This is how I actually make the pictures, they stick out a bit :( The first image is looking at it from the front making sure that the placement is right. The second is from the side.

Step Three:

Now do the outline of the face. At first it might look not so great, so don’t get discouraged. Trust me all of mine look horrible until I’m almost done. When looking at reference pictures, look at the lines and different angles. Don’t look at the image as a whole. Every line or curve makes up one Epee, sometimes if the line is pretty long it will take two. Here’s how many Epees you need and how to make them (sorry that they aren’t exactly straight, but you get the idea I hope):

The rest of the outline is composed of the Epee part. I used two Pointed triangle detail parts – a black and a red – for each ear. Try to just get theoutline of the head done, and then readjust after. As you can see from the first image, this should take up about half of the backdrop now.

There's also a video of what I have so far found here.

Step Four:

Now fill in the face. The eyes are two Epees, one on top of each
other. The nose is an Esphereal as well as the mouth. The whiskers and chin are Epees. For the nose, make the red part as big as it can get using the arrows. I had to use four black Esphereal for the outline to fit around the big red one. To make the chin, make the Epee as small as it can get and sink it into the backdrop. For the tongue, I made it a little smaller then the black Esphereal for the mouth, turned it a bit and painted it pinkish.

Step Five:

On to the body! This is entirely made of Epees. Make the body first starting with the right arm. The wings come last. I hope you guys can see all of the numbers and figure out the order. I started with the right arm, then went to the right leg, next was the left leg, then the gut, the left arm, and lastly the wings. It looks like there should be 30 Epees for the body and wings. I included a side image too, to show you what it looks like at this point.

Step Six:

Finally fill in the wings, add color, and smooth everything out. For the right wing I used two Boxy, one Pointed, and two Tear Dropped parts. Make sure that all of these parts kind of flow together as best as you can. You’ll have to sink them into the backdrop using Shift. Refer to the image for where to place these parts. The Tear Dropped parts go in the tips of the wings (numbers 1 and 2). The Boxy parts go in the top angle of the wing and by the arm and shoulder (numbers 3 and 4). The Pointed part goes in the second corner thingy where the wing and fur meet (number 5). The left wing is made of two Hanging Fangs.

I added a pink Esphereal to the nose and another to the pom pom. I also added cheeks made of Dollop Habitat base parts. You don’t have to add cheeks, but if you do you have to adjust the whiskers. Lastly I made the backdrop a light brown. Make it whatever you want or just leave it white. There’s a little complexity left, so add more details if you want or make a more extravagant border.

And now for the final image!

I hope this made sense. Just ask if you want anything cleared up or you want any additional information :D!

CreatorTip: Color

2010-08-19T22:52:00.000-07:00

I have gotten many questions on some of my creations asking me how I do this. So, I decided to make a short guide on how to manipulate color and limbs to make the body seem like it's two different colors. There is one color scheme in particular that allows you to do this. It is found in the detail section, first page, 4th on down on the far left. (See in the screencap to the left)

This color choice only covers the knees or elbows of the limb, this allows you to push limbs together to make it seem like a solid color and a part of the body. The best limb to use is the slackwrist arm, as this makes it flow more smoothly with the normal body, however it works with any limb. The screenshot below shows how you have to push the limbs together to get this effect.

Shape the limbs anyway you want to, however make sure they are sized correctly so they flow together. The result should look somewhat like this:

Part of the body is the base color, but the other part is the detail color shaped to look like it's part of the body color.

Check Out: CopperLou

2010-08-19T16:04:00.000-07:00

Greetings my fellow Sporeans. Like Rebecca1208, Sakiara, Andeavor and techno605, I was invited by Parkaboy to assist in adding entries to his fantastic blog. Compared to the other authors here, I'm somewhat new to Spore. I've been creating since September 2009 and have yet to stop loving Spore. I look forward to making entries in this blog and hopefully assisting others with the tips I have to offer.

I specialize primarily in creatures, however I also use the building editor a lot and occasionally the vehicle and space ship editors. I try to make all types of creatures such as fantasy, mythological, mechanical, artistic, realistic, and horror.

On the Sporum, I'm primarily known as SporeMasterCopper one of the moderators of the forum. So if you ever have a problem with the game or sporum(or just a question,) feel free to shoot me a PM and I'll help you out best I can. Once again, I look forward to helping out with this blog, I know I have a lot of tips I can't wait to share with the community!

CreatorTip: Rotating Roofs and Bases

2010-08-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

I've been asked many, many times how I manage to rotate roof and base parts since all we can do is swivel them around. There are two easy ways to do that:

Using Connectors

Place a roof or base part on any connector attached to another basic part. Then rotate the connector until you've reached the desired angle. Now you have two choices, you can either drag the base/roof far enough away with the shift or alt key and delete the connector or simply copy the base/roof and a copy will be left in place. You can then move the connector again and place another tilted roof/base to create more advanced creations. This technique allows for creating circles, arches and spirals using nothing but base blocks.

Note: Doors are considered detail parts and will automatically reset their position when you accidentally hover the mouse over an arrow of the base part.

Using the Rotation Mod

DVDMaster was kind enough to make a Building Editor Mod adding an additional rotation ring to the base and roof parts when you hit the tab key. You can install it like other mods by placing the .package file into the Data folder of your Spore installation directory.

Note: Currently, the mod only works on the PC.

Sporing for Dummies

2010-08-06T13:23:00.000-07:00

by Andeavor

Chapter 1 - Becoming a good Creator

Each editor has its own secrets, which are ready for you to explore. Many of the successful creators have been with Spore since the beginning two years ago and naturally have progressed so far to know their favorite editor inside out.

If you like a particular creation, don't hesitate to take it apart in the editor to see how it was done. In the beginning it can be hard to even retrace the steps but with enough trial and errors you'll eventually get the hang of it.

If possible, get the most out of your creations by reaching the complexity meter limit, carefully choose the textures and colors and don't be afraid to take your time. The more you spend in the editor the better you'll get.

Chapter 2 - Getting on the MPN

Being on the MPN is a great feeling, especially if you're new to the game or haven't been in the spotlight before, but remember that nobody will notice your work unless you make them aware of it.

Several times a week, go on the MPN and comment on (and uprate) anything you like. Don't ask to have your creations looked at, just leave a nice comment or a creative suggestion. Other players will enjoy that more than needy-sounding comments.

Chapter 3 - Increasing Subscribers

The same rules apply to the subscriptions as to being on the MPN, but additionally you can ensure someone coming to your page and buddying you for a few reasons.

You could either specialize in themed sets, specific artwork or make highly detailed props that other players could use or be exited about seeing in their game. With enough practice you should get together a nice portfolio that could attract a couple subscribers every week.

Chapter 4 - Treating other Creators

Spore is a game with an in-game networking system. Since Maxis and EA can't or won't censor your speech in comments you should watch your potty mouth. Too much foul language can get you reported enough to being banned.

If you want to be treated nicely you should do so, too, since what you give is what you get. And who

Chapter 5 - Dealing with Downraters

If another creator maliciously puts down your work and constantly harasses you, immediately report their nasty comments and then block them from commenting. It is best to ignore downraters as all they're looking for is a reaction. This also means actively going against one or more downraters.

If you keep giving them the attention they will have won long before your newest creation has a red face.

Addendum

Have patience and keep creating, Rome wasn't built in a day either. :D

Check Out: Andeavor

2010-08-06T13:01:00.000-07:00

Good morning sunshine, the earth says hello! I've been invited to co-author this blog a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far a- wait, I digress.

I've been with Spore since the beginning and have garnered quite some experience. When I started in Spore two years ago, I was appalled at the lack of proper building sets. I started to make my own complete set and the rest is history.

I have specialized in the building editor and I'm famous for my realistic buildings and large collection of themed sets. Before GA came out I also started making props and later have started making the one or other adventure template.

I've been involved in several organizations within the Spore community, from the now defunct TCP and Spore TV to the Euroclub and for a short time I was also behind Spore Uni which has closed its gates for a while now.

Anyway, check out my profile!

Check Out: techno605

2010-07-31T01:46:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody! Just like Rebecca1208, Sakiara and Andeavor i was one of the lucky ones that Parkaboy asked to join his Blog as an author. So i'd like to take this opportunity to introduce myself for those that don't know me i've been creating since Jun 21, 2008 and i've become well known for my Artwork with the Building Editor. I've been told my artwork has inspired many creators and i'm always willing to share my knowledge and answer any questions concerning the Building Editor.

I've also held a couple of Building Editor Art Contests in the Sporums that inspired a large number of creators to try out their art skills with some amazing results that can be viewed in my Techno605's Art Gallery Sporecast alongside with many other top quality Artwork that i have selected from the Sporepedia.
So feel free to ask me any questions concerning the Building Editor and i'll be posting some tutorials here soon.

Check Out: Sakiara

2010-07-28T22:54:00.000-07:00

Hello Sporeans! I've been invited by Parkaboy and will be an author here. I'm a veteran in Spore and have been creating since the Creature Creator. So I hope I can help out with some tips and tutorials.

I for the most part specialize in buildings. Lately I've been making silhouettes and line art. I've made some actual buildings including a few sets, and art buildings as well. I also have some props, a couple of adventures, and a few creatures as well. I typically create cute and beautiful creations that are filled with detail and color.

I've also been involved with TCP, Spore TV and I've held a few contests. I'm all about the community and helping people out. If you need any advice, tips, critiques or whatever. Be sure to let me know! You can also find anything building related in my All About Buildings thread on the Sporum. Oh ya, here's my profile if you want to check it out, talk, or have any questions: Sakiara.

Check Out: Rebecca1208

2010-07-23T10:50:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! As you may have heard, Parkaboy has invited a few more creators to help out here and post their own content. As well as checking out Parkaboy's tips, I hope to provide help and advice on creations as well, specifically creatures and adventures, and maybe make a few reccomendations and spotlights on some fantastic creators, too.

I also have a collection of tutorial videos on YouTube, under DarkEdgeTV, which shows play-throughs on how I create creatures, different commands in each editor, and how to make certain environments or play with props in Galactic Adventures.

Now, to start with, a little self-promotion, to help introduce myself. For those who don't know me, I'm mainly known for creating Dragons and other fantasy creatures in a variety of designs and styles. I try to vary in creating and step away from Dragons by creating spaceships, horror-designs, sci-fi characters and realistic or prehistoric animals. Some of my more well known creations includes "Eden", my "Aquatic Stage" adventure, and my "Valley of the Dragons" adventure series.

While I mainly create for art, recently I've been more concious of how the creations act in other peoples' games, so I'm beginning to be a lot more careful in my designs by testing animation far more often. I try to give all of my creations a sense of realism to begin with, since I'm very fussy over anatomy and proportions. So hopefully, I'll start creating content with a far better performance than last time.

I'm also helping out in a couple projects or clans/fanclubs with a variety of creators, including Vektrix's EuroSpore forum, Piratenori's Civilised Sporeons forum and Hilight's SNS (serious noise shipyards) in the Sporum. I've also taken part in other groups, such as the Knurldown Clan, The Golden Spotlight and the Darkened Abyss Clan.

So feel free to find me in the Sporum, or drop by at my Spore page, Rebecca1208 to see more creations (:

SporeTips Announcement

2010-07-21T10:17:00.000-07:00

Hey, folks! I know the blog has been pretty slow for some time now... The last couple of years I've had a job taking most of my time, so I've finally decided to invite a few talented and experienced creators to come on board. On the next few weeks you'll start to see new faces (or rather new screen names) popping in. Stay tuned for new posts and check out the "Authors" sections on the sidebar for updates!

Cheers!
Parkaboy

"Darkspore" Announced!

2010-07-21T05:28:00.000-07:00

You guys know I usually don't do news, but it's exciting to finally have something new to talk about in the Spore community: Darkspore!

We've known very little about Darkspore on the last few weeks: a couple of trademarks filed by EA, a few concept art pics leaked from the website hile in construction... We didn't even know if it was going to be a standalone game or an expansion...

Now we know! Yesterday the Darkspore official website came online with details and a teaser trailer, which you see below.

This was timed with July 20's EA Studio Showcase, where they revealed a few new titles. The Showcase, transmitted live via web, had a little gameplay footage for Darkspore, which you can also see in the video:

So there we go! Schedule for release in February 2011, Darkspore is going to be a multiplayer action RPG for the PC, with a creature editor similar to that of Spore. Don't forget to check the "Living Weapons" page on the official website for a sneak peek of the new creature parts!

Also, as MaxisCactus (the Spore Community manager) have stated on the Sporum, while we won't be able to export Spore creatures to Darkspore, we'll have the opportunity to create NPC enemies for the new game, possibly through the Template Contests that have been going on already on the Community Showcase section.

Adventure Class - Lesson 1

2010-05-30T11:26:00.000-07:00

Since my adventures have been rather successful during the last few months, many people have been asking me for tips on adventure-making. Because of that, I decided to start a feature on SporeTips very much like the Building Class I started some time ago.

But first I must warn you that this is not a simple tutorial. I'm not going to teach you the controls, the shortcuts, or anything like that. I'm assuming you are already familiar with the Adventure Editor, and only needs tips to increase the quality and, consequently, the popularity of your adventures.

Also, I warn you that these tips aren't a sure formula for success. The results will always depend on how well you apply the tips. Also, whenever I tell you to avoid doing something, you should not take that advice as a rule: you can probably do the opposite of I tell you to and still make a good adventure. The tips are supposed to be guidelines, not commandments written in stone.

So shall we start?

LESSON 1: On making your adventure attractive for players

Okay, let's begin with a topic that's almost entirely ignored by newbie creators, causing their adventures to go unnoticed for a long time: the preview images.

A preview image is like the cover of a book. You know the saying "don't judge a book by its cover"? Well, a lot of people do judge the adventures from the preview pics. You have to understand that for most people it takes a couple of minutes to download the assets and load a mission, and they don't want to waste that time unless they have a reason to believe the adventure is going to be cool.

Which one would you rather play?

So you need at least four preview pictures to capture the player's interest. The first pic is the most important of all, since that's going to be the thumbnail of your adventure. A good thumbnail is the difference between getting on the Most Popular New shortlist and barely getting any plays. To take a screenshot you only need to click the "C" button once on your keyboard, and then sort out the four preview images you want for your adventure on the central panel where you also choose the name, genre, description and tags for your adventures.

Here are a few tips for getting good preview pictures:

Don't leave the "default" planet picture on any of the preview slots, specially the first one. Unless you're making a planet template, that's pretty much the worse mistake you can make.
Don't take your screenshots from the editor! You can enter the Test Drive Mode and take the shots from there. That way you won't end up with the handlers and team identifyers (those green, or red squares under each creature) showing up in the image. Those are visual aids for the editor, they're not part of your adventure!
I know the Test Drive Mode has an important limitation on camera angles. But you can use the "freecam" cheat to allow you the freedom of choosing any camer angle you like. That's important, because you don't want the default captain creature to show up on the picture! Unless you're making a locked-captain adventure, the captain you choose on the editor is just a placeholder, and won't even show up in the adventure! So why should it be front and center on the preview?
You can put together a scene specially for taking a picture. Remember you can delete the creations after taking a screenshot, so you're not constrained to taking pictures of events and places that actually happen or appear in the adventure. Try to create a scene that's descriptive of the whole adventure experience: put main characters in there, even if they don't appear together in the adventure; use effects to make the scene cooler and use gates to carefully place vehicles and creatures wherever you wish (check the How to disguise gameplay objects as creatures post if you need).
Try to learn how the rectangle screenshot translates into a square preview pictures. You have to understand that the sides of the image will be cut off in the preview, and compensate for that. Take many screenshots from slightly different angles and positions, and choose the ones that look best. That way you'll learn by practising how to choose the best angles and layouts.

While getting good preview images is important, there are other tips that will help your adventure get more attention from players. Here are some of them:

Don't make locked-captain adventures. Unless you have a very good idea for a new game dynamic and you need control over the player stats, you have no reason to force the player to use a specific avatar. If the player can use his own captain, then he'll be awarded experience points for playing your adventure. That's an extra reason to get his/hers interest.
Get your adventure to be worth more points! Sure, you can't control the value of your mission in experience points, but there are a few ways to make it a little bit higher. The main ones are: make your adventure harder (try to make the player die a couple of times before completing it); and make your adventure longer than a couple of minutes.
Choose an interesting title. Good titles often sound cool, or have a good alliteration. Or they may be a reference to a famous work, a movie, a book, a play, a game, or even just a quote. And remember to capitalize your titles!
Give the player a good idea what's the adventure about in the description, without spoiling the ending, of course! Look at the Maxis adventures for a model on good uncomplicated descriptions. Try to avoid breaking the fourth wall by adding "I made this adventure because I watched movie such-and-such" or "technical" info such as the adventure version. Leave those kind of comments to brackets, such as this: [adventure made from John Doe's template].
Add good tags. Tags are important, but not essential. You can get a few extra plays if you're careful about choosing proper tags. Add stuff that the adventure has that may be of interest to players, such as: mystery, murder, explosion, love story, robots, zombies, etc.

That's all for now, folks! I'll be back soon with more tips! Stay tuned!

CreatorTip: Advanced outfitting technique

2010-01-25T05:45:00.000-08:00

I have always been unhappy with how some of the outfitted creatures turned out: most of the time, your alien species' suit or armor ends up looking as if each part was glued on the being's sking. Of course, that's how the editors work: you attach stuff to a creature's skin.

But I'm going to share today a technique I have developed to help create outfits that are a lot more convincing. There are a few limitations to this technique, and it takes a lot of practice to create suits that animate properly, but here it goes...

This is what we're aiming for. This technique allows you total control over where you place an outfit part, and it's used mainly to let you place rings around a creature's limb or body.

This is how you should start: add a Snokelicious part and place a Ring part carefully on top of the Snokelicious. You can only place one part on top of another if you have installed Galactic Adventures or one of the latest patches. In earlier versions of the game the outfit parts can't be stacked.

Hold the "Tab" key while selecting a part to access more handlers and position the parts as shown below:

Now here comes the tricky part: select the snokelicious, NOT the ring, and hold "Tab" for the advanced handlers. As shown below:

You can then rotate the snokelicious - NOT the ring - 180°, so it now points to the inside of the creature's limb or body. You may have to resize and move both parts to get the proper placement.

This technique can be used with any parts, though you will find out that not every part stacks on everything. Parts such as hats can be only placed on top of certain types of parts, such as shoulderpads or chest parts. With training you'll learn how to get the best combinations of parts.

Another combo that looks pretty good is the Bolt/Tinker Ticker. I use that a lot, and it helps create some very cool spacesuits. You should start with the placement of parts shown below, and follow the same steps as shown above.

Practice this technique and soon you'll be making outfits like this one:

Update: Rebecca1208 has created a video tutorial based on this technique. It might be easier to learn from it, so here it is!

Attack of the Spores!

2010-01-07T18:27:00.000-08:00

I just finished my biggest adventure so far!

In "Attack of the Spores!" your captain must help the human crew of the Starship Leviathan get rid of the threat of face-hugging, mind-controler alien spores - and without killing the human hosts! Get ready to explore the entire interior of this big vessel - there's even a hangar and escape pods!

Seriously, folks... this took me nearly 20 hours of work to build. I hope you guys enjoy it! I tried to make sure that there would be no bugs, and I hope you can appreciate the extra effort. If you play it, make sure to rate it up!

Click the image on the top for the link, or check more screenshots below:

CreatorTip: How to disguise gameplay objects as creatures

2009-12-14T13:56:00.000-08:00

Many people keep asking about how to do this, after I created an adventure that feature "statues". These were actually Blue Gates disguised as creatures. You can disguise almost any object as a creature if you follow a few simple steps.

Add a gate (or another disguisable object) to your gameplay objects page.
Click on the option to disguise it.
When the editor opens up the Sporepedia, instead of selecting a building or vehicle and clicking OK, choose a creation and click the edit option (one of the bottom right buttons on the Sporepedia).
Inside the edit mode of the building or vehicle, click the Sporepedia button on the bottom left of the screen.
Use the Sporepedia filters to find the creature you want, choose it and again click the edit option.
Inside the edit mode of the creature, just click OK (the green "V" option).

Voilá!

F.A.Q

2009-09-08T17:24:00.000-07:00

Since I keep getting the same questions on the comments for my creations, I've decided to post all the answers here. So here are the Frequently Asked Questions from my profile:

Q. "Can I edit this creation / Can I use this on an adventure I'm making?"

A. Sure!

Q. "How do you get that part on one side / How do you get it to be asymmetric?"

A. If you don't have patch 5.0 or a later patch, you will need a mod or a hacking program to do it. I don't have a link, but you can google it. If you have patch 5.0 or a newer one, you can do it by holding the "A" key on your keyboard and dragging a part to the creature or vehicle.

Q. "How do you get that mouth / How do you deform cell parts?"

A. There's a mod created by DarkDragon that lets you do that. It's called "cellparts xtended", and you can find it at sporemods.org. I'm not sure if it's compatible with the latest patches. I haven't used it for a while...

Q. "What is that part?"

A. If you really want to find out, just open the creation in the editor. You can find new uses for existing parts by distorting it to its limits or rotating it with the help of the "Tab" key.

Q. "How do you place that part inside the creature's body?"

A. After GA and the recent patches, outfit parts started working differently. We can now stack parts on top of each other, meaning you can use a small part to position another pretty much anywhere. Try placing a ring on top of a "screw" part and rotating the screw so the ring appears to be around a creature's limb or body.

Q. "How do you make building parts float?"

A. Just hold the "Ctrl" key and drag a part. Try the "Shift" key also, it's useful. While you're at it, check the in-game guides and the official video tutorials at the website. After that you'll probably stop asking questions that are common knowledge.

Q. "How do you tilt main building parts?"

A. This one is a little harder. Place the part you want to tilt on top of a connector part, and rotate the connector by selecting it and holding the "Tab" key. Then you can move the part away from the connector (try dragging it while holding "Shift" or "Ctrl"), and you can delete the connector.

Q. "How do you access the Advanced A.I. options on the Adventure Editor?"

A. Open a creature's behavior panel by double-clicking it. Hold "Ctrl" and click one of the "personality buttons" (peaceful, neutral, mindless, territorial, aggressive). Voilá!

Q. "When I try to play one of your adventure it says I don't have the parts, but I have all the expansions, patches and packs. Are you using a hack or a mod?"

A. No, I'm not using any mods. It's just a bug. Try downloading the adventure again, I guess. I really don't have a solution for this.

Q. "How do you increase the points awarded by an adventure?"

A. You can't. The game calculates the value by measuring how difficult (how many times people failed it) and how well rated it is. Try making short, hard adventures (so people can try it several times until they finish it), but make sure you have some plot and don't make it so hard it's frustrating for the players.

I'll add more answers whenever I remember more frequent questions.

CreatorTip: Fooling around with 3d spore models

2009-07-27T16:27:00.000-07:00

As everyone should know by now, the latest Spore patch added several new features to the game, such as the possibility of riding vehicles in adventures, in-built asymmetry for all editors, and a cool cheat that exports 3d models of your creatures in a format readable by most 3d modelling programs.

You can get more detailed info here, but to make it work you just need to enter the creature editor, go to Paint Mode and type "ctrl+shift+c" to enter the cheat "colladaexport".

That saves a collada file of your creation in the same folder your creatures are saved. You can then import it into a program such as Autodesk Maya. For those of us that don't have the skills to use or the access to Maya, I highly recommend a little program called FX Composer, that can be downloaded here.

The FX Composer isn't as good as Maya, but it does let you do some cool stuff, like changing lighting effects...

... switching textures ...

... and placing several models together:

I'm still learning how to do the most basic stuff with the program, so I'm not sure if it's even possible to animate or to export a movie, but at least you can create some cool pics such as these:

Creator Tip: How awareness works with buildings

2009-07-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

DVDMaster at the official Spore forums has made a discovery about how the awareness system of NPC creatures works with buildings in the adventures. Check the picture above. Numbers 1, 2 and 3 are buildings created separately. As should be expected, most of the creatures on the picture are able to see one another, with exceptions: A can see only B, because the buildings are on the way, for instance. But let's move to another example:

Here the building 4 is only one building, despite having the same shape of the two buildings from the previous example put together. There should be no change, right? Wrong!

Now the creatures B and E can't see the C and D guys, and vice-versa. In fact, C and D can't even see each other, despite being side by side!

DVDMaster has thought of an explanation for that, and his finding has been confirmed by the developers:

Imagine there's an invisible box around each building, and that these boxes actually hide stuff that's behind them or inside them. It would explain why the C and D creatures are practically blind in the case shown.

This happens because the game computes a bounding box that encases each building and uses it to determine awareness. The line-of-sight checkings are expensive, and Spore uses this solution in order to avoid taxing the machine's processor.

This means that if you're planning to build interior spaces, you should create floors, walls and ceilings separately, or any creature put inside it won't be able to interact with objects or other creatures.

Creator Tip: a few tips on making adventures

2009-07-09T13:51:00.000-07:00

1.
There's more to goals than just "kill N creatures". Make sure you experiment with the different kinds of goals. Extermination missions can get really boring, especially if there's no challenge, or if it's too challenging. No way to defeat that big boss other than getting all upgrades for the captain? Then your mission will be left aside until the player gets the upgrades, by the time he'll probably have forgotten it.

2.
If you want to make your mission hard, make it short. That way, the player can try a few times before getting bored. It's highly frustrating to play a mission for 20, 30 minutes, and then be killed by an overpowerful NPC.

3.
A longer mission can be hard, as long as the player can figure out a solution after playing and failing. Just making the enemies epic, with high attack and health points is pointless, unless you also give the player the tools to finish it, and ways to find out how to do it.

4.
Remember that gameplay objects can be disguised - in other words, replaced by buildings or vehicles. This allows you to disguise a gate as a UFO, and have a parked spaceship, for instance. Also, remember you can set any object to appear/disappear only in certain acts, allowing for story development as the adventure progresses.

5.
You may want to use the first act for a "talk to" goal. That way you can have a character explain what the mission is about. You can also give tips by the speech boxes on the behavior panels. This allows for some cool detective work, where the player clicks on an object on the groun and gets some info, without having to sacrifice a goal for that. It's very rewarding for the player when he can put together the pieces of a mystery.

6.
Finally, remember to tag your adventure creations GAprop! That way they won't show up in the stages of the core game. It's really annoying to meet alien species called "The Mayor Bob Empire", and even worse to find cities made of wall parts and giant keys. Also remember that you can change the name of the creation in the adventure editor, without really affecting the creation outside the adventure. That way you could get one of your alien species and rename it to "Mayor Bob", for instance.

Well, that's it for now, folks! More to come soon!

My first adventure is online!

2009-06-17T16:12:00.000-07:00

Last month I was invited to the Maxis Studios along with other 9 creators, and we had a chance to create our own adventures, as I've already talked about.

And today the folks at Maxis uploaded the stuff we created to the online Sporepedia, meaning everyone can already check it out (though everyone will have to wait for Galactic Adventures to actually be able to play it. So far only Maxis employees and testers have their hands on it).

Anyway, just click the image for the Sporepedia link. And be sure to check out the adventures created by the other campers!

Galactic Adventure Camp - mission log

2009-05-18T06:21:00.000-07:00

Act 1
Goals: talk to MaxisCactus v
get a passport and a visa v

So a few weeks ago I got an e-mail from MaxisCactus inviting me to join a few other creators for a 2 day event at the Maxis Studios in Emeryville, California, where we would play the upcoming Spore expansion pack Galactic Adventures, talk to the developers behind the game, and eat pizza. After I got over my initial reaction - thinking it was all an elaborate scheme from an international gang to steal my kidneys - I got really excited, and started making arrangements so I could attend and still keep my job (and hopefully, my kidneys).

I'm from Brazil, so there was some stuff I had to take care of, such as getting a passport and an american visa. Thankfully I managed to get everything I needed on time - though the people from the U.S. consulate had a hard time believing that I was going California just to play a videogame, and I feared they would deny my request for the visa.

Act 2
Goals: get to Emeryville alive v

Then I went on a 26 hours journey (counting all the waiting hours at airports, flight times and waiting for my baggage to appear). Unfortunately the EA travel coordinator had me booked on a fligh that would get me to San Francisco late for the first day of the event, and a few more delays (such as the shuttle from the airport leaving without me to Emeryville, but it eventually got back) meant that I would only get to Maxis by 2 PM, instead of 9 AM.

Act 3
Goals: get to the Maxis offices v
get a sandwich x

So I arrived at Maxis, where I was greeted by Tammy (their sweet receptionist), MaxisCactus and Aaron (who were in charge of the event). They took me to the Aquarium, where the other 9 guys were already playing on neat Asus* laptops (oh, the blinking blue lights!). G3NJI, Fotosynthesis, Shattari, Masscolder, Gryphon57, dananddna, Slartibartfast38, Terry from TnT-Productions and Ceece were all there. They barely moved their eyes from the screens to greet me, but I guess that's easily understandable. I myself couldn't wait to get my hands on the Adventure Editor. MaxisCactus gave me a sandwich because I hadn't eaten anything since breakfest on Miami time, but I only ate half of it - that's how axious I was.

* Well, I got an Asus poster and a t-shirt, so it doesn't hurt to advertise a little.

Act 4
Goals: create a planet for my adventure v
place down buildings, creatures, vehicles and other stuff v
use effects, sounds and behaviors v

I login to the game and play a couple of adventures at MaxisCactus' suggestion. They're cool, but I'm itching to create. I load a Maxis-made planet to the editor, and start twitching it.

The planet editor isn't exactly as I expected, so I have to make a few changes on my plans. The sculpting tools are actually brushes that can be placed, moved, rotated, resized and distorted - much like detail parts on a creature's body. It's all very versatile, but I wish we had more time, because it would probably take a couple of hours to get the planet looking like I wanted.

The coloring options are a lot more complex (and yet easy to use) than I anticipated. Sure, you can change the colors of stuff like the ocean, atmosphere and beaches - but you can also create cool color gradients that vary according to terrain elevation. I think I could probably make a Death-Star-looking artificial planet just with the scuplting and painting brushes.

The building placement is exactly what I was dreaming it would be. You have all the freedom you could wish to create detailed cities, placing things anywhere (the tab, ctrl and shift keys work just like on the building editor), resizing and combining stuff. I made a city inside a dome and a drilling camp that had cracked ice with real water inside the crack.

The effects and sounds make it all even better, allowing us to create awesome visuals and ambiences. Oh, and the building textures may look blurry from far away, but as the hero approaches the stuff, it gets as detailed and clear as in the editor*.

BTW, it's crucial to place the hero near the buildings and check them out in the Test Mode. For instance, we're placing buildings that have a flat base on a planet with a spherical surface - that creates a gap that you can only see from the surface, and you have to fix it by either creating a flat surface or by sinking the buildings on the ground a bit (holding shift).

Every creation has behaviors that affect how they're going to, uh, behave during the adventure. You can set a creature's team or level of aggressiveness, you can change a building's hit points or set it to invincible, you can disguise game objects as any other stuff, and a lot more. What's coolest is that you can set the behaviors according to each act, wich means you can change behaviors from act to act, and even set a creation as invisible and effectively non-existent during some acts. The possibilities that smart combinations of behaviors offer is practically infinite.

* that may vary according to your graphics card, though. Did I mentioned we were playing on awesome Asus laptops? Okay, enough advertising...

Act 5
Goals: eat some mexican food X
chat with the campers and maxoids v
get some sleep, for Spode's sake! v

By then the first day of the event had ended, and the Maxoids invited us to grab some mexican food with them. MaxisCactus drove me to the hotel first, so I cold check in and freshen up a bit before going to the Fresh Mex restaurant. It was awesome talking to the Maxis folks, they're really great people and they truly love this game as much as we do. i chatted a lot with Kip, Guillaume, Aaron, MaxisCactus - and also with Shattari, who kept drawing a creature during the dinner (I guess that's like a nicotine patch for editor-addicteds like us...). I actually forgot to eat, really (only had a couple of chicken wings). I finally crashed in the hotel room, and slept like a baby, or a rock, or like a baby rock. Or a rock baby. Sorry, I'm still a bit jetlagged...

Act 6
Goals: walk to Maxis with MaxisCactus and the Adventure Campers v
finish my adventure v
eat a big chocolate chip cookie! v

On the second day of the Camp we met at the entrance of the hotel and waited for MaxisCactus to arrive and guide us to the offices. We stopped to take a few pictures on everyone's cameras (check the one just above*). We arrived at the offices and had breakfest. We really didn't stopped for breakfest, we just grabbed all we could carry and went to the laptops.

I put the finishing touches on my adventure (I had planned a simple one, so I was able to finish it on time), and played a few of ther Maxis adventures. Kip tested my adventure and was able to play it all the way through.

We had sandwiches for lunch, and I ate a big chocolate chip cookie for dessert. I love cookies! I messed a bit with the advanced AI options and checked what other people were making. MaxisCactus showed us an adventure she had created, about "what really goes on in the Maxis offices at night", and showed us a few neat tricks with the image filters for the adventures.

*I'm using mostly the pictures taken by Ceece or on her camera, since my camera is a bit old and my pictures didn't came out very good.

Act 7
Goals: Watch a presentation by Chris Hecker v
show off our adventures to the developers v
have pizza and beer v

By then MaxisCactus had announced we would have a surprise presentation by Chris Hecker. Too bad we can't really talk about it... We also got tons of gifts, such as a Maxis cup, a couple of t-shirts (including the "Made of matter, anti-matter and it doesn't matter" one I always wanted), and a poster with a rendered version of one of our creatures. But wait, it doesn't stop there! MaxisCactus had us follow her to a desk where little boxes were waiting for us with little figurines of our creations inside! You can check mine on the picture just above. And they also let us take home the spore mousepads we were using. Oh, and MC announced that we would receive the game at the release date! Come on, Maxis, you're spoiling us!

A few of us showed off our adventures on the big demo screen. Shattari created a high-tech scenario (I believe it was called "Power Down"), where the hero had to jump between platforms to collect power ups. Looked good, but also pretty hard. I showed mine, and played through it with a captain made by Kip. Then dananddna used the captain I created to play his adventure called Mesocity, wich was awesome and really funny. And then Ceece showed off a colorful quest for her Floone. At the same time we were having beer and pizza with the developers.

Act 8
Goals: eat some chineese food X
go to Telegraph Hill to take some pictures X
fly back home v

We tried to resist, but finally the Maxis people had to get rid of us, so we went back to the hotel. Those of us who weren't flying home that night went to the city by subway. There were four of us: Photosynthesis, Slartibartfast38, Shattari and me. Slarti got a map from MaxisKane, and we went to Chinatown to find him some chineese food. Unfortunately the restaurants that MK had suggested were all closed, so we kept walking. We got lost and couldn't find Telegraph Hill, so we ended up going back, grabbing a bit on a McDonalds, and riding the subway back to the hotel.

And then the trip was over. I had to start another day long trip, arriving home in time to prepare for another day of work...

Galactic Adventures Challenge: Props for the upcoming Maxis Adventure Camp

2009-05-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

Next May 14th I'll be joining some of the top Spore creators on the Maxis Adventure Camp at the Maxis studio, where we'll have the chance of creating our own adventures!

I've been creating stuff in advance, but I'd like your help creating props for my first adventure! Create props that match the theme of my Red Planet Adventure Sporecast, and tag it "gaprop". Submit by leaving a comment here with the link for the creation.

I'm looking for props for a Mars like planet. Stuff that mach the theme ad style of the props I've created already. Here's a few examples of what I'm looking for: city props (garbage cans, lamps, decoration) matching the Bauder Red Stone buildings; sci-fi domes, also matching the Bauder set; other sci-fi props for a red desert planet with barely breatheable atmosphere; drilling equipment and arctic stuff for my Permafrost camp; etc.

I'll choose a few and add to the Sporecast by next Saturday, and those props will be used on my adventure!

UPDATE:
I've chosen a few of the props peopel sent me and I added them to the sporecast, but unfortunately none of those (and a few of my own creations) were missing on the laptop they had reserved for me at the Camp. I ended up not being able to use those props on my adventure. I apologise to everyone that took part on the challenge, and hope they'll still be able to enjoy my modest adventure when it's uploaded by the time of the game's release.

Parkaboy's building class: lesson 2

2009-04-22T04:57:00.000-07:00

As I've said on the previous post, this is the "class" I'm teaching at the University of Spore Creations forums. Here goes the second lesson:

LESSON 2: On styles,

symmetry and the basic building shape

Let's move on! The main reference for this lesson is going to be this set, the Logian set:

Shall we start?

First of all, I must confess something. I'm an advocate of what I call "playable content". That means I like the content in my galaxy to make sense in the logic of the game. I usually only download creatures that look like creatures, buildings that look like buildings, and so on. I know there's a lot of laughter on flying around in a UFO shaped like a wheelchair, but I'm a sci-fi fan and I like to keep the nonsense to a minimum.

That also mean I worry a bit about stuff like scale. I usually do this: whenever I create a new set of buildings, I test it on a saved game (on Civ or Space Stage), and check if the average creature could actually fit in those buildings, as well as how the set fits together. When making matching sets, this is very useful, so test before uploading (you don't even have to save the game, after all)!

Creating Matching Sets:
Well, there's at least four things I take into account when making a set:
1- Try to use the same style of parts on all buildings (we'll se more details on that below);
2- Try to use the same textures and colors, or use the "Paint Like" option;
3- Try to keep some variation. Use variations of the same shapes, or add specific details so we can tell the buildings apart, such as chimneys for factories;
4- Try to organize the buildings according to size. This depends on how you usually create the layout of your city, but the average Spore city will look better if the center buildings are taller than the peripheral ones. The City Hall is always in the center, so it should be taller. I normally put factories and entertainment in the middle and houses around the rim, so the houses should be shorter.

Styles:
Certain parts fit better together; a certain door is a better match for certain windows than others, for instance. Pay attention to the details on each part: some are kind of medieval, others are futuristic. Here are some examples:

If you can't see it on the thumbnail, open it on the editor. There are many good combinations, so trust your gut. If you use the same types of parts for the entire set, you will increase the chance that the game will recognize those buildings as a set and use them together for NPC races (Matching colors and textures also help). Symmetry Notice the how the examples above are uninteresting as buildings. Well, they could look slightly better if I placed more details on the other faces, and not only in the front. This is very important when making City Halls; you don't want the centerpiece of your city to look dull from some angles. There are 3 main types of symmetry you should use:

The first one has equal opposite sides, meaning it has two types of faces. The second one has the front equal to the back, but different sides; it could also have equal sides, but the front different from the back; it has 3 types of faces. The third has only one type of face, meaning all of them are equal. All three types can be good choices, if you keep the building balanced. A version with four different faces is not recommended; usually it won't look good. It's not hard to make equal opposite sides, since parts like doors and window will "snap" to the opposite side of an already placed part, neatly aligned. The basic building shape: A good, conventional building often has 3 parts: a base, a "body" and a roof. You don't literally have to use roof parts to make a roof, for instance, but adding some details to the top of your building will improve it's appearance. The shape we were using in this class is kind of dull, though:

Of course some body parts or blocks are more detailed than this simple cubic shape. But we can make more interesting shapes if we don't stick with only a single block for the body. If you use several blocks of different heights and lenghts, and align them on the center of the original block, you can make something like this:

Looks already a bit better, doesn't it? You can improve it by using different types of blocks, though simpler ones are more easily combined. Just remember that the prettier buildings in real life aren't cubes. The building will look even better when windows and details are placed. But you can also use stacked blocks as pseudo windows (see the red parts on the picture below), just remember to use the "Ctrl" key for more control:

That's it for now!

Theme Set: Andeavor's Great Wall

2009-04-15T09:09:00.000-07:00

In a couple of months the Galactic Adventures will be released, and players will have acess to the Adventure editor, wich allows you to place, resize and rotate any creation in scenarios called "adventure planets". That means creators can create complex structures - such as long walls - by combining buildings together. Andeavor's Great Wall is one of the best examples of the props being created in advance by the community. Check it out, end click the thumbnails for Sporepedia links:

Creator Tip: the GAprop tag

2009-04-08T06:59:00.000-07:00

Like many users, I was worried myself that the creations made for exclusive purposes on the upcoming Galactic Adventures expansion pack - like walls and other decorations created for the user-made adventures - would be selected by mistake as buildings and vehicles for the civ and space stages.

However, MaxisCactus just answered that concern:

"Our team has taken measures to resolve this issue.

When you create a galactic adventure prop, you can tag it “GAprop” before publishing. This will prevent it from being chosen in the core game for any slot.

This way, canonical creations (such as realistic factories) made in Galactic Adventures can still appear in other players’ core games’ appropriate slots, but players will have the option to exempt their more zany prop creations by simply tagging them using this convention.

-MaxisCactus"

Source: Sporedum

Parkaboy's building class: lesson 1

2009-04-07T16:05:00.000-07:00

I've been teaching this "class" on creating buildings at the Sporeuni forums, and I thought I should post those tips here too. So I'll be slowly publishing the lessons on the blog, too.

LESSON 1: Review

In this lesson we are going to review some basic features. It may not seem much, but will be enough to allow an inexperienced creator to make a set such as this:

Advanced Part Handles:
Hold down the "tab" key with a part selected. That will show more handlers that allow you to rotate or distort the part.

Copying Parts:
Click on an existing part while holding the "Alt" key, and drag the copy to another spot. Some parts can be copied to the same spot, and you can then rotate the copy to create some nice symmetric forms.

Directional Placement:
Hold the "Ctrl" key to move a part in a vertical axis (up and down, even hovering in thin air or underground - see the image 1 below) or hold the "Shift" key to move a part in a horizontal plane (see image 2).

Painting:
In the "Paint Mode", holding "Alt" lets you copy the texture style and colors of a part; holding "Shift" lets you paint an entire part with a single click, and holding "Ctrl" lets you paint the same feature of a part on all of those parts that exist.

Also, you can import textures from the vehicle creator by using the "Paint Like" option.

Snapping:
Most parts - as well as the very base where we build in the editor - have an useful characteristic: snapping points. They work like this: parts tend to "snap" to a point located on the center of a part's "face" or the editor base; also, if you place a part on the base or on another part's face, other parts will tend to align with it. Check the image 3 below. If you place a part in a spot (let's say, that part "a"), it's as if other parts will be attracted (and will "snap") to imaginary lines crossing the center of the original part.

This feature is useful to align windows in a building side, for instance. If you want to place a part in a specific point and the "snapping" is getting in the way, use the "Ctrl" and "Shift" keys; parts don't "snap" when you're holding those keys.

I know this is a very basic lesson, but I felt this review was necessary, to allow less experienced creators to get up to speed. In the next lesson, I'll share a few "secrets". See ya!

Theme Set: Felix78's Toy Cities

2009-02-27T11:26:00.000-08:00

Make sure you check Felix78's buildings! This fabulous creator has a peculiar style: by creating colorful, simple creations, he grants a sort of "toy" feel to most of his creations. Check his profile or click the thumbnails for direct links:

Theme Set: Parkaboy's Li'l Bugs

2009-01-18T08:17:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been playing with early creatures, trying to discover what's possible to make under the limitations that I discussed in the last post. I ended up making a number of lovely tiny insects. Here they are. Click the thumbnails for Sporepedia links or check my profile.

Creator Tip: Making Early Creatures

2009-01-14T08:45:00.000-08:00

One of the Spore editors that appear under the "Create" tab is the Early Creature Creator. It is essentially an hybrid between the Cell and Creature creators: it has all the parts of the Cell editor, but with the addition of three types of legs and the full 3d appearance of the Creature Creator.

The creatures that you make in this editor can be used as a playable species if you choose to begin in the Creature Stage. More complex creatures are only available on later stages (unless you use the EvoAdvantage cheat, earning the "Joker" badge, though).

The critters made on the ECC also tend to appear as NPC creatures on the beggining of the Creature Stage - they're likely to be the first creatures that you'll meet in land. Since most people have few early creatures in their database, the early Creature Stage tends to be populated mostly by Maxis Creatures, wich is a shame.

So making lots of Early Creatures is important not only to give you choices of playable creatures, but also to populate your game with NPCs that match your style. Shall we start?

Facts of life in the primitive SPORE worlds

That little critter abova was my first creature in the game, evolving from the cell stage. I learned a few things from it, a few facts that we must accept if we want to enjoy using the ECC.

1- Little choice on parts. Yep, we can only use 12 parts and 3 types of legs, so you have to get really creative with those parts, if you don't want all early creatures to look nearly the same. The main concern should be the mouth, since you have only one choice of mouth for each diet type.

2- Small Budget. Not only you have a small pool of parts to choose, but you also can only use a few of them. This means that most early creatures should be bipeds, with very few quadrupeds. Hexapods are almost out of question, since you can't use enough joints for a decent animation.

3- The Paint will save you! Since you can't put much details in the poor creature's body, the way to go is to get crazy with the painting. You have access to all of the same textures and colors of the full creator, so dedicate a lot of attention to paint here. My little guy abov wouldn't be nothing without a smart combination of textures.

Modding for variation

To add a little variation to the small choice of parts, there's a little mot that I love called Cell Part Xtended, made by DarkDragon. You can find the download link on this topic on the GamingSteve community. This small mod adds morphing handlers to the cell parts on the ECC, allowing you to stretch and contract them.

See the "eyes" on the critter above? They were made with a distorted Electric part. See another example below.

The only problem with this mod is that animations on the mouths get a little weird if you distort them. All other parts are safe, though.

Turning limbs into bodies

Now pay attention to the example above. You have 3 choices of limbs in the ECC, and you can break them apart by holding the "Ctrl" key and dragging each articulation out. This means that a limb part does not have to be used as a limb. If you use it to create more complex body shapes, a new field of possibilities opens before you.

Also, the limb parts react differently to certain textures, so you can use them to create unique color effects.

More options if you want an NPC creature

The game uses what the developers call "archetypes" to choose the NPC creatures for each stage. There are 2 archetypes for early creatures: NPC_Social and NPC_Combat.

The cool thing is, you don't really have to use the ECC for making these early creatures. You can edit them in the full Creature Creator, you only have to respect some limitations. For a critter to fit in one of these archetypes, it has to have the following stats:

NPC_Social is any creature made with a maximum of 145 dna points (meaning at least 1,855 points left on the full CC), with Sing and Bite level 1, Charge and Spit level 0 or 1, and all other stats level 0.

NPC_Combat is the same as above, but it can have Charm level 0 or 1.

This means you can use a few parts not available on the ECC. These are them:

- You can use the heads available on the ECC, but can also use two heads from the full editor: the Toucan't and the Sauroclod; You can use
- You can use any eye part, but remember that they're more expensive than the eyes on the ECC;
- You can use any legs, but will have to use the default feet. The Exoskeleton Limbs from the third patch come with a new default foot, though;
- Since you can use any eye part, you can also use the "Senses" parts, the noses, nostrils antennae and ears;

You can do all that, if you remember to follow the instructions for each archetype.

Now you can have shells!

If you follow the instructions above, you can use a bunch of new parts on the NPC early creature. The green creature above, for instance, has a shell made with Snortle noses. So you don't really have to use a nose on the middle of the guy's face, understood?

The shell offers zero protection, though...

Exoskeletons are fashionable

You can also use the new(ish) Exoskeleton limbs on the NPCs, by following the already mentioned strategy of turning limbs into bodies. I should mention, though, that your creature is going to have to be really small for some of these tricks work, since the limbs, as well as the Sense parts, can't be made to be very big.

Create new faces

Even with the expanded options for NPCs, we still are restricted to 5 types of faces and their morphing variations. You can combine Sense parts and limbs to create some weird heads, though.

For instance, antennae can be used to give a herbivore creature something more resembling of bug pincers.

Combining strategies

You can create some truly astonishing early NPCs, by combining the tips above. But remember something: some textures don't go well with the exoskeleton limbs. If you're using them, you may want to try simpler, smoother textures.

Let your imagination float!

Finishing this lengthy tutorial, I remind you that you don't really have to use legs. I never managed to make good slithering creatures, but I'm proud of some of my floaters.

The tricks for a good floating animation are: using limbs as parts of the body (or else the body will try to touch the ground), and using details under the body to adjust the distance from the ground.

Here's just one more creature, for no reason other than I like it:

All of the creatures in this post were made by me and can be foun on my profile. Check them out!

Creator Tip: Making cool spacesuits

2008-12-08T10:38:00.001-08:00

First rule for making cool outfits for your space stage creature: don't be afraid to experiment. Get creative. Many parts can be used in non-conventional ways. On the creature above, for instance, I've used the Moon Gas Sensor for the arms and legs (it usually goes in the head). The boots were made with a hat and a chest plate.

Aqua View Masks make great neck braces. Try to make your creature with a thinner neck, and use the "Tab" key and arrow handlers to morph and position the part properly.

The Creepy & Cute Parts Pack has a bunch of very useful paint options and parts. If you're making a creature straight for the Space Stage, you can use the Mittenfist part as a gloved hand and the Footoon foot as a shoe.

More isn't always best. While you can use lots of parts for a detailed armor, you should check if the parts match each other aesthetically. There are several styles of outfit parts, and they don't always go well together. You can use instead a smart paint job for the illusion of a skin tight suit.

It doesn't have to be a humanoid creature to enjoy the comfort of a soft, warm suit. Though you may want to keep the base creature simple. If the creature has too many parts, it can be hard to tell if it's even wearing a suit.

All the creatures above can be found in my profile.

Theme Set: jarnomiedema's Spaceships

2008-11-27T07:09:00.000-08:00

Here's a selection of jarnomiedema's spaceships. There's a noticeable Battlestar Galactica influence to most of them, and they all look awesome. Click the thumbnails for direct Sporepedia links.

Theme Set: Two building sets and a Creature

2008-11-26T04:23:00.000-08:00

Today's theme set is a mix of two complete sets of amazing buildings - the Aves set by Tomanomanous and the Off-World set by LarvaLounge - and an incredible creature (in the center) by Sibuna. As always, click the thumbnails for direct Sporepedia Links.

Crator Tip: How to make asymmetrical creatures

2008-11-25T08:43:00.000-08:00

This may be old news for the hardcore SPORE creators, but since many people keep asking me, I'll explain here. Asymmetry is possible in the creature, outfit, vehicle and ufo editors through a mod - a file that changes some values that the game loads at startup. The bad news is that you have to install or uninstall the mod to enable or disable the asymmetry - that means quitting the game and starting it again; there isn't a magic switch that you turn on and off.

Here is the download link for the Asymmetry Mod.

If that doesn't work, try here.

That little .package file has to be saved in the Spore Data folder. That's likely to be located on C:\program files\Eletronic Arts\Spore\data.

What does it do? Well, it makes the editors ignore symmetry, wich means that if you change a part or place a new one, it won't be mirrored on the other side of the creature or vehicle.

Some tips on using it:

First of all, don't go trying to make an asymmetric creature from scratch. The game is often unable to save your creature if you make asymmetric limbs. Uneven legs or arms on each side usually create issues with animation. So make a creature with the mod turned off, save it, enable the mod and edit the creature, makin minor tweaks.

To disable the mod without deleting the .package file from your data folder, just rename the extension to ".package.old".

Another cool way to use this mod is on the outfit editor. Outfits never give trouble, since they don't affect animation.

So be creative, an enjoy!

Creator Tip: making NPCs use matching buildings.

2008-11-04T05:46:00.000-08:00

Do you love making themed matching sets of buildings? If so, you might want to know this tip.

In SPORE, when the game picks cities for NPC (Non Playing Character) civilizations, it picks a random City Hall and chooses buildings that match it aesthetically. By using a tag "set:" you can assure that it will allways pick the correct buildings to match the randomly chosen City Hall.

Example:

This City Hall has the tag "set:galazan". If the game picks this hall, it will search for a House, a Factory and an Entertainment building with that tag, and will find these:

Update: further testing has shown that this system is not 100% reliable. I guess we'll have to wait for better ways to control our content and create our SPORE Empires...

Creator Tip: How to play as or edit The Grox

2008-10-13T15:33:00.000-07:00

In the site SporeBase.com you can find detailed instructions on how to hack the game so it allows you to edit or play as the Grox. Just click the link and follow the instructions.

Here's a creature I made by editing the Grox. Its a shame we can't upload them to the Sporepedia, though.

Creator Tip: How to get your content featured

2008-10-01T11:25:00.000-07:00

User Uroboros made a little tutorial video that I feel I must share, for it shows a few simple steps that can can do wonders to improve the quality of the content being uploaded in the Sporepedia. Check it out:

Creator Tip: How to make inward-facing wheels turn in the right direction

2008-09-18T06:53:00.001-07:00

spiritofcat prepared a neaty video tutorial on how to make inwards-facing wheels (needed to make motorcycles, for instance) without having them turning backwards, wich happens when we use the "Tab" key to turn the wheel 180º. Check it out!

Check out how it works in his Hybrid Rescue Tank.

Creator Tip: Player Tips

2008-09-11T08:49:00.000-07:00

Players from the Gamingsteve SPORE community are posting their tips for the game on this thread. Check out some of them:

Editors:

- "There are some building textures that don't appear in the vehicle texture palette, but they can still get them on your vehicle by using the 'Paint Like' feature and then copy them around with the eyedrop."

Cell:

- "Putting a pair of spikes on the rear aft of the cell in a wide arc, shrinking its bottom segment to the smallest possible and enlarging the spikes to as big as possible will basically make you immune to rear facing attacks. Even huge creatures will just knock you forward with no damage when they bite."

Creature:

- "When you do the social game and try to dance/sing or impress another creature, they usually get "locked" if you fail to impress them. If you have done your 3 "impresses" and realise you are not going to make it, quickly press a move button and you stop your dance/singing and you can try impressing the same creature again."

Tribe:

- "Give gifts to any tribe with an orange or red face with you. You ONLY need to send the chief and the "gift" doesn't seem to use up any of your food. This will buy you time to either build up your music crew, or organize your war party."

Civ:

- "Before entering the Space stage from Civ, finish maxing out all your cities. These carry across, but your cash won't."

Space:

- "When colonising a planet, you just need to put ONE of each plant/creature to fill out that row in the foodweb. Once they have been beamed down, you can beam the plant/creature up again. Now you dont have to run out of them."

Theme Set: Zenarion Culture

2008-09-10T05:57:00.000-07:00

Here's a special theme set: my first set of buildings and vehicles! Add them to your game by subscribing to my Zenar Sporecast, or click the thumbnails for direct Sporepedia Links.

P.S.: For some reason, the upload of the Zenarion with outfit didn't work. If I ever manage to upload it, I'll swich the image here.

Theme Set: manicmoose's Shell Mania

2008-09-02T09:58:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to do a feature on manicmoose's armored creatures for some time, and since one of his mollusc inspired critters was recently featured, I've figured I'm not going to get a better chance. This guy is a superb creator, but his masterpieces are the experiments with different types of shell. So click the thumbnails for direct sporepedia links.

Check Out: dananddna

2008-08-31T05:20:00.000-07:00

You may already know him from his rendition of the Glyptodon, widely copied and edited by other creators. But dananddna has several creatures worthy of notice, from the awesome ceratopsid Krontoria to his perfect recreation of Alien Planet's Unth.

While we can still identify some earth animal influences on its creations, seems that he focuses mostly on original alien designs. Wich means: lots of deep sea inspired creatures. And this guy is one of those creators that can blend organically the parts offered by the SCC.

So go check out dananddna's profile, and leave a comment if you like anything!

Theme Set: Parkaboy's Dinosaur-insect Hybrids

2008-08-29T05:24:00.000-07:00

I've had a few busy days, and have little time to search for good content right now. So I'll take the chance to promote my creations a bit more. Here's a collection of my dinosaur-insect hybrids:

Theme Set: The 200 DNA Points Challenge

2008-08-26T06:12:00.000-07:00

As suggested by wydraz, I'm posting some of the critters from his 200 DNA point Challenge thread on the official SPORE forums. Check the thread for more or click the thumbnails for direct Sporepedia links.

Creator Tip: Using mouths to create unusual head shapes

2008-08-24T16:20:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Put a Carcharebear mouth on your creature (you can try with other types of mouth, too).

Step 2: Holding "Tab" for additional handlers, rotate the mouth 180º horizontally. The actual mouth should be concealed by the body; just a featureless head should be visible.

Step 3: Insert another mouth in the "front" of the head. Remember that the new mouth piece will be attached not to the "head", but to the body, so resize and position as needed for a seamless blend.

Step 4: You can now put any kind of detail part you want in the thing's face. Make sure the "call" animation doesn't screw the illusion, though: if the mandible shows when the creature open its mouth, add a few parts to conceal it.

And voilá!

This is one of my own tips. You can check it on my Deimogon, and look for others in my profile.

Check Out: MindMuncher

2008-08-23T04:54:00.001-07:00

If there's one creator that will help you populate your galaxy with plausible yet interesting creatures, that guy is MindMuncher. He may not win a comparison to god, like AhavoRaboTaco did in a recent PC Gamer review, but he definitely deserves some attention.

Lots of good looking aliens that animate well will add variety to your game, if he becomes your buddy. Not only variety, but balance, since he also makes many of the so called "fodder" creatures.

So what does he has to say?

"I try to make outlandish but for the most part, functional beasties. I've never and will never make a robot or other non-biological thing in the creature creator. I like alien creatures, but not anything generic. Oh, and I like creatures that fit well together. I mean that as in, I'd never stick a giant spitter on somethings butt just to make it a better predator, unless it fit how that creature looked and felt"

So go check out MindMuncher's profile, and leave a comment if you like anything!

Theme Set: Miscellanea

2008-08-22T08:53:00.000-07:00

No time for picking up a theme right now, so I'll just run the section with a few creatures I wanted to showcase.
In the first row we have some of WeatherMAN23's creatures. The second has three from smjjames'. And finally, the next 3 creatures are DaMuncha's.
Click the thumbnails for direct Sporepedia links.

Theme Set: Hydromancerx's "Aliens"

2008-08-20T06:27:00.000-07:00

Tired of humanoids, insectoids, mammaloids or pokemonoids? Then you should check out Hydromancerx's collection. While not exactly a defined theme set, this bunch of creatures is just a taste of this creator's inventiveness when coming up with cool, exotic - yet plausible - organisms (there's also plenty "earthly" creatures there, too). Click the thumbnails to access each creature in the Sporepedia.

Creator Tip: How to make a creature that crawls with its hands

2008-08-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Start by adding a slackwrist to your creature's elbow (or the last joint before the hand). The "Ctrl" key will allow you to attach limbs to existing joints. Your creature will actually be crawling on the elbows, but the movement of the hands will make them appear to be pulling your creature along.

Step 2: Remove the second segment by dragging the center of it away while holding "Ctrl". Now add a foot to your new limb (stumplestilt or buckfoot work better). Use both the morph targets (arrows) and your scroll wheel to shrink the foot as much as possible. Suctoped doesn't get as small, but it should work well if your arms are really beefy.

Step 3: Drag the elbow down to cover the foot as well as possible. This will be difficult if your arms are skinny, but do the best you can.

Step 4: Angle your hands straight down using the rings that appear when you hold the tab key, and move them as close to the ground as the editor will allow. You may be able to get a little closer if you scale the hand up after positioning it.

And voilá!

This tip was suggested by whosawhatsis. See for yourself how it works on his Crawlopus !

Theme Set: MindMuncher's Basic Creatures

2008-08-18T07:54:00.000-07:00

While most creators try to stick as many parts as the complexity meter allows in their creatures, there's also those who believe in simplicity. MindMuncher is one of them, and he has many simple creatures, made using less than 300 DNA points, usually labeled "basic" or "fodder". Those are creatures designed to fill the gaps on your alien ecosystem, after all, not every creature has to be a killing machine that looks like a christmas tree.
Click the thumbnails to access the creature on the Sporepedia, or check MindMuncher's profile to leave comments.

Check Out: AhavoRaboTaco

2008-08-17T16:30:00.000-07:00

Featuring AhavoRaboTaco almost feels redundant, since he's a Maxis favorite and has been featured in the official SPORE site at least four times. But he's one of my favourite creators, so I can't help it.

What can I say? The guy is a master of details. Some of the coolest creatures I've ever seen were made by him, for instance, the Desert Heuren.

And then there's the Browlmuncher. This is the one creature where the use of the "floating parts" glitch didn't suck, in fact, it resulted in a very unique creation.

So overall, awesome use of colors, utterly original combination of parts, but always ending up as something I have a hard time believing was made with the SPORE Creature Creator. Seriously, how does he make this stuff?

He explains: "I usually enter the editor knowing what I'm going to build. Then I build the creature and place parts in a way which resembles what I had in mind. I also use reference pictures when building creatures based on mythology etc."

So go check out AhavoRaboTaco's profile, and leave a comment if you like anything!

Creator Tip: How to make a cool crawling worm

2008-08-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

Step1: Make a small body with only two vertebrae.

Step 2: Add an "slackwrist" arm. Make Sure the joints merge together right in front of the body.

Step 3: Get rid of the hands and merge all joints, so a single limb remains. Add more joints by holding "Alt" and clicking the limb, and place them in the tip of the limb by holding "Ctrl". Then add a "Suctoped" foot.

Step 4: Create another leg in the rear, making sure it mirrors the one in front. Adjust the position and thickness of the joint balls, so they conceal the feet.

Add a face and details, and voilá!

This tip is one of my own creatortips. Check it in my Tauriah Worm, or just look how it animates:

Theme Set: AhavoRaboTaco's World Culture

2008-08-16T13:33:00.000-07:00

This time I'll give you fellow sporons a taste of an evergrowing set created by the skilled AhavoRaboTaco. The World Culture creatures borrow the iconic looks of some ancient, uh, world cultures. While they're not the most plausible animals (by definition, they look more like tribal creatures), they're still beautiful and worth at least a download to check this wonderful creator's ability. Click the images to access each creature in the Sporepedia:

CreatorTip Extra: unusual organs as a cool concept for your creature

2008-08-16T09:02:00.000-07:00

Well, folks, why don't we do something different on this CreatorTip post, for a change? This time, instead of showing a creation tutorial, I'll give a useful tip for creating creature concepts.

Coming up with a concept before making a creature is a good idea mainly for two reasons: in first place, it may lead to new ways of using and combining the parts available on the SPORE Creature Creator; secondly, it gives you something interesting to write in the creature's description.

One cool concept is this: what if your creature had an enlarged, distorted or specialized organ?

Step 1: Think of an organ with a well defined function. You can get as weird as you want, but try to make the function of the thing clear, or at least, guessable. Jellybuttons, for example, are great orifices for respiratory organs.

Step 2: Think of a reason why the organ is so different. In this guy, for instance, I've used springles to create an external coil of veins and arteries; that could be a way of cooling the creature's body, instead of sweating.

Step 3: Think of an evolutionary reason. The organ should give your creature an advantage of some sort, for it to have evolved and grown into proeminence. The example creature here has an external digestive system; while that leaves it vulnerable, it doubles as a defense mechanism by producing an awful stench.

Step 4: Don't get magical. Don't try to make an organ that allows your creature to shoot lightning bolts or anything like that. Remember that, in-game, it won't have any special abilities except those that come with the parts, so give the organ a subtle function, one irrelevant to gameplay or that fits your critter's stats. Senses are a good choice of function; the creature above, for instance, has smell-sensing tendrils.

And voilá! You can have a great creature with an impressive description. Take my Sennezantine, for instance. I'm pretty sure it got featured thanks to that combination of plausibility, cool description and original use of parts.

Check Out: wayzata08

2008-08-16T05:43:00.000-07:00

So once again it's time to check out a good or promising creator. Today the lucky guy is wayzata08!

The operative word about this creator is potential. While some well sculpted simpler creatures add flavor to the bunch, wayzata08 also tries unusual combinations of parts, putting mouths to new uses - and does so while making the creatures look plausible animals.

"I think i'll probably do better once the game comes out in terms of popularity of my things because they mostly look better in game and will actually function well."

If there's a negative point worthy of mention, is that some cool creatures are set back due to a poor (though funny) choice of name, like the alien "Thomas" or the flightless bird named "Dinosaurus".

So go check out wayzata08's profile, and leave a comment if you like anything!

Creator Tip: How to make a cool oval head

2008-08-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Place a Maceball part in the spot you want the creature's face to be (SlimSlam Kablam parts also work fine).

Step 2: Resize the part, and using the arrow handlers, get rid of the spikes.

Step 3: Holding the "Tab" key for additional handlers, rotate vertically the part until the position is right.

Step 4: Place carefully a mouth, so it fits nicely with the base of the Maceball head.

And voilá!

This CreatorTip was suggested by Parkaboy (yes, myself) and you can check how it works on his Millashan. You can send links with good tips for sporetips@gmail.com.

Theme Set: Darcie's Starters

2008-08-15T06:57:00.000-07:00

Small and simple creatures to give diversity to your worlds when beginning the creature phase, or fodder animals for carnivores to hunt and eat. Click the thumbnails to acess the creature on the Sporepedia, or check Darcie's profile to leave comments.

Check Out: Pietoro

2008-08-15T06:12:00.000-07:00

Hello again, Sporons! This time, the featured creator is Pietoro!

One of her many strengths is how easy she can make plausible body shapes. "I don't start out with a plan in mind" - she says. "I play around with a torso or leg configuration until I find something I like, then I wing it from there."

Pietoro's profile is full of gracious and cute creatures. They never get too cartoony, though, so you could fit her on the group of creators worried about fitting their creations into gameplay: good animations, plausible critters, no objects or robots.

"I always try to balance functionality with aesthetics, and generally avoid going high into the Complexity meter. I am very picky about my paint jobs as well, because I like colors/patterns that I feel 'fit' the design."

So go check out Pietoro's profile, and leave a comment if you like anything!

Creator Tip: How to make a flat "tapeworm-like" bodypart

2008-08-13T18:18:00.000-07:00

Step 1: place a Knurl Down or another shell part in the side of a very thin limb, neck, tail or body.

Step 2: Pressing the "Tab" key for additional handles, stretch and rotate the part 90º.

Step 3: Holding "Alt", click the part to copy and place the copies carefully side by side.

Step 4: resize and rotate the parts so they fit together nicely, making the creature look more realistic.

And voilá!

This CreatorTip was suggested by Parkaboy and you can check how it works on his Blacian Tapeface.

Check Out: Parkaboy

2008-08-13T17:52:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow Sporons! This blog starts now, and here I plan to post a few tips for creating original creatures, but will also recommend good creators and content for your game.

In this section, called "Check Out", I will feature a creator I discovered and whose creatures I loved. The choice and comments will be based mostly on my own tastes, but I feel that, being a graphic design and a passable illustrator, I'm not a bad judge.

But since I'm graduated in advertising, I'll start with some shameless promotion of myself. I'm very proud of my creations, some of them based on famous aliens from hard sci-fi novels. I never make creatures that resemble objects; I worry a lot about making creatures that will fit my (and other player's) game. That's why I try to vary size and color, and make lots of herbivores and non-sentient creatures (trying to keep the balance, since lots of creators go the intelligent carnivore route). I also prefer simplicity, and while some creatures may be a little conservative, I believe all of them could pass as plausible (alien) animals.

So go check out Parkaboy's profile, and leave a comment if you like anything!