Spore Creature Creator

[Strider]

I downloaded the free version of the Spore Creature Creator (there's also a fully featured version for $10) last night and messed around with it for a while. I had quite a bit of fun with it. I think the editor has the perfect balance between being able to create a creature quickly and putting a ton of time and detail into it. Even in my short time with it, the editor seems very flexible, allowing you to do a lot of cool stuff. The interface is very intuitive as well. I hope that all the other editors in the final game will be as intuitive and flexible as this one is.

Have any of you guys tried the Creature Creator yet? If not, I highly recommend you give it a try. :D

[Jakester]

Sadly, I won't be picking this up (even the free demo version). It contains SecuROM, and...check this, the FREE DEMO phones home and sends them your username. It's been triggering some users' spyware software as it does so without asking -- and before the demo even loads.

[Strider]

Hmmm....that's weird and disturbing.

[Jakester]

SecuROM is teh EBIL!
Initially, it and Mass Effect (a single player game!) were going to require that you connect to the internet every 10 days in order to validate your license key (which was already determined to be valid when you had to connect to the internet to install the game and validate the key). If you did not do so, the game would be unplayable until they key was deemed valid by the SecuROM servers. Note that this is 10 calendar days, not every 10 times you play the game.

Each game is limited to three activations before the key blows up. Note that they claim that's three separate PCs, but as was with Bioshock, it was discovered that installing the game on different user accounts ON THE SAME PC chewed up an activation per user account.

Software publishers claim that SecuROM is an integrated part of the game executable, which is why they don't need to notify you about its inclusion on the box or in the EULA -- BUT, if you need support for it, you don't talk to the publisher, you talk to SecuROM. And guess what they have you do....run some program that makes an encrypted file that gets sent back to them. You never have any idea what you're sending back, and can't find out...because it's ENCRYPTED. Why? It's for troubleshooting...Not even Microsoft does this, and this is all for a frigging GAME. Of course, the pirates will have it removed in short order, and they'll be able to play without Sony and EA knowing how much pr0n and illegal music is on their hard drives. The customer who actually pays for the game, however, bends over and takes one up the poop chute.

There's more, but this is why I won't buy any game with SecuROM. Sorry Crysis. Sorry Mass Effect. Sorry Sims. Hell, sorry Oblivion expansion pack. Oblivion itself was free of everything except, I believe, a CD check. The expansions, however....dirty with SecuROM.

Oh...and did I mention that you can't remove SecuROM without hacking your registry and using some DOS-level tricks to remove directories which are hidden from the OS and use malformed directory names? It behaves an awful lot like Malware. Just because EA loves it does not mean that it's not doing something to your machine that it shouldn't, or that it won't be exploited by a hacker in the future.

[fastcar]

Is Spore Creature Creator tied to the "Where-The-Hell-Is-It" Spore game from Will Wright?

[Strider]

Yes, the creature creator is related. It will be part of the full game of Spore, but they released the creature creator as a separate game early o that the full game would have a ton of user-created creatures in it the day it ships.

The full game of Spore comes out in Sept.

[Strider]

I thought this was rather amusing. It's too bad it won't do any good.

Spore customers lash out at DRM, sabotage Amazon score (http://www.destructoid.com/spore-customers-lash-out-at-drm-sabotage-amazon-score-102807.phtml)

[Jakester]

Glad I'm not the only one who despises this kind of DRM.
Honestly, no Bioshock, Mass Effect, GTA, Crysis (unfortunately), or Spore for me as I cannot abide this kind of "protection."

If you create something worthwhile, yes, people will still pirate it, but if you respect your paying customers, I think you will find that you will get the respect back in the form of purchases from people who may have already pirated it.

When I was younger, my buddies all had Atari 800s. I had a C-64, and I knew a few people who had them as well, but we all had pirated software. I mean, like a lot. Thing is, whenever a new Infocom game came out, I'd be at the store, ready to buy it. Why? I felt it was worth supporting the developers.
Remember 1-on-1? Everyone I know had a pirated copy. Heck, I did, too. But it was awesome, so I bought it. Skyfox? bought it. Crush, Crumble & Chomp? Bought it. The list goes on, but those are the ones I remember off the top of my head. Oh, anything MicroProse, too.

My point is that I respected the developers of those games for the effort they put in to creating a quality product, and even though I had some pirated copies of games, I went out and bought them when I could, to support those developers.

Bioshock looks like a very cool game. Heck, Crysis, too. But I'm not buying those games and subsequently installing software that I don't trust onto my system.

Why don't I buy the games and just install cracked versions? Well, there's the risk of being caught uploading (as one does automagically with p2p sharing), and, more importantly, buying software with such DRM on it lends tacit approval to the publishers' use of that software. I'm not prepared to support SecuROM with my purchase dollars in any way, shape, or form, or support the publishers of games that use it. So EA and 2k/Take-Two can suck it.

[Strider]

I've played a bit of Bioshock on the 360, and it is a pretty sweet game.

PC gaming was always a bit more involved than the console stuff, for installing and upgrading drivers alone. However, it just keeps getting more and more frustrating in the PC gaming arena. I remember when you could buy one copy of a game and install multiplayer clones on as many computers as you wanted on your network and play. Now you're lucky if you can do that once. It's not nearly as much fun if you have to buy several copies of a game just to play it with your friends on a LAN.

[Jakester]

Yeah, that's true, although I do understand Id's point of view -- everyone playing together at the same time should have their own copy of the game. You could install the same copy as many times as you wanted on as many machines as you wanted, but only to play single player mode. multiplayer required unique license keys. Again, yeah, it kinda sucks because it gets expensive, but, by the same token, you bought a copy of the game so you could play single player, or multiplayer against everyone else, not so everyone can play against everyone on one license key.

I don't have a problem maintaining drivers, etc. on my computer, but I view it as essential maintenance, like changing the oil in my car at regular intervals. The big difference is that updating my drivers is free and I an do it in my underwear.

[neglet]

I don't have a problem maintaining drivers, etc. on my computer, but I view it as essential maintenance, like changing the oil in my car at regular intervals. The big difference is that updating my drivers is free and I can do it in my underwear.

You go commando when you change your oil? Whatever floats your boat, I suppose.

[Jakester]

It amuses me to know you've pictured me changing oil in the buff. I hope you got me anatomically correct.

[neglet]

Well, you were using a really tiny dipstick.:lol:

[Jakester]

You didn't disappoint, Negs!

[omicron]

here's Penny Arcade's vision of early DRM:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2008/20080924.jpg

[Strider]

I liked the guest essay they had to go with it too. Apparently the DRM theme is going to continue for a couple days, along with some more guest essays.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2008/9/24/

[Strider]

Here's an interesting (and slightly different take) on the effect piracy has on PC games.

http://draginol.joeuser.com/article/303512/Piracy_PC_Gaming

[Jakester]

Great read. I checked out a few other blogs of his, and he's a pretty entertaining guy. I think he's spot on about the piracy issue, too. Most of the guys who pirate aren't going to buy a game at all. There are some who will buy it if they like it.
But, if it's got severe copy-protection/DRM on it, they will rip it and pirate with abandon.

From a lot of the reviews, it sounds like Spore never really lived up to its promise anyway.

Back in the day, I felt a sense of loyalty to a software house -- like Infocom, MicroProse, Epyx, and...*sigh* even EA. For a long time, I felt like the guys at those shops were really trying to create something new and fresh and worthwhile, and that they cared about their customers. Sure, there was copy protection on a lot of the games, but it wasn't intrusive, and, in the case of Infocom, was part of the game (and the fun).
Now...the only game company I can think of that I give a rat's ass about is NCNC (City of Heroes), and I guess Rockstar, but they algn themselves with Take-2/2k, so that's a big negative what with their support of SecuROM.

[omicron]

yeah, if that guy's from Stardock, then he's got my attention. I LOVE their 4x game Galatic Civilization. Got it installed on my laptop right now. Don't need a CD to play, tons of customization, active user group, all the things that make a game great.

[Strider]

Here's yet another fun essay on this subject (again, via Penny Arcade (http://www.penny-arcade.com/2008/9/29/)):

"Daniel James has a presence which extends somewhat beyond the borders of his person, so that when you meet him it seems like you are having a Very Real Experience. As a game designer and a CEO (in that order), his company Three Rings (http://www.threerings.net/) is known for putting out incredibly (http://www.puzzlepirates.com/)quirky (http://www.whirled.com/)shit (http://www.banghowdy.com/). I asked him to write a piece because I knew it would be interesting, but also because (as the purveyor of several digital worlds) he's in a unique position to discuss it. - (CW)TB

The business model of putting bits in a box and charging to experience said tasty bits is forever broken. Furthermore, to prevent the copying of bits is futile and ultimately destructive to the goal of any modern digital business, which is to conscript enthusiastic 'users', and from them, customers.
Our mission at Three Rings is to create an emotional connection with players. We want to become one of the ten places you go on the interwebs. We want to be on your Chrome start page. We want you to dream of puzzley pieces and Pirates (or Zombies). If some folks would like to give us some money, that'd be great too.

Money can't buy you love, but love can bring you money. In software the only sustainable way to earn money is by first creating love, and then hoping that some folks want to demonstrate that love with their dollars.

The cheddary 'Free to Play' is not just a cheesy marketing slogan, but a shift in assumptions; it costs approaching nothing to give away some bits, or let people play Puzzle Pirates for free. Every player, free or paid, adds value to the community and excitement for other players. Free players are the content, context and society that encourages a small fraction of the audience to willingly pay more than enough to subsidize the rest.

It's perhaps easy to stand in the server-side tower, printing coin of the realm and lording it over a bit-mountain. One of online games' many business model advantages is sidestepping DRM questions by maintaining the canonical database that is highly valued by members of the community.

'Not fair', the vendor of music or packaged software cries. Well, tough shit. Nobody added your business to the list of protected species, despite what your lobbyists and lawyers say. Find a business model that's actually appropriate to the 21st century, and perhaps scale back your expectations of vast profits accordingly (oh, and fire some lawyers and lobbyists, too, please). For example, as some musicians have done by returning to live performance as their main source of revenue.

We all know folks who collect music, movies or software, thrilled by all the notional value acquired, but rarely look at any of it. To me, it seems worthless. I assume that any bits are commonplace and easy to come by, and the value is in their use. Everything should be shareware to be tried and tested until its value is proven and the love-meter swings open the wallet. If I were to pass on some music or a piece of code I become a vector of word of mouth viral marketing, the best kind, the kind that money can't buy. To fight this inexorable trend seems as counter-productive as the cellular operators practice of not distributing game demos in order to fleece people with marketing and crappy games. Way to kill a platform, guys.

DRM takes a big poo on your best customers -- the ones who've given you money -- whilst doing nothing practical to prevent others from 'stealing' your precious content juices. Worse, it makes these renegades feel nice and righteous about sticking it to 'the man'. Stop trying to persuade people to love you more by hitting them a rusty pipe. Put down the pipe, and give up on DRM."

[Jakester]

Unfortunately, neither 2k/Take-two nor EA will put down the pipe. Maybe it's time I got into puzzle games. Ones with pirates.

[Strider]

Hmmm....if you wait long enough, I'm sure there will be a derivative of Puzzle Quest with pirates. They're already doing a space one, so why not pirates?

Zach & Wiki for the Nintendo Wii is a point & click puzzle adventure with cartoony pirates in it....

Or, you could try this site that I found with a quick google search (www.puzzlepirates.com). I haven't tried it myself or anything, but it seems to be a puzzle game with pirates in it. :wink:

[neglet]

You can play this one (http://www.popcap.com/games/free/sevenseas) online, although it's really pirate ships, not pirates.

[Jakester]

EA's getting sued! Check it! (http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/california/candce/3:2008cv04917/208302/1/)
This is one of like 3 or 4 suits regarding SecuROM, too. 'Bout time!