Spore: Galactic Adventures Discussion

Spore: Galactic Adventures has been on my mind today.

I've been remembering several adventure contests that took place in the Sporum throughout the last years and some of those that I partook in (as well as a few people of this community). I've also been looking at my own adventures and comments I've received on them and that made me realize that I truly had a great time creating my own stories, universes and landscapes and having the majority of users who've commented on them having appreciated their gaming time feels good too.

Moreover, there's a huge universe of great, original, well-conceived adventures out there, some of those within the horror genre, others more towards the mysterious side, etc.

I was also one of Mudo's adventure testers and he totally had a great piece of work under development. ^^ If you're reading this, Mudo, keep up the good work.

It was also a lot of fun to create adventures together with other players, although most projects I've started with other members never got to be finished. A shame, really, because we had some great ideas.


All in all, I miss the whole Galactic Adventures mood that skied over us a while ago. It was an atmosphere full of creativity, helpfulness (such as our Spore sections dedicated to help others) and willingness to do something different that others would like. It held its ups and downs, of course, but generally it was very pleasant to be a part of such era.

--

Use this topic to debate anything you'd like regarding this theme and if anyone would like to bring back the era of G.A., then please let me know.

Well, the only think I have to say is that I played if for literally two days. Just made a crappy adventure.

I worked on several adventures with others, including yourself Ark - one was really successful if you remember (Dawn of Hope along with Becks). I played many of your adventures, and really liked your story-telling. I also worked with MaudDibb and arastoph on another one and started to work with Dino589 and StarUniter on one as well as you and Andy.

I also remember Sporeal Tournament where a LOT of people helped make them, characters, props and even whole arenas. Jsinnister made a really good arena - as well developed the template for aquatic adventures. Though Sakiara made the best aquatic I remember.

I spent most of my adventure time, however, developing and testing battle scenes of all types, I have a few test adventures still in my sporpedia of these battle tests.

Problem is, most people seemed to make appalling Clark and Stanley rubbish.

OneDeadSlime wrote:Well, the only think I have to say is that I played if for literally two days. Just made a crappy adventure.

I remember the evening when I got my hands on Galactic Adventures. I stayed up until 6 in the morning or something (I remember it was day light when I stopped playing) creating my first adventure, testing it and actually managed to finish and share it online by then. It was a newbie one, about some authority type group attacking a terrorist type group , but I had a lot of fun with it. ^^

Vektrix wrote:I worked on several adventures with others, including yourself Ark - one was really successful if you remember (Dawn of Hope along with Becks). I played many of your adventures, and really liked your story-telling.

Thanks. I'm glad you've enjoyed them.
And of course I remember creating Dawn of Hope. ^^ I thought it turned out quite great and I had fun creating it with both of you. I remember I enjoyed it so much that we were discussing at some point either to make something new together or not.
We've discussed several ideas but never carried anything until the end, unfortunately. :/

Vektrix wrote:
I also remember Sporeal Tournament where a LOT of people helped make them, characters, props and even whole arenas. Jsinnister made a really good arena - as well developed the template for aquatic adventures. Though Sakiara made the best aquatic I remember.

The Sporeal Tournament was a quite original and cool idea.
It would have worked better though if the game allowed some sort of score, skills, etc. tracking system for things of this nature, since we also had to rely on people telling the truth, lol, but it was still fun.

And yeah, Aquatic Stage adventures - I had forgotten about that. Lots of original creations came out from that theme and Sakiara's one (I think it's the one where we were a little crab ) was definitely one of the best ones. Very well done.

Vektrix wrote:
Problem is, most people seemed to make appalling Clark and Stanley rubbish.

Yeah, a large amount of adventures, probably more than half, were just silly weird things. Still, it's in their right to create whatever they want as long as they follow the rules, although I can understand some people's frustration when they spend weeks creating a sandbox/rpg/action adventure with a lot of thought into it only to be outshined (outshone? lol) by Clark and Stanley eating explosive birthday cake. :/



But we can bring back this era! We only need people.

To be honest, I think the Spore era is over. All that is left are dedicated creators that sporadically hold on to satisfy their creative needs and trolls that found a new way of acting like immature children.

There are a couple of big names, though, that are trying to relight the fire, but I can't disclose anything further.

I hope that From Dust can start a new era for creative storytellers (a future expansion comes with a world editor and multiplayer), but that's for another thread and time.

Andeavor wrote:To be honest, I think the Spore era is over.

The G.A. era may be over but it does not mean it cannot return. All it requires are people who are willing to be a part of it once more.

Idk if it can return really.

I really doubt many play adventures anymore (including myself) and the Adventure MPN is filled with usual edits of Maxis adventures, Add your captain, and adventures in foreign languages.
And honestly no one can ever bring anything new to the table. It's pretty much the same crap over and over again and the ones that were actually different are over done at this point.

But despite these points I'm working on a few story adventures >_>

Like I've said, I believe it can return if people are up for it. Of course, it won't get anywhere if nobody's motivated nor willing to create/play adventures. I also do not think people have run out of ideas or spent all their creativity. I believe new and better things can always be successfully produced, if our minds are into it.

But it's true what you've said regarding the MPN. That's why a small, strong community works best for these types of things, in my opinion - like we've been having all long here in EuroSpore, other subjects included.

Who needs the MPN and the website showing us that the lower common denominator is rubbish when we can make great things ourselves? ;P

True Ark, very true.

I love the GA editors. It's what I spent most of my time in when I played spore. I still play around in it now, although my over all interest in spore has dwindled. I really love making environments and playing with the AI and all that.

I think alot of creators (especially those with internet fame on their mind) tend to steer away from the aventure editor. It can take hours, even days, weeks or months, to make a good adventure and it will almost never hit the MPN because things like clark and stanley and republishes hit it instead.

I did some tutorials for the GA, although that stopped too because I didnt feel people were interested enough. But they were fun. I may take up doing them again if people become more interested.

On the side of doing things with other creators, I rarely did that. However I am in the process of working with Dino on somthing in GA He's also working on an adventure which I've had alot of sneak peeks at and it's amazing.

So GA isnt dead itself, it just lacks the platform for it to hold strong as a community.

I was never really able to get into GA. The problem for me was that any sort of good adventure demands a LOT of complex custom props, the creation of which can be very tedious and time-consuming indeed. It's part of the reason why I could never bring myself to complete more than one mission.

Red-Indigo wrote:However I am in the process of working with Dino on somthing in GA He's also working on an adventure which I've had alot of sneak peeks at and it's amazing.

Let us know how that works out, Red. I'm also up for anything G.A. related so shout if you need anything.

Well, I'm starting work on a little adventure which I was throwing ideas around in my head about.

So basically your working for a race of Zealots hunting down heretics and killin' them. But you have to infiltrate the heretic's church.
So I plan on stealth scenes, explosions, races, etc.

GA was fun for a time for me. It was fun messing around with all the features and AI and whatnot, but after a while it just got a little boring. While there is alot of things you can do in the adventure editor, you are somewhat restricted on how you design levels, and often even if you have a creative idea, it almost never translates as well as you'd hope in an actual adventure.

The most notable adventure I ever had wasn't even technically an adventure. It was just a massive stone statue of a dragon and a scorpion made out of the rock props from the editor (inspired by fotosynthesis's work).

Most fun I had though in adventure making was working with my brother on his series, which still to this day confuses me all the missions seem to have thousands of thousand of plays, yet I have never gotten a single comment about them. I haven't heard of anyone else experiencing this glitch (if it is a glitch)

That's odd remi. I don't know if it's a glitch or not, but I find people don't comment on adventures much. I guess it's because a creation, alot of people look at the creature/vehicle PNG and make a snap judgement. Whereas adventures you have to actually play through to give any sort of comment. Still odd that there are no comments at all though

I agree with the creative idea thing too. You have to be extremley creative with whats available to make some simple things work, that's not what's intended with the editor either, it's supposed to be simple, but somtimes its overly restrictive because of that.

But the great part is that you can use its simpleness and naivite to come up with original ideas by using the Adventure Editor in different ways and take the game one step further than what it was intended to be like. It feels very good when you come up with an idea that is different than average and works well in G.A. ^^

I loved creating adventures. It was a very fun medium for story-telling, even if the editor had some restrictions. And I enjoyed to, once in a while, experiment with music and various effects in a crudely created scene. If I had still been creating, my adventures would have been focused on story-telling and cinematic effects. I still remember how proud I felt when I had created that prologue in my series.

I remember the sheer joy of creating, and I miss it. But creating custom props was a bit of a pain, especially when I had a lot of pressure on myself after having received so great response on my adventures. Creating those spaceship interior creations was really hard, I had never created any decent-looking interiors before. (And since the release of my latest adventure when unnoticed, due to my lack of interest to announce and promote it, I don't even know if the ones I made came out good either.) I guess that's what made me stop creating: the pressure. It took away the fun. And when it was no fun, I had no reason to do it.

Sometimes I do feel like I want to start creating again, but it will never be the same. Maybe if there was a nice, rich community. But as it is, I don't feel tempted to go back.

Well, hey, unless you sold the game back it's always still there on your hard-drive. And don't think there has to be someone to see your work. Sometimes it's great just to make cool stuff of your own volition.

Okay, I started work on my adventure and this is what I got done in ten minutes



It's not much seeing that I was working on the dialogue more.

I still find GA somewhat fun to mess around with, if frustratingly restrictive. The appeal of Spore as a whole for me was the fact that I could make and design pretty much whatever I wanted, and likewise that is the appeal of GA for me--it's almost like a mini game-maker (that is, once again, sometimes frustratingly restrictive). I only wish there was more things it was capable of... which is why a lot of the stuff I have been doing in it has been complicated AI and effects and whatnot; things I don't really think it was designed for doing.

I think one of my biggest complaints is how the so-called Advanced AI isn't really so advanced. A big problem for me is the fact that it only lets you use a maximum of 10 options. Sure, it's more than the default Ai, but it still isn't much. I'd be happier with double that or more for some of the stuff I've been working on. Another thing that bugs me is how animals can flee ONLY when they are attacked. I mean, it just doesn't work like that in life. On the savannah, a herd of gazelles will flee as soon as they spot the lion hiding in the grass, they don't wait for one of their own to be attacked and possibly killed and only then make a run for it. I'd be much happier if, in addition to having more room for AI, there was also the option to Flee when Aware Of or Flee when Threatened By.

Gotta say I've also enjoyed working with others on stuff too. Like anything, the thing about working with others is that each person will have their own strengths and weaknesses and the opportunity to bring in something different. The first time I started working on something was back before I even had GA, with DDG-995. It was supposed to be something of a part-sequel-part-remake of his adventure, though we never got further than discussing it because, as far as I'm aware, his university work was in demand of attention and he unofficially left the Spore community. After that, as Vek mentioned, I was working with him and StarUniter on something, and it was off to a good start, but it never got finished either.
However, as Red brought up, I am working with her on something. And when it's done, I think it'll be pretty darn cool. Perhaps a little bit effects-heavy, so we'll see how that goes. I'm honestly not sure how well everything will work, but I think it should work seeing as how I've managed to get some working demos. As much as I would like to hint at what it is, I'm not sure how much Red is cool with us saying at this point so I'll keep my mouth shut for now.
Oh yeah, and that thing that Red said was "amazing"... That is the revamped version of my Jurassic GA I started a while ago. No nifty effects, but AI-intensive. Basically, I've set up an AI that allows the creatures to quickly and dynamically change tasks and behaviours to interact with other species. Basically an autonomous AI, that lets the creatures just do what they want on their own. Its pretty realistic, not to mention nifty for adventures like it where you have a lot of creatures in a large area that stand the chance of bumping into eachother. Hoping to get a clip or two of the adventure, so you guys can see it in action.

GA may be somewhat dead right now, but it just needs some more dedicated creators and a larger platform and whatnot.

Dino, I agree with you when you say the Advanced A.I. should have more options. Perhaps even a third column to allow even more advanced interactions. Regarding the situation you've presented about the herbivores running from the predators, you can always set the creatures to go to a certain area once they're aware of certain unit. It won't exactly be running but I suppose it can give a similar feeling - Then when they "spot" that said unit is not within their range anymore, they'll return to wandering around.

I've probably said this a thousand times but I would really really really like if there was a patch (or even expansion, as I wouldn't mind paying for it) that fixed the bugs and glitches, or at least most of them, found in G.A. And might as well add new editor options, such as the ability to choose a completely flat area to work on and not a giant sphere, as the buildings tilt if you move them to the side. :s

Hmm, having them walk to a certain area when aware of the predator. An interesting idea, though I'll have to see how well it works.



....Anybody have any ideas why an adventure I'm trying to download via small PNG (perhaps more specifically, the latest iteration of what me and Red had been working on) refuses to download? I've tried every conceivable thing I can think of short of asking for a completely new PNG and nothing has happened. It's happened to me before that something doesn't download immediately via PNG, but it tends to download on its own a few hours later. I've been sitting on this thing for several days and still nothing. Frustrating.

Started making a GA for release - as opposed to my usual testing purposes. I am currently building all my interiors so people can have a look, and play with them in the editors to help make their own. Big annoyance, however, the worlds are NOT FLAT - GAH!

Anyway, the following interiors are planned to be in it.

- Creepy Chapel
- Sporeal Tournament Studio
- Xenophon Prison
- Dark Corridor
- Satan's Lair
- Grand Hall

Screenshots will be released soon