check this out
source: [url]http://pc.ign.com/articles/111/1116367p1.html[/url]
[quote=ign]What would happen if Maxis – the studio behind The Sims and Spore – made a Diablo-style action RPG? Well wonder no more, because that's pretty much what Darkspore is shaping up to be: a loot-drop loving, co-op focused action-gaming click-fest. There's plenty more to it, of course, from the science fiction setting and intriguing squad-level strategy, to – once again – the way the game will empower users to create and add to Darkspore's universe.
After IGN's recent hands-on, we were curious to find out a little more, so got in touch with Casey Weaver, Darkspore's Gameplay Engineer at Maxis Studio for a chat. All quotes are from Casey…
Maxis on... The Story and Setting
"Darkspore is set in the aftermath of a scientific experiment gone disastrously wrong. After an unstable type of super-DNA called 'Exponential DNA' escaped the lab, it created mutated hordes of Darkspore creatures who, under the leadership of a mysterious being called The Corruptor, overran the galaxy. After eons of hiding in hyper-sleep, you have been awakened by your ship with a message from a long dormant computer network: E-DNA has been stabilized. Now you can use it as it was originally intended, to upgrade a collection of Genetic Heroes and fight back against the Darkspore.
"The goal of the fiction is to set the context for the player's role, identify the enemies, and define the unique sci-fi setting of the game. As you play through the game and encounter each new planet, you'll see a series of FMVs that tell the story of the rise of the Darkspore and the history of each planet you'll encounter."
The visual style is an interesting mix of detailed and cartoony.
Maxis on... Collecting Loot
"Darkspore has a lot of what you might expect to see in an Action-RPG. It's a PC game, with familiar mouse and keyboard-based controls, and has heroes and enemies that are organized into types and classes. But most of all, Darkspore is a game about collecting loot. You'll build a collection of Genetic Heroes that you can send into battle, and you'll collect hundreds of thousands of parts that you can use to upgrade those heroes.
"The gameplay in Darkspore is very action packed. Expect your eyes to be glued to the screen with some wild adrenalin rush moments when getting attacked by hoards of infested creatures or killing bosses. The minute to minute action will keep you engaged throughout the planet. But you can also expect many beautiful and unique planets to discover and explore."
Maxis on... Whether There's Cross-over Between Spore and Darkspore
"Darkspore is completely new game, and is not a sequel or expansion pack to Spore. As an Action-RPG, Darkspore adds an incredible amount of depth in upgrades and customization that comes with the Spore Creature Creation technology that we've adapted for the game. It will certainly appeal to a lot of players who like Action-RPGs and may not have played Spore.
"That said, the ability to control and customize your creature and fight other dangerous creatures while exploring a planet was a huge hit among many Spore players. We think that these players will also enjoy the exciting fights and cool abilities that are in Darkspore. Darkspore also has beautiful, unique planets to explore and a Hero editor to customize their characters that they will all be familiar with."
Ride the lightning.
Maxis on... Character Classes
"Darkspore has three classes: Sentinel, Ravager & Tempest. These classes mainly define your role on the battlefield. Sentinels are generally tanks and are there to be the front line in the attack, absorbing most of the damage. Ravagers are quick, stealthy attackers that have high damage output but are also more fragile than Sentinels. Tempests are generally in the rear of the battle with their ranged & support abilities.
"Our archetypes break down into five "Genesis" types: Plasma, Bio, Quantum, Necro & Cyber. The Genesis types define the kind of abilities that each hero or enemy creature will have. Plasma creatures have high damage, AoE energy attack abilities such as Fireballs and Plasma Columns. The healing and crowd control abilities are mainly covered by the Bio type creatures. Our Quantum type creatures have abilities that can manipulate time and space. Necro archetypes excel with controlling & draining abilities such as Life Drain and Fear. And the Cyber archetype's abilities utilize traps and explosions."
"The goal of the game is to build a collection of Genetic Heroes and organize them into squads for attacks on different planet levels. Each hero in Darkspore has a unique set of abilities, so you'll need to create squads that have heroes with abilities that complement each other, and complement squads created by other players in co-op gameplay.
"Making squads is critical, as you'll need to choose which one to use before starting each level. We were inspired by games like Plants vs. Zombies where you get a glimpse of the enemies on the planet, then choose the best squad you think will be able to destroy (or survive against) those enemies. This adds a lot to replayability, as every player will come up with their own combinations of squads as they upgrade their collection of heroes.
"When you bring a squad down to a planet, you'll play one hero at a time, and you can switch to the other heroes in the squad whenever you want depending on the enemies you encounter."
From frozen worlds to high tech environments, Darkspore has an interesting mix of environments.
Maxis on... Having a Unique Collection of Heroes
"As you progress through Darkspore, you will have the opportunity to collect all of the heroes, as well as unlock the ability to create additional squads. This will allow you to set up multiple squad configurations you can swap between as you play through multiple planets that have different types of enemies. Squad management is a very important feature the further you progress in Darkspore because you will want to make sure you are able to bring down the squad of heroes best suited for that particular planet.
"This is where the technology of the Spore really comes in to play. In Darkspore, you upgrade your heroes by collecting parts. All parts have stats such as Strength, Crit, Deflect, etc., and these stats directly affect gameplay. But as you add parts to your heroes to upgrade their stats, you can put the parts wherever you want. Everyone who plays Darkspore will have a unique collection of heroes, both in appearance and in stat combinations."
Maxis on... Squad Powers
"The squad powers are a feature that we're really excited about on Darkspore. The squad abilities are special powers that are shared among all of the heroes in your squad. Each hero in the squad provides one unique squad power that is available for use no matter which hero in your squad you are currently playing with.
"This gives you a really powerful tool for customizing the set of abilities you have available at any given time. You can spread out the types of abilities your squad has, or you can specialize. For example if you're playing with Sage and have Zrin and Vex in your squad, you will be able to perform really powerful "assassination" attacks. You can root the enemy with Sage's Virulent Vines then activate Zrin's Plasma Column and use Vex's Chrono Blink to teleport right next to the enemy. This will take out even the most dangerous enemies in no time."
In space, no one can hear your throat get ripped out by a bizarre mutant.
Maxis on... The Importance of Co-op
"While Darkspore is a fun to play solo, it is definitely geared for co-op. The challenge and rewards get cranked up in cooperative mode. Many exciting enemies only appear in co-op. These enemies are designed to reinforce the cooperative play and ensure you're all playing and working together. In addition, many abilities really shine when used in co-op play. Our Bio Tempest, Sage, has an ability called Tree Of Life that does an AoE heal on nearby allies based on how much damage you all do in the area. This ability can really turn the tide during a rough horde encounter since damage your teammates do also increases the healing power of the ability."
Maxis on... The Creature Editor & Contributing to Darkspore's World
"Right from the start of Darkspore we knew that we wanted to engage with the amazingly creative players in the Spore community. We felt that the Creature Editor would be a really fun way to give the community a chance to contribute and play a part in the creativity of this new game. It's totally optional and voluntary (the Darkspore team is creating all of the core NPCs), but giving our Spore community the chance to build enemy creatures that might actually appear in the game is really exciting. And seeing the results from the Spore community is something that everyone working on Darkspore enjoys a lot. It is inspiring to see the creative Spore community continue to wow us with their unique creations as they interpret their own style for each NPC."
[/quote]
If you look at the pictures, it looks like a starcraft 2 type thing, the top down strategy game...
comments?
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmOWmYsGiGc[/media]
:10bux: says it will suck.
i don't think anyone who thinks this will be the next spore even played spore or even knows what it is
So basically spore with less :3:?
It is spore with less features and no hopes of any innovative gameplay, a generic RTS, and instead of being for 3 year olds, it is now for 12 year olds.
[QUOTE=RichyZ;24454528]it will be the next spore as in it will be a giant disappointment/piece of shit/wasted potential[/QUOTE]
It's not the next spore. It's a dungeon crawler using Spore's name. I can see why they are chosing to use elements from Spore. Anyways I on the other hand, might get this depending on if I can get a non shitty EA published peice of shit. I'm tired of having to use an EA account to play. That's the reason I stopped playing spore was because I couldn't change my account. I'm going to assume they'll do a steam release like they did Spore...
ITT: everyone hates on spore :bandwagon:
Spore was a great game IMO. Other than EA I quite enjoyed it.
[QUOTE=Duke Naz;24455591]Spore was a great game IMO. Other than EA I quite enjoyed it.[/QUOTE]
Other than EA? Are you stupid? EA publishes games, they didn't affect it's production. Spore fucking sucked compared to what it was supposed to be. Instead of that procedurally generated bullshit that spouted at us for like 3 years, at the last moment they decided LOL FUCK IT and they made certain limbs make you move faster, etc. So god damned stupid..
[editline]05:36AM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Doomish;24455535]ITT: everyone hates on spore :bandwagon:[/QUOTE]
It's not a bandwagon. It was a terrible game. Go watch the 2005 gameplay, and then watch some modern gameplay.
I'm certain it'll be shit.
It'll probably be fun, but really shallow.
Just like Spore.
[QUOTE=Kylel999;24455888]Other than EA? Are you stupid? EA publishes games, they didn't affect it's production. Spore fucking sucked compared to what it was supposed to be. Instead of that procedurally generated bullshit that spouted at us for like 3 years, at the last moment they decided LOL FUCK IT and they made certain limbs make you move faster, etc. So god damned stupid..
[editline]05:36AM[/editline]
It's not a bandwagon. It was a terrible game. Go watch the 2005 gameplay, and then watch some modern gameplay.[/QUOTE]
EA owns Maxis, and Maxis made it fyi.
And they didn't just change everything last minute. A lot of the old videos showing off the old versions of Spore weren't actual in game videos, just ones put together days before the conferences. Will Wright and others have come forward since saying that those presentations were barely held together, and were put together last minute for those conferences (GDC, etc). Some of the things present in those old videos were removed because of how buggy and glitchy they were, hence why they had such trouble getting videos together.
The other changes to make it all cutesy and whatnot were put forward by Chris Hecker.
Anyways, I enjoyed Spore despite it being drastically different than when I first heard of it. Darkspore however, doesn't look all that enjoyable, or at least not in the same way Spore was.
I played Spore for about a month. It wasn't the best of games, but hey, it's not CoD!
It looks kinda "meh"-ish. It'll probably be fun for some time but as most people said, shallow and very, very limited such as Spore (Spore was fun the first hour or two then it disappointed me because of the extreme limitations.).
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