Spore Creature Creator as a standalone product

I still haven´t posted my lecture on Games as Creative Tools. At least I´ll have time to revise it, since this happened:

"SPORE CREATURE CREATOR AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE JUNE 17
(...)
Redwood City, CA - April 25, 2008 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Maxis today announced that a free downloadable demo, and complete retail version of the Spore™ Creature Creator will be available starting June 17, 2008. The Spore Creature Creator gives Spore fans, and those who are creatively curious, the first hands-on opportunity to design their own species and share it with their friends.
(...)
A complete retail version of the Spore Creature Creator will also be available in North America for $9.99 and most European territories for €9.99, which gives players access to all the creature-making parts in the game."

Arguably, the creature creator is one of the best parts of the game - if not the best (just look at how many videos there are on the internet about this single feature). However, selling this editor before the game makes me wonder:

1 - Will players have to pay for the tool again, once they buy the full game?
2 - Would the selling of the Creature Creator be a financial necessity for EA? Why not give away the full version for free?
3 - Will it be useful for anyone who has not the full game to place the creatures into?

I really agree that populating the Spore MSOG (Massive Single Player Game, as Will Wright puts it) universe even before the game is released is a good move. Plus, I love to see how games are transforming tools into something fun. But there´s something about charging players for the creation tool - when they could buy the full game with all editors a few months later - that strikes me as odd.

Air traffic upcoming game

From Gamasutra, via Water Cooler Games:

"New Jersey based Majesco has announced Air Traffic Chaos for summer 2008, a game in which players take on the job of an air traffic controller, managing flights at busy airports around the world."

.

As someone who lives in a country where air traffic chaos is a reality, I wonder if Majesco could pull out something that actually conveys the several forces and conditions behind this situation that makes air traffic controller such a complicated job.

That is, of course, if the game takes a more serious take on the subject.

Anyway, it looks like it could be fun.

EDIT 29/04/08: And who says only serious games can open spaces for discussion, anyway?

long, long break + poll

Almost two months since my last post. That´s quite a while.
Too many different things going on (all good) keep me from writing, but I´ll try to post a series soon on games as creativity tools.

Which reminds me, here´s a new poll:
Which upcoming product will be a good creativity tool? and which one will reach a broader audience?

You might need to access the page to see the flash poll.

Inkball: Vista's new interface learning game

I often remember a former boss telling me how games are used to teach Operational Systems interfaces in a fun way. That's the case with Windows Solitaire (click, double-click, drag and drop) and Minesweeper (click, right-click). PDAs have also used games to teach peculiarities of their handwritting recognition software.

Well, it seems that Microsoft, through Vista, is betting on Tablets and Tablet PCs increasing popularity (I personally work better with a tablet than with a mouse). And to support entry-level tablet users, Inkball is the game to be played.

The game is quite simple (maybe too simple, but that's part of the deal, right?): draw lines that bounce and direct balls into their respective holes. With more production value and options, this could have been DS launch title.



A handwriting recognition game would be interesting too.
Hum... and also an educational handwriting game for alphabetization classes, I guess...

PS: More than two weeks without posting! I wonder if that's a record. And I am still quite busy. I guess that's the way it is as we approach the end of the year. Anyway, it's good busy.

PS2: I am just guessing, but I think nongames.com should change significantly in 2008, content-wise.

PS3: My presentation on games as creative tools turned out nice. I'll post more as soon as I translate it.

PS4: In case I don't post again in 2007, I wish a happy new year to everyone.

Busy

No, I'm not devastated about our less voted poll ever (3 votes??), I'm just terribly busy at work and finishing a presentation.

I Hope I can get back to nongames soon, next week.

Games as art tools

As I might have said before, the use of games art artistic tools is something I would like to investigate on a deeper level (PhD?). Meanwhile, I´ve found that Flavio Escribano, from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid has produced a very complete, thoughtful and polished publication on the subject. If you can understand Spanish, you should check it out.

(Via Mushroom Coorporation)

Poll - Have you ever started something in real life because of a game?

Weekly poll (you might need to access the original post in order to access the flash poll).

Feel free to post information about your own experience on the comments section.

Will Wright on Games and Imagination

While researching for my presentation, I found out that Wired.com has a great article entitled "Dream Machine", by Will Wright, where makes a very similar point to the one I intend to.

I'll probably come back to it later next week. For now, here is a passage from it. There are gome good things that should be referenced later.

"Like the toys of our youth, modern videogames rely on the player's active involvement. We're invited to create and interact with elaborately simulated worlds, characters, and story lines. Games aren't just fantasy worlds to explore; they actually amplify our powers of imagination.

Think of it this way: Most technologies can be seen as an enhancement of some part of our bodies (car/legs, house/skin, TV/senses). From the start, computers have been understood as an extension of the human brain; the first computers were referred to as mechanical brains and analytical engines. We saw their primary value as automated number crunchers that far exceeded our own meager abilities."

Even the McLuhan analogy is there. I need more tricks :)

Anyway, I think my research is coming out fine. Most of it was already done, and it feels more like putting the pieces together with some coherence. Although all I have is a loose structure, I am already moving from "how can I make it last 15 minutes" to "how can I make it fit 15 minutes". I hope I don't get lost.

Google Gadgets as game platform

I don´t know how many iGoogle users there are (a lot, I guess), but since Google has been trying to attract and support google gadget developers, I was wondering if this couldn't be a very interesting game platform.

I haven´t really researched the dev guide, but I have no doubt that some original games could be made, taking advantage of iGoogle´s user base and structure.

The idea of browser-accessible, script-embedded games and activities is very attractive. Metaplace seems to be a much stronger player in that area. In fact, Metaplace seems to be so ahead (hum... Metaplace Google Gadget!), that maybe Google Gadget Games should embrace alternative features, such as text games, parallel gaming, etc.

Of course, there are several successful GG games, such as Sudoku, Chess, Tetris, etc. But I´m willing to bet that something new could come out of it. It could be an interesting niche, anyway.

The Endless Forest

I have no idea how could I overlook it for so long: The Endless Forestis a (non)game from Tale of Tales that is not only highly original (just check out their list of game verbs!), but also beatiful.

From their website:

"The Endless Forest is a multiplayer online game and social screensaver, a virtual place where you can play with your friends. When your computer goes to sleep you appear as a deer in this magical place. There are no goals to achieve or rules to follow. Just run through the forest and see what happens. (Emphasis mine)"

(What about my emphasis?)
When your computer... Endless Forest is a screensaver - which is a brilliant idea, I think.
There are no goals to achieve... See? It is a nongame, I was not pushing too far.

More from their website:

"You are a deer. So are the other players. You meet each other in an endless forest on the internet. The setting is idyllic, the atmosphere peaceful. You communicate with one another through sounds and body language."

This could be very interesting. And I wonder if it wouldn't work even better within a goal-driven context.

Well, for those who are interested, here's the download page.