I Made Spore 2 Because EA Didn't
TLDRAn indie developer's journey to create a spiritual successor to Spore, focusing on real-time multiplayer and cross-platform compatibility. The game emphasizes creature creation and physics-based gameplay, with an open world to explore and challenges that require strategic creature design. The development process included overcoming coding principles, implementing animations, and integrating community contributions. The game also features a unique economy, NPC interactions, and mini-games that highlight the importance of creature design in multiplayer scenarios.
Takeaways
- 🎮 The video discusses the creation of a Spore-like game due to the lack of a sequel from EA.
- 🕹️ The game focuses on real-time online multiplayer, a feature not present in the original Spore.
- 📱 It aims to support cross-platform play and be available on mobile devices.
- 💻 The development process involved recreating the creature creator in Unity and improving upon the original game's features.
- 🎨 The game allows for open-source contributions, enabling community involvement in development.
- 🔧 Challenges faced during development included bad coding practices, transforming in editor mode, and optimizing creature data for network transmission.
- 🚀 The game introduces new mechanics such as inverse kinematics for more realistic creature movement.
- 🎲 A core gameplay loop was established where players create creatures to explore an open world and collect parts to improve their creatures' stats and abilities.
- 🏢 The game includes various maps with different themes and challenges, each requiring unique strategies and creature designs.
- 🤖 An AI system was implemented for NPC behaviors and battles, adding another layer of gameplay.
- 🎭 The game also features a variety of mini-games that emphasize creature design and allow for co-op and competitive multiplayer experiences.
Q & A
What was the main motivation behind creating a successor to Spore?
-The main motivation was the lack of a true sequel to the 2008 life simulation game, Spore, despite the popularity and enduring active player base. The creator wanted to fill the gap and introduce new features like real-time online multiplayer, cross-platform support, and an open-source approach.
How did the community contribute to the development of the game?
-The community contributed by participating in events, submitting concept art and designs for body parts, and providing feedback which influenced the development process. This open-source nature allowed the community to feel involved in the game's evolution.
What were the key features that the creator wanted to distinguish their game from Spore?
-The key features included real-time online multiplayer, proper mobile version support, cross-platform compatibility, a unique story focusing on the creature stage, and an open-source approach, allowing players to freely modify and share their creations.
What challenges did the creator face when implementing multiplayer functionality?
-The creator faced challenges such as planning for multiplayer from the beginning, separating code into individual decoupled components for better net code, and dealing with Unity's new and often changing net code which resulted in game-breaking API changes.
How did the creator address the issue of bad coding principles in the initial development phase?
-The creator recognized the issue of monolithic scripts becoming unmanageable and transitioned towards a component-based architecture, which is a larger design pattern in Unity that promotes high cohesion and low coupling, essential for a smooth multiplayer experience.
What was the process for adding animations to the creatures?
-The process involved setting up bind poses and bone weights along the limbs, using blend shapes for weight adjustment, implementing extremities for attaching hands and feet, and using inverse kinematics for more natural movement. The Unity animation rigging package was also utilized for better performance.
How did the creator handle the transformation of body parts in the editor?
-The creator had to modify how transforms were edited by ensuring that all changes happened in the creature's local space, using world to local and local to world transformations to allow seamless editing from different points in the world.
What is the core gameplay loop in the open-world aspect of the game?
-The core gameplay loop involves players creating creatures to explore an open world, collecting different parts and patterns to improve their creatures' stats and abilities, overcoming challenges, and collecting more parts to progress further.
How did the creator incorporate physics-based gameplay?
-The creator shaped the collider to approximate the creature's body and set the mass of the rigid body to the calculated weight, affecting the creature's speed and jump height. This allowed for physics-based puzzles and challenges throughout the world.
What were some of the mini-games introduced to enhance the multiplayer experience?
-Some mini-games included Pirate King, Cave Critters, a racetrack race, the sandbox soccer game, Kaiju Hunt, Fruit Fights, and Build Battle, each with unique rules and restrictions that encouraged diverse creature designs and strategies.
Outlines
🎮 Game Development Journey and Inspiration
The paragraph discusses the creator's inspiration from the popular 2008 life simulation game, Spore, and the decision to develop a spiritual successor due to the lack of a true sequel. The creator shares the initial success of the game and the subsequent expansions, spin-offs, and the decision to take matters into their own hands and recreate the creature creator in Unity. The internet's positive response led to the development of a full game, with a focus on real-time online multiplayer, cross-platform support, a unique story, and open-source availability.
👾 Overcoming Development Challenges and Improving Code
This paragraph delves into the technical aspects of game development, highlighting the challenges faced in refining the initial 'tech demo' into a more robust game. The creator discusses the need to address bad coding practices, the importance of adhering to Unity's component-based architecture, and the process of transforming the editor's functionality to accommodate multiplayer features. The paragraph also touches on the implementation of animations, the addition of inverse kinematics, and the hurdles encountered in perfecting the creature's walking animation.
🎨 Community Engagement and Feature Expansion
The creator shares how the community contributed to the game's development, from submitting 3D models and concept art to participating in events on the community Discord server. The paragraph details the addition of new features, such as individual part recoloring, transformable parts, and an improved saving system. The creator also discusses the challenges of integrating community-created parts into the game and the steps taken to ensure they fit seamlessly within the game's mechanics and aesthetics.
🕹️ Multiplayer Integration and Networking
This section focuses on the complexities of adding multiplayer functionality to the game. The creator explains the necessity of planning for multiplayer from the outset and the challenges of separating code into individual, decoupled components. The paragraph covers the intricacies of networking, including the use of prefab variants for local and remote creatures, optimizing creature data for network transmission, and dealing with Unity's net code serialization. The creator also discusses the impact of Android crashes on the game's ratings and the iterative process of refining multiplayer experiences.
🌍 Crafting an Engaging Open World and Core Gameplay
The creator outlines the core gameplay loop, which revolves around players creating creatures to explore an open world, collecting parts and patterns to improve their creatures' stats and abilities. The paragraph details the design and creation of various maps, each with unique challenges and travel points, and the integration of physics-based gameplay that allows creature design to impact puzzle-solving and exploration. The creator also discusses the development of NPC AI, battles, and the use of creature design in overcoming world challenges.
🎉 Mini-Games, Main Menu, and Additional Features
This paragraph covers the introduction of mini-games to enhance the multiplayer experience, drawing inspiration from Goat Simulator. The creator describes the structure of these mini-games, the restrictions placed on creature design for specific games, and the variety of mini-games developed across the different maps. The paragraph also highlights the design and functionality of the main menu, the implementation of the Steam Workshop, and the addition of various UI elements, settings, and export capabilities. The creator reflects on the game's development process, the community's support, and upcoming projects.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Spore
💡Real Time Online Multiplayer
💡Crossplatform
💡Open Source
💡Creature Creator
💡Animation Rigging Package
💡Net Code
💡State Machine Behavior
💡Community Engagement
💡Physics-Based
💡Mini Games
Highlights
The creator's motivation to develop a successor to the popular 2008 life simulation game, Spore, due to the lack of an official sequel from EA.
The game's initial release as a basic creature creator in Unity, which received positive feedback from the internet, leading to the development of a full game.
The introduction of real-time online multiplayer, a feature missing from the original Spore, as a central aspect of the new game's design.
The decision to focus the game on the creature stage rather than the entire evolution from cell to space, which was a unique storytelling approach.
The creator's educational background in Bachelor of Science with First Class Honors, which contributed to the game's development.
The implementation of procedural generation for the creature's body, ensuring enough geometry to work with for the game's mechanics.
The use of hinge joints and blend shapes to add weight and manipulate the creature's body parts, enhancing the game's level of detail and interactivity.
The development of a unique animation system using Unity's animation rigging package and inverse kinematics for more realistic creature movements.
The integration of community-contributed body parts into the game, showcasing the open-source nature and collaborative spirit of the project.
The addition of a plugable system for creature abilities using scriptable objects, allowing for a variety of functionalities and gameplay enhancements.
The design of an open-world environment with interconnected maps and diverse ecosystems for players to explore and collect parts.
The physics-based design of the game, where creature's design impacts gameplay through collider shapes and weight affecting movement and actions.
The inclusion of NPC creatures with AI behaviors and attacks, adding depth and challenge to the player's exploration experience.
The multiplayer aspect of the game, emphasizing the importance of planning for multiplayer from the beginning of development.
The creator's efforts to optimize net code and creature data transmission over the network for efficient and smooth multiplayer gameplay.
The addition of mini-games and co-op play, allowing players to utilize their creature designs in competitive and collaborative scenarios.
The creator's commitment to continuous improvement and future development, including plans for two new creature games.
