Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1615
For Chris Hecker, a technology fellow in Electronic Arts' Maxis Studio (Emeryville, California), developing the game Spore was like being chosen to construct the Sistine Chapel alongside the industry's best and brightest minds who constantly exposed him to bold new thinking. is went on for nearly fi ve years, which is an exceptionally long time considering that most game cycles run anywhere from 18 months to three years. What's more, Hecker's work was actually preceded by that of four or fi ve colleagues who got the ball rolling in pre-production. Given the am- bitious scope surrounding Spore's ground- breaking approach to gaming, any less of a commitment that the creative team made might have been viewed as criminal. It's not surprising then that the game's US release early last month was highly anticipated by eager players, many of whom had heard about some of the work that had been put forth by Maxis throughout the lengthy de- velopment period. "Trying to integrate the game's user-cre- ated content into every part of the levels demanded a lot of technology, [a novel] user interface, and research and design," says the 37-year-old Hecker, who relished an opportunity to be associated with some- thing he believed to be much bigger than himself. Evolutionary, even. But it wasn't easy blazing a path to creativ- ity, which was riddled with challenges. For starters, there was the task of animating con- tent whose fi nal form was not yet known— which was the most impressive among several technical feats—and designing a character's textures to fi t within this vision. Other issues involved creating the right level of detail for smooth viewing of the gaming landscape and whetting player appetites for user-created content with a free download that gave them a feel for using their imagi- nation to create whimsical creatures. Spore, which transcends traditional video game genres, has been described as every- thing from "a real-time strategy" to "a life- simulation contest" whose massive scope and open-ended gameplay have earned kudos from industry watchers. Players cre- ate microscopic organisms that evolve into intelligent beings capable of mastering their own planet and ascending into space, where they interact with alien species across the galaxy. ey're also able to use the game's unique tool set to make vehicles, buildings, and spaceships. Creatures are nurtured through fi ve stag- es of evolution, which start in the primor- dial ooze, before working their way up the food chain, eventually heading for land, where they learn to avoid predators and October 2008 20