The Spore We Never Got

There are few life simulation games as strange and intriguing as Spore. This game puts players in the position of a godlike entity whose job is to create a single-celled organism, and eventually evolve it into a fully thinking and thriving race. Spore explores themes of creationism and evolution, but the main thing players took away from the game was being able to make some of the weirdest-looking creatures imaginable and have them fight other equally weird creatures. Though the game received positive feedback for its mechanics and still has a die-hard fan base, a lot of what was planned for Spore at the beginning of its development was cut out. The reasons these features were scrapped are numerous but all lead to the same conclusion. We received a very inferior Spore game.

Cut molecular stage

It’s common knowledge to any Spore fan that you advance to the creature stage after evolving your cellular creature. However, this process wasn’t always so straightforward. In fact, the number of stages the player had to evolve through was planned to be much larger. The beginning stage of Spore was supposed to be ‘molecular’. This would allow the player to play in an even more absurdly small arena. Battling it out with rival molecular beasts for DNA before moving on to the cell stage. This stage was likely cut due to there not really being any major differences in gameplay between this stage and the one that would follow. It’s possible that perhaps the two stages were actually merged, considering the cellular creature you play gets bigger as it evolves. The next stage on the other hand would have been a lot more significant to the overall game.

Cut aquatic stage

Just before reaching land, Spore was initially going to let the player create an aquatic-based animal. Even fans of Spore can agree that going from a single cell to an animal with feet is pretty jarring. This stage would have acted as a bridge between the cell and creature stages to make the evolution of your creature feel more natural. Maxis originally planned to have numerous aquatic creatures inside this stage too. Reptiles, fish and even amphibians were all thought up to fill this stage. The playable area would have been vastly different too. Deep trenches and underwater mountains would have been available to explore, making the world of Spore feel so much more unique and alien than it already is. The ambition of Maxis became too much however as the team decided to scrap the stage just under a year before Spore was supposed to launch.

Underwater vehicles

Keeping up with the water theme, Maxis originally intended to include water vehicles in Spore. Not much is known about what these vehicles would look like or let the player do. They were intended to be available during the civilization stage. Just the mere mention of them implies that players would have been able to re-enter the water. The reasons as to why the game would let you do this remain a mystery. Look for new wildlife. Find materials to build with. What is known is that a feature like this would make Spore feel a little bit larger in scale. After all the planet is almost entirely covered wither unexplorable water.

Cut gore

For the most part, Spore is a silly little game that appeals to all types of age ranges. Nothing about the game is supposed to be unsettling unless you count the out-of-bounds screen where your creature is eaten by a giant monster. The original version of Spore was supposed to take the game in a different tonal direction. Blood was intended to be a visual feature of the game, shown whenever you attacked another creature. Maxis felt this was too graphic for a game as silly as Spore so decided to leave it out. The player was also able to drag slain creatures back to a safe space to feed on. The reason for the removal of this feature isn’t confirmed. It’s safe to assume Maxis felt this feature was also inappropriate for a younger audience.

Cut verb commands

Spore allows the player to control a member of their created species. Giving them the freedom to explore the strange planet at their own leisure and interact with the other bizarre wildlife. Maxis originally planned for the player/creature dynamic to be a little more intricate. ‘Verb commands’ would let the player control the behaviour of a creature, typing a verb such as ‘eat’ would cause the controlled creature to start eating. Players would have also been able to combine verbs to create unique animations for creatures. A feature like this had the potential to make Spore feel a little more varied. How intricate this system would have been was never made clear. Unfortunately, the feature never made it past the demo phase of Spore.

What could’ve been

Spore is a game full of many highs and sadly a few lows. Though Maxis can take pride in the fact that the game is recognizable for its creature creator mechanic, Spore had the potential to be so much more than this. These features simply couldn’t be obtained at the time Spore was released. Maybe not is all lost, however. Perhaps a potential sequel to Spore could reintroduce these lost ideas. They are finally giving fans a Spore game to rival gaming giants.

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