I was as surprised as anyone when Spore was actually released earlier this month. After months and years of postponed release dates, this monster of a game from Will Wright had seemed more myth than reality. And yet, here it is, available for just about any gaming platform short of a cribbage board. I have the iPhone version (limited to the first levels) and have so far enjoyed my attempts at getting out of the primordial muck.
More quietly, the development team behind Spore have released a set of simple, playable prototypes that were used at various stages along the game’s evolution. While these tools may be of limited use (as far as I can see, none of them ship with source code), they are certainly a great reminder of the value of prototyping, particularly when working on large projects.
