History Trivia / Spore

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: ''Spore'' was originally designed as a game with more science basing. Somewhere along the line, the "Scientifically Accurate" team and the "Cute and Fun" team (led by Chris Hecker) got into a stand off, with the Cute and Fun team winning the argument in the end. Considering the fuzzy feel of the game is one of the key issues (and [[WordofGod Will Wright taking the bullet for that side]]), one wonders how the game would have ended up if the other side won. Among the things cut during development:

* BizarroEpisode: Clark and Stanely IIII is very different from the other Maxis-created Clark and Stanley adventures due to having been created by a different employee. Unlike them, you actually play as Stanley and the adventure is a fairly straightforward combat-based mission [[SparedByTheAdaptation where Stanley doesn't die in the end]].

** A spin-off game, called ''Spore Creature Keeper'', was announced in 2009 for PC and the Nintendo DS. This game would be a life simulator reminiscent to ''VideoGame/TheSims'', allowing one to build homes and play with their creatures. No news on the game were divulged after its announcement, and in 2014, it was quietly revealed to be canceled by a Maxis employee over Twitter.

*** The "Deity Complex" badge required a number of planets to "worship" the player. There is no such mechanic in the final version of the game, implying it to be another cut feature. The final level required 15 players.

* NoExportForYou: At the time, the much-anticipated Patch 1.06 was only obtained through registering a code found on the bottle cap of a Dr. Pepper soft drink... ''in the USA only.'' See [[https://spore.fandom.com/wiki/Spore_Bot_Parts_Pack here]] on [[TheOtherWiki SporeWiki]] for more information.

* WildfireFranchise: ''Spore'' got several spinoffs on consoles and has an active community of creators to this day, but it failed to become a big success for a variety of reasons, including its complicated digital rights management system, and because many were disappointed by how the final product compared to the 2005 demo.

* UrbanLegendOfZelda: It's a common misconception that allying with [[spoiler:the Grox]] will cause every other empire in existence to declare war on you. This is only sort of true. It results in a -200 relation modifier, which for an empire you haven't dealt with is more than the minimum (-71) to result in a declaration of war. However, it ''is'' possible to spoil empires enough that they'll leave you alone or even remain your ally after your new alliance. [[note]]Ignoring situational modifiers ("We Think Alike", "We Like New Acquaintances", "You Uplifted Us", "We Value Your Friendship", "A Generous Peace Offering", and "Gracious Greeter Superpower"), assuming the empire doesn't respond better to certain buffs(e.g. getting a bigger bonus from a trade route with a Trader empire), and assuming no "We Distrust Strangers"(-30), the maximum relation you can have with another empire is +509, enough to ally [[spoiler:the Grox]] twice and still remain at the maximum relationship level.[[/note]]

** The Wanderer Philosophy in Space Stage was to have its own Consequence Ability: Species Shuffle, which would have changed all of the fauna on the planet to a different species. In the release game, Wanderers have no abilities at all.

* ContestWinnerCameo: Winners of official contests held on the Spore forums will have their creations featured on the website. Also, contests have been held that will also decide the designs of built-in creatures for ''VideoGame/{{Darkspore}}''.

** The movie, supposed to be made by Creator/BlueSkyStudios is entering this as well.

* UrbanLegendOfZelda: It's a common misconception that Allying with [[spoiler:the Grox]] will cause every other empire in existence to declare war on you. This is only sort of true. It results in a -200 relation modifier, which for an empire you haven't dealt with is more than the minimum (-71) to result in a declaration of war. However, it ''is'' possible to spoil empires enough that they'll leave you alone or even remain your ally after your new alliance. [[note]]Ignoring situational modifiers ("We Think Alike", "We Like New Acquaintances", "You Uplifted Us", "We Value Your Friendship", "A Generous Peace Offering", and "Gracious Greeter Superpower"), assuming the empire doesn't respond better to certain buffs(e.g. getting a bigger bonus from a trade route with a Trader empire), and assuming no "We Distrust Strangers"(-30), the maximum relation you can have with another empire is +509, enough to ally [[spoiler:the Grox]] twice and still remain at the maximum relationship level.[[/note]]
* {{Vaporware}}: The "Creature Keeper" expansion.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Spore was originally designed as a game with more science basing. Somewhere along the line, the "Scientifically Accurate" team and the "Cute and Fun" team (led by Chris Hecker) got into a stand off, with the Cute and Fun team winning the argument in the end. Considering the fuzzy feel of the game is one of the key issues (and [[WordofGod Will Wright taking the bullet for that side]]), one wonders how the game would have ended up if the other side won. Among the things cut during development:
** The Molecular Stage, which would have been the first stage and involved joining together various proteins to create a cell. This stage would have played like ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'', and was scrapped because the developers feared players would find it boring.
** The Aquatic Stage, which would have occurred between the Cell and Creature Stages, would see the player's cell becoming a fish. This is the best-known of the cut content, as it was shown at the 2005 GDC demo. It was cut for various reasons, among them physics and pathfinding.
** The City Stage, which would have occurred between the Tribal and Civilization Stages. This stage would be akin to the Industrial Revolution, and involve such elements agriculture, arts and crafts, crime, pollution, and sports and games. This stage was likely cut to streamline the game.
** The Terraforming Stage, which would have come between the Civilization and Space Stages. Not much is known about this stage, other than it would have been short and involved the player terraforming and depolluting their planet. Like the City Stage, it was likely cut to streamline the game.
** The Hut Creator, which would have allowed the player to create their own tribal hut.
** An advanced Cell Creator, which had upgraded parts. This can still be accessed through adding lines to the .exe.
** The Flora Editor, which would allow players to create plantlife. This can also be accessed by adding lines to the .exe.
** The Wanderer Philosophy in Space Stage was to have its own Consequence Ability: Species Shuffle, which would have changed all of the fauna on the planet to a different species. This was removed as it rewarded the player for doing nothing.

** A Galactic Editor, which would allow players to manipulate the galaxy to their liking, including a gravity tool.

* TheWikiRule: [[https://spore.fandom.com/wiki/SporeWiki Here]] is the wikia for the game.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Spore was originally designed as a game with more science basing. Somewhere along the line, the "Scientifically Accurate" team and the "Cute and Fun" team (led by Chris Hecker) got into a stand off, with the Cute and Fun team winning the argument in the end. Considering the fuzzy feel of the game is one of the key issues (and [[WordofGod Will Wright taking the bullet for that side]]), one wonders how the game would have ended up if the other side won.
** Quite a few things were cut during development, among them:
*** The Molecular Stage, which would have been the first stage and involved joining together various proteins to create a cell. This stage would have played like ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'', and was scrapped because the developers feared players would find it boring.
*** The Aquatic Stage, which would have occurred between the Cell and Creature Stages, would see the player's cell becoming a fish. This is the best-known of the cut content, as it was shown at the 2005 GDC demo. It was cut for various reasons, among them physics and pathfinding.
*** The City Stage, which would have occurred between the Tribal and Civilization Stages. This stage would be akin to the Industrial Revolution, and involve such elements agriculture, arts and crafts, crime, pollution, and sports and games. This stage was likely cut to streamline the game.
*** The Terraforming Stage, which would have come between the Civilization and Space Stages. Not much is known about this stage, other than it would have been short and involved the player terraforming and depolluting their planet. Like the City Stage, it was likely cut to streamline the game.
*** The Hut Creator, which would have allowed the player to create their own tribal hut.
*** An advanced Cell Creator, which had upgraded parts. This can still be accessed through adding lines to the .exe.
*** The Flora Editor, which would allow players to create plantlife. This can also be accessed by adding lines to the .exe.
*** The Wanderer Philosophy in Space Stage was to have its own Consequence Ability: Species Shuffle, which would have changed all of the fauna on the planet to a different species. This was removed as it rewarded the player for doing nothing.
*** Blood effects were to appear outside of the Cell Stage, but were removed for censorship reasons.
*** A Galactic Editor, which would allow players to manipulate the galaxy to their liking, including a gravity tool.

* UrbanLegendOfZelda: It's a common misconception that Allying with [[spoiler:the Grox]] will cause every other empire in existence to declare war on you. This is only sort of true. It results in a -200 relation modifier, which for an empire you haven't dealt with is more than the minimum (-71) to result in a declaration of war. However, it ''is'' possible to spoil empires enough that they'll leave you alone or even remain your ally after your new alliance. [[note]]Ignoring situational modifiers ("We Think Alike", "We Like New Acquaintances", "You Uplifted Us", "We Value Your Friendship", "A Generous Peace Offering", and "Gracious Greeter Superpower"), assuming the empire doesn't respond better to certain buffs(e.g. getting a bigger bonus from a trade route with a Trader empire), and assuming no "We Distrust Strangers"(-30), the maximum relation you can have with another empire is +509, enough to ally [[spoiler:the Grox]] twice and still remain at the maximum relationship level.[/note]]

*** A Galactic Editor, which would allow players to manipulate the galaxy to their liking, including a gravity tool.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Spore was originally designed as a game with more science basing. Somewhere along the line, the "Scientifically Accurate" team and the "Cute and Fun" team got into a stand off, with the Cute and Fun team winning the argument in the end. Considering the fuzzy feel of the game is one of the key issues (and [[WordofGod Will Wright taking the bullet for that side]]), one wonders how the game would have ended up if the other side won.

*** The Molecular Stage, which would have been the first stage and involved joining together various proteins to create a cell. This stage would have played like ''VideoGame/Tetris'', and was scrapped because the developers feared players would find it boring.

*** The Wanderer Philosophy in Space Stage was to have its own Consequence Ability: Species Shuffle, which would have changed all of the fauna on the planet to a different species.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Spore was originally designed as a game with more science basing. Somewhere along the line, the "Scientifically Accurate" team and the "Cute and Fun" team got into a stand off, with the Cute and Fun team winning the argument in the end. Considering the fuzzy feel of the game is one of the key issues (and [[WordofGod Will Wright taking the bullet for that side]]), one wonders how the game would have ended up if the other side won.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: A buttload of awesome stuff [[NeverTrustATrailer that the previews and trailers]] showed, and was cut from the final game, including continuing to live underwater after the cell stage, and underwater civilization. It was promised in an expansion pack that never happened.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: A buttload of awesome stuff [[NeverTrustATrailer that the previews and trailers]] showed, and was cut from the final game (with various [[HandWave handwavey]] excuses from the devs), including continuing to live underwater after the cell stage, and underwater civilization. It was promised in an expansion pack that never happened.