Developers Brainstorming New Creature Ideas

[R3D]

Originally Posted by Confuted

I'm always curious to know what developers do when they are thinking about new "unique" creatures to put into their games. Yes a lot of creatures don't tread far from reality but when they do I like to hear the thought processes.

When I played Spore for awhile, and still do occasionally, I just kinda...do whatever in the creature creator (as long as the limbs I put on make structural sense [without collisions]). Granted the Creature Creator program is rather limited especially when none of the patches seem to work (thanks EA *cough*) but sometimes even the simplest things look the best or most unique.

More in line with this thread, I'm just wondering how Crate is putting stuff together for us. Are they pulling stuff out of a hat? Looking at other artworks from other sources? Or do things just magically appear every morning when they start their computer (gnomes or witch-craft).

And another thought, would it be so far out of the question to post ideas of our own in the hopes to see "our" ideas for creatures be a reality?
my favorite Spore creature 1 2 *#2 actually has 4 arms but its hard to see with black...and the angle the game takes pictures in*
my other Spore creature stuff *just for ideas sake*

the posts are not off topic as we are all in the dark and they have just as much chance to be correct as anything anyone other than Crate staff makes up.

the only way you will have the first part answered is to wait for an orange name post.

as for the second of your musings there is already a topic for it so you are just creating a double thread.

monsters most wanted. i feel this covers your unique monster ideas equally.

[3B0L4]

Yeah, I conpletely agree with you. this community has been one of the best I've posted in with the least aggressiveness, so that probably helps in the posting of off-topic, fun posts.

I can understand we have fun here, and since there's little info, people tend to make this up and it gets out of hand But there are some really interesting threads that, in my eyes, could really contribute to the game. It's too bad that, because of the hi-jacking, these threads tend to drown out, and good ideas die. So, back to the topic:

"I'm just wondering how Crate is putting stuff together for us. Are they pulling stuff out of a hat? Looking at other artworks from other sources? Or do things just magically appear every morning when they start their computer (gnomes or witch-craft)?

And another thought, would it be so far out of the question to post ideas of our own in the hopes to see "our" ideas for creatures be a reality?"

[eisprinzessin]

Originally Posted by alexei

Try track medierra post start from the early GD forum.

LOL - who's going to dig through the currently 900 posts of medierra and evil medierra? Nevertheless - I'd recommend it, too. Appart from jokes and valuable informations many of them are really nice reads.

[3B0L4]

Sigh... I give up...

[R3D]

Originally Posted by 3B0L4

Sigh... I give up...

there is already a topic for it

dontgive up just go to

monsters most wanted. i feel this covers what you want.

[3B0L4]

Thanks for the link R3D.

Meanwhile, I'll just share that i think they came up with the zombies when going to work via train... Man, people on public transport in the morning could as well be dead :P

And for the purple zombies: LSD-dispenser near the coffee machine?

[TECHNOmancer]

Originally Posted by 3B0L4

Another topic killed by random comments on the developers psychical and mental well-being... :P

...

I can understand we have fun here, and since there's little info, people tend to make this up and it gets out of hand But there are some really interesting threads that, in my eyes, could really contribute to the game. It's too bad that, because of the hi-jacking, these threads tend to drown out, and good ideas die.

That the developers don't comment specifically on all of the ideas that are discussed in the forums does not mean that the ideas are being drown out entirely. As has been mentioned above, a lot of the comments made here are for lack of concrete information. Insofar as I can tell, Medierra and the others do an excellent job of reaching out to the community while at the same time focusing their efforts on creating the game itself. I've noticed that they spend a lot of time here, which I would interpret as reading fans' comments and considering them.

Please don't conclude that ideas are being ignored or discarded -- either by the developers or members of the forum -- simply because a topic diverges from the literal interpretation of the original post into one or more tangential discussions. Honestly, that's the nature of a social medium such as this one.

To return to the original post, Medierra and his cohorts haven't launched into a discussion of this specific topic. Their inspiration almost certainly comes from a host of sources: other games, stories, artwork, imagination, insanity, etc.

TECHNOmancer

[Malpheas]

And I suspect that this is a question for a post-release interview of some sort; this thread I mean.

[medierra]

Originally Posted by TECHNOmancer

That the developers don't comment specifically on all of the ideas that are discussed in the forums does not mean that the ideas are being drown out entirely.

This is true. I think I do read through a pretty large portion of all game-relevant posts, although not always right when they're being actively discussed. Occasional joke comments aren't a big deal, it only really gets out of hand when there are a couple pages of joke posts and responses in a thread. Even so, it isn't really very difficult for me to sift through them. The more pressing issue is just that I don't have a lot of time and reading legitimate discussions of ideas is much more time consuming than scrolling past humorous comments.

I don't like to get too involved in serious discussions about ideas though. I think it is better for me to maintain a little distance and keep my interactions casual. I don't want to get embroiled in debates over the merit of other people's suggestions. People get defensive about their ideas and I don't want to cause frustration or potentially hurt feelings in trying to explain why an idea won't work or isn't good.

It also would take a tremendous amount of time to write sensitively phrased and well thought-out responses to every idea on the forum. I'm not a community manager and though I generally work 12-18 hours a day 6-7 days a week, I have very limited extra time to spend on the forums. There is just never enough time in the day... We really need 36 hour days!

[Sile]

I'm wondering if the moderators have been told to keep threads on topic yet? Seen many a hi-jacked thread here. I've probably done it myself somewhere..