EA's Darkspore - which takes all the cuddly out of Spore and replaces it with a massive dose of Diablo - will crawl out of the primordial development ooze at Maxis for a March 29 release date, as revealed at the end of the latest developer diary, which explores the game's hero editor.
Pay close attention at 1:15 in the video to see what's flashing when discussing the region of the hero's body which represents "offense." Odd. We haven't thought about underwear as offensive since the time we saw a grown man wearing Dora the Explorer Underoos (it can't be unseen).
#clips
Kotaku got an early look at upcoming PC action role-playing game Darkspore's cooperative multiplayer a couple of weeks back, but this latest video we get a look at the player-versus-player action. More »
Another DarkSpore dev diary has been released, this time explaining how the game's PvP system works. We had a chance to look at the unique squad-based PvP earlier this year, but now you can see how it plays out in handy video form, without all the hassle of reading words.
Not only are friends great when you need bail money at 4 a.m. (don't ask), but they're also good for fighting monsters and stuff in Darkspore. At least, that's what we hear from people who actually have friends.
#clips
I've called Darkspore a sort of Diablo-meets-Spore-in-space game. This developer diary gives you a better look at why I felt that way when I played it. More »
This new Darkspore producer diary from Maxis is all about loot -- how to find it, get it, and then strap it on your oddly-shaped appendages. The catalysts and cash-out systems look particularly interesting, mixing up the ceaseless looting with an alluring meta-game.
Darkspore's been introduced to us as "Spore meets Diablo," and seeing it in action reinforces that early pitch -- the game has six abilities on a bar across the bottom, and health and mana bars on either side, while characters that appear as if they were generated in Spore hack and slash their way across the screen. But what EA really wants to do with Darkspore, says Michael Arsers, software engineer on the title, isn't just clone an action RPG with Will Wright's funny toys. They want to answer that question everyone had after Spore originally released.
"A lot of the criticisms on Spore," he told me recently, "were that there were a lot of cool tools, but where's the game? And that's what we were trying to get at here." So you might be forgiven for thinking Darkspore is the product of some weird genetic mashup of game genres -- it basically was. "The team that started this production was a very core gamer, WoW arena/DotA kind of crowd, and so we really wanted to take the creatures from Spore and put them in a hardcore game," Arsers said. "We have this great Creator technology, so how can we leverage and make a core game with that?"
We've already heard a bit about the singleplayer side of the title, but no true hardcore game is complete without some player-versus-player (PvP) action, and so Arsers was excited to show off the PvP Arena mode that he and the team are working on.
Anxious to sample the Warrior Within-like change going on with Darkspore? EA is now taking beta applications, where the lucky winners will get an early taste of the next installment in the fledgling Spore franchise. There's no word when the beta will launch, but all you have to do to get on the list is hit up this link and drop in some details about yourself.
If you're worried about the CIA or some other scary government agency getting hold of said personal details, we'd suggest adopting the Rusty Shackleford approach, otherwise known as: using a false alias.
#handson
Darkspore is a bit like classic action title Diablo, with a twist: Instead of concentrating on leveling up a single character, you're working to level up a team of heroes, three of which you bring on every mission. More »
In case you were wondering about the validity of Darkspore's "darkness" or its inclusion of Spore creatures, these screens from Gamescom should more than clear that up. An ice level? Check. A fire level? Totally. What, you wanted a water level? Nope. Wait a sec ...
It seems the assistance which the RPG experts of BioWare are providing to Maxis on the development of Darkspore isn't exactly all that thorough. EA recently explained to Destructoid that BioWare's Malcolm Azania, part of the writing team for Mass Effect 2 and its "Kasumi - Stolen Memory" DLC, is filling the role of lead writer for the genetically engineered action-RPG.
So, it's not so much "help from BioWare" as much as it is "help from one dude from BioWare" -- still, considering the strength of the storytelling in BioWare's catalog of titles, it sounds like they picked the right one dude to bring on board.
We suppose the Sims franchise has a few elements in common with the role-playing genre -- after all, it's about character improvement and, more often than not, all of the characters are startlingly, impossibly attractive. Still, it seems Maxis is getting a helping hand on Darkspore development from a more experienced RPG developer -- according to Gamespot, the studio's Comic-Con panel revealed that fellow EA studio BioWare is helping out on the project.
The capacity of this help is still unknown, but based on BioWare's strong roots in the genre, we strongly doubt they've been brought in to offer backrubs to weary programmers. We've contacted EA to find out more about this partnership, and to find out whether we can expect Darkspore to contain any romance sub-plots leading to tastefully directed sex scenes.
We suppose the Sims franchise has a few elements in common with the role-playing genre -- after all, it's about character improvement and, more often than not, all of the characters are startlingly, impossibly attractive. Still, it seems Maxis is getting a helping hand on Darkspore development from a more experienced RPG developer -- according to Gamespot, the studio's Comic-Con panel revealed that fellow EA studio BioWare is helping out on the project.
The capacity of this help is still unknown, but based on BioWare's strong roots in the genre, we strongly doubt they've been brought in to offer backrubs to weary programmers. We've contacted EA to find out more about this partnership, and to find out whether we can expect Darkspore to contain any romance sub-plots leading to tastefully directed sex scenes.
