Cell Stage



The first stage in Spore is the Cell stage. In this stage, the player guides a cell of their new species through a 2-D primordial ooze consisting of other organisms, bubbles, debris, and leftover bits of food. The player's microbe can eat smaller microbes (if he is carnivorous or omnivorous) or leftover bits of food in order to evolve to a being of higher understanding. The player's organism can be attacked and eaten by organisms of larger or similar size (even smaller ones can damage and kill you). The main goal of this stage is to become large enough and strong enough to move onto land and begin the Creature stage.

The Cell stage also serves as a sort of tutorial for the later stages, introducing the basic tools of the fixed camera mode where game play mainly consists of eating and evolving by adding parts to the creature.

Game play
The game begins with a cinematic of an asteroid falling towards a planet, shattering, and landing in the ocean. A fragment of the asteroid breaks open, and a small cell emerges in the tide pool.

Before the stage starts, players can decide if their microbe will be a carnivore or an herbivore, though the choice is not final. Herbivore microbes eat little green plankton dots and then seaweed in later stages. Even carnivorous microbes don't have to kill other microbes to eat; they can eat little red meat dots, leftovers from larger predator feasts. Microbes become bigger in the process of consuming food.

As you progress and get bigger and less transparent, larger creatures from the background will enter the playing field and try to eat you. There is a bar at the bottom of the screen that represents the microbe's development. When the bar is full, you have the choice to evolve your microbe into a land-going form, using a hybrid of the cell and creature editors (ostensibly called the "Early Creature Editor")

The Cell stage ends with a short cut scene of a flock of your creatures emerging from the sea onto the land and scattering. This marks the beginning of the creature stage.

Your creature's starting appearance is based on what you created in the Early Creature Creator, although it may be changed during the creature stage.

Levels
Cell stage has 5 levels, each with a half-level at which your cell experiences a growth spurt.

Level 1 begins with your cell crawling out of the meteorite. Your job is to eat as much as possible. A cell called Pokey swims around waiting to be killed and eaten by carnivorous cells. If you are a good enough player, you can attempt to rescue her from her doomed fate. The reward for doing so is the Spike part. If you're more interested in eating, just wait until half-way through the level, at which point a Chomper cell automatically dispatches of a pesky Pokey and you can collect the part from a gold shield that floats down instead.

Level 2 is your first chance to encounter members of your own species. They can't hurt you and you can't hurt them, so ignore them. You also encounter large green plants for the first time. Kill a Booster during this level to get the Jet part. At 2.5 you can challenge a Squirty for the Poison part.

Level 3 is when Cilia become available. Kill a Pinky or Punky to get one. Kill a Nosey for the Proboscis.

Level 4 is when the last body part becomes available: the Electric part. Kill a Buzzy cell for it.

Level 5 brings you close to the beach, where some Maa cells are laying eggs. They're a good food source if you manage to eat them before they hatch.

Reproduction
Reproduction is possible after eating 15 points of food. However you may use the backspace shortcut to call a mate earlier then the tutorial tells you. The player's creature may call for a mate and then lay an egg, whereupon the player is taken to the microbe editor. This is the most fundamental portion of this stage, which is used to evolve your microbe.

Missions
Missions are optional and appear throughout Cell Stage. You'll find your instructions in the top-left corner of your screen.

The eat mission is simple. Just eat five pieces of food as soon as you exit the meteor. The collect mission is a little harder, and will take you a while longer. Collect all of the unlockable parts.

Damage and Health
All cells have 6 Health Points. Various cells do different amounts of damage, however. The following charts show the damage that the different cells and parts can do. An Epic cell is one that is huge and has a secret weakness you must exploit to beat it. Predator cells are also bigger than you, but don't take up the whole screen by themselves. Peer cells are those that are close to the same size as you, and prey cells are much smaller.

The 4 different sizes of are:

Prey Creatures much smaller than you.

Peer Creatures at about the same size as you.

Predator Creatures that are much bigger than you.

Epic Creatures that are much, much, much, bigger than you. They can kill you in one hit and are very dangerous.

Your cell does different amounts of damage according to which parts you have and how big the enemy is. Keep in mind that Poison and Electric parts do nothing to other cells with the same part. Epic cells aren't listed because they each have different weaknesses.

Interactive Objects
Small Green Plant Matter is encountered from level 1 on. The Filter Mouth or Proboscis can eat it to obtain DNA points and restore small amounts of health.

Large Green Plants are first found in level 2.5. They're ideal feeding areas for cells of all mouth types since it's a lot of food for herbivores and omnivores and an excellent place for carnivores to ambush prey. For herbivores and omnivores it's a good idea to stay nearby if you're about to grow in size, since after growth the large green plants are edible as small green plant matter. Good source of quick food.

Meat Chunks are only edible with jaws since the proboscis can't eat dead meat. They can be found from the first level on. When a cell is defeated by your cell or another predator cell it explodes into 1 to 4 meat chunks. The size of the meat chunks increases as you increase in level, with most you encounter being small enough to eat. However, sometimes you'll come across meat that's too big and needs to be cut down to size using your spikes or jaws.

Large and Small Eggs are first encountered at level 5 and hatch into "junior" cells. Any mouth part can eat small eggs. Large eggs can't be eaten, but eggshells can be eaten by the proboscis. "Maa" cells leave eggs behind if defeated.

Crystals, Debris, and Shells are unbreakable floating barriers. You can swim around or knock them out of the way.

Air Bubbles float around in various sizes and can be popped.

Flow Fields are marked by ripples in the water current. They're hard to see and randomly scattered. Going with the flow speeds you up, while going against them slows you down.

Poison Clouds are seen near cells with the Poison part. Avoid them if you don't have the part or take damage.

Meteor Blocks contain Cell Body Parts. You can break them open and claim the part.

Parts/Abilities
Sometimes microbes find yellow shields which give the player more microbe parts, and consequently more abilities. These can be added and adjusted in the Cell editor. Parts cost DNA. Your cell gets one DNA point for every unit of food it consumes, to a maximum of 65. The maximum total DNA points a player can earn including starting DNA and DNA earned during the stage, is 100 (you start with 35). Jaw, Filter Mouth, and Flagella are available immediately after game start. Other abilities are unlocked through finding rare meteor shards, or killing enemies with the desired parts. The Cell stage is the only stage in which parts are stackable.

Mouths:

Jaw gives the microbe the ability to eat meat. Also does damage when used against living microbes. It can also eat eggs. Costs 15 DNA. Available at the beginning of the game.

Filter Mouth gives the microbe the ability to be herbivorous (eats green plants and eggs). Costs 15 DNA. Availiable at the beginning of the game.

Proboscis gives the microbe the ability to be omnivorous (eats green plants, eggs and other cells). Can be used to impale enemies and eat them alive, but can't be used to eat meat chunks or dead cells. Costs 25 DNA and is first located during the third level. Unlocked level 3.0. Harvest from Nosey or Bloato.

Sight:

Beady Eye Expands your cell's field of vision. Without eyes, your vision is reduced to a small area around you, so eyes are recommended. Costs 5 DNA points. Available at the beginning of the game.

Stalk Eye Expands your cell's field of vision. Without eyes, your vision is reduced to a small area around you, so eyes are recommended. Costs 5 DNA points. Available at the beginning of the game.

Button Eye Expands your cell's field of vision. Without eyes, your vision is reduced to a small area around you, so eyes are recommended. Costs 5 DNA points. Available at the beginning of the game.

Movement:

Flagella Flagella cost 15 DNA points. These are cheap options compared to Jets. Jets are twice as fast as Flagella, though. Flagella offer smooth movement. Available at the beginning of the game.

Jet Jets cost 25 DNA points. These are twice as fast as Flagella or Cilia. Speed is not as smooth as the Flagella. Unlock at level 2.0. Harvest from Booster, Nosey, Jetster, Paa, or Snorf.

Cilia Cilia cost 15 DNA points. They move at about the same speed as Flagella, but with these, you can turn on a dime. It is recommenced that you sell all of the Flagella and replace them with these. Unlocked at level 3.0. Harvest from Punky, Pinky, and Bloato.

Weapons:

Spike gives the microbe the ability to directly attack by ramming. They are also useful for repelling attacks. When opposing spikes collide, neither inflicts damage. When spikes collide with jaws, the spike deals damage, and the jaw deals none. A good idea is to attach 2 in the front for ramming, and others on the sides and rear to prevent attack. Costs 10 DNA and is first located during level 1.5. Harvest from Pokey, Spiked Shyster, Stabber, Stabella, Jawhead, Needle Buzzy, Squiggly, Puffish, and Megamouth.

Poison allows microbes to leave poisonous trails as they move, devastating enemies caught inside it. The more poison sacs you have, the longer the trail becomes. Cells equipped with Poison can't be harmed by other cells also equipped with it. Costs 15 DNA and is first located during level 2.5. Harvest from Squirty and Puffish.

Electric periodically electrocutes all nearby enemies. There is a 5-10 recharge rate, depending on how many Electric Sacs you have. Grants immunity to other electrical attacks. Costs 25 DNA and isn't encountered until the fourth level. Harvest from Buzzy or Needle Buzzy.

Consequence Abilities
After completing the cell stage you are awarded one of three sets of consequence abilities for the future stages. Which set you are awarded depends on how you played the stage. The three are herbivore,  carnivore, and  omnivore

Cell Stage Achievements

 * Aluminum Cell - Finish the Cell stage on Hard difficulty.


 * Cell Addict - Finish the Cell stage 25 times.


 * Completist - Unlock all the parts in Cell stage.


 * Landfall - Finish the Cell stage and clamber onto the planet's surface!


 * Pacifist - Finish the Cell stage without killing another creature.


 * Speedfreak - Finish the Cell stage in under 8 minutes.

Strategies for Hard Difficulty

 * When eating moving plants, try swimming to where the plant is going to go.


 * The size of your spikes matter. Use the mouse scroll wheel to make them small so you can place them as close to where you want them as you do, then scroll them to the largest size possible. A max sized spike on your tail will make it almost impossible for anything chasing you to get a bite in.


 * If you're followed by a much larger creature that won't leave you alone, allow yourself to get bitten. It'll propel you forward so you can get away.


 * Getting the poison feature from the cell can be made easier if your cell has large spikes. Of course, you could just search for a meteor bit.


 * When being followed by a larger cell, try swimming between objects or around other cells.


 * Attach two spikes in front of your cell for ramming, and others on the side or the rear to prevent attack.


 * A spike going straight forward with mouths to either side of the spikes can make it easier to stab other cells without making it much harder to eat.


 * Poison and Electric abilities are more of a nuisance than anything--just use a whole lot of spikes. When you're ready to evolve, put the Poison and Electric parts on so you'll be able to unlock more parts in that category later.


 * Once you have the Proboscis (omnivore mouth), place it in the front and use some turbos in the rear as the Nosey does. Once you choose a direction there will be no stopping you.


 * When being followed by a persistent cell, you may use your mating call and head at it's direction. Once there you'll be safe.

Developmental Commentaries

 * According to a 15 minute developer demo, "It basically trains you that the game is about creativity, about making your own stuff and getting used to the controls."


 * According to a GamingSteve thread, the cellular world is connected to the macroscopic world "in terms of changing your starting point when you enter the macroscopic evolution game".

Trivia

 * The cell stage is similar to one of Will Wright's favorite games, Pac-Man.


 * It can be compared to the Precambrian/Archean time in the real Earth.


 * There are no viruses in cell stage.


 * If both carnivore and omnivore mouth parts are equipped, the cell has the widest choice of food. (Omnivores with a proboscis, but no jaw, cannot actually eat a cell, it justs feeds in a parasitic way off of them. Omnivores with a jaw, but no proboscis, cannot feed parasitically off other cells. Omnivores with both can feed in a parasitic way off other cells, then eat the cells themselves, for maximum food per cell.)


 * Although the Cell Stage is the shortest stage, this stage takes up to billions of years to complete in game time.


 * Herbivores can only eat plants. However, they can eat the eggs of other cells.


 * If you bump into a fellow Herbivore, they will mumble and glare at you.


 * There is a certain pre-made Herbivore cell that has an extra eye you can sell for more DNA Points.