Spore Galactic Adventures

Spore Galactic Adventures (also formally known as Spore Space Adventures) is Spore's first full Expansion Pack set that was released on June 23rd in the USA and on June 26th in Europe. One of its new features is the ability for your Creature to move around outside the UFO, as well as new missions that require you to use this ability. Creatures then are able to use social and offensive abilities on others, like the Creature stage. The textures and graphics are more complex with the Adventure creator. Maxis has made seven different premade adventures.

Content

 * Archetype ‘Campaigns’. Archetypes include Warrior, Zealot, Shaman, Diplomat, Trader, Scientist, Bard, and Ecologist.


 * Players will be able to place buildings and other objects anywhere they want to with the adventure creator. They can be flat on land as normal, but they can also be placed on water, although there will be no underwater editors or features of any kind included. By using the Ctrl key, players can make buildings rise or sink, at any altitude they want, similar to the Building Editor.


 * Players can make dialog for their creatures. Creature languages are determined by their archetype. Speech will be translated by means of speech balloon text. Also, some items have labeling on them.


 * Players can set the speed of an object, which can range from 0 to 5 (like in the creature stage). By setting a hollow vehicle to stationary and with even more flexible gameplay, a vehicle can stand in for a building, like a caravan.


 * City makeup can be much more complex in the Adventure creator. Players can design absolutely any type of city they want in the creator, from ancient style stone castles to large metal complexes of the future, by piecing together all sorts of buildings.


 * Players can either enter adventures by requesting a mission from another empire while in a Space Stage game and then flying to the planet and beaming down, or they can use an option called "Quick play" that allows players to enter adventures directly from the main menu instead.


 * Player's flesh-and-blood captains can only beam down onto adventure planets. The Hologram Scout will still be in the game for exploration of other planets on foot.


 * The adventure planets are chosen when the player requests a mission from an empire. The game then scans for star systems that have not been visited by the player yet to place the adventure planet. If all nearby systems have been visited, gas giants are converted into the adventure planets.


 * There is an Adventure creator, and sharing missions over the Sporepedia is possible. The Adventure creator enables the user complete and total control over everything on the adventure planet. There are many things the user can mold to whatever extent the player wishes.


 * Molding the shape of the planet's surface by dragging and dropping stamps can be done, and players are able to place any unit(creatures, buildings, flora, etc) into the adventure by selecting it from the in-game Sporepedia, or dragging in a PNG. Units can be placed in any position, and can placed anywhere(After being selected, if there are any buildings on the planet, creatures will automatically pop up on top of them).


 * There is one thing that must be placed in all adventures in order to save: a start point for the captain.


 * The player has control over any unit's size by use of a the shift key and the mouse wheel.


 * The player can regulate any creature's level of aggression By choosing between five buttons: Neutral (only attacks if attacked), friendly (runs away when attacked), mindless (does not react to anything), territorial (warns approaching enemies then attacks if enemy doesn't leave), and aggressive (attacks on sight).


 * The player can regulate any creature's level of awareness by use of a slider.


 * Creating dialog for creatures is possible. The tone of voice(e.g: panicky, calm, angry) is determined the emotion drop-down list next to the text.


 * Controlling the health point level of an object. Setting a unit to the highest setting possible will make it indestructible. Choosing the lowest setting possible will turn buildings, vehicles(excluding space ships) and ships to ruins. Creatures will lie down dead. Spaceships will instantly crash.


 * Changing the visibility level of an object. They can be visible or invisible.


 * Choosing the content that will appear on the planet by selecting the creations from the Sporepedia. PNG files for creations can be dragged directly into your game to load the creation. By properly regulating the size and health of a creature babies, alphas, rogues and epics along with normal animals can be created.


 * Players can make objects perform many different actions. Players can set units to perform certain actions by selecting actions for the unit from a menu. It is also possible to combine actions.


 * Players can set the avatar's range of vision.


 * Deciding if other players can use their own creature on an adventure or if they must use a certain creature when they play (Adventures set with only a certain creature will not be pollinated into other player's space games because it means changing your creature's shape which is not allowed once you reach Tribal stage. They can still be shared, but they can only be played in free-play mode.).


 * Masking already existing objects to look like something else, for example, disguising a laser gun as a magic wand, either for a puzzle game where you have to find an object that is disguised and hidden to win the game or simply to match a theme.


 * The complexity meter for the Adventure creator is very large and allows for many items to be placed on the planet.


 * Players can put effects onto units. For example, by simply selecting an effect of the players choice from an effects menu, you can place a burning effect onto the unit.


 * There are different teams that the player must add units to, for example, like Tribal Stage, where there is a team "Pink Village", and a team "Green Village, where tribesmen, tools and buildings belong to a certain team. Basically, whatever is on the planet must be on a chosen 'side'. Units from one team will be instinctively aggressive towards those of another team.


 * Cut scenes cannot be made, but players can make units perform sequences on cue.


 * Users can choose how many acts and tasks they want to be done in an adventure. The maximum number of acts is eight, and there is a maximum of three tasks per act.


 * Players can set the time of day on the planet.


 * Players can set the Terrascore of the planet by adjusting the temperature and atmospheric level(An adventure planet does not have to be T1 or up. It can be T0 if the player want's it to be.) Please note however, that the planet is still treated like a T3 planet.


 * Players can create museum planets and zoos in which there is no mission objective and you can just walk around and admire the scenery and some lovingly made creations. These are also called "3D Sporecasts" by the Maxis staff.


 * A Captain editor, where players can outfit the avatar that they will use to play missions. There are many new parts and abilities.


 * After installing the expansion, players will never have to worry about creations being stolen again. The expansion adds 'lineage' to every creation made from then on. Creations will list their history, consisting of every creator who edited it, and their names will be put into a list. The original creator who made the creation from scratch will be the first in the list. If another creator edits the creation, their name will be added to the list on their new version creation, as well as the one that was edited. Players can then check the tags, description or comments to find out if the new editor has given any credit to the original creator. Now players can immediately identify stolen creations, and if they are not the one who has had it stolen, they can instantly find out who made it originally and notify them.


 * When a player wins a mission with a number of points higher than another player has ever scored on that mission, they are rewarded with special badges which are shown on the players MySpore page. Badges can be lost when another player beats your record.


 * Players can modify the landscape with monuments, dips, stamps and formations.


 * Adventures will have a progress bar on the bottom that looks like the evolutionary progress bars from the other stages. The bar consists of up to eight parts or less, depending on how many acts the player has set for their adventure, with the maximum being eight and the minimum being one or even none at all Each part can be whole, or divided into two or three parts, depending on how many tasks the player has set for that act.


 * There are 32 new captain parts and abilities, such as the Lightning Striker, Jump Jet, Plasma Pulser, Acrobat Dance, Hover and Stunning Charm.


 * Player's captains and missions will be shown on their MySpore pages along with information on how they played recent missions. It lists how many missions were won or lost, points earned on missions, rewards the player has earned for reaching a certain score before completing a mission and captains and mission stats.


 * New Achievements. Over 50 new achievements come with the expansion pack.


 * Players are able to enter buildings, but only if the building is hollow and has an actual opening. Players must make a hollow building in the building editor, and design the interior. If you were to just place a large cube-shaped block in the editor and gave it doors, windows and a roof, like what many players do with buildings, the captain would not be able to walk inside through the door. He would just walk into a solid wall. Players will also be able to destroy buildings in adventures. All of this also applies to vehicles.


 * Players will not be able to drive vehicles. If they try pigging backing on them, they will slip off.


 * When playing adventures through a Space game, every increase in rank allows the player to unlock a part from the Captain Editor to place on their captain and use in another adventure. Players cannot unlock parts without unlocking their most recent predecessors in the palette.


 * Players will be able to add allied creatures from a friendly empire as posse members.


 * New creations made by Maxis are included in the expansion, such as captains, props, objects, music, and others for the adventures.


 * Seven Maxis-created adventures will be included in the expansion, for example, The Arena Of Oorama.


 * Creature, Tribe, Civilization and Space stage creatures can also be put on adventure planets and can be allied with by Captains.


 * When a player makes his/her first Captain, the player will be taken into a pre-made tutorial adventure called "Adventure Town" that will show players how to play adventures as a Captain. This adventure planet is inhabited by a Maxis made creature present in the original game, the Bunny Froo Froo, a pink bipedal rabbit-like creature.


 * There will be no other extra editors besides the Captain Editor and the Adventure Editor, and no new parts for the old editors are included in the expansion. There are also no new animations in any of the Test Drives. The Captain Editor Test Drive has only one new backround, but this backround can only be accessed through the Captain Editor.


 * There is one new paint style under the Details section that when used, resembles a spandex shirt and pants.


 * There are many adventure types: Combat, Diplomacy, Collect, Defend, Puzzle, Quest, Story and No Genre adventures can be made. Players can even create Template type adventure planets that will work the same way as any other kind of template.


 * You cannot play other people's adventures without logging in.

Unsolved Questions and FAQ

 * Will you be able to make tribal buildings? - No, but you will be able to place existing ones from a selection of special ready-made Maxis props from a menu, or you can find a tribal-looking hut-like building from the Sporepedia, or you could make one of your own in the building editor.


 * How will the new additions/tools/missions and abilities contribute to the storyline of the game? - ?


 * Will the makeup of cities be more complex? - No. The actual cities of ones empire will not be changed. However, very complex structures can be made on adventure planets.


 * Will there be new philosophies? - No. In an interview with one of the Galactic Adventures correspondents it was stated that the only thing different in Space Stage will be the fact that you can do missions on the adventure planets.


 * Will you be able to talk or communicate with tribal creatures? - You will not be able to do this with actual tribal creatures. However, the creator of an adventure planet may choose to place a creature in tribal dress in an adventure that you can talk to in the mission, or place a speech balloon above it's head.


 * Will you be able to use Grox parts? - GA will not allow players access to Grox parts, but players can download the Grox part mod from a modding site. Links can be found at the Spore Wiki article, Modifications.


 * How will points be awarded and what for? - Points are awarded for certain things that are done in the mission, such as helping other creatures, completing a mission objective, destroying enemies, etc.


 * Will the Grox appear at all? - Fleets of Grox spacecraft can be put into adventures as invaders, and if the player has the Grox creature in their Sporepedia they can use it.


 * Will you be able to add your own kind to your posse/crew as well as other species? - Yes, players do have the option of beaming down another member of their own species with them.


 * Will the allowed amount of members of your pack expand? If so, how many can you add in? - It all depends on how many crew spaces the creator of an adventure has set, with the minimum being none and the maximum being three. You can also have up to 100 normal characters following you when you change their movement but they won't help you socialise but they will help you kill.


 * Assuming every allied ship's captain must beam down in an adventure, who will a Grox ship's captain be? Could he even be Gar' skuther? - Gar' Skuther does not ride in your allied Grox spaceship. The Grox captain will be a normal member of their empire.


 * Could empires allied with The Grox be able to take them into adventures as posse members? - They will beam down with you like other allied empires, but they aren't very good at hand-to-hand combat.


 * Will the Complexity meter expand in the new creators, reduce a bit, or stay the same as the previous ones? - Maxis has allowed for an uber amount of complexity in the Adventure Creator. 50 of each type of unit (building, vehicle, creature, etc.) can be put into the adventure. The adventure can also have up to 5 pages of 10 selected objects and creations. There are actually two complexity meters in the Adventure Creator, one for Terraform Mode, and another for Build Mode.


 * Will there be a new expansion pack after Spore Galactic Adventures? - Likely, yes. An Aquatic Stage or City Stage expansion, or at least an expansion that will expand the other stages, is highly anticipated, as well as any other editors, such as underwater editors or a properly usable Flora Editor. Several Spore developers have hinted on the possibility of other expansions.


 * Will the new abilities (eg, shield, hover) abilities last forever, or will they be limited to a certain duration? If they are, how long can they last? - They are limited by your captain's energy capacity. You can use these abilities for as long as you like until your energy runs out. There will be no need to worry, though. Your captain's energy will automatically regenerate, and captain parts exist that can speed up the energy regeneration process or increase your captain's energy capacity. There are also power-ups that can be placed in adventures that instantly replenish your captain's entire energy bar.


 * Will players be able to create adventures with time limit goals? - Yes, you can, as shown in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaHjUb1_7Gw&feature=channel_page.


 * Can you make posse members talk when reaching a certain point in the adventure? - Sort of. If the creator of an adventure places a speech bubble over a creature's head, and the player allies with it, the speech bubble will continue to appear.


 * Will there be new cheats included in the game? - Yes, use the help command on the cheat box to see some new cheats


 * What will the adventure PNGs look like in the Sporepedia after they are saved? - They can show the captain start point, A random picture of the scene or a full picture of the entire adventure planet.


 * Will the Sea Monster appear in adventures when you swim to far from shore? - No, the Sea Monster will not come up and eat you. It also is able to be placed if you have acquired him from Maxis.


 * Will you be able to use the Planet Buster on the adventure planets? - No, because the player can only beam down onto adventure planets, not enter the atmosphere.


 * Before Galactic Adventures comes out and you want to make your models for the game, say hand grenades, which editor should you use? - It appears that most people use the building editors for most of their props, however the vehicle editors, spaceship editors, and even some creature editors have been used for making props.


 * What's a Prop? - An item or object that can be used in an adventure.


 * Will you be able to make your own weapons to put in the adventures(a grenade, a bomb, etc.) ? - No, but players can build props or disguise objects.


 * What do you mean specifically when you say you can "disguise objects"? - It means that there is an option in the Adventure Creator to make one object look like another. Example: There is a bomb in front of you, but now after "disguising" it, the bomb looks like a big orange fruit. You may disguise a gameplay object as any vehicle or building.


 * Will you be able to add things to the landscape like statues and monuments? - Yes, as seen in the expansion's screenshots. They are one of the many objects in Spore GA, and can be built in the building editors as well.


 * Do plants count towards the complexity meter in the Adventure Creator? - Flora can be chosen for a planet, and will be randomly generated across the planet. These plants will not count on the complexity meter. However, it is possible to select plants and place them yourself, or use prop-plants made in one of the other editors. These plants will count on the complexity meter.


 * Could props be used as weapons? - Yes. For example, you can shoot at barrels of fuel and make them explode, injuring any creatures nearby, or use a prop bomb.


 * Will all the new achievements be adventure-based? - Most of them are adventure-based, while others are archetype-based.


 * What will happen in an adventure if a captain is blind? - Nothing will change. The captain will still have perfectly clear sight, as if it had eyes.


 * Will captains be able to talk to each other? - Any goal in adventure can be set with a "talk to another captain" objective, and the player can also place speech balloons above creature's heads.


 * Can you play as non-captain creatures on adventure planets? - Yes.


 * Will you need patch 1.03 to play? If so, would you still be able to use exoskeleton limbs? - No, and players will most definitely still be able to put exoskeleton limbs on creatures if they have the patch. However, patch 1.04 is needed, however. The game automatically downloads the patch during installation.


 * How many different species can you place in an adventure? - You may place 50 of any one creation in an adventure, with a maximum of 100 creations.


 * Can you play as Epic captains?- No. The captain is limited roughly to the size it was given in the Creature Editor, which cannot be Epic size. Captain sizes can only be very slightly adjusted. The player can either halve or double a captain's default size.


 * How much space will GA take on your computer? - About 2GB of memory is required, and about 2KB of space will be taken up per creation, although certain adventures will probably take up about 5KB. The GA specs can be found here: http://www.spore.com/what/specs_ga http://www.spore.com/what/specs_ga


 * Will the Captain equipment become available at the main menu when you first play GA? - No, you will start off without equipment at first, and you will earn equipment parts one by one as you complete the adventures and earn points. Every 100 points allows you to pick a part of your choosing. When entering an adventure through the main galaxy screen there will not be a parts menu. Instead you must choose a selection of pre-made captains from the Sporepedia, or you must create a new captain from scratch to play with.


 * Will there be a part to make you run much faster than sprint? - No. There is, however, a captain power called 'sprint burst' that provides you with the speed of the creature stage sprint, for a much longer duration and with an almost instant recharge time. Unlike having regular sprint as a captain, this costs energy all the while you are using it.


 * When you put creatures in an adventure is complexity determined by the number of individual units or the number of species? - The number of units.


 * Will plants and animals be able to survive in T-0 adventures? - Yes. Adventure planets actually don't even have a T-Score.


 * How many 'teams' can you have?- Up to 4 teams, Red, Yellow, Blue and Green. There is also a neutral team with no color but it often attacks itself.


 * Can you make a planet a color that wasn't originally available in the Space Stage(black, white, etc.)? - Yes.


 * Will we be able to place turrets in an adventure? - Sort of. It is possible to create a non-wheeled vehicle with weapons, mount it somewhere on the planet, set it to stationary, and then set it to automatically attack enemies that come near it, essentially making it a turret. Maxis has also made a variety of vehicles for use as turrets.


 * Can you unlock the captain objects using your own created adventure or does it have to be unlocked in Space Stage? - The player can earn points to unlock parts for their captain in a Space game and other players' adventures, your own adventures cannot. Any one captain cannot earn points from an adventure that captain has already completed. Also, when you unlock a part, it is only unlocked for the captain the player unlocked it with. It may be important to note that you may create captains with all parts unlocked and available, but they may only be used as cast members in adventures: not to play them.


 * How do you make the inside of the building? - You must make a building hollow in the a building editor. Then it will have an inside that captains can enter(if there is an opening) and walk around in. Another option is for the player to place multiple buildings together like a jigsaw puzzle to form complex hollow structures. Another way to enter a building is to place a teleporter in-front of it.


 * Can Epics destroy buildings?- Yes, and any other creature with enough strength to destroy a building may do so.


 * Can you add your own music files to the game? - No, you must choose from a selection of Maxis-made sound files, of which there are many different ones, with one of them almost always bound to be what you're looking for.


 * Does SPORE GA install into the original spore game, or as a new application? - The old Spore application will have no changes and no compatibility with your adventures. You must use the new Spore Galactic Adventures shortcut, as GA is a different game from your original Spore.


 * Can you walk around your ship, and will your ship have a crew? You can't walk around inside your ship. Your crew can only be seen when beaming down onto an adventure planet with them, and your crew consists of your captain and the pilots of your allied ships. However, in the Adventure Creator you can make several buildings and join them together in the air to make a "spaceship building" that you can walk around in with other creatures.


 * Can you stop Epic creatures from blasting fire at you?
 * Can you use this expansion pack on two computers? 

Images
Please also see the Spore Galactic Adventures Gallery

-Go to http://www.spore.com/what/ga_captains to see 3D rotating models of real Maxis-made captains!

Making of: Spore Galactic Adventures
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7IjAWUAZsI

NYC Comic-Con 09: Galactic Adventures Walkthrough
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1T7sew9QWY

Playing the Missions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EdVTqiCryU&feature=subscription

Captains Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuEBSY-0xI

Maxis Missions 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmmB7ItRh50

The Space Captain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZZZ1svMqRE

The In-Game Captain Tutorial: Adventure Town
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTSp7IRON8g

Maxis Missions 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvJ8I1uMY2c&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsporedum%2Enet%2F2009%2F05%2F15%2Fspore%2Dgalactic%2Dadventures%2Dtrailer%2Dbahaha%2D500%2Drace%2F&feature=player_embedded

Robot Chicken crossover
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLIBPiY4J3I

Tutorial - Adventures
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YflmPd_4fUk

Maxis Missions 3 Mothership Down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-HseTl_wgM

Tutorial - Create
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BgrfhlKrIU

Tutorial - Terraforming
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0-XzwAsJ5o

Tutorial - Advanced
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKHEFN6_zQg&feature=channel_page

Tutorial - Intermediate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq6d0uMDULA&feature=channel

Spore Galactic Adventures Create Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It6tWg0xGTI&feature=channel