Creature Stage



After a player's creature grows from the cell stage, they leave the sea and enter Creature stage, the first 3D stage of the game. At the start of the Creature stage, players evolve their creature from an enlarged version of the player's final cell up to an intelligent species. There are many possible combinations of parts to create near-infinite varieties of creatures. The different creature parts give the creature different abilities. In addition to these abilities you creature has one consequence ability gained by it's behaviour in the cell stage.

During this stage the aim is to gain DNA to increase the size of your brain, with goal of evolving your creature to sapience. The main ways of earning DNA is either by befriending other creatures or by hunting them; your creature's consequence abilities for future stages depends on which you concentrate on, or if you choose a balance between them.

Each time you increase the size of your brain you gain one space in your pack, which you can add befriended creatures to. You can gain a maximum of three spaces to add creatures to. The creatures in your pack can help you befriend or attack other creatures.

Creature parts
Before beginning this phase the player has a chance to edit their cell into a proper creature, albeit with cell parts. The player can also optionally add legs or create a slug. The parts you choose for your creature will decide which base parts you unlock. Similarly, the base parts you use the most will increase your chances of unlocking an upgraded version of that part. If you're going for a particular look you'll need to choose carefully. See each Parts section below for tables listing all the different parts and their DNA cost. More general information on limbs, eyes, hands, weapons and accessory is given at their respective pages.

(Amphibious creatures or other such combinations are not possible, nor are subterranean or arboreal creatures possible. There are no underwater portions of the game, except for Cell stage).

The abilities of the creature depends on the parts added in the creature editor. There are 4 combat abilities, 4 social abilities and 5? movement abilities.

Types of attacks are:
 * Bite. Damages target.
 * Charge. Usable only from range. Stuns target.
 * Strike. Damages all nearby enemies.
 * Spit. Usable at range and in melee. Does damage over time to target.

Social Abilities
 * Sing. Granted by mouths.
 * Dance. Granted by feet.
 * Charm. Granted by miscellaneous parts.
 * Pose. Granted by hands.

Also creatures can gain ability to jump, sprint or even fly but for a limited time only.

They can also use a mating call

Different body parts are found in bone piles scattered around the world. They can also be gained by being friendly towards or killing Alphas of different creature types.

Parts Available in the early creature creator
Parts in the early creature creator are the same parts that were available in the Cell stage. When constructing a creature in the creature stage these parts are only available at the very beginning of the stage; if you have evolved your creature from the cell stage then only the parts that you unlocked in the cell stage are available. The abilities the parts give in the creature stage are somewhat related to their function in the Cell stage.

Mouths

Filter Mouth Herbivore. 15 DNA Points. Mating Call. Bite Level 1. Sing level 1. Eats Fruit.

Jaw Carnivore. 15 DNA Points. Mating Call. Bite Level 1. Sing Level 1. Eats other creatures.

Proboscis Omnivore. 25 DNA Points. Mating Call. Bite Level 1. Sing Level 1. Eats fruit and other creatures.

Cilia 15 DNA Points. Lets you to jump. Jumping allows access into hard to reach areas.

Flagella 15 DNA Points. Lets you sneak. You can sneak up on creatures or hide from attackers.

Eyes

Beady Eye Lets you see what is going on. 5 DNA Points.

Stalk Eye Lets you see what is going on. 5 DNA Points.

Button Eye Lets you see what is going on. 5 DNA Points.

Jet 25 DNA Points. Lets you sprint. Sprinting increases your speed greatly for a short time.

Spike 10 DNA Points. Charge level 1. Charge attacks a single target from a distance. You run up and stun them on impact.

Poison 15 DNA Points. Lets you spit at another creature from long range.

Electric 25 DNA Points. Charms creatures.

Legs

Brawnysaurus Speed Level 1. 50 DNA Points.

Phatella Speed Level 1. 50 DNA Points.

Thundercalf Speed Level 1. 50 DNA Points.

Limbs

 * Arms & Legs: The only real difference between the arms and legs are how they look. Each arm and leg segment has a complexity of 1.5 and a cost of 15 DNA. Thus any arm or leg with 2 segments has a complexity of 3 and DNA cost of 30; a limb with 3 segments will have a complexity of 4.5 and DNA cost of 45. The default graspers and feet have 0 complexity and cost 20.

Eyes & Senses
You can cover your creation with ears, antennae, eyeballs, pig snouts, and so on. The items that are placed in pairs are automatically arranged symmetrically. In fact, you can make a single pig nose split in half so that one nostril is on one side of your creature and the other nostril is on the other side. Just as with all the other items, you can adjust the angle and size of every eye, ear, nose, and mouth you place.

Weapons
The first column is available in the free creature creator demo.



Gaining DNA
Creatures can deal with other species by befriending them or exterminating them. Some species are naturally hostile and cannot be befriended. Once a certain number of particular species are befriended, or killed your creature gains DNA. If you hunted those creatures they will become extinct and no longer appear in your game, if you befriended the creatures then if your brain is large enough you may recruit them for your pack. Either way you may rest at the creatures nest to restore health.

At some stage the player's species will migrate to another part of the continent; reuniting with them is another way to gain DNA points.

After gaining a certain amount of DNA your creature's brain will increase in size. After the first increase in size you can use social skills to persuade other creatures to join your pack. The maximum amount of creatures you can have in your pack increases by 1 each time your brain increases, near the end of the stage you can have 4 creatures in your pack (including yourself). After a creatures brain becomes big enough and they become sentient, the player can enter the Tribal stage.

Consequence abilities
The following table lists the consequence abilities given by the different types of victory in the Creature Stage.

Creature Stage Achievements

 * Bestial - Complete the Creature stage 10 times.


 * Devourer - Eat 50 different species across any number of games.


 * Epic Killer - Kill an Epic Creature in the Creature stage.


 * Everyone's BFF - Finish the Creature stage by befriending at least 20 other species.


 * Evolver - Finish Creature stage.


 * Flight of the Bumblebee - Fly for over 200 meters without touching the ground.


 * Foe - Extinct at least 20 other species in Creature stage.


 * General Custer - Lead 30 posse members to their deaths.


 * Iron Creature - Finish the Creature stage on Hard difficulty.


 * Max Power - Build a creature with max stats in at least four abilities while playing the Creature stage.


 * Socialite - Meet 200 creatures made by other players.


 * Speed Demon - Complete the Creature stage in less than an hour.


 * Survivor - Complete the Creature stage without dying.


 * Village Folks - Have three posse members from different species.

Strategies for Hard Difficulty

 * 5 DNA points can be saved by keeping an eye from the Cell stage and not trading in for an eye from this stage. All eyes have equal functionality.


 * The Cell's omnivore consequence ability is the best ability for this Stage, as it helps with both attempts to charm or hunt creatures.


 * When in the editor, try to remember when you can't afford a more advanced part to replace another, that you'll gain DNA points by selling the older part.


 * When your creature is hungry and you can't find food, return to the nest and mate. Your offspring's hunger bar will be completely full.


 * When meteors fall from the sky, don't run around in circles -- watch for the shadows and avoid them.


 * Swimming too far out into the ocean results in an instant death. Look for when the water becomes darker to tell if you can or can't swim there.


 * If your creature has hands, they can pick food from tall trees, or pick up items and throw them. Sticks do nothing but annoy the creature you throw them at (even your own species), while shells and rocks will stun them for a little while. You can save some throwing items by placing them at your nest.


 * The farther into the Creature stage you go, the more you'll notice that when trying to socialize with another creature, they'll call their other members to socialize with them. An easy way to stop this is to just walk near the creature you want to socialize. Notice how they walk away if you get too close. Use this to "push" them away from their nest to socialize with them more easily.


 * A good way to enter a fight is to use Spit at your target, then wait for them to come within reasonable distance, then hit them with a Charge and follow up with a Strike and a Bite. You're less likely to miss the Charge because your target it coming straight at you.


 * If your target is running away, use your spit ability to provoke them to attack.
 * When using spit, remember that it helps to be on the same terrain level as your target.


 * When fleeing from a battle, switch to "Social" stance, pause the game, and double click on your members. When you un-pause the game, your creature will beckon its pack members to follow it, and they will run away from the fight.


 * Not as powerful as Rogues but more powerful than the average creature are Alphas. They have 25% extra health compared to normal creature and may attack harder aswell. Alphas of your own species can only be found at new nests after migration or other nests that aren't your home.


 * Socialize and hunt in turns of one generation. Put lots of socializing parts on your creature and convince a few powerfull allies to follow you. Rogue creatures would be ideal for this, but getting them into your pack is fairly difficult. Once they are in your pack they can be used for some serious warfare. Now you need to get ready for hunting by evolving from a singer into a killer. Once again optimize your creature for killing. Your pack will still follow you after you hatch.


 * When you reach the Tribal Stage, your creatures will sometimes use their natural abilities to fight, so attach the strongest fighting abilities you can when you're about to evolve, and get rid of social abilities -- they'll no longer have a use here.


 * Any animals of another species a player has in his/her Pack at the time they evolve to the Tribal stage will automatically start out as domesticated animals. This might save a small amount of time at the start as the player doesn't need to domesticate animals if he takes them from the Creature stage.

Trivia

 * Your creature is apparently always female, as it will always be the one laying eggs. However, when you advance into the Tribal Stage, your creature's voice will become gruff, and will have a male name. Of course, it could be that the creatures in Spore have no concept of gender.
 * There are Spice Geysers here, but you can only use them to give you a large boost into the air.

Events
Sometimes in Creature Phase, one of several events may occur. When this happens, a more intense version of the battle music will play, and nearby creatures will flee in terror.
 * Epic Creature - An Epic creature will target the area that the player is in, and wreak havoc. It is advisable to run away, as Epic creatures can kill the player's creature in one blow.
 * Meteor Shower - There will be a flash on the screen, and a large group of meteors will rain down on the ground. Other creatures will run around in terror. This appears to have no visible effect on the planet, but if a meteorite hits your creature, you will be stunned for a while.
 * UFO - A UFO will appear in the sky. It may be one of your UFOs, a Maxis UFO, or even a Grox spaceship. Nevertheless, it will fly around, and may abduct other creatures or plants. Be careful, as it may try to abduct one of your pack members.