Spore Galaxy



The Spore Galaxy, commonly referred to as The Galaxy, is the spiral galaxy in which the games Spore and Spore Creatures transpires. It contains many billions of stars as all galaxies do (however many fewer can be visited in the game, about 100,000). It is only possible to achieve Interstellar Travel in the Space Stage.

The galaxy is seen through the Galaxy View, which can zoom out to see progressively larger portions of it. Eventually as an Empire advances, it gains prizes called badges. Interstellar Travel is achieved by "drives" which allow the vehicle with it to hop from star to star.

All the planets an empire has discovered are available in the Sporepedia, a database that consists of all known planets, empires, and species. In addition to stars there are Binary Systems, Black Holes, Proto-Planetary Disks, Nebulae and other galactic formations.

Government
It is not officially stated whether or not there is an intergalactic governing body that rules the Galaxy. But this has not stopped fans from postulating such an idea, despite the Galaxy lacking a capital or seat of power; some even suggested that the Galaxy is a federalist republic, with all space faring civilizations as members, although the Grox may be an exception or even the leaders. If it exists, it is not known how much power the Galactic Government actually wields over the empires in the Galaxy. It can be assumed that the Galactic Government generally allows empires to follow their own paths and enforce their own laws, as there is no known “Grand Army of the Galaxy” or even an in-game equivalent of the United Nations Peacekeeping forces. However, a "Galactic Security Force" was mentioned by an empire after a Grox attack, but it is unknown who or what they are. As such, wars are not uncommon. The only known law is the Galactic Code, which mandates fair interaction among empires. However the concept of a Galactic Government, coupled with the fact that there is a common currency for all empires, at this point sounds more like an inter-galactic organization that is an economic and political union of all the empires in the Galaxy (perhaps excluding the Grox), much like the real world European Union. All of these statements of course are conjecture at this point.

Planets, Moons and Comets
Among the billions of systems in the Galaxy, only about 100,000 are visitable, many being out of the galactic arms in the stellar void. Many of the visitable planets are inhabited, although many planets are also barren with no life.

Some planets also can have Moons orbiting them. The player's homeworld will always have a moon. They are most commonly found orbiting Gas Giants. Also, the player can see comets and asteroid rings in some star systems.

Star Systems
A star system is a star and all satellites that orbit it or are within a reasonable distance. However, since the gap between each star is so huge, features are simply grouped with the closest star, so there is no set distance.

"Oh, well, there will be probably well over a hundred thousand. I mean, far more than a player could ever visit. Which is why there is no point to having another galaxy. If there are going to be thousands of stars in a galaxy there is no way that one person in their lifetime could ever visit them all."

- Will Wright

When the UFO leaves the planet, and then the star system, the player will find himself in the very large void of space, however the player is not all alone. Using the UFO tool SETI, it is possible to find other inhabited Star systems with planets at various stages of evolution. The player can travel to these star systems and planets to make contact with the inhabitants.

Easter Eggs
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Creature Creator

 * When you spin the galaxy very fast, Will Wright's head appears.

Spore

 * If you spin the Galaxy very fast, a cluster of pictures of the producers will appear. If you press CTRL+SHIFT when you see the pictures, you see more of them.
 * The player can find the Sol system with Earth and the other planets, excluding minor objects. This means there is a chance that the Spore Galaxy could be the Milky Way.
 * Upon entering the Galactic Core, the Wormhole tunnel walls are covered in multicoloured llamas. Llamas have been used in Maxis games since Sim Life.
 * Steve is obviously the same UFO from SimCity 2000 at least on the box art.
 * If you look carefully on a Happiness Booster the abbreviation "IPPETAD" is on the bottom of the tool. This is an obvious parody of Family Guy's Blue Harvest, from 'Darth' Al Harrington's "Intergalactic Proton Powered Electrical Tentacle Advertising Droids" scene.
 * Will Wright's head sometimes appears in one of the speech bubbles above one of civilians in tribe, civilization, and space stages.
 * When trading with trader empires, a tune from M.U.L.E can be heard in the background.
 * Typing the $ symbol in the editors creates the Sporebuck symbol.

Trivia

 * Spore Hero and Spore Hero Arena happen in a different Galaxy.
 * The sheer size of the galaxy in Spore makes it difficult (but not impossible) to claim even an arm of the galaxy for your empire.
 * Other galaxies can be seen (but not visited) in Spore. During the Creature Stage and Adventures at night, other galaxies can be seen in the sky. These galaxies also appear in the background during the Space Stage and on the Spore main menu. When loading the game, most of the galaxies can be seen to either be the same shape as the Spore Galaxy or to be elliptical galaxies.