Spore Galactic Adventures

Spore Galactic Adventures (also formerly 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 your spacecraft, 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 sixteen different pre-made adventures. Some of them can be instantly viewed right after installing the game, and some must be encountered and completed in the Space stage before showing up in your Sporepedia. There are also Robot Chicken adventures available under the Maxis name.

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 ure 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). Maxis has also added several new flora (60 I think) to the sporepedia + any flora you've made in the hidden flora editor (yes, there is one).


 * 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), Peaceful (runs away when attacked, never hurts another unit), Mindless (does not react to anything), Territorial (warns approaching enemies then attacks if enemy doesn't leave), and Aggressive (attacks on sight).


 * 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 make buildings and vehicles explode in a burst of smoke and flying shrapnel. Creatures will fall down dead. Spaceships will instantly crash.


 * Changing the visibility level of an object. Some gameplay objects can be invisible or visible (when invisible, a gameplay object will still be active and useable even though it is invisible), but any other unit can only be set to "shown" or "hidden". When shown, a unit will be completely normal and visible, but when hidden, a unit will not only be invisible, it will be completely inactive and have no effect until shown again.


 * 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 units perform a few 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 to make them more advanced.


 * Players can set the avatar's range of vision by adjusting a planet's atmospheric density. Players can also set any other creatures range of vision using an "awareness" slider.


 * 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 quick-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 use many different effects. For example, by simply selecting an effect of your choice from an effects menu, you can drag and drop a large raging inferno onto the planet, or you could have many miniature tornadoes spinning around.


 * There are different teams that the player must add units to, for example, like in the 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. There are four teams: Allied Team, Ememy Team 1, Enemy Team 2 and Enemy Team 3. Players also have the option of not placing a unit on any team at all.


 * 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(32).


 * 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 the original creator, the last person who edited it, and the current creator. 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 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 can ride vehicles if they have installed Patch 5. If they have not, then they will slide right off the vehicle.


 * 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.As of /09/04/09/, all Maxis made missions, including the Robot Chicken missions, now give the players 100 points for completion. But if you have already played them you will not get anymore points for those adventures.


 * 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.
 * If you have not already downloaded all the creations used in some one else's adventure, you cannot play that adventure without logging in, except if you do this: drag the adventure from the Sporepedia to your game, and edit the adventure. The game will ask you if you want to log in or replace the creatures and buildings you do not have. Replace them and save the adventure. Now you can play the adventure. It will not contain all of the same creations but everything else will still be the same. TIP: You can also replace the creations with some of your own, so they fit the story line better.

Unsolved Questions and FAQ

 * Will you be able to make Tribal buildings? - No, although in the Gameplay Objects section in the Adventure Editor all huts and tool shacks are available.


 * How will the new additions/tools/missions and abilities contribute to the storyline of the game? No. Even though there is a Grox-themed mission there is no real storyline change.


 * Will the makeup of cities be more complex? - No. The actual cities of one's 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? Yes - You will be able to do this with tribal creatures.


 * 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 1000 characters following you, but they won't be in your "allies" list. These "follower" units won't help you socialize, but they will join you in combat.


 * 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.


 * 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 huge 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? - Have we learned anything from The Sims 1,2 and 3? Of course there will be! 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 (e.g. Shield, Stun) 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 then player allies with it, the speech bubble will continue to appear. Also, if a player allies with a creature in one goal, it will be added to your posse, and then in the next goal the creature that is now one of your posse members can have a "talk to" goal on it, and your posse member will talk. If a creature actually beams down with your captain and is automatically in your posse, it will not be possible to get it to say anything.


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


 * What will the adventure PNGs look like in the Sporepedia after they are saved? - At default, there will be an image of the planet first in the images list. The first picture in the list will become the PNG. If you take pictures in the editor, you can add the pictures to the other three image slots that can be viewed in preview mode, and you can even replace the first default image with one of your own, and then that will become the PNG.


 * 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, although it is possible to place a Sea Monster in the water that will attack you if you get close enough for it to see you.


 * 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 depends on what you need in your adventure. Any editor (excluding the Adventure Creator or Creature Creator) can be used to make a prop.


 * What's a Prop? - An item that is made to be used in an adventure.


 * Will you be able to make your own weapons to put in the adventures (i.e. a grenade, a bomb, etc.) ? - Yes, by players building props to 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. Only gameplay objects can be disguised. 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 from the Gameplay Objects tab and place them on the land 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 unlocking a whole archetype's equipment.


 * 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? - No. Even if a creature has no captain parts, it is still technically a captain. Also, if you try to use a creature that was made in the Creature Editor, the game will always ask you to give it a new name, and then it will save it as a new captain.


 * 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. Patch 1.04 is needed, however. The game automatically installs 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 1000 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. But to get around that you can shrink the buildings,creatures and delete the trees to make it seem like you are an epic.


 * 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. Earning enough points will cause your captian to gain a higher rank. Every time you gain a rank you can 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 (enemy team 1), Yellow (enemy team 2), Blue (enemy team 3) and Green (allied team). Players also have the option of not putting a unit on any team at all but then it attacks any other non-teamed things.


 * 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. Also, by placing a teleporter in front of a building, players can create the illusion of entering a building.


 * Can Epics destroy buildings?- Yes, and any other creature with enough strength to destroy a building (if the building is not set to be indestructible) may do so.


 * Can you add your own music files to the game? - No, without altering the game files,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 make Epic creatures stop blasting fire in the Adventure Creator? - Yes, but only if you stop them from attacking, period.


 * Are there other of Maxis's created adventures out in the Space stage? If so, How do you obtain them? - Yes. you can unlock new Maxis adventures by asking Space-faring creatures. There is one for all archetypes. For example, Military empires might assign your captain to aid a battle group, Religious empires could task you with escorting a priest to a temple, Economic empires may ask for a priceless artifact, etc. All Empire missions completed in the Space stage will appear in one's Sporepedia.
 * If you edit certain Maxis adventures such as "Adventure Town" you will find that some creatures are set to "advanced" behavior, and many other settings come up. However, for any other creature in any other adventure, this option is not there. How do you use "advanced" normally? You need to click and press the control-button at the same time to get an advanced behavior.

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