By Adam Smith on July 5th, 2012 at 1:00 pm.
Where are all the blocks? Planet Explorers, available in alpha right now, is a terraforming, building, crafting sort of a thing, but when the player starts digging the earth isn’t shifted in discrete cubes. Unnatural and off-putting as that is, it does at least give the game a distinctive appearance, as do the giant creatures trundling about. Construction is of the fort and tower variety, given that the planet is hostile in the extreme, and it could turn out to be quite the thing, as demonstrated by the trailer below.
The planet in Planet Explorers is designed rather than generated, so there will be constructed landmarks and even a story to follow, although doing so will be optional.
I thought it was all procedural at first though and seeing those creatures set a train of thought clattering slowly out of my brainstation. What if a game offered a procedurally generated world to craft and explore, as is all the rage these days, but with Spore’s creatures wandering around in it, collected randomly from the creations of other players.
That would be good, right?
As for Planet Explorers, I haven’t had chance to look at it yet but perhaps one day I will.
05/07/2012 at 13:05 Dizzard says:
I keep hoping that somebody will do something big with the spore idea. It was such a promising concept that just got shafted.
05/07/2012 at 13:15 Knightley4 says:
I remember my awe after first demonstrations and then… Well.
05/07/2012 at 13:15 InternetBatman says:
Me too. Even in it’s half-finished form the game was fun and the creator was absolutely amazing. It just needed far more depth in the Creature, Tribes, and Cities stages. The game was just full of neat things though, like how animals you befriended would become domesticated, and how you would see the vehicles you designed running back and forth on your planets in space mode.
05/07/2012 at 15:30 TechnicalBen says:
I remember them releasing the pre-alpha gampleay concept “toys” as downloads. It’s quite telling that most of them, even though they were 2d or vector 3d, we more fun and more in depth to play. :-/
05/07/2012 at 15:56 Pantsman says:
Was Dizzard trying to start a Pun thread here, but the joke was too subtle for everyone? Or is my imagination trying too hard?
06/07/2012 at 03:26 P7uen says:
Yes, he made a cock up of it.
05/07/2012 at 19:52 Lemming says:
I always thought just the space section (with procedural planets included), would be a great foundation for a zoomed-out and cutesy Frontier-type game.
05/07/2012 at 13:08 Zanchito says:
Wow, that Spore idea is mighty cool. You should write to Maxis. I’m serious.
05/07/2012 at 13:10 Zarx says:
No procedural generation, no sale
05/07/2012 at 13:11 Adam Smith says:
When multiplayer is added, probably a long way down the line, there may be some procedurally generated areas apparently. But, yeah, none in single player.
05/07/2012 at 13:13 HexagonalBolts says:
What I really want is a world where the creatures are randomly generated and then interact with each other, through that you get a kind of natural selection going on.
05/07/2012 at 13:21 InternetBatman says:
How much random generation do you really want in creatures though? Too much and you wind up at evolutionary AI attempts, which are just a mess. Most of the things created are far less than ideal.
05/07/2012 at 13:14 Rikard Peterson says:
The big platypus-turtle is cool.
05/07/2012 at 17:00 Torgen says:
I started humming the Jurassic Park theme song when I saw it.
11/07/2012 at 21:36 dontnormally says:
lulztastic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9AVTlvbhKM
05/07/2012 at 13:17 Syra says:
Doesn’t look very visceral.
05/07/2012 at 13:39 Unaco says:
Trailer was also missing some of that “Double step” music.
05/07/2012 at 13:54 Luke says:
There does at least appear to be grit. And gravel. And dirt.
06/07/2012 at 03:24 MrEvilGuy says:
Yeah it looks like a procedurally generated world but it’s not. :\
06/07/2012 at 09:50 Grargh says:
Also lacks a cover system, despite having plenty waist-high walls.
05/07/2012 at 13:23 InternetBatman says:
I’m not crazy about the whole tower defense aspect. I like exploring a hostile world, and I like building a home to protect myself from that world, but then I like the two things to stay separate.
05/07/2012 at 13:25 neofit says:
“but when the player starts digging the earth isn’t shifted in discrete cubes. Unnatural and off-putting as that is [...]”
Pure genius! :D
05/07/2012 at 13:30 magnus says:
I’m in, as long as I don’t have to log-in to a download client I’m only going to use once.
05/07/2012 at 14:00 asshibbitty says:
Gaem looks god.
When putting up Flash videos can you also put a link to YouTube under them?
05/07/2012 at 14:09 Didero says:
Unless I misunderstand what you’re asking, you can click the ‘YouTube’ logo in the bottom right of the player to go to the video’s page on YouTube.
05/07/2012 at 14:16 Jekhar says:
Or click the title of the video in the top left corner.
05/07/2012 at 14:18 asshibbitty says:
It aint showing in HTML5 browsers at all, that’s the problem.
05/07/2012 at 14:48 x1501 says:
I’m on Firefox 13 and I see no way to access the video’s YouTube page directly from the embedded video. In order to get the link, I’d have to either google the title, view this page’s source code, or allow JavaScript in order to enable the Share button and then extract the link from there. It’s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaWeuOqBkMY , by the way.
05/07/2012 at 14:54 Tayh says:
Wat…
I’m using Firefox 13 as well, works perfectly for me.
Maybe your flash player isn’t up-to-date?
On the topic, this game seems highly revelant to my interests, but I’m not sure if it’s worth buying a brand new graphics card for.
05/07/2012 at 15:21 x1501 says:
This is interesting. I can see the video just fine, but there the mentioned YouTube logo is missing and clicking on the title no longer takes me to the video’s YouTube page. It’s a minor issue, but in case anyone wants further feedback, I’m running FF 13.0.1 and the latest 11.3.300.262 version of Flash Player , and the only ‘clickable’ objects I see in the video—aside from the play, seek, and volume controls—are the Share, Change Quality, Watch Later, and Full Screen buttons on the right.
05/07/2012 at 16:59 Torgen says:
Firefox 13.0.1, and the YouTube button in in the bottom right of frame, where it’s always been. Flash plugin 11.3.300.262
05/07/2012 at 17:17 x1501 says:
In this case, it starting to look like a local issue on my end. Probably related to NoScript or some other addon. . . Anyway, thanks for the input. Now I know where to look.
05/07/2012 at 19:45 Biscuitry says:
There are known issues with Flash Player 11.3 on Firefox. It’s suggested you roll back to 11.2 until a fix is available.
Details and instructions here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/flash-113-crashes
05/07/2012 at 15:03 asshibbitty says:
Thanks for the link. It doesn’t look all that good to be honest. Strange use of voxel tech.
05/07/2012 at 14:25 Hisui says:
I’ve been waiting for a take on Minecraft that isn’t complete bull in terms of art direction and game design. This has me greatly interested.
05/07/2012 at 14:55 Yargh says:
I keep hoping that ToadyOne will somehow get his hands on Spore’s critter (and building) creator and make Dwarf Fortress in 3D
Otherwise this seems to indeed have potential, I’ve been wanting an open ‘stranded on a wild planet’ type game for a while.
Remember that it is in alpha though and needs a lot more work.
05/07/2012 at 15:29 Pulec says:
DF in 3D? Read forums, that is not going to happen, not in this century anyway imho. You must be happy with Stonesense for now.
06/07/2012 at 01:02 Yargh says:
Don’t think I’m not aware of that. But one can dream….
I just see the DF critter raws as being an almost perfect fit for the Spore creature creator.
05/07/2012 at 16:41 Stardog says:
Gnomoria is as close as you’ll get. http://gnomoria.com/
I’m surprised nobody has attempted it properly in 3D. The mechanics are simple enough. Even the Caesar city-building games had a lot of what ended up in DF.
06/07/2012 at 12:26 yhancik says:
There’s also the more-than-alpha http://dwarvesh.blogspot.com
05/07/2012 at 15:28 Pulec says:
That evil b**ch crashes on planet, cut tress, kill plants and animals, generally making big mess, bleh!
I thought there already was some terraforming games where aliens attacked a fortress.
Why not make it little bit like Stargate? Come to a planet peacefully, build base on a empty one maybe.
But she seems to be like Robinson Crusoe or something, repair a spaceship and go back home maybe?
05/07/2012 at 16:01 Stevostin says:
That *may* be kind of the game for my wife. I am also quite interested. If you remove Minecraft from your mind it may actually be a great game of its own.
05/07/2012 at 16:20 wodin says:
The space game made by the Terraria lot has what your asking for more or less I believe.
05/07/2012 at 20:22 rustybroomhandle says:
Not really “the Terraria lot” – it’s just the one dude.
06/07/2012 at 17:56 Justin Hopewell says:
Starbound is being made by a small team, though. Including one of the Terraria developers.
05/07/2012 at 16:23 Sc0r says:
You had me at “voxel”.
Add survival aspects and this could become my indie game of the year.
05/07/2012 at 20:00 niussd says:
http://is.gd/PFQQs4
05/07/2012 at 20:16 DarkFarmer says:
Looks really cool, I am interested. Unlike that other voxel game that everybody got hyped on this one looks legit.
05/07/2012 at 20:53 DarkFarmer says:
A little too soon on this one. Not quite ready for a public release yet. I will keep my eye on it, though.
06/07/2012 at 03:26 JayeRandom says:
I’m wondering if this is the first-person Minecraft+tower defense I want to play: you crashland on a planet, someone or something gives you a clue that you have “until the seasons change”/”until the fufu trees start dropping pink blossoms”/etc to: build defenses to ward off an annual migration of Very Nasty Critters Indeed. During several in-game days/weeks/months you gather resources, craft intermediate feedstocks and assemblages, and end up building a strongpoint which you then have to single-handedly defend and repair during gradually increasing waves of critter onslaughts. After a final enormous wave (including boss fights), you finally get rescued.
Edit: Oh wait, that’s basically “Tunnel In The Sky”, isn’t it?
06/07/2012 at 15:01 Phasma Felis says:
Ha! It is, isn’t it.
06/07/2012 at 20:08 benkc says:
Anyone else actually try it out? I found that in order to chop a tree, I had to be clipping inside it; and after a couple minutes, you couldn’t chop any more trees until you quit the game and restart.
Hopefully they’ll sort things out, as the idea appeals to me, but right now it’s too alpha.
06/07/2012 at 20:43 wcanyon says:
I’m gonna show this to my kid (10) and he’ll be like “looks cool but I don’t want to play as a girl.”