How much of civilization is shaped by our biology? How might our cities, transportation,
and technology look different if we weren’t a group of nearly hairless primates? The video game
Spore has the answers. Okay, well, maybe not the answers — but Spore does offer an interesting case
study into the fundamentals of how a speculative lifeform might build a society. In our first Spore
episode, we followed a lifeform from a microscopic organism to the intelligent Curiousus Sapiens.
In this episode, we’ll witness the ascent of their civilization, and explore how the unique
biology of an alien like Curiousus Sapiens would affect things like the design of clothing, the
schematics of vehicles, and shapes of buildings in unexpected ways. We’ll begin with Tribal
Stage and go all the way to Space, completing the multi-billion-year-tale of Curiousus Sapiens. So,
let’s return to Planet Curious, and discover the finale of the story of life…
After the early evolutionary stages, the birth of society is underway — with Curiousus Sapiens
building fires and early lodgings. But is this the dawn of a wise people,
or a culture of warmongering tyrants? What path will Curiosus Sapiens take in shaping the destiny
of their planet? Like the game’s biology, cultural evolution in Spore is fairly simplified and
exaggerated. ‘Tribal Stage’ seems to be a mesh of various eras, but seems most comparable to a
hunter-gatherer culture. At this point in history, Curious Sapiens appear only to have access to
simple technologies quite similar to that of early humans. It might seem surprising that
Curiosus Sapiens would converge on concepts like pottery — but there is some precedent for this
idea. On earth, certain technologies are ‘cultural universals’ — meaning that numerous cultures
invented a version of them independently from one another. The sheer number of times disparate
populations have invented something like pottery indicates that when intelligent minds are faced
with the same problem — similar answers might emerge. Whether or not this would hold true for an
alien in an alien environment is difficult to say — but depending on the circumstances, Curious
Sapiens inventing pottery is certainly possible. As technology improves, Spore gives us the option
to determine the clothing of Curiousus Sapiens. The question of what kind of clothes an emerging
sapient alien species would wear — assuming they’d wear clothing at all — is actually a tricky one.
Clothing is so ubiquitous today for us Homo Sapiens that we almost don’t think about it.
The initial invention of clothing was likely tied to the climate, and served as a way to
protect our hairless bodies from the elements. Yet compared to Earth, Planet Curious — like
most planets in Spore — seems to have an extremely temperate macroclimate, so it’s unlikely clothing
would develop for temperature control alone. Yet clothing can also protect the body from specific
environmental hazards like pests, abrasive substances, and other irritants. So, it’s
possible that protective attire would first emerge in Curiousus Sapiens in particularly vulnerable
areas — like the base of their eye-stalks. Human clothing also has various social functions across
cultures, and some articles of alien clothing could serve in these ways. Unlike humans,
Curiousus Sapiens have an elaborate display structure sprouting from their shoulders, similar
to the extravagant plumages of certain birds. It’s not too big a leap to assume garments would
be built around complementing these structures — making them appear fuller and more impressive.
An emergent hunter-gatherer species would also likely find value in various satchels or pouches
to carry resources. And finally, aliens might develop some articles of clothing with no apparent
function whatsoever — either as reflections of cultural trends or expressions of personal style.
In the case of Curiousus Sapiens, clothing choices would be limited by available
materials — which in this age would likely comprise hides, grass, leaves, and shells.
The end result is attire that certainly looks pretty strange to our eyes… but a Curiousus
Sapiens would likely find the eccentricities of our clothing just as puzzling… As time passes,
Curiousus Sapiens fall into a rhythm within the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, with obtaining food the
most important task during this era. Historically, permanent settlements on Earth rarely emerge
until after the invention of agriculture and domesticated plants. Spore skips over any mention
of agriculture, but realistically we can assume that Curiousus Sapiens have some early version
of subsistence farming figured out. And Curiousus Sapiens aren’t the only lifeforms to have achieved
advanced intelligence. Across Planet Curious, other species are building their own societies.
Different unrelated species all reaching the same level of technological advancement during
the exact same period isn’t particularly likely… but this is how Spore functions. The question is,
how will Curiousus Sapiens choose to interact with their new neighbors going forwards?
To guide Curiousus Sapiens through this new era, two tools are now available for
construction — the spear and the wooden horn, which looks like a kind of rudimentary flute.
As far as early tools go, these are actually fairly plausible. Spears are the oldest weapon
we have an unambiguous archeological record of, dating back to the Paleolithic age. Likewise,
mammoth bone flutes from the Paleolithic are the oldest known musical instruments. Realistically,
however, the tools of a species like Curiousus Sapiens would likely be different from our own.
For one, since Curiousus Sapiens only have four fingers instead of five, their musical instruments
would likely look different, as they’d likely only have access to a pentatonic scale instead of
a heptatonic one when playing a wind instrument — with five notes per octave instead of seven.
Likewise, it’s interesting to deliberate on whether a lifeform like Curiousus Sapiens
would develop a spear in the first place. Humans lack the claws and fangs of most top predators
in the animal kingdom, pressuring early humans to invent tools to compete with the natural weaponry
of other animals. Yet an unarmed Curiousus Sapiens is already a formidable customer,
and might not need to be as creative. Still, it’s possible that any emergent tool user would be able
to puzzle out the basic concept that sticking something sharp on the end of something long is
a good way to deal damage while keeping yourself out of harm’s reach. In either case, with their
new tools, Curiousus Sapiens can now enchant other species with their musical instruments…
or impale them on the end of their spear. As thinking social omnivores, Curiousus Sapiens make
allies when they can. But when another species attacks first, Curiousus Sapiens respond in kind.
In a trend that sadly echoes our own history, this early era is marked by frequent conflict...
But society is also changing in other ways. Curiousus Sapiens are on the path towards
creating a larger and more stable civilization — a path laden with new developments. At this point,
Curiousus Sapiens gain the ability to domesticate animals — a crucial trait for emergent
civilizations. There’s a lot that could be said about animal domestication, but to simplify:
we humans began our animal domestication journey with wolves before the agricultural revolution,
then moved on to small herbivores like sheep and goats once we began staying in one place for
longer. Beasts of burden that could plow fields or give you a ride like cows and horses came later.
Curiousus Sapiens will begin their journey with this small bird-like quadruped, harvesting
their feathers for clothing and construction materials and their eggs for dietary consumption.
Generations later, the second animal Curiousus Sapiens domesticate is this large… horrifying
spider-beast. These hardy giants might look intimidating, but they’re actually quite docile,
and will fill the role of plow animals. It’s worth noting that while, once again,
Spore never touches on agriculture, in order for this sort of domestication to be possible,
Curiousus Sapiens must have begun the practice. And with these animals in their corner,
the population can grow to new sizes, and society itself can become more complex.
New buildings are now available, like this outlet for fishing spears — seemingly implying
the emergence of small industries and the increased specialization of tasks within
Curious Sapiens society. And just looking at their society, culture seems richer and more diverse,
with different Curious Sapiens sharing ideas and playing musical instruments.
After making one final alliance, Spore gives us the option to advance to the next stage…
Hurtling forwards in time, ‘Civilization Stage’ begins with the option to build a modern building.
Once again, Spore’s timeline of historical change is certainly a simplified one, as there are,
historically, numerous steps between small subsistence societies and an emergent industrial
civilization. Likewise, Spore puts no limits on this first building, letting you construct
something truly absurd if you feel like it. Fun as that can be, it’s interesting to consider what
an early industrial house might look like for a Curiousus Sapiens. Unlike humans Curiousus Sapiens
are nest builders — and have been for the past several hundred million years of their evolution.
As a result, it’s possible that their instinct for houses would be different from our
own — building smaller, more low-to-the-grown dwellings that evoke their ancestral nests.
With a town hall constructed, the Curiousus Sapiens debate the nature of their society.
With a stable food supply, natural resources like Spice — which flows from most planets
in Spore — becomes the new valued commodity. The value of Spice in Spore reminds me of the sci-fi
world of Dune, and if my memory of that series is accurate, a reliance on Spice might cause…
problems. But for now, Curiousus Sapiens are a young populace with their heads lost in the dream
of the future... On that note, Spore gives us the option to design our first vehicle that will help
with transporting the spice. As always, Spore lets you design whatever absurd thing you want,
but alien cars genuinely might not look like we’d expect. Certain things like wheels could be
universal considering the constraints of physics. Yet our vehicles reflect us more than we realize.
Several studies have shown that when we look at most cars, our brains’ facial recognition cortex
is activated. This isn’t a coincidence — cars are designed to subtly resemble human faces to appeal
to our pattern-seeking minds. And if Curiousus Sapiens have similar instincts, it's likely their
vehicles would subtly reflect the geometry of their faces… With our first vehicle constructed,
the Spice can be gathered and transported — for better or worse. In this era, other civilizations
of Curiousus Sapiens have also emerged. We’ve already seen this species, much like humans,
has the potential for war and cooperation — so the ultimate future of Planet Curious will be
determined by how well they can work together. Contacting our closest neighbors, we can offer
gifts, compliment them, or say their people are ‘descended from limbless space slugs.’ Now,
I’m no political expert, but I suspect one of the first two options is a better tactic... Thanks to
such savvy political acumen, the two civilizations establish a trade route and begin the long road
towards a united future… As time passes, cities become larger and full of new technologies. Thanks
to the steady force of negotiation, alliances form — first with immediate neighbors, and then with
more distant countries. As technology improves, clothing evolves as well, featuring new textiles
and construction materials. I tried to make the post-industrial clothes of Curiousus Sapiens
still vaguely echo earlier culture trends. Got to keep those silly hats, after all. In time, we
unlock the secrets of motorized flying machines, and can design our first air vehicles. Here,
the constraints of things like wind resistance might shape our craft into something similar to
the planes we have on Earth, although just like with their land vehicles, Curiousus Sapiens may
build something that subtly reflects the geometry of their faces. And with their natural stalk
eyes and more flexible necks Curiousus Sapiens likely have a greater visual field than humans,
so the cockpits of their aircrafts might have more windows to the sides and back.
With aircrafts now soaring through the atmosphere, the planet is more connected through trade than
ever before. Achieving planetary peace through careful management and negation is admittedly
not the most exciting way to play, but it’s certainly worth it. At the end of this era,
Curiousus Sapiens are united under one banner, and looking towards the stars as their next horizon...
And so, the final chapter, ‘Space Stage’, begins. Curiousus Sapiens are no longer beholden to just
a single, meager world. After designing a spacecraft that follows the same aesthetic
standards of the other vehicles, for the first time, Curiousus Sapiens are free to explore beyond
the protective atmosphere of their home. Traveling to another planet in the system, the Sapiens
discover a crashed vessel, and are lucky enough to scan and replicate its interstellar drive.
From the perspective of the player, you can zoom out and behold the entire galaxy,
spinning just like how it is in the title screen — except now you can go to any part of it you like.
That first moment when you realize the whole galaxy is now yours to explore is pretty magical,
and makes the scope of Spore feel so impossibly vast. The galaxy is waiting, and the rest is up
to you. Every one of these stars contains their own system of orbiting planets,
which you can fly down to and visit. At the time when Spore first came out, this kind
of procedurally generated universe was something never really attempted before. At the same time,
such scale has its drawbacks. It’s hard not to feel like, in a galaxy this large, nothing you do
has much meaning. I know a lot of people’s least favorite stage is Space Stage, and I understand
why. It’s easy to become disconnected from the creature you started with billions of years ago,
although perhaps that’s an unavoidable symptom of a species becoming a galaxy-spanning civilization.
Expanding across the cosmos, Curiousus Sapiens gain the ability to build self-assembling colonies
on barren worlds. In their expansion, they search for radio wave frequencies that might signal the
presence of technologically-advanced life like themselves. On our planet, we’re scanning the
stars for alien life by searching for similar frequencies — although with our limited range,
so far, we’ve found nothing but silence. Yet Curiousus Sapiens can journey much further out
across the stars, and eventually they encounter other intelligent, space-faring life who rose from
the primordial soup just like they did. In time, Curiousus Sapiens even unlock the secrets of life,
and can create creatures to populate newly terraformed worlds. This kind of power can
be used to create bizarre forms of life, as biology becomes an infinite playground.
In the words of science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, “any sufficiently advanced technology
is indistinguishable from magic,” and that adage holds true here. It can also be used
more responsibly, and we’d have to hope such an advanced form of life would be sensible with
their power. Looking forwards, Curious Sapiens will ascend to a civilization we can’t fathom,
transcending technology beyond the scope of our limited minds…
By design, Spore skips over many of the stages of history, condensing and exaggerating the
long road of technological advancement. Yet the game does explore a surprising number of
the universal principles of how civilizations and technology change over time. I know not everybody
likes the later stages of Spore compared to Cell and Creature, and I can understand that. Still,
the novelty of guiding a speculative creature through their technological advancement is pretty
intriguing even all these years later. Like I said in part one, I’d love to see another high-profile
game tackle something similar, as I feel there’s real potential for a modern take on this concept.
As always, thanks for watching. If you enjoyed this entry,
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