Project Spark looks amazing

[Mystictrust]

So I had an idea. I watched the E3 press conference again, the part with the Project Spark demo, and looked at the guy presenting who was interacting with a tablet. It sure looked like it was a Surface (and way too thin to be a Surface Pro). It had the Windows logo and smooth, gray steel back of a Surface as well.

So yes, the guy was most likely using SmartGlass, as the other guy on stage was guiding the game with Kinect voice commands... hmm, I may have just invalidated the argument I came in here to say. That doesn't prove anything, other than that the Surface is capable of SmartGlass integration of the game (and, I would imagine, actually being able to see the world you're drawing on).

Could it be, actually, that "Windows 8 PCs" literally means Windows 8 PCs and not tablets? I mean, tablets aren't PCs... yes, I suppose they can be classified generally as personal computers, but they are sub-classed as "tablets" and that's how they are referred to. It would be different if they said Windows 8 devices, wouldn't it? Perhaps the full game can only run on a computer or Xbox, but the view can at least be extended for manipulation by any tablet via SmartGlass.

 

[Coreldan]

Computing might be done on the Xbox, while the Surface/Smartglass might've been getting the just the streamed "video" that it interacts with Wifi direct? So remote desktop-like, perhaps?

 

[xboxonthego3]

I am very interested in this game. On their FAQ for the forum page they say it originated from the Kudos game lab that was a indie game I believe. I remember buying it. It was a lot of fun. The world was small and slightly limited. But the visual simplistic programing of characters and other things was awesome and a unique idea. This game is a much improved version of that and it looks really awesome. It appears they have made the worlds way larger than the kudos game lab. From what I have seen from videos of game play. But the worlds still look smaller than a world compared to minecraft. One of my main concerns is the size of the worlds/map. Also maybe the number of different options of characters and buildings we can design. As well as how much detail and customization we can do. I love to build all sorts of great awesome themed stuff on minecraft. My brother and I have been working on a Egyptian themed world for a while. Anyway. The visual programming is the best part about project spark in my opinion. I look forward to playing it.

 

[Mystictrust]

But the worlds still look smaller than a world compared to minecraft. One of my main concerns is the size of the worlds/map. Also maybe the number of different options of characters and buildings we can design. As well as how much detail and customization we can do. I love to build all sorts of great awesome themed stuff on minecraft. My brother and I have been working on a Egyptian themed world for a while.

Just some thoughts...

The team has stated that you can link multiple maps together, so campaigns would certainly be possible. Now, I imagine that when you reach one of the points where you go to another map, there would be some sort of loading screen... but imagine if you could set up a trigger so that you "continue" to another extension of the world when you reach the edge of the map? Couldn't you then string together a bunch and make a huge game world? Yes, there would be loading screens as the new map loads up (just my guess), but you'd still have a huge world!

I think the detail and customization will be much greater than we've even seen. Players can create custom AI behaviors, as an example, and you can "glue" game elements together to make something brand new. I'm going to keep coming back to this, but I LOVED hearing in one of the videos how you could glue elements together to make a spaceship. Of course, no, we don't know if it will have the level of customization that Minecraft has - it could have more or less - and I doubt we'll be able to fully answer that until the game releases, but it could be possible.

I do worry about characters and buildings though... I'm sure you can piece elements together to make your own buildings, but I think that still can only go so far. I imagine we'll be seeing A LOT of DLC packs that add elements such as characters and buildings.

I'm excited about the buildings though. Not sure if you can actually "go inside" the player's house (as an example), but you could probably link the door to another map where you create the house interior - and that's pretty damn awesome.

 

[xboxonthego3]

Sweet! I didn't know about the link of maps. That will definitely be cool. I would hope they would allow us to link maps on the edge of a map. The glue feature is cool! That will definitely help with customization. Thanks for the update and replying with me information I wasn't aware of. We will have to wait and see how well this game works. But I am definitely more excited about it now!

 

[Storl]

So I had an idea. I watched the E3 press conference again, the part with the Project Spark demo, and looked at the guy presenting who was interacting with a tablet. It sure looked like it was a Surface (and way too thin to be a Surface Pro). It had the Windows logo and smooth, gray steel back of a Surface as well.

So yes, the guy was most likely using SmartGlass, as the other guy on stage was guiding the game with Kinect voice commands... hmm, I may have just invalidated the argument I came in here to say. That doesn't prove anything, other than that the Surface is capable of SmartGlass integration of the game (and, I would imagine, actually being able to see the world you're drawing on).

Could it be, actually, that "Windows 8 PCs" literally means Windows 8 PCs and not tablets? I mean, tablets aren't PCs... yes, I suppose they can be classified generally as personal computers, but they are sub-classed as "tablets" and that's how they are referred to. It would be different if they said Windows 8 devices, wouldn't it? Perhaps the full game can only run on a computer or Xbox, but the view can at least be extended for manipulation by any tablet via SmartGlass.

Microsoft defines PC as Desktop, All-in-One, Slate, Hybrid, Laptop etc, even Surface RT is technically a PC (Personal Computer) nothing wrong with that.
And yes the guy was using SmartGlass, he even says so and if you look at the graphics of Project Spark it may even run on Tegra3 and pretty sure it could run perfectly fine on a Snapdragon 800.

But if Microsoft says "Windows 8" they are excluding RT with that, and keep in mind on the E3 event the game was not shown on a Surface RT without smartglass, so at least right now there is no RT/WP version.

Also official Spark FAQ..

• What platforms will Project Spark be on?
Project Spark will be released on Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Win8 (both PC and tablets such as the Surface Pro).

 

[bilzkh]

To be honest, if Microsoft could just get playing Project Spark games on Windows Phone going, I'd be a very happy camper.

 

[HeyCori]

And they're giving this away for free? I don't think I will have time for any other launch titles.

 

[MerlotC]

Beta in October.

https://joinprojectspark.com/

 

[TheSuperShoe]

I wanna see some make a knack-like game and call it "knack-off".

>.>

 

[smoledman]

This is something extra they can advertise in the fall to sell XBox One's and Windows 8 PCs.

 

[_Emi_]

Project Spark surely looks amazing! ive been following their twitch.tv channel and last stream was amazing!

if you havent seen it:

project_spark - Live Developer Demo - Tower Defense Creation



this was streamed today 21/8/2013! it was a nice, they showed alot of cool things. but Project Spark is surely getting better and better.
http://www.twitch.tv/project_spark/c/2791993

 

[vertigoOne]

Project Spark surely looks amazing!

No doubt!

Project Spark Unveils Personalized Voice and Motion Capture Studio

 

[HeyCori]

Project Spark lets you build the game, add character with Kinect (eyes-on)

And here's the Infinite World live stream!

 

[HeyCori]

Project Spark won't require Xbox Live Gold on any platform | Joystiq

 

[Keith Wallace]

That's great and all, but until they get all of the excess stuff out from behind the paywall, I can't really applaud the effort. In fact, this is one of the things that I WOULD accept behind it. Putting Netflix and Hulu and XFinity and that behind the subscription is what I dislike, simply because that is a serious detriment to those who want a console primarily as a media center--they have no incentive to choose a $500 console and Xbox LIVE subscription for their needs when a $400 PS4 can do the same stuff (minus the Kinect features, which are superfluous for most) for less.

In fact, I can't help but consider their intent here. It makes me wonder if they are saying "you get a big, free game with our console!" which allows them to hide the media stuff behind the LIVE subscription without as much complaining. They probably see the media option as a likelier source of subscribers than Spark, so they do this to lure people in. I can't blame them, and it's a good idea, but I'd rather them use Xbox LIVE as a premium service than one that is borderline-essential to own the console. It's almost like the Day One DLC companies like to launch nowadays...

 

[Mystictrust]

I'd rather them use Xbox LIVE as a premium service than one that is borderline-essential to own the console. It's almost like the Day One DLC companies like to launch nowadays...

I actually agree with this. The only media you can really get from "Xbox Live Free" is browsing the marketplace to buy/rent movies (and obviously, downloading games). I think Xbox would be more poised to be the ONE device that does everything for you if the paywall was knocked down for apps such as Netflix, Redbox Instant, Hulu Plus, Amazon, etc... at the very least. People who play online gaming (on a regular or semi-regular basis) shouldn't have a problem with the paywall anyway (since you know they'll be paying for Gold) but what about everyone else? The people who don't care to game online, or just buy the occasional one month card here and there to play with friends? They get locked out.

In the beginning, I was fine with them doing this - people constantly complained in early days about Xbox Live Gold not having enough value - so they added tons of stuff, and Netflix was exclusive to Xbox for quite some time. Times have changed though now, and it would be a GREAT move for Microsoft if they reconsidered their stance and placed some or all of the major entertainment apps outside of the paywall - they've added plenty of content to justify features for Gold (cloud processing, game dvr, dedicated servers, etc), this shouldn't be a problem.

It's almost like the Day One DLC companies like to launch nowadays...

Meh, I disagree. Game has to be sent off to manufacturing about a month before release, IIRC, so the devs have nothing to do at that point but either patch in stuff to fix known bugs for launch or work on new things they didn't have time to add (or always wanted to add). The publisher paid for their time spent on the game to that point, but any extra features beyond completion have to be funded another way - bug fixing aside, of course. Publishers generally put strict deadlines down for the delivering of games anyway, and development studios have to work hard to finish by that time (and no, I don't think it was easy at all for these companies to officially delay upcoming game titles such as Watch Dogs and Driveclub)

 

[Jas00555]

For anyone wondering about 8.1 or RT, Tom Warren just tweeted out a screenshot of the Windows Store application (yes, it is actually a metro application) and it is 8 or 8.1 only. The recommended system requirements are above even half the surface pros since its recommended that you use 8gb of ram, with the minimum being 4.

 

[HeyCori]

For anyone wondering about 8.1 or RT, Tom Warren just tweeted out a screenshot of the Windows Store application (yes, it is actually a metro application) and it is 8 or 8.1 only. The recommended system requirements are above even half the surface pros since its recommended that you use 8gb of ram, with the minimum being 4.

https://twitter.com/tomwarren/status/406793932547579904/photo/1

Computer upgrade time, I guess :-/

 

[Coreldan]

Smartglass might be able to do SOMETHING even on RT devices.. but I didnt really expect to run this at least on my first gen Surface RT