GameSpy: Will Wright: Game Design and Extraterrestrials - Page 1 Continue to GameSpy: Will Wright: Game Design and Extraterrestrials - Page 1 » Learn how to disable this ad » IGN Entertainment: IGN|1Up|GameSpy|GameStats|UGO|AskMen|IGN Pro League News Features Columns All Articles Reviews Previews Release Dates Tech Game Wikis Cheats Forum Community Newsletter Twitter Facebook Archives Podcasts Humor Comics Planets About Us Spore (PC) Developer: Maxis Developer: Maxis Developer: Maxis Publisher: Electronic Arts Publisher: Electronic Arts Genre: Simulation Release Date: September 7, 2008 (US) Release Date: September 5, 2008 (UK) Release Date: September 4, 2008 (AU) E10+ for Everyone 10+: Animated Blood, Comic Mischief, Fantasy Violence PEGI: RP OFLC: PG Spore (PC) View All 16 Videos View All 208 Screens Developer: Maxis Developer: Maxis Developer: Maxis Publisher: Electronic Arts Publisher: Electronic Arts Genre: Simulation Release Date: September 7, 2008 (US) Release Date: September 5, 2008 (UK) Release Date: September 4, 2008 (AU) E10+ for Everyone 10+: Animated Blood, Comic Mischief, Fantasy Violence PEGI: RP OFLC: PG Game Overview | Review | Articles | Screenshots | Videos | Cheats | Walkthrough Articles Will Wright: Game Design and Extraterrestrials By Dave 'Fargo' Kosak | Apr 5, 2006 Wright's 2006 Game Design Keynote Speech talked about the research process behind games like Spore. The San Jose Civic Auditorium, in the heart of Silicon Valley, was jam-packed. People had lined up around the block to hear Will Wright speak. They certainly all weren't game designers -- the truth is, Wright is simply an entertaining (if not a particularly focused) speaker. Plus, he's got a career that makes people want to hear him out: he's an original thinker and wildly inventive, yet at the same time he's brought in the big bucks for giant companies like EA. The Sims has been the best-selling franchise in PC history, with no sign of slowing down. In an industry where innovation and profit often seem at odds, Wright is the happy exception. All of this doesn't mean he's comfortable talking to a packed auditorium about game design. He starts off by joking about how he never gets to give speeches about his other passions (he's an avid fan of the Soviet-era space program, for example). Then he announces that he's going to work his passion for astrobiology into his speech on game design, flipping back and forth between topics at will. Wright's 2006 Game Developers Conference Keynote was one part game design, one part cosmos. Wright's speeches are always a trick to write about (as you can see from this 2003 PlanetFargo column). He bounces between topics like a conversational air-hockey table. He'll quickly summarize very complicated, thought-provoking subjects and then move on to something equally complicated without pausing for a breath. It's an exhilarating roller-coaster ride from one nerdy topic to the next, and somehow Wright carries a whole auditorium with him. Below is our best attempt to break it all down. Research: Where All Games Begin Ultimately Wright decided to talk about research, the first step in creating a game. Talks at GDC, he reasoned, always focus on production or programming or art or marketing. But before any of that comes research, and it hardly ever gets talked about. Wright is a voracious reader. For him, research means delving into books (hundreds of them), talking to other people, and surfing the web. Each leads right to another -- a conversation with someone might lead to a new pile of books to read, which might suggest some more people to talk to, and so on. Wright is obsessive with his research. "Learn to develop your inner Otaku!" he told the audience. Next: Page 2 >> Page: 1 2 3 4 Facebook MIX Reddit Tumblr Email AddThis Latest Articles Goodbye, And Thank You From The GameSpy Team (Feb 21, 2013) How Aliens: Colonial Marines Seriously Screws Up Alien Lore (Feb 20, 2013) Sim Speak: Space Combat Goes Hardcore (Feb 19, 2013) Port Authority: Crysis 3 (Feb 19, 2013) Free Agent: Smite (Feb 16, 2013) :: More Articles... Follow GameSpy on Twitter Get the Latest in Gaming News Around the Network Spore at IGN Spore Cheats at IGN Spore Guide at IGN Spore at GameSpy Spore at GameStats Spore at Space Oddity's Spore BlogSpore at Spores Illustrated IGN AskMen GameSpy 1Up GameStats GIGA.DE UGO IPL Copyright 1996-2013, IGN Entertainment, Inc. An IGN Entertainment Games site About Us Advertise Contact Us Press Careers RSS Feeds Support Privacy Policy User Agreement AdChoices