Oh DUDE

[Zazazu]

How do we know that the limit is at least 2,000 stars? The number of stars in the galaxy is not necessarily equal to the number of potential saved games.

No, I couldn't see the limit of saved games being over 50. At 26 (20 saved and 6 open) I'm having major issues on some of my more populated arms with clicking on the right planet.

[J. M. Pescado]

Judging by my explorations with just two space-faring species, I'd be surprised if there's less than 2,000 stars in each ARM of the galaxy, let alone the whole galaxy.  As has been said many times here, Spore really does capture how big space really is.

Space in Splotch is REALLY FUCKING HUGE. I mrean, REALLY, REALLY HUGE. You know those two races you thought were really close to each other when you positioned them in the galactic map when choosing their home planets? They ain't THAT close together: The space between them would encompass an entire game's space in any other strategy game. Yes, that's right: The space seperating two NEARBY races you placed on the galactic map has enough planets in it to play an entire round or two of Master of Orion in.

[EsotericPolarBear]

Judging by my explorations with just two space-faring species, I'd be surprised if there's less than 2,000 stars in each ARM of the galaxy, let alone the whole galaxy.  As has been said many times here, Spore really does capture how big space really is.

And how little there is to do in it...

[J. M. Pescado]

That is one of the weaknesses, yes. Once you've seen one planet, you've seen 'em all. The aliens themselves are so interchangeable that if you delete a race already in the game, it is replaced by one that looks totally different, yet is exactly the same.

[EsotericPolarBear]

That is one of the weaknesses, yes. Once you've seen one planet, you've seen 'em all. The aliens themselves are so interchangeable that if you delete a race already in the game, it is replaced by one that looks totally different, yet is exactly the same.

I was going to focus my efforts on collecting cool creatures and making designer planets, but then I realized there's no profit in it, so I went back to Sims and Soulcalibur and await new shinies for Splotch.

Although with some of the mods that have been released, it might be tinker-worthy now.

[jsalemi]

Well, rumor has it that the first L&P Splotch SP is coming (someone found a link to it on Amazon), that's supposed to add body parts for the creatures.  If true, it looks like EAxis is going to go the Sims route with Splotch.  What a surprise...

[J. M. Pescado]

Well, unless they're going to make it so we can make BETTER creatures, more parts will change little, especially if they lack functional value.

[EsotericPolarBear]

I can't wait for the Splotch EP that gives us magic that lets us do things we can already do.

[Gus Smedstad]

That's what the Stuff packages for The Sims 2 do.  They're purely decorative crap.

I'm feeling pretty much done with Splotch right now, I'm currently playing Colonization.  But when I was trying to re-create specific vehicles and creatures, I definitely noticed some limitations.

The most obvious one is asymmetry.  Since there's a mod out that does that, and people use glitches in the editor right now to get around it, I fully expect that they'll add that.

The game badly, badly needs better textures for spaceships.  There are some fairly good techy looking textures for buildings that they don't give you for spaceships, where they're really needed.  Instead we get crappy organic and rivet textures.

There are some basic shapes missing from the vehicle editor, like hemispheres and pyramids.  I'd be much happier if they'd give us a trapezoid with the width controls of the cylinder, so the top face can be smaller than the bottom face.  No arbitrary constraints on part size would be nice too - there are a bunch of interesting items in the building "details" section that can't be made large.

It's difficult to give creatures heads that aren't blobby, and insectile creatures in general.  I found it quite difficult to do a Preying Mantis or an Ur-quan.  Both have very triangular heads.

 - Gus

[Marvin Kosh]

The way textures are painted on in the vehicle editor is also not always right.  It can create swirlyness on the ends of whatever shape you're adding.

[J. M. Pescado]

NO SHILLING. And Pirate Cat won't pay for his downloads.