Wired has a great article discussing the new Creature Creator tool for the game Spore. The Creature Creator has been a smash hit, with half a million creatures being designed by customers in the first couple days. It is a long awaited game with blockbuster potential, but it is significant for two other reasons:
1. It “De-skills” 3D CAD - This tool allows you to create your own 3D creature that can be used in the game. The focus of the article is the ease with which you can design your character and how quickly and enjoyably you can create a little mutant lizard creature. The author calls this process “De-skilling”. At Replicator we don’t think of it as reducing the skill of our customers, but rather letting them focus on using the skill that matters, their design taste, while automating the design detailing and manufacturing. Our goal is to make our customers feel like composers without first having to master an instrument.
2. It Bridges The Virtual and Real World - The most interesting articles about Spore have been the ones that hint at bringing the virtual world into the real world. Based on reliable accounts, once you have designed your character you will have the option to have a 3D “printout” of it produced, in the same way Figure Prints allows you to have your World of WarCraft character “printed”. Will Wright suggested that you could design a creature and have it printed on a custom trading card. Soon we could see user generated Pokemon-esqe games.
The technology is ready. All that is needed is a way to humanize/productize it.
