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[GreatWyrmGold]

Two suggestions for a Spore mod:

1.) Creatures
There are millions of creatures in spore. Trying to add all of them into the raws will cause a lot of time wasted and for your forts to routinely lose hunters and fishers to be killed by flying poison-spitting antlered beasts. Instead, create a kind of chart that tells people what tokens to put into the raws for varying levels of skill and evolution, and into the entity files for varying levels of advancement and colors of cards. (It makes sense if you've played Spore. Trust me.)

2.) Spice
This might be a little harder. In Spore, spice geysers are common. Most worlds (including most homeworlds) have red spice, so that's enough; the others only practically differ in color and value so if you add red it's easy to add other colors. The trick with spice is that it should come bursting out of the ground sustainably and hard enough to lift creatures into the air (like in Creature stage).

If these are possible, I'd like a skilled modder to do it somehow.
BTW, there is a Spore wiki that modders may find useful.

[Zaerosz]

fffffffffstop stealing my brainwords dammit.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Alright...I really don't have any experience in modding creatures from scratch, so I can't help there, except to say that the jump skill is probably unlikely to work, the glide skill is the [FLIER] token, and that I don't have a clue what Sing, Dance, Charm, or Pose would do unless a ration of social to combat determined if it should be in good/evil/neutral biomes.

Spice though, I can try to help. It boils out of the ground in geysers that never pause or cease. In Creature, Tribal, and presumably other stages that you don't see normal creatures in, spice geysers propel creatures that walk onto them high into the air. In Civilization and Space stages, it is possible to gather and sell spice; in fact, it is Spore's main commodity. Not sure how to do this in DF.

[Zaerosz]

Minor necrobump. I think this may have been a bit of a dud.

[Salabasama]

I'm not sure how much of a good idea it is.  Interaction with animals isn't the same in DF, but honestly I still prefer it to Spore's.  I felt pretty silly charming every random beast in the landscape.  It was like "Hey animal, I wanna be friends, so instead of sharing food or something like that that animals like, I'm gonna dance!"  Spice geysers aren't doooooable right now, though, as that requires creation of a new landform, and that would require some highly fancy editing.  As far as I understand, land features in DF are stored in some kind of magical way that is highly hardcoded.

[dennislp3]

charming? I killed em all!

[GreatWyrmGold]

I'm not sure how much of a good idea it is.  Interaction with animals isn't the same in DF, but honestly I still prefer it to Spore's.  I felt pretty silly charming every random beast in the landscape.  It was like "Hey animal, I wanna be friends, so instead of sharing food or something like that that animals like, I'm gonna dance!"

And if you figure out a way to convert them to DF creatures, you can interact with them in a more realistic way! So what's the problem? It just takes a skilled modder who knows a bit about Spore and cares enough.

Spice geysers aren't doable right now, though, as that requires creation of a new landform, and that would require some highly fancy editing.  As far as I understand, land features in DF are stored in some kind of magical way that is highly hardcoded.

Aw, man...I thought that would be the awesome part!

[Salabasama]

[author = GreatWyrmGod]Instead, create a kind of chart that tells people what tokens to put into the raws for varying levels of skill and evolution, and into the entity files for varying levels of advancement and colors of cards. (It makes sense if you've played Spore. Trust me.)

It doesn't really work like that, also.  See, if you used that strategy then most of the creatures from Spore would be nearly the same, as they didn't tend to vary all that much beyond their appearance.  Most of the detail needed for a spore creature inserted into DF would be in body shapes and the visual description.

So what's the problem? It just takes a skilled modder who knows a bit about Spore and cares enough.

Have you modded much?  We can do a good bit, but without an external addition to the game like Runesense it's fairly non-possible to add gameplay elements like that.

I always feel sort of embarassed when I read a post that has "It wouldn't be that hard to code" or something like that in it.

[GreatWyrmGold]

[author = GreatWyrmGod]Instead, create a kind of chart that tells people what tokens to put into the raws for varying levels of skill and evolution, and into the entity files for varying levels of advancement and colors of cards. (It makes sense if you've played Spore. Trust me.)

It doesn't really work like that, also.  See, if you used that strategy then most of the creatures from Spore would be nearly the same, as they didn't tend to vary all that much beyond their appearance.  Most of the detail needed for a spore creature inserted into DF would be in body shapes and the visual description.

Hmm, I hadn't thought of the body plans...But most critters I've played or made have been tetrapods with only one or two heads, so maybe not that many. Still...
(Oh, and yes; a larger-than-should-be-expected number of Spore creatures have antlers due to their being the only part with Charge 5, or feathered wings for their Glide 5, or the Porqupain part for its Spit 5, or the Spurprise! for its Strike 5...)

So what's the problem? It just takes a skilled modder who knows a bit about Spore and cares enough.

Have you modded much?  We can do a good bit, but without an external addition to the game like Runesense it's fairly non-possible to add gameplay elements like that.

I always feel sort of embarassed when I read a post that has "It wouldn't be that hard to code" or something like that in it.

A.) I've modded a little, but not much.
B.) Are you sure you know what I'm saying? I'm saying that one could say something like "Add this/these tag(s) for this skill at this level," but in a chart. There would be a chart of the five levels of bite, charge, strike, and spit, and a chart telling you what [SPEED] a given creature should probably have for a given level, add this token if it's got the carnivore card and this one if it has the omnivore card, etc; add these tokens for this many cards of these colors; etc. One part probably wouldn't be that hard.

[Salabasama]

[author = GreatWyrmGod]Instead, create a kind of chart that tells people what tokens to put into the raws for varying levels of skill and evolution, and into the entity files for varying levels of advancement and colors of cards. (It makes sense if you've played Spore. Trust me.)

It doesn't really work like that, also.  See, if you used that strategy then most of the creatures from Spore would be nearly the same, as they didn't tend to vary all that much beyond their appearance.  Most of the detail needed for a spore creature inserted into DF would be in body shapes and the visual description.

Hmm, I hadn't thought of the body plans...But most critters I've played or made have been tetrapods with only one or two heads, so maybe not that many. Still...
(Oh, and yes; a larger-than-should-be-expected number of Spore creatures have antlers due to their being the only part with Charge 5, or feathered wings for their Glide 5, or the Porqupain part for its Spit 5, or the Spurprise! for its Strike 5...)

So what's the problem? It just takes a skilled modder who knows a bit about Spore and cares enough.

Have you modded much?  We can do a good bit, but without an external addition to the game like Runesense it's fairly non-possible to add gameplay elements like that.

I always feel sort of embarassed when I read a post that has "It wouldn't be that hard to code" or something like that in it.

A.) I've modded a little, but not much.
B.) Are you sure you know what I'm saying? I'm saying that one could say something like "Add this/these tag(s) for this skill at this level," but in a chart. There would be a chart of the five levels of bite, charge, strike, and spit, and a chart telling you what [SPEED] a given creature should probably have for a given level, add this token if it's got the carnivore card and this one if it has the omnivore card, etc; add these tokens for this many cards of these colors; etc. One part probably wouldn't be that hard.

Even if that were to be done, I'm not sure it would be too apparent at all to a player how any of these animals behaved any differently from the others, besides some don't bite and others can't fly.  Yes, I am suggesting that some creatures should have no bite.  I made a good number of mouthless creatures with hacks.  Fixed the goofy head animations, made them quiet, and made civilized beings stop biting in adventures.  And also, yes, I would suggest that degrees of glide be omitted all together and all those creatures just gain the ability to fly like they were supposed to have, and also since there is no gliding in DF.

[Deon]

Flying creatures is a BAD idea in DF.

[NobodyPro]

*smashes own face on the desk*
Modding... doesn't... work... this... way...

I know because I used to think it did.
Play around with a couple of personal minimods and take a look at what others have made. This will give you a solid idea of what is and isn't possible, Step 1 in the road to becoming like Deon (out of around 50).

[3]

Modding... doesn't... work... this... way...

Except that it does, apart from the bit about spice.

[Deon]

Sorry if I was not clear, I meant that you should limit the amount of flying creatures. They pathfind better now, but still it reduces FPS and if you have too many, it may make the game less enjoyable.

[NobodyPro]

I meant adding tokens to the raws to sim. evolution. Not sure what you meant anyway. Sounds like a cross between a simplified modding utility and the creature tokens list.