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===='''Background'''====

In 2000, I was working at Maxis Studios when [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Wright Will Wright] asked me to begin developing a series of prototypes for a new game idea he had about evolution and the spread of life throughout the galaxy.  I had spent the previous couple of years developing climate models for terraforming Mars and much of that work would end up being applied to Spore.

Many years later, after the release of Spore, Electronic Arts made some of these prototypes [http://www.spore.com/comm/prototypes available for download].

The pages below describe each of the prototypes I worked on.

===Gaslight===

[[Spore Prototype Gaslight|Gaslight]] is a stellar evolution system which simulates the process of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSPSF_model stochastic, self-propagating star formation.]

===Particle Man===

[[Spore Prototype Particle Man|Particle Man]] is a multi-body gravity simulation.

===Water Boy===

[[Spore Prototype Water Boy|Water Boy]] is heightfield-based large-body water simulation.

===BIOME===

[[Spore Prototype BIOME|BIOME]] is a programmable system for creating non-directional cellular automata.  The BIOME language is based on chemical stoichiometry.

===Crowd===

[[Spore Prototype Crowd|Crowd]] is a traffic and flocking crowd simulation originally developed for SimCity and later applied to the city management portion of Spore.

===Tidepool===

[[Spore Prototype Tidepool|Tide Pool]] is an early gameplay prototype which combines BIOME-based cellular automata, Water Boy-based fluid simulation and Crowd-based flocking with a simple flight model.

[[Spore Prototype SPUG|SPUG]] is a later stage gameplay prototype where we see the beginnings of the Spore Creature Game beginning to emerge.

[[Spore Prototype Gonzago|Gonzago]] was the last prototype developed for Spore where we see the project take its final shape.