Will Wright showed off his new game today at the GDC, called "Spore."

I was one of the lucky few in attendance who got the world's first semi-public view of the game, and it stunned everybody.

It's in essence an evolution simulator which starts asa meager 2D game, but eventually spawns into a mix of Civ, Populus, Sim City, and Black and White.

It plays like stages, where for about three minutes you try to survive and propagate, starting with eating simple cellular life forms. With each stage ending, you get to an editor where you modify your creature with some evolving feature, such as a defensive horn or faster fins. Take this basic concept, and then imagine the stages progressing something like this:

Amoeba-Stronger Amoeba.....Sea Creature, Land Creature, Sentinent Beings, Social Structure...City-management, Offensive/Defensive gameplay (think an RTS,) Planet Exploration, Inter-stellar Travel, Inter-star Travel, and eventually, you get a view of an entire galaxy, complete with their own unique solar systems and alien life.

Along with all the amazing scale, all the content is either randomly generated or user-created, and you will be able to have content from all over the world, since the game apparently will connect to a central server and have content sent to you.

It's now the talk of the show, and people are incredibly excited for the prospect. It is the first example of emergent gameplay I've ever seen.

People, be ready for a pardigm-shift in game design. Will Wright and Maxis have outdone themselves and created something so revolutionary that I can guarantee it will change the way everyone thinks of open-ended gameplay forever.

I cannot wait for you guys to see it. :D

-Falkon @ GDC, out