Project Spark
| Project Spark | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) |
Team Dakota SkyBox Labs |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft Studios |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows 8.1, 10, Xbox One |
| Release date(s) |
Microsoft Windows & Xbox One |
| Genre(s) | Sandbox, action-adventure |
| Mode(s) |
Single-player Multiplayer (only on Xbox One) |
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 74.15% |
| Metacritic | 73/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| Game Informer | 7.5/10 |
| IGN | 8/10 |
| Hardcore Gamer | 4/5 |
Project Spark was a game creation video game for Microsoft Windows 8.1, 10 and Xbox One. The game was announced during Microsoft's E3 2013 press event, and was launched as a Windows open beta in December 2013, and an Xbox One beta in March 2014. On May 13, 2016 Microsoft announced that Project Spark would no longer be available for purchase and that online services would no longer be available as of August 12, 2016. Although no longer available for sale, players can continue to play offline so long as they downloaded local copies of their, or other player made creations.
Project Spark is a digital canvas which can be used to make games, movies and other experiences. A player can download other user-generated content, remix that content or create content of their own. A player can use the Xbox controller, keyboard and mouse, touch devices and Kinect to build experiences. Kinect can be used to animate models and record audio. The created environments can contain mountains, rivers, and towns. The player can also create events, like inter-character battles. Created items and objects are able to be shared with other players.
Players choose whether to start from a blank map or a pre-designed level, but always have the tools to customize the topography, add plant and animal life, and program behaviors for specific objects, such as a rock that bounces when a player is nearby. The topography is modified by pushing and pulling the earth, digging through surfaces after changing the view to adjust a wall or create holes in it. Anything added to the terrain reacts to the circumstance, such as grass covering the floor and the vertical surfaces becoming rocks.
Game designer Claude Jerome has said that "the game is all about giving players options", like the ability to add a single flower versus a field of flowers just by resizing the flower paintbrush's size. He added that the game is also about "sharing and playing with the community", and that the difference between Project Spark and LittleBigPlanet or Minecraft is the core ability to customize the game down to the minutiae of the in-game object actions, which lets the players tell more individual stories. Players can control the game with the Xbox controller, touch controls or a keyboard/mouse combination.
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