Darkspore

Darkspore
Developer: Maxis Publisher: Electronic Arts Platform: Windows Released in US: April 26, 2011 Released in EU: April 28, 2011 This game has unused graphics. This game has unused text.

This page is loooong... Consider grouping related content into additional subpages to ease readability.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

This game is defunct. Do note the game no longer works at all without modifications. This is most likely due to the game's servers being shut down. As a result, further official developments with the game are unlikely to happen.

To do: Document unused text. Document remaining Spore leftovers. (possibly, since that's almost all the UI graphics in the Spore Creature Creator demo, so...) Document differences between Darkspore 5.3.0.127, 5.3.0.103, 5.3.0.53, 5.3.0.52, 5.3.0.15, 5.2.0.53, and 5.2.0.44 (as well as any other builds which may be recovered, whether in part or in complete form). See if there are any other remnants of the #286FEBE9 editor UI. Document all the other weirdly-modified versions of Spore dialog boxes.

Darkspore, a new breed of Action-RPG! Collect, Customize, Combat! Oh wait, the new breed is already going extinct. In any case, there's plenty of unused content here, from Spore leftovers to...other things.

Unused User Interface Layouts

Scaleform (GFX) Layouts

NOTE: All of these screenshots were taken in-game, by replacing the login screen (rootfolder~!LoginScreen.gfx) with the file in question. As such, user interface content is not populated in most cases, but most elements should be rendered accurately. The black background, however, is not part of the layouts themselves, and is simply what the game renders when there is nothing else to show.

This layout appears to have once been used to inform the player that they can now activate more heroes. Stylistically, it is very similar to the Game Settings box seen in the earlier days of the Darkspore closed beta. In the final game, newly-activateable heroes are mentioned by name in a list, along with other level up-induced events.

An unused layout without a clear purpose.

Another unused layout without a clear purpose.

At first glance, this layout appears to be the stats panel seen in the editor...but the stats panel used in-game is implemented in UTFwin, not Scaleform. Interestingly, the design seen in this layout differs slightly from the in-game version. Firstly, it has various fading animations when hovering over certain elements, which are not present in the UTFwin version. Secondly, the tabs at the top are shaped differently, and are positioned to the left in this layout, but they are rectangular and horizontally centered in the UTFwin version. Finally, there are two RadioButtons to the right of the tabs, which aren't present in the UTFwin version at all.

This layout appears to be an earlier method of setting up squads. Exactly how it would have worked is unclear. The final game uses a 3D environment for managing heroes and squads, rather than a simple menu.

Some kind of rewards screen.

Some kind of message box, which may have offered the user multiple possible responses.

A stylish green box. Its purpose is unclear.

An early inventory menu. Its design is much simpler than the version seen in the final game, and it appears to lack many of the features present in the final version.

A very rudimentary-looking bug reporting button. The filename, "bugbutton.gfx", is apt.

Some kind of arsenal management menu. The final game uses a 3D environment for managing heroes and squads, rather than a simple menu. Its filename "collection.gfx" hints at a possible earlier title for the Arsenal. May be related to the next layout.

A very small user interface element. Initially, its purpose may seem unclear, but its filename "creaturecard.gfx" sheds light on what it may once have been used for. Interestingly, it looks like it would fit in with the previous layout, which may further support this explanation.

An early version of a Hero profile page. It looks eerily reminiscent of the unused Editor UI seen later in this article, under unused UTFwin layouts.

An early matchmaking progress screen. There's a surprising amount of detail here.

An early navigation screen. Its design isn't nearly as intricate as that seen in the final game. The layout contains multiple pages beyond the one seen here, which can be navigated to by clicking around.

Some kind of small player profile. The final game uses a larger, more informative screen-spanning profile window.

A message log of some sort.

This early layout appears to have once been used to navigate between the different rooms on the player's spaceship/hub. It has a number of menus under the buttons at the top.

An earlier version of the combat UI. Its appearance is much simpler than the final version.

Another unused layout without a clear purpose.

An early tooltip layout.

UTFwin (SPUI) Layouts

NOTE: All of these screenshots were taken in SporeModder's SPUI editor, a user Interface editor for Spore. While it is an impressive and very useful piece of software, is not perfect. As such, certain things don't display quite as they would in-game. The most obvious example of this is long strings of text, which wrap in-game, but instead overflow in the SPUI editor. Another example is missing text, which appears as "***" in-game, but in the editor, is replaced with the locale file and instanceid which the string is intended to be located at.

An unused editor UI, which bears some visual resemblance to the editor UI used during the earlier part of the game's development. (Note that other parts of the editor, such as the parts palette and categories, are separate files. See below.)

A palette category UI which fits in perfectly with the editor UI above, and they were most likely intended to be used together. Oddly, while both Spore and every other known iteration of Darkspore's editor UI have the palette on the left and the stats on the right, this iteration of the editor UI appears to have horizontally inverted these two elements, instead having the stats on the left and the palette on the right.

A dialog box copied over from Spore, talking about...Offline mode. How sad.

This is where things get weird - there's another Offline mode-related dialog box present in the files, this one corresponding to Spore's warnings regarding the lack of online features in offline mode, but unlike the one above, this version has been modified quite a bit from its Spore counterpart, and looks...rather odd, to say the least. The potential implications of this SPUI's existence are...unfortunate, at best.

An early version of the campaign squad selection UI. In addition to looking very different from the final version, this version also features a "swap squad" button, rather than the rolling arrow selectors in the final game.

An editor frame UI found in Darkspore's files, in the same location as the one used in Spore.

A palette bar UI found in Darkspore's files, in the same location as the one used in Spore's build mode. Partially matches the editor frame listed immediately above. The active category indicator appears badly distorted in this image, but this is actually due to an editor viewer flaw - in-game in both Spore and Darkspore, it displays correctly, showing only one frame of its animation at a time, just as one would expect.

A paint styles category UI found in Darkspore's files, in the same location as the one used in Spore's "Complete Styles" categories. A large portion of its background texture is missing, resulting in it appearing predominantly white.

A paint styles category UI found in Darkspore's files, in the same location as the one used in Spore's "Partial Styles" categories. Like the one listed above, a large portion of its background texture is missing, resulting in it appearing predominantly white.

Spore Leftovers

To do: Add the Core Spore parts.

All of the Grox (Grob) parts exist in Darkspore's files even though you can't use them in it, nor in Spore itself. This includes the models, textures, PROP files, and interestingly, brand-new icons! (note that the parts didn't have icons at all in Spore)

The lava background from the Spore creature Test Mode. Strangely, the other backgrounds aren't in the files...

Unused Creatures

Unused Variants

Artwork	Description
	The Corrupter's 2nd phase originally had Invasion and Apocalypse variants, which went unused for no obvious reason.
	Blazers also have unused variants for Invasion and Apocalypse.
	Same with Volts.
	...and Cinders.

Misc.

Artwork	Description
	This Creature is unused. It has many similarities to ShadowRaptor101's DOC~Polymorph.
	Unused Bio creature.
	Some Pterodyne entries that were made in a Template Challenge.
	Animus also has some entries from the Template Challenge however there he was called a "Clawed Spectre".
	This creature known as a "Citadel Spectre" was never used. Interestingly however, it only uses Core Spore parts.
	Spoffit goes unused in the game however one of the game's developers used a screenshot showing SRS-42 with a Spoffit pet as an avatar.
	An unused creature of some sort. This one is much simpler than anything used in the final game.

Unused Parts

To do: Add the other Darkspore Mouths.

Artwork	Description
	While the parts themselves are not technically unused, the helmets that the Crogenitors wear have unused creator icons.
	Same with the Corruptor's mask pipes and chestpiece.
	While the Ethereal Death Eye is used in the game, its horizontal-pupilled counterpart is not. This part is identical aside from the horizontal pupil, and apparently lacking a model for when on the centerline of the creature, or its other side.
	A set of unused mouths with no obvious purpose.