Project Spark Beta
Project Spark arguably had the most powerful and in-depth creation tools of any sandbox game on the market, letting players build large 3D worlds from scratch as well as add AI behavior and create full quests for their characters. Some of the very best Project Spark creations felt like beta versions of The Legend of Zelda or Fable.
Project Spark could also be used to make platformers, racers, real-time strategy games, and even movies. AdvertisementThat’s not necessarily the kiss of death in gaming, of course. The real stab to the heart was the way Project Spark was introduced to the world. Microsoft unveiled Project Spark during its otherwise abysmal E3 2013 presentation.
You might remember that as the conference that almost sank the Xbox One before it was even released.While Project Spark’s powerful creation tools impressed attendees, the internet was too enraged by the requirement that the newly unveiled Xbox One would require a constant internet connection to use and would restrict used game sales for the title to get much attention. Project Spark's bright and family-friendly reveal wasn't enough to put a smile on the faces of the Xbox's most hardcore fans.The timetable for Project Spark's promotion and release definitely wasn't helped by its competitors, such as toys-to-life games Skylanders and Disney Infinity, which launched the August after Project Spark was first unveiled. These kid-friendly titles also featured game creators, and in the case of Disney Infinity, much more popular characters. Microsoft was also the first company to bring the popular sandbox game Minecraftto consoles in 2012 for the Xbox 360. Minecraft was then announced for the Xbox One at the same E3 as Project Spark, which made Microsoft's experiment in world-building seem a bit redundant on the Xbox lineup. From the very beginning, Project Spark seemed destined to be overshadowed. The Spark of Poor Business DecisionsMicrosoft touted the fact that Project Spark allowed of users to create new projects, but it’s hard to believe that many gamers really contributed meaningful levels to Project Spark, due in part to the game's original business model.When Project Spark officially launched in October 2014, the initial download was completely free, but it was also very limited.
You could play through the (mediocre) story mode with one character or play through hybrid creation/mission mode Crossroads (again with only one character), but only some creation tools were available for free.If you wanted access to everything that Project Spark had to offer, you had to plunk down quite a bit of cash. One year after launch, nearly 50 paid DLC packs were available. As this was a more niche title, Project Spark failed to gain the audience willing to pay for the complete suite of creation tools. Imagine if Super Mario Maker cost upwards of $100 for all of its modes and tools.To make matters worse, Project Spark isn't as user-friendly as it might have seemed at first—not if you were interested in complex game design. A lot of player-made Project Spark creations just aren’t great.
There’s no doubt you can do a lot with the tools, but that does take time. Much of Project Spark's library is full of levels that are little more than fairly decent character models with no or little AI programming thrown into barren levels.Many of the better games developed by the community felt like lost gems of the N64 era, and while those games might be fun for a few minutes, they weren’t enough to hold the attention of many gamers for long, or persuade budding designers to put the necessary time into creating some truly great projects. The Twilight of Project SparkThough the end of Project Spark is upon us this week, there’s still fun to be had with it before Friday—if you’ve previously downloaded the game, that is.There are of course the homages to classic series like Mario, Sonic, Pokemon, and Halo, though the playability of these titles varies greatly. One recent top-rated submission even mimics a WWE game, with mixed results.User SpaceCodex has spent the past few weeks posting levels featuring battles based on the recent Captain America: Civil War, X-Men: Apocalypse, and Fantastic Four movies. They’re a little rough around the edges, but the characters and events are still very recognizable.
With the lack of Marvel games in recent years, these levels are not bad substitutes.In some ways Project Spark, which was used to create the video for Linkin Park’s 2014 single “Guilty All the Same,” is a better movie maker than game creation tool. This is perhaps most evident in DANNYBOY3600’s series of four “Horror Movie Ride” games.True to their titles, there’s not much gameplay in these creations. They’re very much just slow, haunted house-style rides through vaguely psychedelic takes on films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Carrie, and House of 1,000 Corpses. With added sound clips from the films, they’re actually quite interesting art projects, even if they’re not all that scary.Searching through Project Spark's library is a bit surreal at this point, like walking through a player-created graveyard of ideas. You can see the title's entire history of successess and many failures just by scrolling through the many levels. It's easy to see where Project Spark's ultimately complex game creator went wrong, why it lost its dedicated fanbase, and why it couldn't quite turn things around.Project Spark may be dead, but there’s always hope that the ideas it popularized could show up in future titles. After all, if Microsoft was willing to use an obscure concept like Kodu Game Lab for Project Spark, there’s no reason why it couldn’t resurrect Project Spark in another form down the line. But let’s just hope that Microsoft learns from its mistakes Project Spark to make a game that will actually keep gamers playingand creating.Chris Freiberg is a freelance contributor.
Here is an exclusive for you, Project Spark for XBox and Windows 8 is about to go Live! We caught Microsoft with its hands in the proverbial cookie jar as the adage goes. Microsoft sneaked this App for Windows 8 into the Store yesterday while everyone was in the Black-Friday mood.As you can see from below screenshot, Microsoft is rolling out Project Spark MX app in the Store, but to prevent everyone from downloading while they are busy, they’ve set the availability to the most remote countries you can think of on planet Earth: KK-KZ.
Which means only people in and can get this app as we speak. Ever heard of Kota Kinabalu? Even according to WikipediaAnyway as you can see below, Description is English, which means you can expect this app to go public anytime.Description:Project Spark is where players create and creators play.The ultimate interactive playground for gamers of all ages, delivered as a free digital download with many options for enhancing your creative experience, it’s a place where you can walk in the world’s collective imagination and start playing. See how a creator did what they did, and when you’re ready, become a creator yourself. Project Spark is a powerful, yet simple way to build and play your own worlds, stories, and games.
Share all of your creations to a dynamic community, and play what the community makes. Project Spark brings creation to life and presents endless opportunities for play.The Project Spark Beta is a preview of the final game, which is scheduled for launch in Spring 2014 on Windows 8.1, Xbox One, and Xbox 360. For a limited time, the door is open for you to make the kinds of games you’ve always dreamed of, play the games created by a global community, and shape the future experience for Project Spark. We want you to identify the limits of what Project Spark Beta is capable of so we can push past them.And here are more screenshots to whet your appetite:Like MS said above, “ Project Spark is where players create and creators play”.
Project Spark Installer
This app is from players to players as they’ve promised. Right now the Infra is being taken care of, and we can expect to stat blowing things up in these virtual worlds, to be created by imaginative players amongst us.Right now, for the rest of us, you can’t see the App in the Store, you can only view it in Web Store at the moment. You can be sure we will bring you the update as soon as the app is generally available.But if you live in these far-out countries, you can go ahead and download the app right now and give us feedback in the comments. If you can’t wait for MS to make this public, you can also go right ahead and set your country from PC Settings app or the Control Panel’s Language Settings to either of those countries. Then you can see and install the app in the Store.UPDATEYou may be able to install the app, but you will not be able to use it till you have the BETA Key to unlock the app. Only those who has joined the BETA program of Project Spark will receive the Beta Keys. So if I were you I’ll register now at while you can.Download via the source link below.Source.
I rarely comment, however I looked through some comments hereProject Spark is now in the Store! McAkins Online.
Windows 8.1
I do have some questions for you if you do not mind.Is it simply me or do a few of these comments come across asif they are written by brain dead people?:-P And, if you are posting on other online sites, I would like to keepup with everything fresh you have to post. Could you makea list of the complete urls of all your socialnetworking sites like your Facebook page, twitter feed,or linkedin profile?Like.