Spore (2008 Video Game) - Gameplay - Stages - Tribal Stage

Tribal Stage

After the brain of the player's species evolves sufficiently, the species may enter the tribal stage. Physical development ceases, as does the player's exclusive control over an individual creature, as the game focuses on the birth of division of labor for the species. The player is given a hut, a group of fully evolved creatures, as well as two of six possible Consequence Abilities, unlocked depending on the species' behavior in the previous phases. This is only possible if the player played the previous stages; if the player started directly from the Galaxy Screen, they are locked.

This stage begins with a humorous cutscene parodying 2001: A Space Odyssey, depicting the player's creature attempting to make fire using a stick tool, throwing it into the air, swaying as the stick comes down on its head, and finally succeeding. The game during this stage is similar to an RTS. Rather than controlling one creature, the player now controls an entire tribe and can give them commands, such as gathering food, attacking other tribes or simply moving to a certain location. The player may give the tribe tools such as weapons, musical instruments, and healing or food-gathering implements. Food now replaces "DNA points" as the player's currency, and can be spent on structures and additional tribe members, or used to appease other tribes. Creatures also gain the option to wear clothes, the editing of which replaces the Creature Editor in the 'Tribal Editor'. If creatures of a different species were added to the player's pack in the Creature phase, they are now used as pets. Additional creatures may be domesticated in the Tribal phase, which provide eggs for food. Contact with other tribes of the same species, or even different species, can take place in this stage. Creatures also "speak", most noticeably in a cutscene where the player advances to the civilization stage, with icons embedded in word balloons.

Tribe members are created by giving birth to babies (which costs ten food) and waiting for them to grow up, although the tribe can only support a certain number of members. After reaching maturity, they can do jobs like gather food, hunt animals, attack opposing tribes, and befriend other tribes. Combat can be made more effective with weapons like stone axes or throwing spears (for attacking units) and flaming torches (for destroying buildings). For socializing, a player can obtain musical instruments: wooden horns, maracas and didgeridoos for the tribe. Those are more essential than weapons, for other tribes will get annoyed if the creatures don't play music correctly (or at all). Also, miscellaneous tools can be used for fishing and gathering food, and for healing tribe members. All tools, however, require a specialized tool shack, which costs food to build. Tribe members can also gather food, an essential concept.

Creature stage mouths affect what kind of food they can gather and eat. For instance, herbivores cannot eat meat or fish (although they will fish for seaweed), and carnivores can't eat fruit. Obviously, omnivores have a slight advantage because they can eat anything, although they have to eat more food in order to be full. Animals can be hunted for meat, and fish can be speared for food. Fruit is gathered from trees and bushes, and players can also domesticate animals for eggs. Eggs can be eaten by carnivores, herbivores and omnivores, and can be taken from non-domesticated animals, but this angers them and causes them to instantly turn hostile. Herbivores can use fishing hotspots, but will get seaweed instead of fish. Any foreign animals belonging to the player's pack in creature stage are automatically added to the tribe as farm animals, but non-domesticated ones will sometimes sneak up and attempt to eat some of the player's food. Other tribes also can provide food for the player. An allied tribe will occasionally bring the player a gift (a basket of food tied with a large purple bow) to show their gratitude. Also, players can steal food from other tribes (though it angers them), and dead tribes may be pillaged for their food, if they had any.

The creatures' behaviors are affected by the way the player utilizes them. If a player uses them aggressively, their autonomic behavior will reflect that; conversely, if the player uses them peacefully, allying other tribes, their behavior will be more kind. Even their idle behavior will reflect this; warlike tribal members will practice combat while docile members will practice playing musical instruments and throw parties.

There are five other tribes that appear along with the player's tribe. 3 are aggressive, 2 are passive, and all 5 can either be destroyed or befriended. For every tribe befriended or destroyed, a piece of a totem pole is built, which may increase the population limit of the player's tribe or grant access to new tools and clothes. Depending on the means the tribe used to overtake the neighboring tribe—by forming an alliance or annihilating the tribe—the totem piece will either be a music-playing figure or an angry, axe-wielding figure. When the totem pole has five pieces, symbolizing the five foreign tribes, the player may move forward to the Civilization stage.