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Creature comforts: Morgantown native Gingold played key role in development of ?Spore'(The Dominion Post in Morgantown (WV) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sep. 21--INFO ON "SPORE": spore.com INFO ON CHAIM GINGOLD: slackworks.com/~cog/ FOR A REVIEW of "Spore," see the Sept. 28 edition of Gaming Life. AFTER MORE THAN four years of working on "Spore," seeing its release has been "surreal" for former Morgantown resident Chaim Gingold. "Last night, I went to an improv show with some friends," he said, the day of the game's release. After the show they saw a "cool ad" on the side of a bus. "I said wait, that's for 'Spore,' " he said. "When you live with something for four years, it's weird to see it out in the real world." Before its release, "Spore" had already been named one of the top games of this year by several critics. The game, created by "Sim City" creator Will Wright, is akin to an ode to evolution. Players can create unique creatures from single-celled organisms to highly evolved space travelers, over the course of fivesub games: cell, creature, tribe, civilization and space. The Internetbased game allows you to create with other player-created worlds. Gingold is a son of Morgantown residents, Monique Gingold, who is a pediatric neurologist and Harry Gingold, a WVU math professor. His brother Yotam, 26, is finishing his Ph.D. in computer science/computer graphics at NYU, while his sister Naomi, 24, is freelancing in journalism and is fluent in Japanese. Gingold, who was a game designer on the project, worked primarily on the "Creature Creator," and all of the other editors in the game said progress was made early on the creator, allowing publisher EA to release it early. "Creator" was released in June, before the release of "Spore" earlier this month. "With 'Sims II,' they also did something similar. It's marketing, it makes people pay attention," the Berkeley, Calif., resident said. "Creator's" release also allowed players a taste of what was to come. "By releasing it early, we allowed the players to create content, so when they got the game they could jump online right away and already have content," Gingold said. The Morgantown High School graduate was always interested in technology but didn't find his calling as a game developer until he worked on his master's degree at Georgia Tech. Gingold decided to apply for an internship at EA, in the hopes of working with Wright. "I wanted to work with Will Wright. I knew about him for some time. I read about him," he said. "It wasn't necessarily something I would have gone into without working with him." During the summer of 2002, Gingold said he made "toys," little prototypes and games for Wright. Monique said after his internship, Gingold was offered a job. "He first finished his master's at Georgia Tech, at Will Wright's recommendation, in spite of EA asking him to start work right away," she said. About a year after his internship, Gingold was hired to work full-time on "Spore." "One of the reasons Will hired me was become he knew I was good at producing small prototypes quickly," he said. Gingold said his proficiency came out of competing in events while he was a WVU student and from creating programs at Georgia Tech. WVU also gave him a better understanding of how games work. Gingold said during his undergraduate studies he was able to take classes outside of his major, computer science. He minored in English. "I have a broader understanding of the world," he said. "I see how different aspects of the game make the interaction with the human player more enjoyable." Nowadays, the gaming industry is composed of more than just programmers. Artists, designers, musicians also play a role in a game's development. Gingold enjoyed interacting with the people in various disciplines. Monique said Gingold's creative side also helps him. "Chaim was always artistic from a very, very young age," she said. "His artistic talent combined with his creative writing skills and computer ability have given him the edge in the field. "He always carried around a notebook in which he would draw things that interested him as well as jot down ideas," Monique said. "I have a closet full of these notebooks and they are still being created." Morgantown had a lot of influence on Gingold. He recalled how he frequently played video games at the mall and how his father brought home a Sun Computer system for Gingold and his siblings to assemble. He said that while he played a lot of games in his youth, he doesn't play them as much now. His mother remembers that Gingold was "obsessed with computer games" for a while and that he hung out at WVU while his father worked. "Chaim and his brother would hang out at the math department in the computer lab. His father would often leave them there while he was in his office," Monique said. "They sat in on advanced computer classes. Later, I met a CS professor who recounted seeing two red' headed little boys paying rapt attention to his class on CS while college students daydreamed." Gingold's interest in "Spore" began five years ago, while attending a game developing conference. Wright gave a presentation on his plans for the game, some of which are based off the real-life research of the SETI Institute, an organization dedicated to the deep scientific understanding of life in all its forms on Earth and to exploration of the cosmos for evidence of life, especially intelligent life. "I thought about what a crazy idea it was, no one had ever tried to do it before," he said. "I really became inspired." A year or two later, the public got its first taste of "Spore." "People were blown away, we realized that this was something huge." While Gingold never doubted the game's future success there were times during its development where they wondered if the game would get made. "We had to wait for technology to catch up with us," he said. "We would push the limits on our computers. We had to make stuff that didn't push the system too hard, so it would be easy to play." While Gingold is no longer involved in "Spore," he does believe there will be more of the game in the future. "It was a big investment of money and time," he said. "I think the introduction of the game on the DS and Wii, is a strong indication of where the game will go." After finishing his work on "Spore," Gingold said he took a long vacation and is now working on some projects, as well as doing some consulting work. He also gives talks at industry-related conferences about some of the aspects he dealt with during "Spore's" development. "One of my main talks is on prototyping -- how to use small programs to solve big problems," he said. "Right now my main talks are on design -- how to make tools to let people be creative. What makes people feel creative and what it takes to make a creator for people." Monique said her son has had many job offers as a game developer and as an instructor. "But, he is now focusing on developing his own game," she said. "Chaim has made quite a name for himself in the academic computer gaming community. Needless to say, I am extremely proud of him." Gingold just hopes people enjoy "Spore." "I hope people have a good time playing it," he said. "I want them to have as much fun as we had making it." NICOLE BOWMAN is a copy editor for The Dominion Post. E-mail: nbowman@dominion post.com. GET MORE video game reviews and news in The Dominion Post on Mondays. To see more of The Dominion Post or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dominionpost.com/. 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