As the September 7th release date for EA’s heavily anticipated game “Spore” gets closer, the creators of the game Maxis have been offering playable demos so players can get their hands on the various parts of the game. The first was the “Spore Creature Creator” which has been downloaded thousands of times, and now comes BIOME.

BIOME, which can be downloaded here, is a programmable cellular automata simulator that allows players to develop simple “SIMCITY-like” grid simulations. Inspired by John Conway’s GAME OF LIFE program, BIOME uses a language based on chemical stoichiometry and simulates how cells change their state the same way that chemicals change when exposed to other chemicals. BIOME supports both rectangular and spiral cellular automata configurations.

Like most of their games, Maxis begins by creating a series of playable prototypes in order to figure out how the game will play. Generally these are only played by internal staff but this time they have been made available to the public.

The full version of Spore will offer a universe in the box, allowing players to evolve and control a creature as it grows from single cell organisms through to civilizations and eventually to the stars, all the while being able to customize every aspect of the game from creatures to UFO’s. Story from: AWN