What appeared initially to be a demo of a new approach to low-effort game design (game assets are created with procedural techniques, or with user-based tool sets, rather than pre-defined) slowly revealed itself over the course of an hour to be one of the most comprehensive games ever attempted. Wright describes it as an homage to his favorite games, from Pac-Man to Populous, from Diablo to Civilization, with a heavy dose of classic sci-fi. However, the overall experience is ultimately defined by the user; user-created civilizations on display included both organic, Roger Dean-like cities and cold steel fortresses that wouldn't have been out of place on the Death Star.

Spore touches upon a wide array of gameplay concepts as the action evolves alongside the player's creature. Wright revealed six different themes of gameplay: tidepool, evolution, tribal, city, civilization and invasion. Each of these modes draws upon its influences while remaining stylistically consistent with the rest of the game.

• Tidepool phase: In the game's initial state, the action most resembles a sort of free-form Pac-Man. There's also a strong hint of Super NES classic E.V.O. and quirky GameCube cult favorite Cubivore; fighting and consuming other creatures allows you to adjust the form and abilities of your creature.
• Evolution phase: Once your creature begins to grow and take on a distinct physical form, the game switches to a more Diablo-like feel. With its emphasis on battling other creatures to strengthen yourself while making forays away from your safe haven, this section is very much about growth and development.
• Tribal phase: When your creation has achieved a satisfying level of physical development, you can focus on its mental acuity. At this point, you relinquish control of an individual and instead move to a streamlined RTS interface, caring for an entire tribe of your homebrewed beasties, giving them tools, food and slowly upgrading their state of existence. Think Populous.
• City phase: Here the game becomes more like Wright's own SimCity, with emphasis resting primarily on building up the technology, architecture and infrastructure of your race's dwellings.
• Civ phase: Once your city is established, you can zoom out to the global scale. Here your people begin seeking out other cultures in a Civilization-style experience. Interfacing with the rest of the world can be tackled in many ways, be it militaristically or diplomatically; on foot, in boats or by airship. Ultimately, however, the goal is for your creatures to conquer the planet.
• Invasion phase: Once the world is your oyster, you can move on to other worlds in your solar system to colonize or terraform. And beyond that you'll find other solar systems, scattered throughout a beautifully-rendered galaxy in which planets lurk among dust clouds and black holes spew ejecta. Here you set forth to make contact with other planets.