Cell Stage

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v • d • e

Stages in final game		Cell Stage · Creature Stage · Tribal Stage · Civilization Stage · Space Stage

Stages not in final game		Molecular Stage · Aquatic Stage · City Stage · Terraforming Stage

The first stage in Spore is the Cell Stage, also known as the Tidal Pool Stage.

Anatomy

In this stage, the player guides a cell of his or her new species through a 2.5D primordial ooze consisting of other organisms, plants, bubbles, debris, various food particles, and leftover bits of killed microbes. The player's microbe can eat smaller microbes (if the cell is carnivorous or omnivorous) or leftover bits of food in order to evolve to a being of higher understanding. The player's organism can be attacked and eaten by organisms of larger or similar size (even smaller ones can damage and kill it). The main goal of this stage is to develop a brain and become large and strong enough to move onto land and begin the Creature Stage.

The Cell stage also serves as a sort of tutorial for the later stages, introducing the basic tools of the fixed camera mode where game play mainly consists of eating and evolving by adding parts to the cell. The view becomes largely compressed if the cell does not have any sight. In other words, the outer area of your screen becomes black and fades away as it gets closer to the middle. This also affects you in the creature stage.

Gameplay

The game begins with a cinematic of a comet falling towards a planet, shattering in the atmosphere, and falling into the ocean as fragments. The camera follows one fragment as it falls through the ocean. This fragment shatters and your basic cell swims out.

Before the stage starts, players can decide if their microbe will be carnivorous or herbivorous, although the choice is not permanent. Herbivorous microbes eat little pieces of plankton and then seaweed in later stages. Even carnivorous microbes do not have to kill other microbes to eat; they can eat leftovers from cells killed by other predators. Omnivores can eat both types of food available in the game.

Microbes grow larger by attaining 'levels' of development. There are roughly 10 levels of development, but only five of these are actually denoted (by a vertical divider on the progress bar). These levels do not affect the cell's health, but it does affect how much damage other cells do to you.

As you progress and get both bigger and less transparent (if you have high graphical settings active), even larger creatures from the background will enter the playing field and try to eat you. There is a bar at the bottom of the screen that represents the microbe's development.

Upon filling the progress bar, a cut scene will play detailing the player's avatar developing a small brain-like organ, at this point, the player will be allowed to progress to the next stage, where they would be rewarded will a Trait card for their efforts, this trait card will then determine the species diet for the rest of the game, the player can then progress onto the Early Creature Creator.

The Creature stage then begins with a short cut scene of a flock of your creatures emerging from the sea onto the land and scattering. The player's creature's starting appearance is based on what the player created in the Early Creature Creator, although it may be changed during the Creature Stage.

Levels

Cell stage has 5 levels, each with a half-level at which your cell experiences a growth spurt.

Level 1 begins with your cell swimming out of the comet fragment. Your first objective is to eat 5 meat or plant food particles, depending on whether you started out as a carnivore or an herbivore, respectively. There is also a small herbivorous cell called Minno that can be attacked by carnivores, as well as a carnivorous cell called Goldy that may attempt to attack you. These are cowardly, so they will run once you hurt them. Soon after entering level 1.5, a Pokey cell will be killed by a Chomper, making your first collectible part appear: the Spike. Swim over it to collect it. This does not happen on Hard difficulty though. This also won't happen if you kill the Pokey yourself and collect its spike part.

Level 1/1 Cells: Minno Goldy** Level 1/2 Cells: Minno Goldy Pokey Chomper

Level 2 In this level you encounter large green plants for the first time. Kill a Booster during this level to get the Jet part. At the middle of this level, you can challenge a Squirty for the Poison. A tip is to put a spike right beside your mouth, then when you are facing another carnivore head-on, and are bouncing off each other, swim at an angle at the other cell, so that your spike hits it first. If you did it right, you will damage the other cell. You can even kill the huge cells like Snorf. This tactic will not work against a proboscis, another spike, or if you are chasing a cell with poison.

Level 2/1 Cells: Goldy Pokey* Chomper Shyster Spiked Shyster: Booster Level 2/2 Cells Shyster Spiked Shyster* Booster Grubby Squirty Epic Stabber

Level 3 is when the Cilia part becomes available. Kill a Pinky or Punky cell to unlock one. Kill a Nosey for the Proboscis, the omnivore mouth, or Jet (if you don't have it already). If you are missing Jet kill 2 Noseys, the first gives Jet, the second Probiscis. Here you may find the poison meteor.

Level 3/1 Cells: Booster Grubby Squirty Pinky Punky Nosey Stabber Epic Ducky Level 3/2 Cells: Squirty* Pinky Punky Nosey Stabber Stabbella Ducky Epic Jawhead

Level 4 is when the last body part becomes available: the Electric part. Kill a Buzzy cell for it. It is also possible to get it from a Needle Buzzy, but Buzzies are much easier to kill, since they only have one Electric part and the Needle Buzzies have two (three due to symmetry),can shock 2 cells at once, recharge faster than Buzzies, and have a spike in their mouth.

Level 4/1 Cells: Nosey Stabber* Stabbella Ducky Buzzy Jawhead Squiggly Epic Puffish Level 4/2 Cells: Ducky Buzzy Jawhead Squiggly Needle Buzzy Puffish Epic Megamouth

Level 5 brings you close to the beach (a sandy background provides look), where some Maa cells are laying eggs. They're a good food source if you manage to eat them before they hatch. Also, more meteor bits appear than with other levels. In this stage there will no longer be any bigger cells in the background , as you are a massive cell now, though there still are Epic Cells. This level is one of the hardest for herbivore cells. In the first half of the level, Maas can eat plant rings whole and Jetsters can zoom in and eat all the small chunks of plants before you can get to them. In the second half of the level, plants appear occasionally and Maas generally get to them first.

Level 5/1 Cells: Jawhead Squiggly Needle Buzzy* Puffish Junior Jetster Maa Paa Megamouth Epic Snorf Level 5/2 Cells: Puffish* Junior*** Jetster Maa Paa Megamouth Bloato Snorf

* Cell will not spawnin this level ex. If you grow into level 4/1 with a Stabber on screen, it will become prey-sized however no more Stabbers will appear so the prey-sized Stabber will be the last.
** Goldies only appears in level 1/1 on hard.
*** Juniors in level 5/2 come in two sizes. If you were same sized as the bigger, more common size the smaller, rarer size would seem prey-sized to you, but would be peer-sized. The eggs that juniors hatch from also come in two sizes. The smaller size only comes from inside dead Maas, explaining their rarity. In level 5/1, all Juniors are the same size, and dead predator-sized cells do not ever explode.

Reproduction

Reproduction is possible after collecting any cell part. However you may use the backspace shortcut to call a mate earlier than the tutorial tells you (which first happens at around 15 DNA). The player's creature may call for a mate. After a short cutscene upon meeting the mate, the other cell will then lay an egg, whereupon the player is taken to the Cell Editor. This is the most fundamental portion of this stage, which is used to evolve your microbe. In real life aquiring new features (genetic properties, e.g. resistance against anti-biotics and toxins) requires cells or bacteria to conjugate and divide.

Missions

Missions are optional and appear throughout Cell stage. You'll find your instructions in the top-left corner of your screen.

Mission	Objective	Available	Difficulty	Reward
Eat	Eat 5 Pieces of Food	Start	1/5	DNA points
Collect	Unlock Cell Parts	Level 1.5	3/5	Up to 6 Additional Parts

The first mission is simple. Just eat five pieces of food as soon as you exit the meteor. The second mission is a little harder, and will take you a while longer. Collect all of the unlockable parts. Doing this will get you the Completist achievement.

Damage and Health

All cells have 6 Health Points. Various cells inflict different amounts of damage, however. The following charts show the damage that the different cells and parts can do. An Epic Cell is one that is huge and has a secret weakness that you must exploit to beat it. Predator cells are also bigger than you, but don't take up the whole screen by themselves. Peer cells are those that are close to the same size as you, and prey cells are much smaller. These are written on a Carnivorous Cell's Perspective, or bite size.

The 4 different sizes of cells are:

Prey Cells which are much smaller than your cell. They can be eaten in one bite. They generally pose no threat, but ones armed with weapons can sometimes nip you. Sadly, if they are sucked with a proboscis they give you no DNA, however they can still heal you

Peer Cells at about the same size as your cell, which can be attacked for meat. They may pose a slight threat, but you can easily defend your cell against them, so long as you have sufficient defenses.

Predator Cells that are much larger than your cell. They can be killed with spikes, electricity, and occasionally the proboscis, but they can easily kill you if you aren't careful. Most of these seem to drift while other cells accidently swim into their mouths. Squiggly and Maa are the only herbivores ever in this group. The 2 cells with Proboscis and the 2 with poison are in this group for some time. Here's a video of two predator cells, getting taken down.

Spore - killing two predetor cells in Cell Stage

Two large predator cells getting killed by the player.

Epic Cells that are much, much, bigger than your cell. They are nearly impossible to kill. Try to get behind them for easy kills. They can kill you in one hit and so are very dangerous. Weaknesses are attack points that damage the epic cell a lot or affect it in a bad way, one example is Ducky, you can poke them in the eyes with a spike to deal a tiny bit of damage and blinding them making them swim in random directions. You can also see them in the background. They also seem to drift while cells accidentally swim into their mouths. All of the Epic cells, smallest to biggest are: Stabber, Ducky, Jawhead, Puffish, Megamouth and Snorf.

Spore_-_killing_an_epic_cell_in_Cel_Stage — Spore - killing an epic cell in Cel Stage

Here's a video of an epic cell getting killed by the player:

File:Spore - killing an epic cell in Cell Stage

The player killing a Epic cell

Cell Size	Damage Inflicted on Cell
Epic	100% (Instantly Kills the Cell)
Predator	50%
Peer	20%

Your cell inflicts different amounts of damage, which act in proportion to your damage ability and your target's size. Keep in mind that Poison and Electric parts do nothing to other cells with the same part. Epic cells aren't listed because they each have different weaknesses.

Body Part	Damage Inflicted on Predator-Sized Cell	Damage Inflicted on Peer-Sized Cell	Damage Inflicted on Prey-Sized Cell
Spike	8	3	0
Jaw	5	3	6
Poison	0	3	6
Electric	1	3	6
Proboscis	1	3	6

Interactive Objects

Small Green Plant Matter is encountered from level 1 on. The Filter Mouth or Proboscis can eat it to obtain DNA points and restore small amounts of health. Sometimes an epic Megamouth will eat a cell and 4 green plants appear. You can eat them, but the cause is unknown.

Large Green Plant Flakes are first found in level 2.5, and disappear at 4. These plant flakes contain multiple small green plant matter attached to a larger centrepiece, allowing for fast amounts of food. They're ideal feeding areas for cells of all mouth types because packs of herbivores take advantage of it, so carnivores can then ambush their prey. It's a good idea for herbivores and omnivores to stay nearby if they're about to grow in size, since after growth the large green plants are edible as small green plant matter. It's a good source of quick food.

Seaweed is first found in level 4, but shrinks considerably by level 5. They're similar to Plant Flakes, but they have obstacles, so carnivores will have trouble attacking other cells. It's also a great source of food, but they become smaller at level 5. However, they're still ideal for food.

Meat Chunks are only edible with jaws, since the proboscis can't eat dead meat. They can be found from the first level and onwards. When a cell is defeated by your cell or another predator, it explodes into 1 to 4 meat chunks. The size of the meat chunks increases as you increase in level, with most you encounter being small enough to eat. However, sometimes you'll come across meat that's too big and needs to be cut down to size using your spikes or jaws. Meat chunks become progressively less common over the levels. Note: Cells killed by poison, electricity, or the proboscis do not explode instead they skid to a halt and need to be spiked or bitten to make them explode.

Large and Small Eggs are first encountered at level 5 and hatch into "junior" cells. Any mouth part can eat small eggs. Large eggs can't be eaten, but eggshells can be eaten by the proboscis. "Maa" cells leave eggs behind if defeated.

Crystals, Debris, and Shells are unbreakable floating barriers. You can swim around or knock them out of the way. They can also be used to block predators from hurting or eating your cell.

Air Bubbles float around in various sizes and can be popped. Larger bubbles need help from a spike, while larger still bubbles cannot be popped.

Flow Fields are marked by ripples in the water current. They're hard to see and randomly scattered. Going with the flow speeds you up, while going against them slows you down. Mastering them increases your swimming ability by far, and can help in outrunning enemy cells.

Poison Clouds are seen near cells with the Poison part. They will keep making your cell take damage until you steer out the the poisonous water. If you have the part, however, you become immune.

Sparks are seen surrounding cells with the Electric part, shaped as a wide curve. They will daze your cell, which results in you taking damage. Again, you will be immune once you have the part.

Meteor Shards contain Cell Body Parts. You can break them open by swimming over them, which results in claiming the part. It doesn't require any spikes or weapons to do so.

A user's cell comes across a meteor fragment which contains a useful cell part.

The cells in order from smallest to largest are: Minno, Goldy, Pokey, Chomper, Shyster, Spiked Shyster, Booster, Grubby, Squirty, Pinky, Punky, Nosey, Stabber, Stabbella, Ducky,Buzzy,Small Junior,Jawhead, Squiggly, Needle Buzzy, Puffish, Large Junior, Jetster, Maa, Paa, Megamouth, Snorf and Bloato. Your cell gradually increases in size as you progress through Cell Stage.

Parts/Abilities

Microbes sometimes find yellow meteor fragments which contain more microbe parts, and consequently more abilities when you swim over them. These can be added and adjusted in the Cell Editor. Parts cost DNA. Your cell gets about one DNA point for every unit of food it consumes, to a maximum of 65. (In the first level, you get about 1.75 DNA points per food, 1.25 in the second, 1 in the third, .75 in the fourth, etc.) The maximum total DNA points a player can earn, including starting DNA and DNA earned during the stage, is 105 (you start with different amounts depending on what difficulty you chose). The Jaw, Filter Mouth, and Flagella parts are available immediately after you start, and some herbivores have two sets of eyes, making for an extra 5 DNA. Other abilities are unlocked through finding rare meteor shards, or killing enemies with the desired parts (a golden shield appears next to its name if they have a part you don't). The Cell stage is the only stage in which parts are stackable.

Mouths:

Jaw gives the microbe the ability to eat meat. Also does damage when used against living microbes. It can also eat eggs. Costs 15 DNA. Available at the beginning of the game.

Filter Mouth gives the microbe the ability to be herbivorous (eats green plants and eggs). Costs 15 DNA. Available at the beginning of the game.

Proboscis gives the microbe the ability to be omnivorous (eats green plants, eggs and other cells). Can be used to impale enemies and eat them alive, but can't be used to eat meat chunks or dead cells even if you break it with a spike. It will still break into meat chunks, but if you have the Jaw part it can be a useful addition to earn more DNA points. Costs 25 DNA and is first located during the third level. Harvest from Nosey or Bloato.

Sight:

Eyes expand your cell's field of vision. Without eyes, your vision is reduced to a small area around you (which prevents you from noticing predators), so eyes are recommended. Each eye part costs 5 DNA points. Available at the beginning of the game.

The types of eyes are Beady Eye, Stalk Eye and Button Eye

It can be noted that on one starting cell, which has an extra eye, you can keep it from this stage and earn 5 DNA points in the Creature Stage.

Movement:

Flagella Flagella cost 15 DNA points. These are cheap options compared to Jets. Jets are twice as fast as Flagella, but the Flagella part offers smooth movement. Available at the beginning of the game.

Jet Jets cost 25 DNA points. These are twice as fast as Flagella or Cilia. It propels the cell forward in short bursts, as opposed to steady movement. Unlockable at level 2. Harvest from Booster, Nosey, Jetster, Paa, or Snorf.

Cilia Cilia cost 15 DNA points. They move at about the same speed as Flagella, but with these, you can turn quickly. It is recommended that you sell all of the Flagella and replace them with these. Unlocked at level 3. Harvest from Punky, Pinky, Stabbella and Bloato. Cilia also work in short bursts.

Weapons:

Spike gives the microbe the ability to directly attack by ramming. They are also useful for repelling attacks. When opposing spikes collide, neither inflicts damage. When spikes collide with jaws, the spike deals damage, and the jaw deals none. A good idea is to attach 2 in the front for ramming, and others on the sides and rear to prevent attack. Costs 10 DNA and is first located in the middle of level 1. Harvest from Pokey, Spiked Shyster, Stabber, Stabbella, Jawhead, Needle Buzzy, Squiggly, Puffish, and Megamouth.

Poison allows microbes to leave poisonous trails as they move, devastating enemies caught inside it. The more poison sacs you have, the longer the trail becomes. Cells equipped with Poison can't be harmed by other cells also equipped with it. If you spin your cell and you have poison you will make a poison cloud around you. Costs 15 DNA and is first located in the middle of level 2. Harvest from Squirty and Puffish.

Electric periodically electrocutes all nearby enemies. There is a 5-10 second recharge rate, depending on how many Electric parts you have on your cell. Grants immunity to other electrical attacks. Costs 25 DNA and isn't encountered until the fourth level. Harvest from Buzzy or Needle Buzzy. Instead of keeping itself as a weapon, the electric power becomes a charm part in the creature stage

Hidden Parts

Quapodil — Example cell with secret parts

As the cell stage unfolds, players may notice that some creatures have parts that cannot be collected; these are parts that were originally designed to be upgrades to the parts legitimately available, similar to parts in the Creature stage, but were cut from the final product for unknown reasons.

These parts cannot be obtained in game legitimately (without modifying the game through third party software), however, one way to access them out of game is to edit Spore's properties to make it launch an "Advanced Cell Editor" as soon as the game starts. [1]

Consequence Abilities

After completing the cell stage you are awarded one of three sets of consequence abilities for the future stages. Which set you are awarded depends on how you played the stage. The three are herbivore, carnivore, and omnivore.

Behaviour in Cell stage	Creature stage consequence ability	Tribal stage consequence ability	Civilization stage consequence ability	Space stage consequence ability
Herbivore	Siren Song: Makes socializing with creatures easier (including hostile species, no effect on Epics)	Refreshing Storm: Summons a storm that causes fruit to be replenished and fall from trees	Healing Aura: Repairs all your vehicles and buildings	Social Suave: Gives you an immediate 20% negotiation discount on all social tools
Omnivore	Summon Flock: Summon a flock of minions to help you socialize or fight	Flying Fish: Summon a serpent to scare fish from the sea	Static Bomb: Temporarily immobilize vehicles, turrets and buildings	Gentle Generalist: Gives you a 20% discount on all standard equipment
Carnivore	Raging Roar: Make all surrounding creatures run in fear	Traps: Lay a trap to ensnare wild animals	Invulnerability: Make your vehicles impervious to damage for a limited time	Power Monger: Increases the effectiveness of all weapons (halves energy bar usage).

General Strategies

These tactics are suitable for the lower difficulties. Tactics for Hard difficulty can be found in the next section.

Carnivore

To get the carnivore card you must be able to kill other organisms. To this end, your first cell part should in fact be the spike. Placing the spikes on either side of the mouth, so that they form a V, has two benefits: firstly, the spikes can be used to ram prey cells for consumption; and second, the spikes funnel meat chunks into your mouth so that you do not have to try as hard to grab every last bite. Purchasing a poison gland and electric part for immunity as well as attack methods is recommended. Where mobility is concerned, one Jet and one Cilia will usually suffice. This setup will allow you to make ramming attacks (the Jet's propulsion), while also having the turning ability provided by the Cilia so that you can better target creatures. Alternatively, you could use the proboscis strategy below, just be careful to avoid plants while attacking herbivores. Unless you want to go with an aggressive trait card in creature stage, it may be a good idea to add a proboscis or filter mouth before entering creature stage, and keep it. That way, you do not need to kill to eat.

Herbivore

As explained above, to gain the herbivore card you need to consume a significant amount of plant matter. Because plant matter does not fight back, nor does it move on its own (it only moves with the current), you do not require any weapons. A useful tactic is to add flagella until you reach a movement speed of 5. At this point you are as fast as you can go and thus can evade most predators and catch up with any moving plant matter. Extra points can be spent on a single poison gland and electric part to provide immunity to these weapons - alternatively you can simply avoid creatures that use these parts. Spikes for close defense are recommended but not necessary.

Omnivore

The easiest way to attain the Omnivore trait is probably to follow the Herbivore method above until the DNA bar reaches halfway. Then you can switch to the Carnivore method for the second half. This will earn you the Omnivore card without too much consideration. As for using the proboscis, it would be best to add as many jets as you can, and just one cilla. That way, you can charge and outrace prey, and get to plants faster.

Another way is to have both mouths on at the same time, but eating can be difficult, unless you split one mouth in two. If you enlarge the head spinal bone to the largest size you can fit both mouthparts more easily.
Note that if you eat a lot of meat, but a small amount of plant matter, or vice versa, you may still get the Carnivore or Herbivore card.

Strategies for Hard Difficulty

Always start out as a herbivore with two sets of eyes. You can then sell the extra eye for 5 DNA, saving you several pieces of food you have to hunt for DNA points. You can always change to a carnivore mouth if you wish to stay as a carnivore.

When using a proboscis, you cannot eat the meat chunk pieces, but you can suck the life out of most creatures, and swallow seaweed chunks. Also, the proboscis bypasses spike and jaw pieces because of its animation. If you have trouble, just make the proboscis bigger, and to counter a proboscis just buy a really long spike and the omnivore might cower.

When eating moving plants, try swimming to where the plant is going to go (especially when in a current).

Once you have the Proboscis (omnivore mouth), place it in the front and use some jets in the rear as the Nosey does. Once you choose a direction there will be no stopping you.

Attach Spikes on the front of your cell for ramming, and others on the side or rear to prevent attack.

A Spike going straight forward with mouths to either side of the Spikes can make it easier to stab other cells without making it much harder to eat. You can also have two spikes on each side of the mouth like a Pokey does to funnel food into it.

The size of your Spikes matters. Use the mouse scroll wheel to make them smaller so you can place them as close to where you want them as you can, then scroll them to the largest size possible. If a Spike is made the largest size it can be on your tail, which will make it almost impossible for anything chasing you to get a bite in.

When being followed by a larger cell, try swimming between objects or around other peaceful cells. They may provide distractions.

If you're followed by a much larger creature that won't leave you alone, allow yourself to get bitten. It'll propel you forward so you can get away. However, an epic cell will kill you in one bite.

If you're desperate for escape, try using the mating call, as predatory cells will stop chasing you as soon as the cutscene plays. Once you arrive in the editor, you're safe and will arrive in a different location.

Getting the Poison feature from the cell can be made easier if your cell has large Spikes. Of course, you could just search for a meteor bit, but it may be hard to find.

Poison and Electric abilities are more of a nuisance than anything - just use a lot of Spikes. Put only one set of poison to give you immunity (and shrink it if necessary to save space). When you're ready to evolve, put the Poison and Electric parts on so you'll be able to unlock more parts in that category later.

Remember: When you are about to evolve to the Creature Stage, it does not matter what mouth you choose in the Early Creature Editor, because you will not be that creature forever. Instead it depends on what card you will get.
It is recommended to obtain all of the parts, as they can provide useful abilities at lower prices than creature stage parts.

You can stack parts on top of each other. If you want to be an omnivore you can simply place the carnivore and herbivore mouth on the front of the cell. Being an omnivore will increase the rate at which you evolve because you eat twice as much food as you would as a carnivore or herbivore.

Carnivores begin with a mouth that does damage. This gives them a weapon at the beginning of the stage. If you wish to be a herbivore, keep it and trade it in as soon as possible.

Electricity and Poison are good at killing Juniors at the end of the stage (which provides good food sources for carnivores, and can clear away hordes), while Spikes are useful for killing and/or repelling equal or larger sized cells.

If you're aiming for a specific card, don't forget to check your timeline frequently (T is the hot-key).

Two mouths, each on opposite sides while still facing front can widen the eating range of food, requiring less precision to grab food chunks.

Mild specialization is recommended at the end of the stage (speed cell, defensive cell, offensive cell, etc.). Keep in mind that the complete absence of offensive or defensive parts will likely result in many deaths.

By the end of cell stage, you should be well defended enough that when small predators run into you, they will be killed by your array of weapons. After a while these predators will flee at the sight of your cell. This is good news if you are a herbivore, as you now have one less threat to your existence. If you are a carnivore, however, one of your food sources will be harder to catch.

Be aware that Goldy will appear earlier as a predator sized cell. You may find one as early as emerging from the meteor.

Cell Behaviour

Easy

In easy difficulty:

Omnivores are peaceful.
Carnivore attacks happen very rarely.
Predatory cells are rare.
Cells swim slower than usual.
Pokey is automatically killed by a Chomper, unlocking the Spike part.
Eggs in level 5 hatch slowly.
Food heals 2 HP
Your cell deals 3 damage per hit
Epics are not present

Medium

In medium difficulty:

Omnivores are rowdy (attack if you attack and don't run away)
Carnivore attacks happen at a normal pace.
Predatory cells are just as common as other cells.
Cells swim normally.
Pokey automatically is killed by a Chomper, unlocking the Spike part.
Eggs in level 5 hatch normally
Food heals 1 HP
Your cell deals 3 damage per hit
Epics are present

Hard

In hard difficulty:

Omnivores are aggressive.
Carnivore attacks happen constantly.
Predatory cells are more aggressive and are more common.
Cells swim normally.
Pokey needs to be killed by you.
Goldies are found at the beginning of level 1 as predator size.
Eggs in level 5 hatch more easily.
It is the second time you see epic cells.
Food heals 1 HP
Your cell deals 2 damage per hit
Epics are present

Notes

Trivia

If you manage to kill an epic or predatory cell that has a new part, the part card will appear larger than normal.
If you aim your mouse at another cell, you will see it's name and health bar, like many other creations. If you check a pre-made cell of your species before naming it, it's name will be displayed as the original pre-made cell's name. For example, if your cell was Gaal, it's name will be displayed as "Gaal".

The fact that your cell comes from a meteor references the popular theory of Panspermia, or the belief that life on Earth originated from microorganisms that were deposited on Earth via meteor/comet impacts.

It is possible to place the spike part in the mouth,though is very hard to do.It can be an advantage if put on an herbivore mouth,as it will give them a feel of using a carnivore cell.

It is impossible to encounter other player-created cells during the Cell Stage without a mod.

The Cell stage is similar to one of Will Wright's favourite games, Pac-Man (In an analogue, fluid sort of way.)

This stage is similar to another game called flow And the I-pod game, Tasty Planet.

It can be compared to the Precambrian/Archean time on the real Earth.

There are two cells called Maa and Paa. The Maa cell releases eggs, which hatch into Junior cells. These cells resemble a "fusion" between Maa and Paa. This happens because Paa is the father and Maa is the mother.

If both carnivore and omnivore mouth parts are equipped, the cell has the widest choice of food. (Omnivores with a proboscis, but no jaw, cannot actually eat a cell. They just feed in a parasitic way off them. Omnivores with a jaw, but no proboscis, cannot feed parasitically off other cells. Omnivores with both can feed in a parasitic way off other cells, then eat the cells themselves for maximum food.)

Although the Cell Stage is the shortest stage, this stage takes up to billions of years to complete in game time, as it would in reality.
Strangely, herbivores can eat the eggs of other cells.

If you bump into a fellow Herbivore, it will mumble and glare at you.

There are several pre-made Herbivore cells that have an extra eye that you can sell for more DNA Points.

The colour of the water ranges from dark blue to light blue. However this does not make sense if the Homeworld actually has red or green water (As chosen when you pick a planet at the start of the game). In some versions of the game the water color may vary around the end of the cell stage depending on your graphics settings.

This stage is clearly not on a cellular level, as the meat and plant chunks eaten by the cell would have to be formed of tissues made up by multiple cells. What the game calls "cells" are clearly actually small animals, such as zooplankton.
- At a certain point, cells are no longer translucent, which implies that they are fish rather than zooplankton at that level.

If you start from this stage it is possible to have an omnivore with carnivore or herbivore mouthparts in the creature stage and beyond. When you get to the final creature design window before going onto the land, just keep the proboscis (or the opposite type of mouth) on your creature and never delete it again. You can hide it away inside the main mouth or make unique structures with it. For example, the filter feeder looks good as hair!

There appears to be fishing nets in the water, hinting that there is already life on the planet. It could possibly be a tribe.

At the final level of the cell stage the water colour turns a murky orange, resembling a beach which is where you go when you finish the stage.

Some epics have certain weaknesses that can be used to your advantage. Be wary, though. Epics can still eat you whole if you approach their mouth.
- For example, if you have the Electric part on your cell, then you can take down an epic Puffish with the same amount of zaps as it would take to zap a predator cell.
- Amusingly, an epic Ducky can have it's eyes poked out if you have the Spike power-up. It will then comically and slowly swim away from you as if it was a regular sized Ducky you had just bitten. But from then, it will never open its eyelids again, making it indestructible to kill
- An epic Stabber is weak to it's own main defense; Spike. Like Puffish, it will take the same amount of damage as a predator from these powerups.
- An epic Snorf can be defeated by a proboscis. Even when dead, the proboscis can still drain fluid from the corpse. This can let you quickly finish off the Cell Stage, but it would also easily change your diet to Carnivore.

Developmental Commentaries

According to a 15 minute developer demo, "It basically trains you that the game is about creativity, about making your own stuff and getting used to the controls."

According to a GamingSteve thread, the cellular world is connected to the macroscopic world "in terms of changing your starting point when you enter the macroscopic evolution game".

External links

Spore.com The official Spore site by EA.