You can now download and try out a streamlined (read: limited) demo version of Spore’s creature creator here.

As a kid who sat around doodling creatures of my own imagining and then fitting them into ecosystems on nonexistent worlds, you can imagine I was pretty excited about the release of this little taste test, especially since I’ve had to watch Robin Williams and others have all the fun already. The creature creator, just one part of the game experience Spore promises, isn’t exactly breaking news - but this is the first time you get to hop behind the wheel yourself.

The creature creator’s menu and interface is very user-friendly, and fits the deceptively cartoony aesthetic of the creatures themselves. This friendly aesthetic is deceptive because despite the creatures’ propensity to look like Saturday morning critters rendered in Playdough by a child savant, you can also utilize this tool to make eldritch monstrosities that should not see the light of day.

Yes, I’m talking about those people who have seen fit to use this device for evil. Namely by making penis monsters. (You can easily find footage of these pitiful beings on YouTube, if that’s your bag. There’s too many to link to just one.)

That’s another feature I immediately noticed about the creature creator: it makes sharing your monsters incredibly simple. The option to take snapshots and capture video and upload it direct to YouTube is right there. It’s easy to see that sharing and community is going to be a huge part of this big “single-player MMO,” as it has been called.

Presumably the full version of Spore will continue this trend of user-friendliness, and perhaps expand upon it.

I was disappointed that the demo only offered insectoid and carnivorous mouths, but I suppose I can forgive Maxis for coveting their omnivore and herbivore maws. Even the few body parts that come with the demo are more than enough for you to satisfy your twisted fantasies of being Dr. Moreau’s apprentice.

Creating a creature is quite easy, though I was disheartened by the limitation on spine length. Even the longest spine wasn’t long enough to satisfy me. Here’s hoping “limitless spine” is a feature reserved for the full version.

Body parts each have a cost associated with them, which stops you from creating a creature entirely studded with mouths and/or antennae at the demo level, where earning money is impossible.

Once you realize that the game allows all sorts of logic-defying, sordid physiognomies even despite the cost limit, your inevitable descent into cruelty and perversion will begin. I started out with “shashifras”, a relatively innocuous, presentable little carnivore:

I wound up with “spiny podunk”, the forbidden love-child of a grasshopper and a tyrannosaur, with eyestalks on its obscenely elevated knees:

And this is why I’m more excited about Spore than ever. With just this morsel of the game - nay, this crumb, when you consider everything else Spore has promised - it has threatened my hours of free time. I’ve already lost one friend to its depths, and this is only a limited demo. (Dave, please come back to us.)

Once you’ve created your obscenity, you can go to the “test run” arena and watch the animator at work. That this game renders all sorts of modes of locomotion is impressive, though I did notice that my Terrorcow’s legs liked to phantasmally pass through one another, especially when it danced.

You can make your creature emote, dance, and even give it up to three little offspring to interact with within the limited walkabout space.

The demo is just enough to make me crave more. If I’d been sitting on the fence about Spore before, the amount of fun I’ve had just dinking around in the character creator would tip the scales in favor of a purchase. But don’t take my word for it. Give it a go yourself, so long as you don’t have any important deadlines coming up.

Spore is slated for release in North America on September 7th, 2008.