Editor-in-Chief Darryl "Togikagi" Gangloff sat down with Darkspore Executive Producer Mike Perry to find out how Spore's Creature Creator inspired Maxis to bring a new level of detail to an action game.

What do you get when you combine Diablo and Spore? You get Darkspore, the upcoming action RPG from Maxis and Electronic Arts. If you've ever played Maxis' Spore, then you understand the allure of using the game's Creature Creator to bring your designs to life. The development team was inspired to bring a similar level of customization to the action RPG genre, which led to the creation of Darkspore's Hero Editor.

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a roundtable interview with Executive Producer Mike Perry to learn more about the customization options players will have at their disposal in Darkspore. Keep reading after the jump for all the details, and check back with ZAM next week for more in-depth Darkspore coverage!

To start things off, I recommend you watch the Hero Editor developer's diary video that Maxis recently released. It provides a good look at the customization options that players have at their disposal in Darkspore.

As you can see from the video, there's quite a bit of variety in the game. In Darkspore, players can collect 25 core heroes, and each one has three different variants. The abilities and appearance of these heroes are based around five different genesis types: Bio, Plasma, Necro, Cyber and Quantum. If you fight an NPC of the same type, they'll do twice the amount of damage. “You're encouraged to switch between characters and have multiple squads,” Perry said.

According to Perry, players will have hundreds of thousands of dynamically generated loot items to collect, which can be used to customize the appearance, stats and abilities of their characters. These items will be earned through two methods: regular loot drops and Darkspore's unique chain game mechanic. Here's how Perry explains the chain system:

"After you defeat the boss, you're given a choice: keep the loot awarded at the end of the level or forfeit it and go to another level. The next level in the chain is going to be harder than the one before it. The more chains you compete, the better loot you're going to get. There's a risk vs. reward."

Just to be clear, you'll always keep the regular loot drops you obtain through the campaign. However, you run the risk of losing all of your “end of level rewards” if you keep pushing through the chain of levels and are ultimately defeated.

This risk vs. reward in Darkspore is all about earning epic items to upgrade your heroes. In addition to placing parts in specific character slots, such as the hands and feet, players can strip parts of their stats and turn them into customizable detail items. "It's completely free-form where you want to place them,” Perry said, noting that you can have up to six different types of detail items on each hero. He also emphasized that you can change the colors of the skin coat and pattern coat for each character.

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