Spore/Creature Stage

While the tide pool phase introduces the player to the game and its editor, the creature phase plays a big part in terms of what the player's creatures will look like in the later phases. It is similar to the tide pool phase, but there are several important differences. The most obvious one is that it is a 3D environment. There will be other creatures inhabiting the world and most, if not all, of them will have been created by other players. If there is a lack of predators in the ecosystem and weak herbivores are everywhere, the game will automatically download a new species of predators that another player has created and load them into the current player's world to balance the ecosystem. The game will also download creatures in relation to how strong the player's creature is. If the player creates a bigger, tougher creature, the predators that are downloaded will likewise be stronger than average predators. Creatures' characteristics are categorized with a 5 star rating system in six areas: Speed, Stealth, Defense, Social, Cuteness, and Attack. The creature also gains the ability to perform actions, such as "Call" and "Jump".

In the IGN "Evolution" video, the creatures had names such as "Oddy", "Mephistopheles" and so forth. This seems to indicate that individual creatures are nameable.

In this stage, the basic goal is the same: hunt food to earn DNA points, reproduce, and avoid being eaten by predators. Unlike the asexual reproduction in the tide pool phase, the player must now locate a mate. Once the player's creature has laid an egg, it does not hatch right away; scavengers will attempt to steal the eggs and the player must defend them. (Conversely, the player may steal and eat other creatures' eggs as well, if they can get past the hostile parents.) Before the egg hatches, the player will have the opportunity to 'evolve' their creature further into the next generation, which can be done by spending DNA points to buy body parts. When the egg hatches, the player becomes a baby version of the creature that spawned it. Aesthetically, this version of the creature will be smaller, with certain features exaggerated such as the head, and have a higher pitched voice. This stage will have a profound effect on the creature's social skill evolution, as the baby will be making friends and forming its own herd (for herbivores) or pack (for carnivores). Will Wright referred to this as a simplified version of the friend-making mini-game in The Sims. The ultimate goal of the creature phase is to increase the creature's brain capabilities slowly using DNA points. Once they have increased sufficiently, the player's creature becomes sapien and the player progresses to the tribal phase.

It is currently unknown whether the game will feature swimming creatures. Strong evidence of flying creatures, unseen since the original presentation of Spore, has been seen in recent hands-on previews.

The main units of currency are, as with the cellular phase, DNA points.