I'm not sure if anyone knows about the spore engine prototypes that you can download and mess about with. They're basically tests for features that ended up in Spore. They're really interesting, actually; there's one that simulates star formation, propogation & death, exploding into a cloud of gas in which more form.
But of course, Spore got nerfed. A lot.

Anyway, there's some interesting toys in there to use. Some were programmed in the 90s meaning Spore has been in development since
before I was even born.So yeah:
http://www.spore.com/comm/prototypes