At the space phase, your creations will have become the dominant, intelligent race on your planet. They will have built buildings and cities - all of which you can design with a version of the Creature editor - formed a civilization and stepped into technological advancement. Wright talked us through the next stage of development: creating a UFO.

The game automatically generates pre-made UFOs for you to choose from, based on your previous design decisions in the game. You can make your own, using a UFO editor, but it's a welcome and speedy option if you just want to get started on exploring. Once built, you simply launch and speed off into space.

First, you've got your own solar system to explore. Each planet has a visible readout detailing levels of water, atmosphere and other crucial life-supporting features, for quick reference before you zip over to have a look. But it doesn't stop there - you can zoom right out to view the entire universe, focusing down on selected areas to investigate, or using the UFO's scanner to search for other life.

Once you've found a place to poke around, you've got an Abduction Ray which you can use to start interacting with the life forms you find, or to transport your own creatures to new worlds. Wright showed us how this can go horribly wrong by plonking down one of his animals on the surface of a hostile planet, and watching it get torn to pieces by the local wildlife.