Game Developers Conference 2008 (February 18-22, 2008) in San Francisco, California will be featuring Spore…and since the game is nearly finalized, we should have a lot of information pouring at us. Better get your umbrellas. During the conference, Spore will have two sessions. Click below to find out what they are!

Pollinating the Universe: User-generated Content in SPORE with Caryl Shaw (Producer, Maxis).

Session Description
SPORE’s content editors allow players to create amazing looking creatures, buildings and vehicles, and the online/pollination system encourages and rewards them for sharing their creations with other members of the SPORE community. In this talk, Caryl will present some of the foundational systems and custom technology that have been built for SPORE from the in-game pollination system to the community web features to the behind the scene administrative management tools. If you are interested in understanding how the SPORE team is going to track, rate and categorize the millions of assets that players will create as well as enable the community to participate in a different kind of social networking experience built around a game, this talk is for you.

Idea Takeaway:
The systems in SPORE that allow players to seek out like-minded content creators or find interesting content are integrated into the editors, the game levels and the web site to transform a single-player game into a community experience.

Intended Audience:
This session is for game designers and producers who are interested learning about how user-generated content can extend the game experience in a single-player game as well as for people who are building community around user-generated content. No pre-requisites necessary.

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Procedural Music in SPORE with Kent Jolly (Audio Director, Electronic Arts), and Aaron McLeran (composer).

Session Description
This presentation goes over some of the broad concepts and implementation of the procedural music in SPORE. The music will be shown and described in some detail using both the game and the software used to create the music. The history and development of the system itself will also be described, as well as some of the plans for future development.

Idea Takeaway
The lecture is meant to inspire and encourage the use of generative/procedural techniques in music as well as encourage user customization of music.

Intended Audience
This lecture is targeted at people who are interested in creating generative/procedural music in games, as well as gamers in general who are interested in music. The first half of the lecture does not have any pre-requisites. The second half gets more technical, a basic understanding of music is helpful. Previous knowledge of MAX/MSP or PD is also helpful but not required.

Source: GDC Website and ManagerJosh of UOEM