In the latest edition of the GDC Radio Podcast, recorded at the 2006 Game Developers Conference, EA/Maxis' Caryl Shaw discusses building community features and a 'pollinated content system' for the much-anticipated Spore in her GDC lecture.

This feature continues the site's weekly podcasts, which alternate between two sources under the overarching GDC Radio brand - the Gamasutra podcast, a new original podcast show, and GDC Radio Archives, which will feature exclusively the best lectures, tutorials, and roundtables from this and previous years' Game Developers Conference.

As the session description for this Gamasutra-exclusive audio recording explains:

"When you fire up your copy of Spore, that crazy three-headed, five-legged creature you see coming over the hill to attack your creature may have been created by another community member, or your best friend, or maybe someone you've never even heard of. The experience that the creature has in your game will become part of its recorded history as it gets downloaded and challenged by other players in the Spore universe. Through in-game and web-based features, the person who created the creature can review and share its stats with friends and other community members building notoriety for both the creature and the creator.

This session explores how user-created content in other Maxis products like SimCity and The Sims 2 created a different kind of online community, and how those lessons are being applied in the Pollinated Content System in Spore. Specifically, we'll look at how to tailor the system to appeal to both users who specialize in creating content and users who are more likely to download someone else's creations."

You can now now download the 'Building Community Around Pollinated Content in Spore' GDC Radio lecture (.MP3, 9.4 MB).

You can subscribe to GDCRadio.net podcasts using iTunes and searching the directory for GDC Radio or by clicking this link. You can manually subscribe to our feed in your favorite RSS reader that supports enclosures by using this URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/GDCRadio.

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We are proud to present our first free MP3 from our archive of GDC recordings. This week we introduce you to one of the most popular sessions at the last few GDC's The Game Design Challenge which pits well known designers against their peers to find a compelling game concept on a novel topic.

In the 2005 Game Design Challenge, Will Wright returned to face off against Peter Molyneux and Clint Hocking in a challenge moderated by Eric Zimmerman. The theme? Design a game around a highly unusual "license" -- the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Licensed properties are a hotly debated topic in the game industry. Does the use of a license hamper design creativity? Or will the unusual "license" of Emily Dickinson spur the Game Design Challenge panelists into new design territory?

You can now now download the Game Design Challenge: Emily Dickinson License (.MP3, 12.7mb). You can subscribe to GDCRadio.net podcast using iTunes and searching the directory for GDC Radio or by clicking this link. You can manually add the GDCRadio podcast to your iTunes by using the Subscribe to Podcast option from the Advanced menu. When it asks for the URL enter feeds.feedburner.com/GDCRadio.

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