Six months ago, we waved around the idea of hosting an interactive fiction conference in Boston. Then — six months of silence.

Surprise! We still exist!

…Apologies for the delay. Nailing down a venue turned out to be a more protracted and painful process than we expected. It’s still not entirely nailed down, I’m sorry to say. But it’s solid enough for us to announce:

NarraScope 2019
Celebrating Narrative Games
June 14-16, 2019 — Boston, MA

The focus of the conference is not just “interactive fiction”. IF is a broad-ranging term these days, but not everyone uses it or thinks of themselves as “interactive fiction authors”. NarraScope will aim to cover the spectrum of narrative-focused games and interactive design: adventure games, Twine, hypertext, choice-based and parser-based IF, visual novels, procedurally generated narrative… Each of these forms has evolved into a community of practice. We want to create a space for these communities to come together, talk, exchange ideas, and discover ways to collaborate.

We are still finalizing the details of the venue and schedule. We expect to be in Cambridge, in coordination with MIT’s Comparative Media Studies and Writing department.

A call for speakers and talk proposals will be posted soon! Watch for news on our mailing list (join!) and on our web site.

Who are we? The Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which supports the tools, services, and community resources of interactive fiction and narrative games. NarraScope is IFTF’s first major public event. Here’s our conference committee.

Inclusivity statement: NarraScope celebrates the diverse voices of game design. We aim to create a safe, welcoming, and accountable space for all participants.